Mac Rogers

Hey! Fair warning, the publisher gave me access to the first five episodes ahead of time in exchange for my review, BUT the podcast is free and available at your podcast location of choice. I use Pocket Casts, and the first three episodes are already up. A link to get to them is here.

Steal the Stars is part of a new project by Tor, Tor Labs, which will apparently be putting out serialized fiction -- basically audio drama -- podcasts in the future. Think about stuff like The Truth, Limetown, The Bright Sessions -- this one belongs right in those hallowed halls right alongside them.

Steal the Stars begins with a mystery -- what the hell is this weird alien thing? It's huge, and seemingly mostly dead, and covered in moss, and in a crashed ship, with a thing.... but that's honestly not what the podcast is about. It's more about the human drama of the people surrounding him in the secret paramilitary base trying to figure out their own lives -- and figure out the mystery going on at the center of it.

This is slightly more romantic in nature than I really expected it to be, but I'll tell you what -- I loaded this thing up on a four hour driving trip, and my husband, who isn't really into my fiction podcasts, kept asking for the next one. We listened to all five episodes we were provided in one sitting, and I'm dying to listen to the rest of them now.

Very diverting and very worth listening to. Five stars.

… (més)

Ok, wow.

A third of the way through Steal the Stars, I was bored. The book had started off well enough, but the narrator's voice had gradually devolved from interesting to irritating, and the plot had slowed to a dull plod. Still, I made myself continue because I'd invested too much time to stop now.

I'm glad I didn't stop, because once Steal the Stars gets going again, it's basically a runaway train on steroids. Steal the Stars is a crazy ride, never going where you think it will. It's hilarious and devastating and marvelous, all in the same scene.

And really, really fucking dark. Don't read this if you like hope and happiness.

I've had a hard time with science fiction. I just find the genre so much less interesting than fantasy. But Steal the Stars is a reason to read sci fi.… (més)