Customer Reviews

City of Darkness

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Author, Harlan Ellison, dons his acting hat for this performance of Ben Bova's CITY OF DARKNESS. With years of practice performing his own short storys and doing voice overs for such cartoons as MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM, PIRATES OF DARKWATER, and several appearences on the live-action, BABYLON 5, Ellison has honed his vocal craft to a fine edge. The story is good, but the main selling point is the riveting performance by Ellison, which is more then worth the price of admission. Highly recommended.

This is my first foray into Ben Bova's work. I've seen it around but never quite picked it up. If this is typical of the quality of his work, I will be back for more.

The story is set in a future United States in which the cities have been closed. New York City is cut off from the rest of the country except for the summer months - where it becomes a tourist destination away from the unrelenting tedium of suburbia (called "the tracts"). Our protagonist runs away to the city and gets locked in after it is closed at the end of the summer - and he finds out that the city is not empty after all...

Harlan Ellison makes this audiobook seem like a one man radio play. He does a first-rate job at making the story sing and zing. The reviewers who have written complaints below are way off of the mark. Take the word of a listener who has heard more than his share of mediocre readers - Ellison deserves an award.

I give Ellison an A+.

I give the book an A.

Combined score: A+

This was one of the best sci-fi stories i've listened to in a long while but the person reading the book was awful. If you can overlooks his bad performance the story is worth listening too.

As I said the story is pretty good, it's a typical action packed adventure story, full of machismo and all the usual stereotypes...the weak but beautiful girl, the "bad" gang member, the innocent hero who manages to do it all etc. It's very entertaining, and excellent if you have a long drive, you won't feel the hours pass, if it wasn't for the reading!

The performer, Harlan Ellison does a horrible job. As he narrates a scene in a smoky room, he coughs, when the hero gets winded, the narration does as well. Most of the "voices" of the various protagonists are downright embarrassing. Evidently Harlan never read the story before narrating it. This is painfully obvious at every turn of the story, where Harlan increases the tension in his voice as a plot is resolving, or heightens the drama to a fever pitch, just as the hero makes it to safety.

Overall, I would have turned it off if the story hadn't been so gripping. Harlans misplaced overacting completely ruins a good work by Ben Bova.

This is the best book ever written the author, Ben Bova, in my opinion is one of the best authors ever. I read this book in 2 hours I liked it so much, and I am not a person who enjoys reading in fact I hate reading all together. This book has totally changed my opinion on reading. READ THIS BOOK!!!!! It is a do not miss.