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Sphere
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs
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Sphere
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Publisher's Summary
“Ingenious and beguiling.” - Time
“Crichton keeps us guessing at every turn in his best work since The Andromeda Strain.” - Los Angeles Times
“Sphere may be Crichton’s best novel, but even if it ranked only second or third, it would be a must for suspense fans.” - Miami Herald
A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting storytelling that combines frighteningly plausible, cutting-edge science and technology with pulse-pounding action and serious chills. The gripping story of a group of American scientists sent to the ocean floor to investigate an alien ship, only to confront a terrifying discovery that defies imagination, Sphere is Crichton prime - truly masterful fiction from the ingenious mind that brought us Prey, State of Fear, and Jurassic Park.
Sphere was made into a film directed by Barry Levinson, which starred Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Critic Reviews
"A page-turner with oomph.... Crichton's writing is cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action." --Newsweek
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What listeners say about Sphere
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- JAYANT
- 17-06-23
average
it's average sci fi book.
no explanation given for many things, technically weak. book should have explained much more information on spaceship, sphere and what it meant.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Deepak Lakhwani
- 29-12-21
good mix of p s
Sphere was also made into a movie by same name which was a flop but also considered by some as very under rated.
I enjoyed the book, while it has elements of sci-fi, it is more of a psych thriller. The pages and pages of action bored me, author also doesn't explain lot of science behind what is actually happening. Having said that, this was still a good read and would recommend especially if you are some one who is just starting to read sci fi.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rohit Bhutani
- 15-06-21
Gripping story with excellent narration!
It was my first audio book experience and I loved it. The story is well written and very very well narrated!!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- BookReader
- 01-06-16
Sphere
Any additional comments?
Written by Michael Crichton way back in the mid 1980s, this unabridged audiobook edition was released in 2015 and is narrated by Scott Brick - about thirteen hours of listening.
If you’re looking for a written duplication of the movie, this is not gonna work for you! Although trite, I’ll say "The book is better."… and Hollywood’s twist completely messes with the story.
In a plot similar to Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, written in 1969, a diverse group of scientific people are brought together to what they all believe to be a plane crash in the mid-Pacific. A biologist, mathematician, astrophysicist, etc., in addition to Norman - the group psychologist and the lead character of Sphere, are tasked with determining what happened - and they are soon to understand, determining what exactly rests 1000 feet below the surface, since it is not an airplane. Crichton even repeats the physical examinations required to handle the sea habitats of Sphere as apposed to the bio-habitat of the Andromeda Strain. Albeit completely different stories, these initial fundamentals are virtually identical.
Sphere is a decent SciFi, written with the somewhat pedestrian style of Crichton. Not earth shattering prose, just good storytelling that will hold your attention. If you like SciFi or if you like Michael Crichton, you’ll enjoy. Author of such mega-hits as Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton died in 2008. His books are slowly moving into the SciFi classic category and are must reads for anyone interested in the genre. SciFi nerds will approve of considerable techno-babble detail and Crichton’s attempt at credibility.
Scott Brick does a terrific job, nice reading.
A fun listen.
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132 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Chalenburg
- 25-10-19
Crichton: Good storyteller, Bad writer
Seems like an oxymoron but Crichton is a bad writer. EVERY expression of dialog is "he said" "Beth said" "Ted said" "said" "said" "said" "SAID" No "replied", "asked", "retorted", "exclaimed", "laughed", or any other word in the dictionary that describes a character's spoken word.
That is why I gave it 4 stars. The story is great. Very interesting, a good twist(s?), decent suspense, good character actualization (the things the characters do and say even though they always "said" them). AMAZING RESEARCHER. There were several places that he could have skimmed over details but you can tell he took the time to research what would actually happen and wrote it. I appreciate that.
But anything and everything thing a character says is" SAID." Even if it's a QUESTION!!! HOW DO YOU "SAID" A QUESTION!?!?
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115 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jim "The Impatient"
- 21-05-16
THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH HARRY
NOT THE UNDERWATER HOLIDAY INN
Crichton, underwater habitat, space ship, STUPID ALIEN, black hole, time travel, giant squid, conspiracies, and a plethora of science talk, what more do you want? I am pretty sure you could not cram more Science Fiction goodness in one book and keep it so good. I loved the movie (with Dustin Hoffman), which is a little different and has great special effects and is very scary and I love the book. Very entertaining and like all Crichton books, you will learn something. This is a must read for anyone who wants to be considered well read in the Science Fiction Field. Scott Brick does a wonderful job.
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93 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- RJ Reviews
- 12-06-18
An exciting thriller at the bottom of the sea!
Norman Johnson is a psychologist specialized in how stress affects group dynamics. He is often called out by the FAA to help survivors of plane crashes and their families deal with the aftermath. So when he's escorted by the US Navy out to the South Pacific he assumes a plane has crashed into the ocean.
It turns out to be something far stranger.
Once upon a time, a younger Norman, desperate for grant money, wrote a report for the government about how to handle first contact with alien intelligence. He said abject terror would be the result when humans were confronted with the unknown. Now, he is about to put his hypothesis to the test. A thousand feet beneath the ocean, something has been found. A craft that has been down there for at least 300 years.
A team of scientists, recommended by Norman, and a group of navy personal are tasked with uncovering what is and, if anything is alive, how to communicate with it. Staying in cramped quarters, surrounded by the crushing depths of the sea where a small mistake could get them all killed, the pressures are incredible. Can Norman keep the group functional when the discover the Sphere lurking in the heart of the craft?
Crichton's Sphere is an interesting take on the first contact with aliens story. It's told from the psychologist point of view and it delves into many aspects of emotional reactions and Jungian's theory of the shadow self. Personalities conflict and clash. The unknown lurks around them, affecting them all as they struggle to understand just what they have discovered.
And that's before things start going weird. Cricton goes a great job setting up the mystery and how it affects the characters. The answers for the story are found if you read carefully. But that's not what the story is truly about. It's about how people handle stress and how they can rise to the occasion, or break beneath the strain. It's about what people can do when they're taken to their limits. The Sphere, the mystery of it, is merely the catalyst around which Crichton has penned this excellent character study.
One of my favorite Crichton novels, blending suspense, emotion, and wonder with a pervading miasma of dread hanging over everything.
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89 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Big E
- 09-12-15
Every bit as underwhelming as the movie....
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Scott Brick was brilliant as always, but the story just didn't deliver. I saw the movie some 10 years ago, and thought it was a great idea that just didn't pan out. I figured it was a typical case of just being a bad adaptation of a highly touted novel. But no, the book just strings you along, making you think there would be this cool revelation about the sphere, only to give what feels like a cop out of an ending. I recommend pass on it.
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80 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Scott Miller
- 04-12-15
Disappointing
Here's a new drinking game, every time a character says "Jesus!" Take a shot. You will be trashed in a few chapters. The vocabulary was lacking and the "experts" that comprised the main characters seemed to be not much more than bumbling idiots for the majority of the story. I finished the book only to get my money's worth, but I won't waste the time again. This was disappointing because I enjoyed Chrichton's Jurassic Park series very much. If I had to sum up the experience in one word it would be *annoying*.
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61 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Natalie
- 06-04-16
Exciting even if you've seen the movie
What did you like best about this story?
I'm going to admit that I committed the ultimate sin and read the book because I enjoyed the movie rather than vice versa. Even though I knew the basic story I found the book suspenseful and exciting. The characters are better developed and more three dimensional in the book. Their motives were more understandable and their characters were more diverse.
Any additional comments?
Even though I will always enjoy the movie I feel like it did the book a disservice. The book gives more scientific explanation. The characters are more intelligent. Those touches made the whole world feel more believable. They were trapped for a reason. The manifestations all happened for a reason. The giant squid was a character in the book rather than a plot device. I loved it.
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43 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- James J. Higgs
- 27-11-15
Boring
I made it about 5 hours in, just couldn't listen any more. Nothing happens, bunch of in fighting and boredom. Had to move on.
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30 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Nurse_Franklin
- 04-04-20
not worth the read
Literally the book to no where. I wanted to love this book so much, just kept waiting. got to the end dissapointed
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- waelse1
- 01-03-16
Fun sci-fi page-turner
Very entertaining page-turner, it brings up interesting ideas about aliens, black holes, time travel. Mostly though it's about the characters and their struggles to deal with the menace and survive. Enjoyed it a lot.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- James
- 25-02-16
Buy Crichton a thesaurus!
Interesting story ruined by overuse of the word "said".
Sounds silly and might not be as noticeable when reading the book, but when someone is narrating it to you it becomes very noticeable and annoying. After every bit of dialogue the author uses "said" . Never "ted asked" or "Beth suggested" "Harry quipped " "Norman gasped" etc ... Just "Said"
During conversations between two or more people it is almost unbearable-
Ted said
Harry said
Beth said
Harry said
Ted said
Ted said
Harry said
Beth said
Ted said
Ted said
Ted said
Ted said
TED SAID!!! Wouldn't be as bad if the guys name wasn't Ted!
I started calling the book "what Ted said" out of frustration. Honestly how this was overlooked by the editors is beyond me.
It's my first Crichton book and it will be my last I think. I was expecting better from someone as lauded as him but I found the below GCSE English level of the overuse of "said" to be very poor and unimaginative, if the narrator hadn't done a decent job of putting some life into the characters words then you wouldn't get a feel of how the characters were talking at all.
As mentioned, the book has a very interesting plot, let down by some strange choices to make the scientists come across as smart one minute and quite dumb the next ( scientist studying marine life , knows a lot about snakes but didn't know who Medusa was ) and the unimaginative, emotionless and lazy use of "said"
Ted said
Ted said
Ted said......
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38 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Eva O'Donnell
- 24-09-16
Nope.
Nothing anybody does makes any sense. There are long, pointless, circular conversations, but unfortunately Crichton doesn't know any verb to indicate speech other than 'said.'
There's no real tension, no real insight into characters' motivations, and no satisfactory explanation for their irrational actions.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- D. Ross
- 08-08-16
Sphere
A story with interesting potential, well read but spoiled by the over use of "said" as remarked you other reviewers
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JC
- 12-02-17
Very Poor Performance
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A great story, by a great author, unfortunately completely ruined by a very boring monotonus reader performance.
How could the performance have been better?
By being read by someone completely different
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- KM
- 19-07-18
Stereotype characters and bored narrator
This book should have been exciting. However, it was marred by some seriously stereotyped characters (black man and women both with chips on their shoulders etc). The narration was generally monotone and sounded like he was sad or bored throughout. Which meant that, by the time the climax was reached, I didn’t care about the myriad of plot holes, I was just happy it was ending.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Richard Laurence
- 23-05-23
Clunky by-the-numbers sci-if (SPOILERS)
We’ve seen this before: think the movie Prometheus. A massively important mission: let’s crew it with a mixture of misanthropes, egotists,liars and general I’ll-prepared people. Throw in artificial time constraints and isolation. Add terrible dialogue and clunky exposition. I tried to return it, but couldn’t…
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Bookmaster General
- 09-04-20
Flawed but OK for its time
From a modern perspective, the characters in the story are so blinder than Three Blind Mice as to what's going on, even to obviously suspicious developments in the story. I acknowledge that the author didn't have TV Tropes back then, but still... If that frustrates you to no end, skip this book.
Overall I think the story has an OK premise, but a modern reboot/reedit would be more accessible to an audience used to the modern writing.
The narrator is a bit weird, if that makes sense. He puts a but too much emotion into certain parts and almost sounds desperate. It's quite annoying at times.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr S Jordan
- 07-08-18
Wonderfuuly Written & Performed!
In short, I found this story to be wonderfully written and performed brilliantly by Scott Brick!
The story is so fascinating with some quite unexpected twists too. I do wish that some aspects of the story was explored more, like the spacecraft for example. Overall, despite the story being a tense and exciting journey, I found the ending so disappointingly lacklustre that its slightly tainted the entire story for me.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- emma
- 04-07-16
Classic Sci-Fi set in the murky depths
What happens when the U.S. Navy assemble a group of misfit scientists to investigate a mysterious crash in the depths of the Pacific? And why have they invited Norman, a psychologist who specializes in trauma victims, when there are clearly no survivors?
The consummately professional Scott Brick reads this wonderful Michael Crichton classic, filled with thought-provoking science, drama, action and suspense. Crichton gives the scientists believable characters which illustrate their chosen fields of interest, from cryptography to marine biology. And of course, Norman's area of expertise: human psychology in situations of severe stress...
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- J JENKINS
- 06-10-23
Skilled storytelling
Slow burn but gripping nonetheless. The characters are a melange of different flawed humans that often acted completely out of character which lacked credibility. Stupid comments (re Medusa) from intelligent geniuses? It was a skilfully crafted story and has stood the test of time. Crichton is a master of science fiction. Worth a read. Much better than the film.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Brett Douglas
- 20-04-17
thrilling sci-fi adventure
I've listened to half a dozen Michael Crichton books and I thoroughly enjoyed Sphere. It not as technical as Airframe and doesn't have the intensity of Jurassic Park, it sits comfortably between the two.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Caz
- 12-10-18
Imagine this book never existed... [said Harry]
ah, that's better, Beth said. Let's forget it ever was... said Norman...
I struggled through this entire thing ever hopeful that it would get interesting, but it didn't.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Luke
- 22-06-17
Thrilling, frightening and original.
I couldn't stop listening to it. This was an excellent story where I just needed to know what happened next.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Martin
- 31-07-23
Absolutely captivating
Probably one of the best stories I have listened too ever.
Thoroughly recommended to all.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anna Chemin
- 07-07-23
Struggled to Finish
I really disliked this book - I persisted with it, hoping it would improve or become clearer or more interesting, but if anything, the ending was even more disappointing than what preceded it.
The narration was very good, no complaint at all there, but he had poor material to work from.
I chose this title because I admire Michael Crichton's work in many genres, but The Sphere is not at all representative of his true abilities, in my opinion. The story was dense and needlessly chaotic, the characters poorly developed and writing flat and repetitive. I tried to return this book after a few hours listening but couldn't figure out the convoluted process, so endured it to the end.
Now, I am going to persist and find the 'return' process because I will NEVER listen to The Sphere again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hayley
- 18-01-23
A good read but the twists were average
A good read but the twists were average. Good but afterwards it’s kinda just ok
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Big Cat
- 07-09-22
Enjoyable ride, though maybe a little long
I enjoyed the story. it was a fun ride, though perhaps a little long by the time the third act rolled around.
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