Narrated by T. Ryder Smith, Blindsight by Peter Watts has a runtime of 11 hrs 47 mins on Audible.
Publisher’s Summary
Set in 2082, Peter Watts’ Blindsight is fast-moving, hard SF that pulls readers into a futuristic world where a mind-bending alien encounter is about to unfold.
After the Firefall, all eyes are locked heavenward as a team of specialists aboard the self-piloted spaceship Theseus hurtles outbound to intercept an unknown intelligence.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 11 hrs 47 mins
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Release year: 2008
- Audible category: Science Fiction & Fantasy / Fantasy / Science Fiction & Fantasy
Listener Ratings
Blindsight holds an average listener rating of 4.2/5 from 4195 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.3/5
- Story: 4.2/5
- 5-star ratings: 53% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “Gothic Horror Hard Science Fiction”
Peter Watts has crafted a novel that is quite unsettling. The protagonist never seems to be comfortable in his own skin, and since Watts manages to build a certain empathy for him, you the listener are kept off balance as well. I really enjoyed the advancing narrative interspersed with flashbacks exploring the main character’s psyche. I found this novel to be excellent but difficult to categorize. <br/><br/>Hard Science Fiction Space Opera? Certainly. <br/>Vampire story? Of a fashion, but not in any way the typical fashion. <br/>Character study? Certainly true of the protagonist. <br/>First Contact Science Fiction? It has all the essential elements.<br/>Happy ending? Sort of—but only if you think the movie A L I E N ended on a pleasant note.<br/>Recommended? Yes ! . <br/><br/>When I heard “Audible hopes you enjoyed this program” I was left with that desirable, but all too rare, sensation that even though I just had a very enjoyable experience, there was so much more to discover. This book will require a repeat listen. It left me with the same feeling as some of the novels of Gene Wolfe—the book ends but, since there is no real closure, the story lives on in your head like a rogue subroutine awaiting a necessary command. Blindsight was recommended by Richard K. Morgan (author of Altered Carbon) as his, “If you only read one book this year,” endorsement. I can now understand. This will get my recommendation as well, even though I do not pretend to have more than a rudimentary understanding of it. <br/><br/>———————-<br/><br/>The above was written after my first pass through Blindsight. I then went on to read Peter Watts’ follow-up novel Echopraxia. Then, after finishing Echopraxia, I listened to Blindshight a second time. One reason for this experiment at repeat listening is that I find so few well-written serious modern Hard Science Fiction novels; this being one, I wanted to experience it again. The impact of the horror element for me was much reduced the second time through. I was more focused on the use of scientific concepts and less emotionally involved. I was fascinated at Watts’ ingenious utilization of scientific concepts to advance his psychologically driven story. The story is now more comprehensible to me after a second listen, although, because of that greater understanding, I was more settled mentally and, therefore, less susceptible to the gothic horror elements that so impacted me during my first listen. This is a novel that will appeal to lovers of psychological thrillers and space opera fans alike. In fact, this is an exemplary SF novel that I will recommend to those who think that Science Fiction novels do not have anything to offer.<br/><br/>I had not listened to anything narrated by T. Ryder Smith before Blindsight and so was pleased to discover that he has a deft way of blending-in seamlessly with the text; giving each character a subtly distinct voice. He is not as dramatic as some of my favorites but is, in his own way, top notch. <br/>— Doug D. Eigsti, Audible listener
4/5 stars — “Narrator makes it a teen drama.”
So many narrators are ruining books by portraying adult characters as immature drama queens when there is no reason to do so. Are there no adult and/or mature characters at all in this book? This isn’t Harry Potter.— Silicon Valley Software Veteran, Audible listener
4/5 stars — “The perfomance was fine; the story was perplexing”
Other than his slightly-off pronunciation of a few words, I thought the narrator did a good job of portraying the moods and attitudes of the central character who had suffered a brain/mind altering surgerical procedure as a young child (to correct epilepsy). The surgery left him with a limited ablility to relate to or even to empathize with others. While these ablilities (as it is shown in the story) are not missing altogether, this limited ablility to "walk in another’s shoes" makes him cold and unfeeling at times, but also bewildered at his lack of understanding of and connection to others. The whole story is seemingly set up to enhance that fact. Transitions and movement in the story from scene to scene was often hard to follow. In several instances I had difficulty making the leap with the author in the "action". I like a complicated and intricate plot, but this was something else that I find, even now, hard to put my finger on often asking myself: What just happened?— SGTiplady, Audible listener
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