Bowl of Heaven

By: Gregory Benford, Larry Niven

Narrated by: James R. Cheatham

Bowl of Heaven and Shipstar collects two novels from science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape) that weave a thrilling interstellar odyssey in the not-too-distant future.

"If you like hard SF with mind-stretching ideas—both physical and psychological—then you definitely want to read this book." —Analog on the New York Times bestseller Bowl of Heaven

A human expedition to colonize another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system.

Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe.

©2012 Gregory Benford and Larry Niven (P)2012 Tantor Media

Awesome book, Bad narration

I love the books and waited eagerly for them to be posted on Audible however the narrator wasn't the right fit. Some of the voices for characters are just absolutely atrocious and sound like they were done by kindergartener. It actually makes some of the characters sound like idiots.

Good science. insanly huge dumb object.

The narrator wasn't very good. The voice used for the captain was very annoying. The characters were very 1960s. No development. Basically just set pieces used as siteseers.

Poor narration

Did not like the reading perforamce. It has been a long time since I listened to a narrator this uninspired and amateurish

what's going on?

I believe this used to be 1 book that split in 2 and was re-released. I read this book years ago. I know the entire story of both books yet I've never read shipstar. the narration is old school but he does a good enough job to distinguish characters. I didn't mind it at all. the big ideas in this book are where it's at. Niven is legendary for these kinds of ideas. I was not disappointed with the story, just what I perceive as being greedy.

Not what I expected

The story is poorly written. It mixes future tech with current tech (team is using cell phone and texting pictures to each other) and makes it hard to follow. Time jumps without explanation, dialog is halting and disjointed. It both moves to fast and too slow at the same time. The narrator has great character voices but also has not great transitions between story text and character dialogue. Would not recommend.