Critical Mass

A Novel

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

In New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez's latest space-tech thriller, a group of pioneering astropreneurs must overcome never-before-attempted engineering challenges to rescue colleagues stranded at a distant asteroid—kicking off a new space race in which Earth's climate crisis could well hang in the balance.

When unforeseen circumstances during an innovative—and unsanctioned—commercial asteroid-mining mission leave two crew members stranded, those who make it back must engineer a rescue, all while navigating a shifting web of global political alliances and renewed Cold War tensions. With Earth governments consumed by the ravages of climate change and unable to take the risks necessary to make rapid progress in space, the crew must build their own nextgen spacecraft capable of mounting a rescue in time for the asteroid's next swing by Earth.

In the process they'll need to establish the first spin-gravity station in deep space, the first orbiting solar power satellite and refinery, and historic infrastructure on the moon's surface—all of which could alleviate a deepening ecological, political, and economic crisis back on Earth, and prove that space-based industry is not only profitable, but possibly humanity's best hope for a livable, peaceful future.

Excellent and believable sequel

This is another well-written hard science fiction story set in the Delta V universe. If you liked Delta V, you will enjoy where this story goes. Please ignore any review with the word “woke” in it.

Still the best

Personally, I find all the books by Daniel to be the most worthwhile that I have found and I am a voracious reader/listener. I feel like I’m receiving a most advanced education while never sacrificing a great story and adventure. Intelligent and entertaining fiction is absolutely the best way to learn. Please keep up the excellent work. I can’t wait for the next one. Thank you so much!!!

Great story, great technical details, excellent read aloud

The narrator on this did a great job with the different accents. I was so surprised by the quality of the accents. I really like the technical details, you know the high temperature, superconducting tape, and the orbital mechanics, and the Blockchain details, which I have never learned before, stuff like that. I listened at 1.5 speed you know, it is kind of surprising that the narrator was unable to pronounce Korean words and Russian words although he really did Korean accent, and Russian accent credibly in English . so impressed.

Awesome Read

As usual Suarez delivers a compelling narrative with interesting characters interspersed with lengthy explanations of technology that contribute to the readers understanding of the story and the tech in general. A solid sequel to Delta V, I enjoyed the wrap up of the plots and would totally read another book set in this universe.

Narrator Jeff Gurner always delivers an exceptional performance and Critical Mass is no exception.

Great Follow Up to Delta V

I thought the novel was a great follow up to Delta V. Both were exciting novels that I thought were great.