In the Company of Others

By: Julie E. Czerneda

Narrated by: David Marantz

When the terraforming crews introduced the alien Quill to worlds where they did not belong, they saw them only as a mindless form of fungal life. But the Quill multiplied and mutated until they were no longer harmless. In the ensuing chaos, many stations failed. For the survivors, their only hope rests in finding a way to wipe out the Quill....

©2001 Julie E. Czerneda (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Interesting despite the main characters

An interesting take on a first contact story, spoiled by a horrendously twee romantic sublot.

good performance story is not top notch

it is slow then weird, n3ver really engaging. well narrated though so there is that

Disappointing

This one doesn't live up to the author's later works. The dialog is rigid and unnatural. The main character is unbelievable. Given his upbringing, by all rights he should be a psychotic sociopath. Instead, he is a relatively well adjusted person. The entire story drags on at a snail's pace. The first 7 or 8 hours could be reduced to 2 hours without losing anything. Many times, I was tempted to stop and move on to another book. Having finished the entire 20+ hours, I can't say I'm glad I finished it. The world-building is okay initially in the space station where the story begins. But when the characters get to a planet, world-building is almost non-existent. All I can tell about the new planet is it has grass and a stream. The ending was chaotic, and (for me) unfulfilling.

Then there is the narration. The reader made the story hard to listen to. He made the rigid dialog even more rigid. It was like being assaulted with spoken words.

This is not worth 20+ hours invested in listening.