Truth of the Divine Audiobook By Lindsay Ellis cover art

Truth of the Divine

A Novel

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Truth of the Divine

By: Lindsay Ellis
Narrated by: Abigail Thorn, Kaveh Taherian, Stephanie Willis
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PLEASE NOTE: An earlier version of this audiobook had chapters out of order, but this error has been corrected.

Truth of the Divine is the latest alternate-history first-contact novel in the Noumena series from the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestselling author Lindsay Ellis.

The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?

Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.

Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.

With a voice completely her own, Lindsay Ellis deepens her realistic exploration of the reality of a planet faced with the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence, probing the essential questions of humanity and decency, and the boundaries of the human mind.

While asking the question of what constitutes a “person,” Ellis also examines what makes a monster.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

©2021 Lindsay Ellis (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
Fantasy First Contact Science Fiction Emotionally Gripping Tearjerking Exciting Thriller & Suspense Scary

Continue the series

Apostles of Mercy Audiobook By Lindsay Ellis cover art
Apostles of Mercy By: Lindsay Ellis
Compelling Characters • Thought-provoking Themes • Emotional Depth • Unique Premise • Engaging Plot

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Hard to listen to in some passages as Cora's actor does almost too good job of portraying panic attacks and mental breakdowns. dont recomend if trying to relax after a stressful day.
the actor for kaveh was the opposite, some chapters were well read and expressed emotion, usually those involving his family and the passages spoken in I assume farsi? but others were way too casual, almost like he was reading the newspaper and trying to speed read through it at that. the recording quality for his sections was also noticeably poorer. You can hear an echo at times and what seemed like a last minute edit that was thrown in in one section (it seemed like it was an editors note to address a plot hole).

if you liked the first audio book and want to continue the story I would probably recomend the printed version over the audio book unless you really want to hear the agonized screams of the character vs just imagining them yourself.

good story, but probably should have got the book

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This story is very solid and dense speculation on what would happen if aliens were reals and what would happen if they became known to the public: a complete and very plausible shit show with white supremacists breaking havoc.
The sci-fi aspect takes a back seat with quite less novelty from the aliens, but that's the intent. The strength of the book is combining both a personal arc for the protagonists and the systemic discussion about rights and politics.
Cora has now a new ally in Kaveh, that offers the second PoV of the story and is the true protagonist here, being both more proactive and resourceful of a 21 yo college dropout with PTSD, and offers a more honest representation of "human aliens."
My only qualm is very technical because the narrator for Kaveh used a microphone of lower quality and sometimes the volumes wobble.
There's also a sentence where the filters used for alien voices are applied to human dialogue and it's pretty funny.
Ah right, now the narrators don't have to speak like a crappy synthesizer when an alien talks but a filter is applied. Smart move.
I've enjoyed it less than the first because there was less alien novelty, but still very engaging and emotional.

What if Aliens were real?

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Story of this second book focuses a lot on the political aftermath of book 1. In that regard it feels grounded, very real.
I love the sci-fi ideas presented, how the aliens are different that other stories.
I love the characters. The MC is obviously going through... a lot. However the rest of the cast provides enough different viewpoints to keep things interesting.

One negative tho, is that it's hard to sleep listening to this as I do with most books. The subject matter and performance have kept me up on a few nights.

Lovie It.

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The good: If you liked The Three-Body Problem series, you'll probably like this book. The stakes are intensely personal in the forefront, while being existential in the background. The aliens are cool, and unique, and very much stand out in the genre (except maybe with the simiarity to The Three-Body Problem). The philosophical questions being asked are genuinely compelling. This is good sci-fi.

The bad: This book can be quite uncomfortable to listen to at times. It's a book about difficult personal issues, and the choice to use multiple point-of-view characters can make this portrayal (while still well-written) very difficult to listen to.

Very Good Sci-Fi, Deeply Uncomfortable at Times

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Overall I liked the book a lot, will absolutely read the third book. That said, this middle chapter feels a little odd. Very different than the first book, adds a lot more interesting lore and world-building but doesn't resolve much by the end.

If you liked the first book, then I would assume you'd like this second book. If you weren't sure, maybe worth waiting until book 3 comes out.

An interesting premise that is well written

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