Dark Orbit Audiobook By Carolyn Ives Gilman cover art

Dark Orbit

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Dark Orbit

By: Carolyn Ives Gilman
Narrated by: Melanie Ewbank
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From Nebula and Hugo Award-nominated Carolyn Ives Gilman comes Dark Orbit, a compelling novel of alien contact, mystery, and murder.

Reports of a strange, new habitable world have reached the 20 Planets of human civilization. When a team of scientists is assembled to investigate, exoethnologist Sara Callicot is recruited to keep an eye on an unstable crewmate. Thora was once a member of the interplanetary elite, but since her prophetic delusions helped mobilize a revolt on Orem, she's been banished to the farthest reaches of space to minimize the risk her very presence may pose.

Upon arrival the team finds an extraordinary crystalline planet laden with dark matter. Then a crew member is murdered, and Thora mysteriously disappears. Thought to be uninhabited, the planet is in fact home to a blind, sentient species whose members navigate their world with a bizarre vocabulary and extrasensory perceptions.

Lost in the deep crevasses of the planet among these people, Thora must battle her demons and learn to comprehend the native inhabitants in order to find her crewmates and warn them of an impending danger. But her most difficult task may be persuading the crew that some powers lie beyond the boundaries of science.

©2015 Carolyn Ives Gilman (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Science Fiction First Contact Fiction Hard Science Fiction Solar System
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Which character – as performed by Melanie Ewbank – was your favorite?

The first person account in Thora's voice drove the story.

Any additional comments?

This was an interesting story of Epistemology. What is known and knowable?

Remided me of Dune with its Mind play

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What did you like best about Dark Orbit? What did you like least?

The book itself has some interesting ideas and a decent story. It bogs down a bit in places, and there is a bit too much sophomoric philosophy

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Melanie Ewbank?

Unfortunately, the narrator is pretty awful. She over-enunciates and over-emotes, frequently mispronouncing words (e.g. "solipsist" with the accent on the second syllable), and while her use of a second accent is good, there is little else to distinguish the voices of the characters.

Decent book, poor reading

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This is one of the first audible books I purchased and one of the best. But I just realized I never wrote a review. So here I am 3 years later, having read +100 audible books, mainly science fictions, and this still resonates with me. An amazing story with and equally amazing narrator. Definitely in my top 10.

I still think about it 3 years later

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As a scientist, I love it when scifi authors really GET the science their stories touch. Gilman's sussinct, insightful views into real physics and cognitive psychology are top-shelf, and her reasoned extrapolation from them are clever, original and interesting.

Dark Orbit stands apart, though, for its thoughtful use of themes from social science. Cultural appropriation, imperialism, sexual violence and prejudice all play a role in the story, but Gilman manages to handle them responsibly without being preachy. These are things that happen, even when people know about them and try to do the right thing. Gilman is more interested in exploring HOW they happen than in passing judgement.

If Star Trek's Prime Directive strikes you as absurd comic-book moralizing, Dark Orbit approaches the issues around first contact with a more professionally informed pallet of concepts. She brings in the social science in with a very Show-not-Tell kind of way, and it works wonderfully.

Irreverent respect for natural and social science

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A classic SF expedition to a distant planet gradually morphs into something magical. Full of original concepts and unexpected plot (and sub plot) twists. Really well done, giving the reader much to think about—and beautifully written. Very well read by the voice actor. Altogether much enjoyed.

Skillful and imaginative blending of genres

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