Written & read by I G Hume
Published by: TheHeavenfield.com
Price: 0
Following on from audiogeist.com’s post last week on The Heavenfield, the gripping sci-fi thriller podiobook i stumbled across on twitter…
A team of researchers are trialing ‘The Standing point’, a technology rather like Star Trek’s teleporting technology (‘beam me up Scotty), although, it seems to beam them to a place they really have no concept of. One minute it’s a place similar to ‘Heaven’…then, for reasons we’re still trying to figure out, it’s complete Hell, topped with grotesque and very fast moving demons.
Let me first say that the listening experience of this podio was spot on. I G Hume took on personas (yes, even the women), delivering well rounded characters that I could easily imagine. I liked the quirkiness of the sharply spoken Grace Palmer, Head of Research. She’s am eccentric chain smoker, heavy drinker and keeps calling her newbie team member Tim. His name is Thomas.
Thomas Sullivan is a genuine geek, straight out of college. He’d caught the Base Commander’s attention with academic papers that pointed to genius. He stumbles into the fray of espionage, enlisted as a Theoretician, blushing and stuttering…we never really get to see the outcome of his true potential.
Hume is good at suspense. The team gets stranded in The Heavenfield after an attack on their base. Low on air, and with the hellish red (Eeooww! Dried blood!) dust eating away at their suits – they have to wait until Maunsworth house is back online before they can be ‘teleported’ home. It seems the demons and specters of The Heavenfield want to keep them there though…
When I first started listening to the Heavenfield, I envisaged a guy in his living room reading and recording his own book (a little like Daniel Bedingfield of the literary world). So saying, I’m sure I caught birds tweeting in the first episode…but this could almost be intentional, as the following episodes resulted in subtle but relevant periphery sounds that underlined the whole experience as a professional one.
On a different note, I did find the story line hard to follow. It took me a while to figure out who Alexi was, and who he was working for. Although, this could be the point of the tale if the ending is anything to go by. Um…sequel perhaps Mr. Hume?
The people he’s working for already have the technology that our team at Maunsworth house is testing, and he sets out to sabotage Standing Point, on a mission to kill Grace Palmer and especially Thomas Sullivan.
I downloaded via iTunes, and got a little confused with which version to download. I imagine the podiobooks recently been updated and spit into Book One and Book Two.
The interactive website is also well worth a visit – treats galore with artwork and t-shirts available to buy, plus biogs of all the characters.
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