Legacy (The Biodome Chronicles #1) by Jesikah Sundin Narrator: Sunil Patel
Series: The Biodome Chronicles #1
Published by Forest Tales Publishing on 12-11-17
Genres: Fantasy, Science-Fiction
Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audiobookworm
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Overal Rating:
What if your life was just a game others controlled?
A sensible young nobleman and his fiery sister live in an experimental medieval village. Sealed inside this biodome since infancy, Leaf and Willow have been groomed by The Code to build a sustainable world, one devoid of Outsider interference. One that believes death will give way to life.
Their walled garden is predictable and peaceful––until the unthinkable happens.
With his dying breath, their father bequeaths a family secret, placing an invisible crown of power on Leaf's head. Grief-stricken and afraid, the siblings defy their upbringing by connecting with Fillion, a hacker who is linked to their lives in shocking ways. Their encounter launches Fillion into a battle with his own turbulent past as he rushes to decode the many secrets that bind them together––a necessity if they are all to survive.
Cultures clash when the high technology of the Anime Tech Movement collides with the Middle Ages in a quest for truth, unfolding a story rich in mystery, betrayal, and love.
Are you ready to discover what is real?
For fans of eco-dystopian fantasy and fairy tale re-tellings, The Biodome Chronicles spins the yarns of a psychological game that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!
Set in 2054, a biodome has been built twenty something years before as a sociology experiment in case something similar were going to be built in Mars. The microworld inside the biodome is similar to an epic fantasy world without technology nor any contact with the outside.
I thought the premises of this book were really interesting, and the story had, in fact, a lot of potential. But there were numerous issues with the execution, and although the book kept my interest until the end, it was just to check when the good stuff was going to come. I found the story quite confusing, and it took me some time to guess whether the people inside the dome knew anything from the world outside or not. I find it terribly unrealistic. It seems unplausible that the second generation (first born inside the dome) did not feel any curiosity for the world outside. It seems they were full aware that they were living in an artificial environment but nobody seemed to be curious about how it all worked.
It was also mentioned that the people inside the dome spoke with a British accent. I understand, that being this dome based on Larps and epic fantasy books, to make it real, they wanted to sound British, but again, I just can’t imagine how a group of people will just adopt a new accent like that. I guess it took some effort and probably spending long periods of time with British. And this takes me to the other flaw I observed. There is zero world building in this story. I wanted to know how the biodome came to be, how the people inside were trained, how they lived and how their daily routine was. It was mentioned that they lived in apartments, but there is no description about materials, stories, windows. Nothing.
I also felt disappointing the fact that I was not able to connect to any of the characters. I didn’t really understand their motivations, and their actions often did not make a lot of sense. Not only Willow seemed to be completely bipolar, it was all of them!
The rhythm of the story was quite slow and it dragged at times. There is not a lot happening for a 12 hour audiobook, and I found most of the events quite confusing.
I also struggled with the narration. Sunil Patel may have a lot of experience doing voice over, but it’s clear that this is his first audiobook. The character’s interpretations were good, but there was zero differentiation between characters’ voices. Men and women sounded all the same, and it was quite difficult to keep up during dialogs. Most of the time I had no idea who was talking. The narration was quite monotone, but the characters’ interpretations were okay. The only thing about that is that I would avoid blowing into the microphone since it’s quite annoying for the listener. The audio production was correct though. I think Patel has a lot of potential, but it would have helped to have a bit more knowledge about audiobooks. To be a good narrator you need more than a good voice and skills, you need to listen to hundreds of audiobooks.
It was a real pity. This could have been a great story and it could have been told in dozens of different ways, but the way it’s written doesn’t make it work at all for me.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Jesikah Sundin. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
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My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.
I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.
