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Ship of Theseus
Please In S., J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst conceived of a multi-layered novel-within-a-novel that involves handwritten notes in the margins and physical objects slipped between the pages. Because an audio edition is unable to recreate those innately visual pieces and thus the full experience of S., only the text of Ship of Theseus, the novel at the heart of S., has been recorded here.
Award-winning actor Graeme Malcolm reads the work of an incendiary novelist who may never have existed at all. What is Ship of Theseus, and who is its mysterious author V.M. Straka? Conceived by J.J. Abrams, director of Star Wars, and written by Doug Dorst, an award-winning novelist, Ship of Theseus is the central novel within the experience that is S., a multi-faceted narrative of love and mystery. A mystical adventure of an equally mysterious figure, Ship of Theseus is Straka's final book about a man who is struggling to discover his own identity.
Abducted onto the eponymous ship, the main character is swept into a story that spans oceans and ports, mountains and caves, capitals and citadels. Two things sustain his lifelong search for his love, Sola; and the infernal purpose of the ship and its crew. Equal parts Kafka and Lovecraft, Ship of Theseus is both a frightening adventure and a philosophical treasure hunt.
Award-winning actor Graeme Malcolm reads the work of an incendiary novelist who may never have existed at all. What is Ship of Theseus, and who is its mysterious author V.M. Straka? Conceived by J.J. Abrams, director of Star Wars, and written by Doug Dorst, an award-winning novelist, Ship of Theseus is the central novel within the experience that is S., a multi-faceted narrative of love and mystery. A mystical adventure of an equally mysterious figure, Ship of Theseus is Straka's final book about a man who is struggling to discover his own identity.
Abducted onto the eponymous ship, the main character is swept into a story that spans oceans and ports, mountains and caves, capitals and citadels. Two things sustain his lifelong search for his love, Sola; and the infernal purpose of the ship and its crew. Equal parts Kafka and Lovecraft, Ship of Theseus is both a frightening adventure and a philosophical treasure hunt.
Audible Audio
Published November 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 14, 2025
I'm in the subset of readers who didn't understand the genius of this book. I really liked and was drawn to the idea of a story within a story that is riddled with puzzles to decipher and unravel. However, the execution of this premise didn't work for me.
Part of this is probably my own failing in understanding the nuances and greater meaning behind the Ship of Theseus theory. Whatever the case, I didn't jive with this book, which is like 3 stories in one.
First story: Is the tale of S. His story is inside the fictional book Ship of Theseus, written by V.M. Straka. S is a man with amnesia who is drawn into a world of shadowy figures and dangerous individuals while searching for answers to his past. This sounds intriguing, yes? But it wasn't. It was boring, and I barely recall S's story because my mind wandered every time I stepped into his world.
Second story: Is the tale of two readers, Eric and Jen, who pass the ex-library book, Ship Of Theseus (S's story), back and forth. The two bond over the mystery of the author of that book, V.M. Straka. Letters, post cards, and articles are inserted between the pages, all of which add and are clues to help unravel the mystery.
I didn't finish Jen and Eric's tale. I wanted to. It sounded really cute, and I had heard a romance blooms through the margins of the book, but I had several issues with how this section was executed.
The idea of reading notes written into the margins of the borrowed library book was a great premise. However, most of the notes they wrote to each other were boring and hard to read.
The notes are handwritten in different colored ink. I'm a forty-year-old housewife, so my eyes aren't that great anymore. Most of the handwritten scribbles were a chore to read because the size of the writing was tiny for my middle-aged, glasses-wearing eyes. But even if the scribbles were just a bit larger, they were still boring. Granted, I only got to about page 30 of margin-reading, so maybe those scribbles got more engaging. I don't know. Up to page 30, the scribbles are mainly trying to unravel the mystery of V.M. Straka, which wasn't very interesting to me.
The third story: Is the mystery of V.M. Straka. Who is this enigmatic person? This is where the letters, postcards, and Jen and Eric's musings and theories come in. We, the readers, are supposed to take all the information we gathered from the first two stories to unravel the big picture mystery of V.M. Straka.
Well, obviously, I didn't unravel that little tid bit since I gave up on Jen and Eric.
I really wanted to love and get lost in this puzzle of a tale. I wanted to riddle out all the clues, but I couldn't get invested. The prose was dry and difficult to immerse myself in, and I absolutely did not care to uncover the mystery of V.M. Straka.
Part of this is probably my own failing in understanding the nuances and greater meaning behind the Ship of Theseus theory. Whatever the case, I didn't jive with this book, which is like 3 stories in one.
First story: Is the tale of S. His story is inside the fictional book Ship of Theseus, written by V.M. Straka. S is a man with amnesia who is drawn into a world of shadowy figures and dangerous individuals while searching for answers to his past. This sounds intriguing, yes? But it wasn't. It was boring, and I barely recall S's story because my mind wandered every time I stepped into his world.
Second story: Is the tale of two readers, Eric and Jen, who pass the ex-library book, Ship Of Theseus (S's story), back and forth. The two bond over the mystery of the author of that book, V.M. Straka. Letters, post cards, and articles are inserted between the pages, all of which add and are clues to help unravel the mystery.
I didn't finish Jen and Eric's tale. I wanted to. It sounded really cute, and I had heard a romance blooms through the margins of the book, but I had several issues with how this section was executed.
The idea of reading notes written into the margins of the borrowed library book was a great premise. However, most of the notes they wrote to each other were boring and hard to read.
The notes are handwritten in different colored ink. I'm a forty-year-old housewife, so my eyes aren't that great anymore. Most of the handwritten scribbles were a chore to read because the size of the writing was tiny for my middle-aged, glasses-wearing eyes. But even if the scribbles were just a bit larger, they were still boring. Granted, I only got to about page 30 of margin-reading, so maybe those scribbles got more engaging. I don't know. Up to page 30, the scribbles are mainly trying to unravel the mystery of V.M. Straka, which wasn't very interesting to me.
The third story: Is the mystery of V.M. Straka. Who is this enigmatic person? This is where the letters, postcards, and Jen and Eric's musings and theories come in. We, the readers, are supposed to take all the information we gathered from the first two stories to unravel the big picture mystery of V.M. Straka.
Well, obviously, I didn't unravel that little tid bit since I gave up on Jen and Eric.
I really wanted to love and get lost in this puzzle of a tale. I wanted to riddle out all the clues, but I couldn't get invested. The prose was dry and difficult to immerse myself in, and I absolutely did not care to uncover the mystery of V.M. Straka.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2025
This audiobook only has the base book in it so next I’ll read the annotations. I just really didn’t like this base book. Pretty much left with a ton of questions and no answers. The real question is whether I trust JJ Abram’s to give us any answers there… *stares in LOST trauma*
December 24, 2025
I listened to the audiobook of the book (not annotated) and it literally took me a year to finish it because it was mind numbing boring… the only reason I finished it was because I want to read the annotations / other parts of the book S.
March 16, 2024
Really cool concept and really well done! Definitely pretty confusing I’m not 100% sure I get what happened but I loved reading it a lot.
November 29, 2025
This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Such a unique concept. I had a lot of fun reading it!
May 10, 2024
🤯😍
Me ha encantado. Más que un libro es una experiencia, me encontré absolutamente sumergida por la historia (tanto la novela como las notas de E. y J.)
Una maravilla
Me ha encantado. Más que un libro es una experiencia, me encontré absolutamente sumergida por la historia (tanto la novela como las notas de E. y J.)
Una maravilla
September 1, 2025
Per some of the websites/blogs I looked up regarding the best way to read S., I went with the suggestion to listen to Ship of Theseus as an audiobook first, to get the novel's full story before diving into the marginalia.
My review/rating for this will be updated after I finish working my way through the entirety of S., and I actually have the full picture.
I will say that Graeme Malcolm is a wonderful narrator.
---
Update (about one month later): I think I'm ultimately going to give this portion of the story 3 stars. It's a crucial part of the story, and I noticed a few reviews of S. where people skipped it entirely. This is a bad idea. You really do need to read Ship of Theseus to have a clear grasp of the VM Straka mystery, because there are too many parallels between what happens in the novel, and what Jen and Eric ultimate discover was happening in Straka and FXC's lives.
My review/rating for this will be updated after I finish working my way through the entirety of S., and I actually have the full picture.
I will say that Graeme Malcolm is a wonderful narrator.
---
Update (about one month later): I think I'm ultimately going to give this portion of the story 3 stars. It's a crucial part of the story, and I noticed a few reviews of S. where people skipped it entirely. This is a bad idea. You really do need to read Ship of Theseus to have a clear grasp of the VM Straka mystery, because there are too many parallels between what happens in the novel, and what Jen and Eric ultimate discover was happening in Straka and FXC's lives.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews