Saturn's Monsters

by Thomas K. Carpenter, Amy Deuchler (Narrator)

Listening Length: 3 hours and 32 minutes

Cassia Vici is on a one-way trip to Saturn—to help humanity reach the stars.

A towering genius who'd already solved the problem of death by making memory recording possible, Cassia leads a team of scientists and problem-solvers to a station floating in the harsh winds of Saturn. Their mission: to grow interstellar ships using nanobots in the planet's material-rich environment. She called them "monsters" to help sell the project to a skeptical public. Little did she know how prophetic that name would become.

But an unexpected death seeds doubt among the team, putting the mission in jeopardy. As her team struggles to save the future, Cassia is haunted by her past—a wife and daughter who died in the very technology that made mind recording possible. With time running out, Cassia and her crew will need one final miracle to build the monsters that could become both their savior—and their doom.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Novella, Artificial Intelligence, Queer, LGBT

Audible Audio

Published April 1, 2021

About the author

Thomas K. Carpenter is a full time contemporary fantasy author with over 70 independently published titles. His bestselling, multi-series universe, The Hundred Halls, has over 43 books and counting. His stories focus on fantastic families, magical academies, and epic adventures. All the books can be found at major retailers and directly from the author at https://thomaskcarpenter.com/.

You can sign up for his newsletter at https://www.subscribepage.com/trialso...
When he is not writing, he enjoys playing turn-based strategy games and MTG, skiing, hiking, traveling, and chilling on the couch with his wife and their little dog, Merlin, at home in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't often care for sci-fi, but this story has interest and is short.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's hard to quantify, but I settled on four stars because the audio performer did a great job, even when the narrative was making me angry.

The core frustration came from "hyper-competent people making suddenly short-sighted/selfish choices" for the most part, but the actual SF plot was fascinating and I really, really enjoyed that: the idea of "growing" space-ships out of the diamond rains of Saturn was fascinating, as was the re-implanting memories into clones plot (which was why these people all were willing to go to Saturn where they'd slowly die of radiation poisoning, then just "upload" and be reborn thereafter). The ending turned into a bit of an action-thriller, and I struggled a bit with the "family matters!" vibe, but overall, I did like the up-turn at the end, and some of the hints of "what would naturally come next." I did like the casual queerness—if felt like a pretty solid future where most of the intolerances had more-or-less faded—and while Cassie, the main character, was hard to enjoy a lot of the time (she's selfish, occasionally cruel, and definitely short-sighted multiple times), the cast of characters around her were pretty solid (beyond that "sudden short-sighted/selfish choices" thing).

So, I do think I recommend it, but maybe go in knowing that most of the problems and conflicts in the plot will be because these incredibly talented and intelligent human beings made really foolish choices.

[Mike Finn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, the good things first:

This novella is bursting with interesting ideas.

I was engaged by the concept of growing huge generation ships in Saturn's atmosphere (although horrified that the price was that the scientists carrying out the work would slowly die of radiation poisoning - image having to factor rate of project member physical decline and expected date of death in the resource plan of your project!)

I liked how the technology for recording human memories was described and the discussion about whether we are more than and or different from the sum of our memories.

I enjoyed the way the story was constantly but subtly linked to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, from the names given to the ships, to the use of lightning to power bringing the 'monster' ships to life, through to creating monstrous versions of the people we love by using fractured versions of their recorded memories to 'bring them back'.

This was a nicely done audiobook with first-rate narration and great sound quality.

Now on to why my reaction to this book went from 'This is entertaining' to 'That's a shame' to 'Seriously? This is your ending?'

This audio novella is three and a half hours long, making it the perfect length for my wife and me to listen to as we did a long boring drive on some of Britain's most crowded motorways.

It started well, pushing me straight into the action as our heroine, Cassie, woke from suspended animation. I didn't know who she was, where she was or why she was there. Those questions were quickly answered and I settled down to listen to a nice piece of Hard Science Fiction in a bizarre setting.

The science and technology pieces worked well. They were novel enough to be intriguing and familiar enough for me to be able to keep up. The physical aspects of being on a station in an inimical atmosphere where the storms never stop and every one of them is lethal were very well done. I could see everything clearly in my imagination.

Sadly, the people weren't as well realised. It wasn't that they were cardboard cut-outs. it was better done than that. It was more that I never really got inside the heads of any of the team that Cassie was working with. The initial descriptions worked but there wasn't the depth to make me care about what happened to any of them (even though the narrator gave them distinctive voices and did her best to fill them out).

The only person I got to know in any depth was Cassia Vici. At first, I didn't like her much, which was OK. I don't need to like the main character, I just need to make an emotional connection with them. After a while though, I stopped believing in her. On the one hand, she was someone who saw the people around her as vessels for the exercise of her will, extensions of her own capability, tools to be maintained with care and used with precision. On the other hand, she was constantly being distracted from her objective by emotional trauma. Yeah, that could be made to work but I don't think it worked here. The result was that, by the time the lives of various crew members, including Cassie, were at stake, I didn't care that much about what happened to them.

I was still engaged with how the technology problems might be solved and whether the crew would find a way of salvaging the mission. The answers were interesting and were revealed at a pace that meant I could almost see them coming but was waiting to see if I was right.

Then we got to the ending and I lost all patience with the book. To me, the ending felt mushy. It was sentimental wish-fulfilment stuff that, while not quite giving a happy ending, diminished the sting and therefore the value of the sacrifices that had been made. But bear in mind that I'm an atheist. I don't believe in happy endings. Just endings.

[Phillip Krzeminski · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads more like “reality TV in space” than “science fiction.” The basic premises of the book make very little sense, and it seems like the author is confusing Saturn and Jupiter, vis-à-vis radiation levels. Not to mention, if they managed to get into Saturns atmosphere (a big enough problem) they would probably be protected. We are not all dying every two years from Earth’s Van Allen belts, and they are higher energy in KeV/MeV than Saturn’s, if I remember correctly. They could have been on a one way trip for much simpler reasons: no fuel, no gravity assist from Jupiter, harder to fly towards the sun than away, etc. Speaking of a one way trip - why would they send a bunch of people out to Saturn to try and figure out how to build these ships while dying? Why spend billions or trillions on something that they haven’t even figured out yet? Most of that work could have happened on EARTH. Hell, if they have the technology to build a station in Saturns atmosphere and transfer human consciousness, they could probably do all the R&D on Earth and have remote robots do the testing and labor on Saturn.

Science gripes aside, this novel stretches the bounds of believability in characterization as well. Every character is apparently a super genius in their field but they are also all acting like a bunch of horny teens, all sleeping with each other non stop. No wonder they didn’t get any work done. Supposedly chosen for their emotional intelligence and maturity, most of the book deals with them pissing each other off and sleeping with each other. Apparently the med tech is a drug addict but also “the best person for the job” - there are 7 billion people on earth, I’m sure you could find somebody else. That liability would never pass muster.

Also, the team leader/protagonist is basically deranged and would have never been allowed to go into space in the first place. Honestly she is pretty in likable in general. Responsible for her wife’s death, threatens to ruin her first hookups life/career by claiming she relapsed on drugs, taking insane risks with AI, etc.

But worst of all, this book falls into a modern literary trap that I find more and more common these days - the whole plot is driven by character stupidity. Everything that happens only occurs because this supposedly hyper competent group of people make every stupid decision possible.

It’s a shame- there are some cool ideas buried in here: the reincarnation technology and the moral and spiritual dilemmas presented were probably the most interesting part of the book. I kind of wish the book was just about that technology and the creator’s struggle to bring back her wife.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool concept, bad execution. The characters had exactly two modes: 'stressed-out scientist' and 'horny undergrads', except the main character, she occasionally switched out the scientist bit for 'ingenius leader'. These poor characters, apparently they have no other hobbies or off-time activities besides sleeping with each other.

Then the conversations the characters would have with each other, it was hamfisted world-building. "Hey, forgettable secondary character, remember how this thing we're doing is super controversial but it totally isn't because the rest of humanity's just super backwards and doesn't understand and lobbyists are the worst."

It's a shame such a cool concept was wasted here.

[Vakaris the Nosferatu · Rating 3 out of 5]

all reviews in one place: night mode reading ; skaitom nakties rezimu

My Opinion: Another great story with poor execution. The entire plot was superb, and unique, from, in a sense, grown spaceships, how’s that done, to human error in everything. And the cost of it all, both monetary, and otherwise. Issues in the book come in through character writing the most, their dullness, this great lack of motives that aren’t shallow, for a reader who just has no bonds with them, nor the time to make any, makes the tragedy surrounded them – fall flat.

[Ab · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[May LeadStone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely more of a dive into Science Fiction than I have done before and I’m glad I did! The intensity of the situations the author puts the characters through had me unable to put down as I NEEDED to know what happened next!! The story flows is great, the arcs were well written, but I wish there was a bit more to it! I wanted to explore more deep space adventure and this had the bonus of thriller aspect to the story line. Science v Man v Environment, how could this not be a recipe for a great adventure.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this on audible! Very much enjoyed the narration 5/5 stars!

Plot setup: A team of specialists aim to grow sentient ships in the atmosphere of Saturn. Their aim is to enable humanity to traverse the stars beyond earth’s solar system. Technology to download a person’s awareness into a clone body is the promised salvation for the team sent on this otherwise one way trip. The reader is left to consider if consciousness is tied to your original body. Problems arise due to a clash of agendas in the team’s members. The head of the project is a queer woman hiding her struggle with grief over the loss of her partner and child.

Enjoyable short with a very interesting concept (man, I love sentient ships/space whales!) and it could have been expanded to a very enjoyable novel. The cast of characters did not have a chance to be deeply fleshed out, which would have added a lot of emotional engagement. Main character is hard to relate to as well, which can be fine, but I never felt convinced that I should care about anyone.

I had misgivings due to some complaints on Amazon.com which is why I am sharing my own review. I was wary of supposed explicitly sexual situations and/or orgies. I’m not sure why people take issue with indications of sexual relationships between crew mates - possibly some readers are uncomfortable with a queer pairing? Nothing sexual is explicit and the described connections help drive the sense of loneliness & need for connection of the crew within this crushing existence.

I would have preferred more of a descent into madness vs the continued desperate gauntlet for survival. The story is super ripe for literal or perceived ghosts. The ending seemed too neat and tidy for me, personally.

[Allan van der Heiden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a rather slow tedious book that ramps up to be quite interesting for about the last 40 minutes of reading. Could of been an even shorter story and there are so many sub plots that don’t get explained/explored.

[Jeremy Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent sci-fi plot ruined by bad characterization.

[Lynda Engler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cassia is on a one-way trip to Saturn—to help humanity reach the stars. This woman with 7 PhDs is heading up a team to grow interstellar spaceships (the "monsters") in Saturn's atmosphere. It's a one-way trip because the scientists there will all die of cancer from the radiation, eventually. But before they die, they will upload their consciousness and send the recordings home, to be reanimated in a clone body. So they won't really die... maybe. Perhaps those new people won't really be them.

But Cassia is haunted by the untimely death of her wife and 9 year old child. She keeps trying to create a pieced-together version of their consciousness from her own memories, so she can bring them back. But she fails each time.

The concept of this short story was a good one. but the characters were undeveloped, other than Cassia, and their lives aboard the Saturn research station seem to consist of nothing but work and sex, creating a very one-sided view of a workplace.

Plot and narration both get ⭐⭐⭐ stars. But if you are looking for a quick audiobooks, it's 3.5 hours, which coming off the book hangover I had from The Space Between World's, was the perfect way to spend a few hours of my day.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like an episode I once saw of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Nine episodes required character development and that meant time... more time than one could spend on a novella like this one. So my main complaint is that I wish it had been a full length novel. That would have given me more time to understand the characters... most of whom I liked.

The story: Actually the publisher's description was pretty accurate without giving away any big spoilers. I don't know how to add more to it without giving it all away.

Any modesty issues? Sex was casual and partners joined together while knowing that their relationship could not last. They all seemed resigned to that fact. Nothing was described in any detail.

The ending was emotional and I almost cried.

Would I listen to this audiobook again? It seems unlikely. This sort of subject, or at least the way it was handled here, was not my cup of tea.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise of this story. A scientist has figured out a way to grow interstellar spaceships in the atmosphere of Saturn, but, as you might suspect, there are a few problems to be dealt with along the way. First, the scientists who run the project in Saturn’s atmosphere will all die because of the damage done to their bodies by the radiation in Saturn. Second, the ships keep taking a nose dive before they finish growing. But the biggest problem is that the head scientist, who goes to Saturn to figure out how to save the problem, has gone insane with grief over the loss of her partner and their child. There’s lot of pain in this story as people struggle to make their deaths mean something to the human race. I thought the ending was predictable, but still enjoyable.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another fairly short story about a group of scientists orbiting Saturn in an attempt to create living ships (monsters) large enough to ferry humanity away from the dying Earth so our civilization may continue. The scientists all know that radiation from Saturn is slowly killing them, so the job they are performing is a suicide mission of a sort. Technology has advanced enough to where you can record your life and memories onto a chip (for lack of a better word) which can be placed in a new body so no one really ever dies. But are you the same person if you are in a different body. And who is sabotaging the experiments, which are on an extremely tight schedule, and why? Decent sci-fi story.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella-length sci fi story about memory recording and space flight. There were some concepts which could have been great (one-way mission with downloading of mind at the end and restoration to a clean body on Earth meant radiation/cancer/etc. risk was acceptable, but there were psychological issues as the bodies degraded), but it failed to execute most of them very well, and there was a gratuitous amount of sex and interpersonal rivalry on an ostensibly professional crew. Pretty solidly in the "Space Opera" genre, rather than the hard sci-fi which I prefer.

[Josh Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be a little silly. The concept behind it was interesting but didn’t really grab me like I would have hoped. I never grew to like any of the characters and they were all forgettable to me. I feel as though this could have been better if it was a lot longer so it could really go in to the relationships and the lore.

I almost quit reading this multiple times throughout the story but decided to stick through and see how it ends. While the ending was interesting it all just fell flat because I wasn’t invested.

[Big Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh... I just couldn't really get into this story. I liked the part about transferring a persons intelligence between one body to another, but I'm not even sure how that worked since there wasn't much detail. Were the bodies created in a lab? Were the bodies from dead people that didn't sustain damage during death? Anyway, the whole story is vague. If the monsters are large than how did the almost last scene happen with one inside? The only thing we know for sure is that they are grown. And the ending? Too convenient.

[Kevin Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rough and forced beginning. The middle was more smooth and engaging, but the end felt stitched together. With a Frankenstein's monster analogy, there were several missed opportunities for delving into the meaning and implications of being, and human nature. A shallow focus on the liberal sex lives of the characters was a distraction, and the portrayal of relationships unconvincing. Very interesting idea, very promising premise, quick and moderately entertaining, but lots of unfulfilled potential.

[Ignacio Bautista · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is interesting enough. Characters are very cliche. Technical details are severely lacking.

The human stories are there. I wish there was more background on the characters and more back story on earth.

For the person who wrote a review saying there was too much sex... wtf is wrong with u?
There was virtually no sex. Either that person is trolling or that person is a virgin from the 1450s

Anyway. It’s not a bad story. Parts of it read like a bad sci fi movie script. But those are few enough that didn’t take much away from the experience.

:)

[Vojtěch Tatra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science, philosophy and sex. Strange combination Interesting philosophical and scientific questions and sexual orgy.. Bit like a script for some a B class film. The narration was a bit blunt (like that general from Starcraft II Coop Valiant mission) - 3 stars for that separately. 5 Stars for the general human mind/AI ideas, 3 for the relationships on the station and authors writing which concludes 3.5-4 stars for me overall.

[Khristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the beginning was dreadful. It just felt very fake and contrived. About halfway through, I started liking the characters better and the story and the science became more interesting. That is why I gave it three stars instead of two. I wish more of the book what explored living on the station and the science. Additionally, tons of mileage could’ve been derived from how the monsters got their consciousness.

[Brittany Darr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good sci-fi story that was quick and not super difficult to follow along with. Not a good set up to this story, it just plops you into it without any buildup, so it took me a few tries to even start this book. After I got into the second section it was smooth and understandable. Was going to just rank it 3 stars but the ending was very sweet and gave Cassia the best of both worlds, had to bump it up a star.

[Matthew Chaloux · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. It’s not really about the science fiction of the place and location, but it does what its point is well enough (the story of the main character and how she is broken and feels like the monster).

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t really connect with or connect to the characters. I also found certain aspects implausible. Like how the main character could be an expert both at understanding memory structure and be the leader of an expedition growing organic spaceships.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a short audio book, and good for a road trip. The narrator used every stereotype in the voices of the scientists, but how else were you to tell them apart? The story was okay, aside from the fact that everyone had an agenda and a secret.

[Rob McFarren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. A super interesting premise but I hate to say it but the supposed protagonist's motivations came across.almost villainous in my opinion. I wanted to know where the story went, but it just fell slightly flat in the motivations and decisions of the characters.

[Ryan Lawler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hrrmmm. Big ideas and fantastic imagery let down by an overly melodramatic story and dull characters. The premise is a science team is attempting to grow living spaceships in Saturn's atmosphere. The problem is humans are dumb and their screw-ups take attention away from the cool ideas.

[Ryan Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has it all. Lesbians in space in trouble, talking about drugs and uploading themselves and past loved ones into AI. It wasn't for me. It might be for you.

[Arryanna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wild ride. Interesting and exhilarating.