The Coming Race


Read by Maire Rhode

(4.3 stars; 52 reviews)

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803-1873) was an English novelist, poet, playright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night." .

The Coming Race drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the birth of the science fiction genre. Unquestionably, its story of a subterranean race of men waiting to reclaim the surface is one of the first science fiction novels. The novel centres on a young, independently wealthy traveler (the narrator), who accidentally finds his way into a subterranean world occupied by beings who seem to resemble angels, who call themselves Vril-ya. The hero soon discovers that they are descendants of an antediluvian civilisation who live in networks of subterranean caverns linked by tunnels. The narrator suggests that in time, the Vril-ya will run out of habitable spaces underground and will start claiming the surface of the earth, destroying mankind in the process, if necessary. (Summary compiled from Wikipedia) (6 hr 55 min)

Chapters

Chapters 01-02 13:19 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 03-04 7:58 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 05-06 26:49 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 07-08 20:16 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 09 27:16 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 10-11 18:15 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 12 21:31 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 13-14 14:16 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 15 27:03 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 16 29:59 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 17 32:10 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 18 22:48 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 19-20 14:11 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 21 10:22 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 22 16:44 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 23- 24 28:17 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 25-Part 1 22:32 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 25-Part 2 19:54 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 26 18:19 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapters 27-28 13:53 Read by Maire Rhode
Chapter 29 9:57 Read by Maire Rhode

Reviews

a subterranean utpoia (sorta)


(5 stars)

A Hollow Earth science fiction-y story by Edward "It was a dark and stormy night" Bulwer-Lytton. A fair plot made much more entertaining through a great reading from Maire Rhode. Ya Librivox!


(5 stars)

what a great book, could of.been written yesterday. a true story me thinks

Dry book somehow


(0 stars)

I am not giving this book a rating, just a review because I could not finish this book. The storyline seemed very dry, the hero fell down a hole and encountered some beings who learned his language by manipulating his mind somehow. That's about the farthest I got, it just didn't pick up and I lost interest in it. I think it just wasn't my type of hype. The reader was excellent, however, and I would not discourage anyone from giving it a try, it just didn't capture MY attention. :-)


(4.5 stars)

Quite good It's still hard to believe that this book helped bring about SciFi. It could have been written in the last few years it's that good.

Citizens of Earth need to Listen


(5 stars)

To be honest, this is the best book written from a time of 1871, to hear now in 2024. I hope but fear that in the coming decades this knowledge this information will cease to exist, if we can only insure that this information never ceases to exist one Human of the Upperworld can only hope!

oh you pretty thing


(5 stars)

I have heard about this book for years before finally getting a copy. Then I remembered Librivox! The book arrived and is getting sent as a present, whilst Maire Rhode was my guide to the underworld. I think her warming voice makes the subject matter slightly more settling. Thank you, Marie.

an interesting story


(4 stars)

It is a good story well read but it should have been shorter ~ all the description of the structure of the language slowed it down. HG Wells or Jules Verne would have made it a bit more thrilling I think.

Good but boring


(5 stars)

A huge portion of this book is exposition. There is hardly any story at all, but, it is worth listening to, especially for those interested in the Occult forces.