The Ultimate Weapon
John Wood Campbell Jr. and John Wood Campbell, Jr.
Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
The star Mira was unpredictably variable. Sometimes it was blazing, brilliant and hot. Other times it was oddly dim, cool, shedding little warmth on its many planets. Gresth Gkae, leader of the Mirans, was seeking a better star, one to which his "people" could migrate. That star had to be steady, reliable, with a good planetary system. And in his astronomical searching, he found Sol.
With hundreds of ships, each larger than whole Terrestrial spaceports, and traveling faster than the speed of light, the Mirans set out to move in to Solar regions and take over.
And on Earth there was nothing which would be capable of beating off this incredible armada—until Buck Kendall stumbled upon THE ULTIMATE WEAPON.
(Introduction by John W. Campbell) (3 hr 39 min)
Chapters
01 - Chapter 01 | 19:13 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
02 - Chapter 02 | 15:16 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
03 - Chapter 03 | 12:21 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
04 - Chapter 04 | 15:35 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
05 - Chapter 05 | 13:58 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
06 - Chapter 06 | 10:20 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
07 - Chapter 07 | 27:55 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
08 - Chapter 08 | 23:19 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
09 - Chapter 09 | 22:50 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
10 - Chapter 10 | 15:05 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
11 - Chapter 11 | 22:26 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
12 - Chapter 12 | 17:55 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
13 - Epilogue | 3:08 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
Reviews
Richard Kilmer's monotonous story time
A LibriVox Listener
This book started out fairly entertaining, however I couldn't get past chapter 7 due to Richard Kilmer's monotonous reading style. He has a great voice, but it's that of a flat radio broadcaster reporting the weather. At the end of EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE is a tone drop. There is zero excitement or feeling in his voice and it made the book not worth listening to. It's hard to get into the excitement of a scifi book when it's read by a droning disconnected voice.
Very entertaining
A LibriVox Listener
I really didn't have very high hopes for this book. The science was interestingly far fetched and very engaging. Very satisfied. And the narrator was great.
Perfectly captures the essence of Campbell
Eric
Campbell is a wonderful author, and Richard Kilmer’s method of reading perfectly captures the clinically-detached writing style that runs throughout much of Campbell’s work. His voice is clear, and he doesn’t stumble over the vast array of techno-jargon involved. It would be great to get this kind of treatment for the Don A. Stuart stories, when they eventually enter public domain.
very enjoyable read
A LibriVox Listener
This story was excellently read. The story itself is entertaining in the style of old us vs. them sci-fi. It is a bit lacking in compelling and realistic characters and the science is questionable even for sci-fi. Still a fun read that can get the blood flowing.
good story but hard to listen to
Phil Duffy
An interesting story, which does get very technical at some points. But it is ruined by the monotone reading! I know it's all volunteers but it takes all context and interest out so I can't do another book read by the same author
Unknown
Good old fashioned impossible science fiction, spoiled by a reader who makes a sentence out of each phrase. Hard to listen to, for sure. a good reader could make this a completely different story! The reader has a great voice, by the way- he is just a poor reader.
yawn
Rhoda W
I listened to this with my son. He found it more interesting than I did. The similes, metaphors and exclamations were painful. I wouldn't have finished the book, but my son wanted to find out how it ended. In the end, neither of us were impressed.
Turf War
Frankie Davis
Beautiful narration... story was very interesting. There was not one woman in the entire story, needless to say zero relationship. Very technical, I think the story as a whole might relate more to males, but I enjoyed it just the same.