
Hard to Be a God
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Narrated by:
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Matt Addis
About this listen
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are widely known as the greatest Russian writers of science fiction, and their 1964 novel Hard to Be a God is considered one of the greatest of their works.
It tells the story of Don Rumata, who is sent from Earth to the medieval kingdom of Arkanar with instructions to observe and to influence, but never to directly interfere. Masquerading as an arrogant nobleman, a dueler and a brawler, Don Rumata is never defeated but can never kill. With his doubt and compassion, and his deep love for a local girl named Kira, Rumata wants to save the kingdom from the machinations of Don Reba, the First Minister to the king. But given his orders, what role can he play?
Hard to Be a God has inspired a computer role-playing game and two movies, including Aleksei German’s long-awaited swan song. Yet until now the only English version (out of print for over thirty years) was based on a German translation, and was full of errors, infelicities, and misunderstandings. This new edition—translated by Olena Bormashenko, whose translation of the authors’ Roadside Picnic has received widespread acclaim, and supplemented with a new foreword by Hari Kunzru and an afterword by Boris Strugatsky, both of which supply much-needed context—reintroduces one of the most profound Soviet-era novels to an eager audience.
©1964 Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (P)2024 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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The Snail on the Slope
- By: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko - translator
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The Snail on the Slope takes place in two distinct worlds. One is the Administration, an institution run by a surreal, Kafkaesque bureaucracy whose aim is to govern the forest below. The other is the Forest, a place of fear, weird creatures, primitive people, and violence. Peretz, who works at the Administration, wants to visit the Forest. Candide crashed in the Forest years ago and wants to return to the Administration. Their journeys are surprising and strange, and listeners are left to puzzle out the mysteries of these foreign environments.
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What insanity must feel like
- By Matt on 01-10-19
By: Arkady Strugatsky, and others
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The Waves Extinguish the Wind
- By: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Daniels Umanovskis - translator
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In their Noon Universe novels, they imagined twenty-second-century Earth as a space-faring communist utopia, devoted to guiding the progress of civilization on alien worlds. But as the authors became increasingly disillusioned with life in the Soviet Union, their Noon Universe stories grew darker and more complex as well. The Waves Extinguish the Wind provides the epic conclusion to the Noon Universe saga, as eighty-nine-year-old Maxim Kammerer looks back at his most earth-shattering investigation, which brought an entire era of human civilization to an end.
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A first and unfamiliar experience
- By Markmaster on 11-16-23
By: Arkady Strugatsky, and others
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A Prayer to Saint Strelok
- A Tale from the Exclusion Zone
- By: Patrick Todoroff
- Narrated by: Charles Allin Cromer
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Zone guide Yuri Bonyev escorts three scientists to an uncharted sector in the Zone chasing rumors of an old military bunker. Not everyone is who they appear to be, and Yuri learns perhaps some secrets are better left buried.
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loved it!
- By Jon W. Kellogg on 05-22-23
By: Patrick Todoroff
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His Master's Voice
- By: Stanislaw Lem
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A witty and inventive satire of "men of science" and their thinking, as a team of scientists races to decode a mysterious message from space. "I had the feeling that I was standing at the cradle of a new mythology. A last will and testament...we as the posthumous heirs of Them...."
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Excelent and entertaining
- By Jakub on 01-10-12
By: Stanislaw Lem
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A Fire Upon the Deep
- By: Vernor Vinge
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.
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What a wild, wacky, awesome book!
- By Noah Smith on 06-20-10
By: Vernor Vinge
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Lord of Light
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.
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How could a performance be so wrong?
- By 1st World Problems on 05-29-22
By: Roger Zelazny
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Solaris
- The Definitive Edition
- By: Stanislaw Lem, Bill Johnston - translator
- Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available - just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it. To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation - complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani ( Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation.
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A comment on negative reviews
- By Burns on 09-20-11
By: Stanislaw Lem, and others
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The Master and Margarita
- By: Mikhail Bulgakov
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The Devil comes to Moscow, but he isn't all bad; Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multi-layered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy, The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.
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Satisfying Satanic Satire
- By Jacob on 12-06-11
By: Mikhail Bulgakov
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Jane and Dan at the End of the World
- By: Colleen Oakley
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Jane and Dan have been married for nineteen years, but Jane isn’t sure they’re going to make it to twenty. The mother of two feels unneeded by her teenagers, and her writing career has screeched to an unsuccessful halt. Her one published novel sold under five hundred copies. Worse? She’s pretty sure Dan is cheating on her. When the couple goes to the renowned upscale restaurant La Fin du Monde to celebrate their anniversary, Jane thinks it’s as good a place as any to tell Dan she wants a divorce.
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Stupendously Stupid
- By Mike B. on 04-06-25
By: Colleen Oakley
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Pilgrim
- A Medieval Horror
- By: Mitchell Lüthi
- Narrated by: Alan Turton
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in 12th-century Jerusalem, Pilgrim follows the treacherous journey of a German knight and his companions as they return home after seven arduous years battling for God in the Holy Land. Within this sprawling tale lies a tapestry of medieval horror, intertwining history and folklore, encompassing both a metaphysical and literal odyssey.
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An even greater story than I had hoped for
- By RandyMarsh on 09-13-24
By: Mitchell Lüthi
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First Contact
- Eclipsed Evolution: Phase 1
- By: Kim Harrison
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Renee Caisson knows there are worse things than an attractive man in uniform drafting her into a secret government project—especially when Major Jackson makes it clear that he isn’t bothered by her questionable past. But when her labs come back with decidedly odd results, the Major is forced to come clean over who the government is actually studying. Renee is shocked to learn her subjects are demonic-looking beings who call themselves “Neighbors”—refugees from a dying world, who arrived during the nation-wide solar eclipse.
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Great new story!
- By Jess702 on 04-12-24
By: Kim Harrison
What listeners say about Hard to Be a God
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Steve R
- 10-04-24
An interesting read
over all interesting Soviet era "Yankee in King Arthurs Court", the same translator as the version of Roadside Picnic I read which was A+. Overall the story is fine but leaves something to be desired.
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- HonestOpin
- 06-18-24
Outstanding!
Outstanding story! Spectacular narration! Much to ponder. Sheds much light on the 2013 Russian movie Hard to be a God.
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- Tristen
- 04-28-24
A fantastic read!
I finished it in three days, and it was only because I wanted the story to last. The ending may not be to everyone's liking, but I thought it was perfect. The meta-knowledge the observers have is incredibly compelling.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-21-25
Solid book but not as good as Roadside Picnic
I felt that the themes and symbolism in this were not as elegantly portrayed as in Roadside Picnic, the Strugatsky’s best book in my opinion. At times the references were a bit too “in your face” and repetitive such that they felt clunky and pulled me out of the story. I guess that this was partly due to the translation of this version, as the english version is translated from the german version, not from the original text. Nevertheless, I like the concept of the story but felt like it was not written as well as Roadside Picnic, possibly it was rushed out the door.
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