The Actual Star Audiobook By Monica Byrne cover art

The Actual Star

A Novel

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The Actual Star

By: Monica Byrne
Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos, Kareem Ferguson, Gisela Chipe
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David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler's Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) spins a brilliant multigenerational saga spanning two thousand years, from the collapse of the ancient Maya to a far-future utopia on the brink of civil war.

The Actual Star takes listeners on a journey over thousands of years and six continents—collapsing three separate timelines into one cave in the Belizean jungle.

An epic saga of three reincarnated souls, this novel demonstrates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, love and hate. The book jumps forward and backward in time among a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics in a conflict that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

In each era, age-old questions about existence and belonging and identity converge deep underground. Because only in complete darkness can one truly see the stars.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Monica Byrne (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Alternate History Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary Science Fiction

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Intricate Storytelling • Well-researched History • Superlative Vocal Talent • Distinct Character Voices
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It took some time to get into it with the jumping around, but it was good. And then it ended. It didn't seem like an end. It didn't make much sense. Maybe I'm to empirically minded to get it.

maybe I'm daft, but I did not get how it ended

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masterpiece is the best word I can come. it ties together 3 different epochs past present and future as if they were intimately connected through the timeless non-western mythos of the mayan worldview and calendar

masterpiece time spanning epic

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I don’t know what this is but I’m gonna listen again before I reestablish time and space

Friggin weird

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The three eras of this book were so well delivered by the voices of three artists. Their characterizations did honor to this excellently crafted novel by Monica Byrne. I read the book first, then listed to this audio book with my spouse.

Best Audio Book So Far

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Rich, provocative and fully realized. It was a slow start for me, but I really into it a third way through, leaving me with a lot of deeply mined themes to reflect on.

Echoes of Cloud Atlas

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Wow. I'm not sure how to describe this book. Science fiction braided with anthropology, told through 3 story lines: ancient, present day, and future Maya. The stories seem unrelated and unique, but each have a thread, theme, or phrase that ties them together, often through time and space. I have never ready anything like this, it was incredible!

Notes: some of the themes are a bit graphic (cw: self harm, sex)

Incredibly creative, still processing

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I don't have enough words for how impressed I am by this book. The author interweaves three epochs - a Mayan past, a contemporary present set in 2012, and a far future in 3012. Every voice, every character, every detail was so distinct. The world-building of the future was wonderfully done. I wish I could sit down with someone and talk it all through because there was so much to absorb and enjoy. It was a little hard to get into the future sequences at the start because there is a heavy mix of Spanish - which I don't know - and made-up words, which I think all would be easier to understand in print. I let that wash past me and over time I picked up more. I was so glad I didn't let that stop me because the world she envisions offers so much to consider. I marvel at the author's creativity. I'll definitely be re-reading in print so I can pick up what I missed in the audio version and savor all the details. The narrators are fantastic. They each have to voice multiple parts and do it expertly. There's a lot of humor in the book and the narration let that come through in ways I really appreciated. I will say that the book comes with a trigger warning about cutting. There are entire hours of narration where cutting isn't an issue, or at most a passing reference, but there are some scenes that could be upsetting. I had a couple of moments where I had to jump ahead 15 or 30 seconds because it was too much for me to listen, but that was enough. It was the same as though maybe in a written book, there might be a couple of pages a reader has to skim due to personal squeamishness.

Another comment - I think this book is categorized as science fiction, but people who don't usually like science fiction shouldn't let that discourage them. The science fiction element is just the vision of what the future could be. Really the book is a literary masterwork on humanity, spirituality, and the ties that bind us. I hope this review encourages someone to read the book! It truly is extraordinary.

A Masterpiece

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structurally gorgeous story. keeps you hooked start to finish. every detail matters and is woven together masterfully
the performance is excellent
highly entertaining and engrossing

stunning story telling, transcendant

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The story is so strange and yet fairly easy to follow. I read a review before I preordered this that described it as where Cloud Atlas and Parable of the Sower meet. I can definitely see those elements but it’s not doing this book justice. I really enjoyed the world of the uninhibited teen girl, we are given so much room to get to know her and appreciate her. I also enjoyed the detail given in going through the “routine” of the cave tours in Belize. I would have loved more detail about how the future timeline operates but maybe it was just enough information. In conclusion, highly recommended!

Fantastic

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The Actual Star is a well performed epic of religion, mysticism and indigenous culture.
Spanning 2000 years of history, in vignettes from the year 1012, 2012 and 3012, the book traces the track from Mayan royalty to the transcendence of consciousness 2000 years later from a religion inadvertently started by a modern 2012 woman on a trip back to partially Mayan roots. Replete with highly researched ancient culture, modern commentary on the struggles of central American indigenous culture in the modern error, and believable future technologically-connected but post-apocalyptic culture and science.

As I heard this on audio-book, the performance was key to maintaining the believably. Each chapter starting out with both Mayan and modern dates helps set the transition from the three eras, but I imagine a READING of the book might be hard to follow, at least for me. I HIGHLY recommend that you get the audio-book as the performances of the vocal talent is superlative and worth it in itself.

There are the necessary modern warnings of disturbing themes (blood letting through self-cutting being one) but I found this much less disturbing than the androgynous confusion of love and physical sex in the future through genetic engineering. Not necessary to the plot, it left me feeling more preached at than enlighten or drawn along with the story. Some of the climate-change/anti-capitalistic themes also seemed preachy and one-dimensional.

But, while making the book a bit longer than perhaps needed, the story idea, story arc, and story-telling is extremely well done. The author has a talent for details of the ancient Maya culture that is fascinating in itself and sure to open the readers mind to new anthropological ideas. The detailed thoughts of ancient Maya royalty is believable and entertaining. The sacrificial rituals and descriptions are sometimes graphic, but necessarily so to tie the story together. And the character development draws you in to each.

This will spur me to read Ms. Byrne's prior work and for me to be looking forward to her next. That is probably the best compliment I can give an author.

The Arc of Religion, mysticism and culture

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