I have read and listened to many of KSR’s works so was anticipating another grounded, scientific, character driven book. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed. The beginning of the book was gripping but it seemed to lose momentum; usually there are a number of recurring viewpoints but in MftF it really only focused on Frank and Mary (more on that later) with the other viewpoints being one offs or just coming back once or twice. This would be great if Mary was an engaging character but A) she really isn’t (I mean, KSR did a really good job of creating a weak waffling somewhat stupid and ineffective bureaucrat but that doesn’t mean I want to read about her the most), and also her narrator was the worst of the bunch.
I do not necessarily blame the voice actor but I do blame the direction. Because this is a very global book with lots of people from different countries there were two directions to choose: try to effectively capture the accents and voices of every character or ignore accents completely and make everything straight voice actors accent. Well, this book tries to go with the first course and unfortunately it is so bad it is distracting. Again, I do not blame the voice actors per se, being called on to do dozens of different accents inevitably is going to lead to some bad ones, but I can’t excuse it either. There is one chapter where all the organizations to help the world join a video call or something and these poor voice actors ape so many accents that it is honestly painful to listen to.
Overall I think it would be better read than as an audiobook, but it is not his strongest work. I found New York 2140 much stronger and better acted.