Good prose but is it sci-fi

I listened because it won the Booker prize. It’s a deep human/geological meandering through thoughts and observations that take place on the ISS. No story as such to care about and characters were incidental to the documentary presentation of what can be seen.
Nice prose in places, but only a few very tenuous links to science. As it’s won a prize maybe there’s more to it and it’s just not for me.

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Beautifully written

I found the narration let this down. The prose itself is lyrical, imaginative and in places profound. She brilliantly creates the astronaut’s world for us. I’m not surprised it won the Booker (though I much prefer James myself) but I think the audio version is a disappointment.

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Original and surprisingly entertaining

I don’t usually like books that don’t have a strong central narrative, but Orbital kept me engaged throughout. There were characters and thoughts on top of amazing language and description. The narration was good. Just right.

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poetic style, hard sci-fi, good background for work, clear narration

ignore other negative reviews above average in every stake, listen to the sample, it's a good story for work, detailed, but no important story elements are missed if you get distracted for a minute, I could listen to this many times over

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Simply magnificent

This is so different to everything else out there, it’s beautiful and awe inspiring. I will read this over and over.

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Beautiful Writing

I purchased the audiobook after the winner was announced. Not really knowing what to expect….I was captivated by the writing. I don’t know how a narrator is chosen for an audiobook but Sarah Naudi was perfect…for me it was an unputdownable listen.

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A PROFOUND NOVEL.

A slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space—not towards the moon or the vast unknown, but around our planet. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour.
This is a rich, beautiful and lyrical novel. I listened to it over a two day period and I am about to listen to it again. This is not a conventional novel as regards to plot, it is more of a profound meditation on our place in the expanse of the universe. That is not to say that it is preachy or dull, on the contrary it is a work that will stay in your imagination for a long time after you have listened. Sarah Naudi's performance is faultless and the subtle accent led characterisations are captured well. I cannot praise this novel enough.

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Redundant

From the start to the end, the author recycles the same mantra over and over. The Earth and it's problems seems big when you're on it and insignificant when you're not. This isn't as impactful or as enlightening as what I think the author was trying to convey. It's a simple message told simply.

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Dull

Either too big or too small the book just never hits the scale at which you care. it's timely, sure, but is that all? BE prepared for a lot of placenames listed and an over romantic ideal of the world which misses all the messy realness. it's all a bit too polished, where is all the space junk.

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Short & beautiful

Gorgeous prose.. linking terra with space through the eyes of the astronauts .. loved the narration.. best book for a while

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