Sign In Join Now
User Accessibility
  • Increase Font

  • Invert Colours

Search for a Book Browse Books Menu
The Hydrogen Sonata Cover Play Sample

Sample may contain unsuitable content.

Open Audiobook

Audiobook streaming provided by:

OverDrive Logo

Share this book:

The Hydrogen Sonata

AuthorIain Banks

NarratorPeter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 10

Duration17h

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy

PublisherLittle, Brown

VersionUnabridged

  Save to Wish List
  Add to Favourites List

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilisation. An ancient people, organised on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilisations: they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilisation are likely to prove its most perilous.

0 (0 Reviews)
0
0
0
0
0

Related Titles

Rivers of London Book 8: False Value Cover

Rivers of London Book 8: False Value

Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Rivers of London Book 8: False Value

Author Ben Aaronovitch

Narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

SeriesRivers of London, Book 8

Duration 11h 11m

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood and an uncertain future with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with ‚migr‚ Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand-new London start-up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must le...

View Book
Inversions Cover

Inversions

Author: Iain M. Banks

Inversions

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 6

Duration 11h 27m

In the winter palace, the King's new physician has more enemies than she realises. But then she also has more defences than even her most hardened adversaries could imagine. In another palace, far across the mountains, sits the regicidal Protector General. His chief bodyguard also has enemies to worry about, with the threat of treachery and assassi...

View Book
The Witcher Book 3: Baptism of Fire Cover

The Witcher Book 3: Baptism of Fire

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

The Witcher Book 3: Baptism of Fire

Author Andrzej Sapkowski

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Witcher, Book 3

Duration 11h 58m

The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup and, in the uproar, Geralt was seriously injured. The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times. But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he ha...

View Book
Excession Cover

Excession

Author: Iain M. Banks

Excession

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 5

Duration 15h 55m

Two and a half millennia ago in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe, the artifact appeared. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared. Now it is back. Diplomat Genar-Hofoen of Special Circumstances is sent to investigate but, sidetracked by an old flame and the s...

View Book
Use of Weapons Cover

Use of Weapons

Author: Iain M. Banks

Use of Weapons

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 3

Duration 13h 29m

The man known as Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action. Though the woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and aided his stratospheric rise, she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone Ska­ffen-A...

View Book
Matter Cover

Matter

Author: Iain M. Banks

Matter

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Toby Longworth

SeriesThe Culture, Book 8

Duration 5h 33m

The intricate structure of a Shellworld - an arti­ficial planet of spheres-within-spheres - is matched only by the machinations of its inhabitants. On the eighth sphere of Sursamen, a man witnesses the murder of his father and flees, searching for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother, this means a life lived un...

View Book
Surface Detail Cover

Surface Detail

Author: Iain M. Banks

Surface Detail

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 9

Duration 20h 23m

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre. The "War in Heaven", a simulated war game, rages between civilisations. Its virt...

View Book
The Player of Games Cover

The Player of Games

Author: Iain M. Banks

The Player of Games

Author Iain M. Banks

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Culture, Book 2

Duration 11h 27m

The Culture - a utopian human-machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many expert Game Players, and one of the greatest is Jernau Morat Gurgeh. He is Master of every board, computer and strategy - he is The Player of Games. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the cruel and incredibly wealthy Empire of Azad to try their infamous game . . . a gam...

View Book
The Witcher Book 6: Seasons of Storms Cover

The Witcher Book 6: Seasons of Storms

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

The Witcher Book 6: Seasons of Storms

Author Andrzej Sapkowski

Narrator Peter Kenny

SeriesThe Witcher, Book 6

Duration 11h 45m

Geralt. The witcher whose mission is to protect ordinary people from the monsters created with magic. A mutant who has the task of killing unnatural beings. He uses a magical sign, potions and the pride of every witcher - two swords, steel and silver. But what would happen if Geralt lost his weapons? Andrzej Sapkowski returns to his most popular he...

View Book
Night Rebel Book 2: Wicked Bite Cover

Night Rebel Book 2: Wicked Bite

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Night Rebel Book 2: Wicked Bite

Author Jeaniene Frost

Narrator Tavia Gilbert

SeriesNight Rebel, Book 2

Duration 9h

In the newest Night Rebel novel, set in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress world, beautiful, daring vampire Veritas risks all to protect Ian... Some promises are meant to be broken... Veritas spent most of her life as a vampire Law Guardian. Now, she's about to break every rule by secretly hunting down the dark souls...

View Book