Review: The Failed Cities Monologues

Well, I'm very glad I decided to review the Parsec Awards finalists, since I probably wouldn't have listened to this podcast otherwise. This isn't the sort of story I'd normally go for, and I generally prefer drama to fiction readings, because they're more immediate and the story goes quicker! (yeh, I know - my attention span seems to be getting shorter as I get older!) Having said that, I have to say that I really enjoyed this production and will definitely be checking out other writing by this author.

The Failed Cities Monologues are "set in the dystopian future of an American metropolis divided, and told through the shifting perspectives of the characters who reside there. Eight lives. Two cities. One story." Each episode is told from the perspective of one of the characters and narrated by a different actor, with the parts fitting together to form a thriller about conspiracies and gang violence set in the future.

It is very well written with some interesting characters, although the format means that it takes a while to introduce all the characters and get into the story. The actors reading the parts are all very good (apart from Sally's appalling 'Cockney' accent) - the actors who play Sterne, Fera and Klimenko are particularly good. The use of music is good - each character has different background music which adds atmosphere, but isn't too intrusive (a pet hate of mine in audio dramas!) - as is the general sound quality.

The fomat is an ideal one for audio fiction - different characters acted by different people, but without the technical and practical difficulties of working with large crew. My one issue with this as a Parsec Award finalist is that I'm not sure it shouldn't be in the fiction story section rather than the audio drama section: my main argument is that it could easily be distributed as a book without any changes (although the actors and sound effects definitely add a lot). I do think it's a great production though and I highly recommend it!