• The Armies of Those I Love

  • By: Ken Liu
  • Narrated by: Auliʻi Cravalho
  • Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (1,737 ratings)

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The Armies of Those I Love  By  cover art

The Armies of Those I Love

By: Ken Liu
Narrated by: Auliʻi Cravalho
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Publisher's summary

For Franny, the end of everything is just the beginning of her adventure. The world as we know it is no more. Cities are mobile. Electricity is rare. Reading is a relic of the past. After an explosive encounter with a mysterious stranger, Franny, a 14-year-old orphan girl, embarks on an epic quest to find the mysterious pilots who steer the cities, hoping that if she finds them, she will get answers about her family's past - and the world's future.

The Armies of Those I Love is a brilliant vision of the future from Hugo, Locus, and Nebula award-winning author Ken Liu, author of such sci-fi classics as The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and translator of the global best seller The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu.

©2020 Ken Liu (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.

Audible Questionnaire with Auli'i Cravalho

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About the Creator

Ken Liu is an American author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, as well as top genre honors in Japan, Spain, and France, among other places. Ken’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers play the role of wizards. His debut collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. He also wrote the Star Wars novel The Legends of Luke Skywalker. He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work. The most recent projects include “The Message,” under development by 21 Laps and FilmNation Entertainment; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, which Craig Silverstein will executive produce, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories by Liu. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Liu frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, the mathematics of origami, and other subjects of his expertise. Liu is also the translator for Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem, Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing,” and Chen Qiufan’s Waste Tide, as well as the editor of Invisible Planets and Broken Stars, anthologies of contemporary Chinese science fiction. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.

About the Performer

An actress and singer, Auli'i Cravalho was only 14 years old when she was cast as the lead in Walt Disney Animation Studios’s worldwide hit film Moana. Since then, Cravalho has traveled the world promoting Moana and flawlessly sang the Oscar-nominated song How Far I’ll Go live at the Academy Awards. She is known for her role as Lilette Suarez in the NBC drama Rise. She sang The Star-Spangled Banner for the annual National Memorial Day Concert on PBS and is a contributing author in America Ferrera’s book American Like Me. Time magazine named her one of the 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017.

What listeners say about The Armies of Those I Love

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Not For Me

I tried listening to this short story twice but I could not get into it. I don’t know if it’s the soft, monotoned narration or the story. In any event, I found The Armies of Those I Love to be boring, at best.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I loved this story so much

This is one of the most interesting and unusual stories I've ever heard. The character Francis is incredibly brave and I was in awe of her ability to persevere through her ugly, uncaring world while remembering the lessons she'd been so lovingly taught. I'll admit I look for odd books with uncommon stories and this one certainly fits. I'd recommend it to anyone willing to read something that's not already on the best-selling list. I'll never forget this girl, this world, or Ken Lui.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

spooky

a creepy and grotesque post apocalyptic story. the hopelessness is pervasive. not sure I would have read it if I had known how depressing it was.

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16 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Thums down on this one.

Could not finish the story. Did not hold me. Will not recommed to anyone. Not good.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable

I'm a big fan of short scifi stories. The book did not disappoint. While we could all say the whole "humans are greedy and finally destroyed/mostly destroyed themselves" is a bit of a trope of a starter plotline... it allows new world builds to discuss human bonds and ethics. Liu did a great job creating that world and Auli'i's voice is always enjoyable.

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful words within a disturbing story

I slowed down the story to .9 and then to .8 speed in order to savor every word. I was enthralled listening to words that were so beautifully strung together and yet were juxtaposed to such a dismal and horrific vision of our future.

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10 people found this helpful

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Very enjoyable

Really enjoyed the story although for some of the more “out there” new terminology, you have to just relax and roll with it. Generally a very engaging short story. Also enjoyed the narration although I’ve seen some remarks indicating others have not. I found the whole thing very engaging.

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9 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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DON'T bother

This book tries to come off as philosophical but ends up just being a bunch of rambling words.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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what's going on

the reader just reads. the story needs a glossary. I like the idea of the story but it just does work for me.

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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nope

Does the narrator have sinus problems? Terrible. :(
Couldn't concentrate on any plot listening to someone talk without a nose.

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5 people found this helpful