Review: The Dex Legacy

When prepping for Audio Drama Autumn, I took to exploring recommendations from friends, newsletters, and general podcatcher charts to find the podcasts I will be exploring. I wanted a range of audio drama, and decided The Dex Legacy looked interesting enough for me to sink my ears into. 

A podcast from Alternative Stories and a part of the Fable and Folley network, The Dex Lecagy is a sci-fi podcast with two complete seasons, and season three is on Kickstarter. It has full-length episodes, interludes that are essential listening, as well as bonus content all ripe for consumption. Episodes are on the shorter side, with the longest being closer to 30-40 minutes, and the interludes being even shorter.

The story follows a country enterprise known as Dex Island, a weapons manufacturing company turned independent nation on a planet far in the future. Humans have colonized, but can’t leave, and are playing out political realities reflected in “the Seed Data” from planet Earth. What does that mean? Weapons of mass destruction tear apart cities, not to mention countries. It seems like the listener is witnessing nightmare scenarios play out on this alien planet, colonized by humans for nearly two millennia. Intelligent AI, human experimentation, human morals, and more play central roles in this gripping drama. 

The main story surrounds three children, raised and experimentally developed to be elite killing machines by the top minds on Dex Island. Their adoptive father, Nathaniel Dex, the President, and his main cohort of scientists use these children to further their own political and scientific goals to no end. Isra, Varian, and Ren are elite of the elite, superhuman teenagers who have to wrangle with what their existence means to the world they inhabit. Season one is an incredible ramp-up to season two, which ends on a world-expanding cliffhanger for the listener.

This podcast is a phenomenal tale of caution, political intrigue, action, and more. It is shocking, without diving into the unecessarily obscene. This story makes the listener wonder so many things about our realities. What is colonization, social norms, and political reality like on a planet that we did not evolve on? What does that say about us, here on planet Earth? It’s an excellent reminder that while science fiction is a fun genre in the sense of possibility and adventure, it also is a glaring reflection of the human realities we, as humans, submit to others and experience ourselves.

Written by Emily Inkpen, this audio drama deservingly won a British Science Fiction Award. This is an elevated piece of audio that is an exemplar of audio in design and voice work, as well as an excellent piece of science fiction. It bundles talent, creativity, ingenuity, and insight into a free audio bundle. 

What’s more, is that this team has made all of the episodes available on YouTube with transcription. The scripts are also available to purchase with additional commentary. Overall, the website is a trove of information and updates about The Dex Legacy. I commend the team that put it together. By exploring the podcast website, I also discovered a spinoff series is in the works. I am patiently awaiting season three of The Dex Legacy and season one of Wasteland. 

As a general note, there are some moments where misophonia might be a consideration for listeners, but they are few and far between. The team for The Dex Legacy also has comprehensive lists of trigger warnings on their website. 

Website for The Dex Legacy

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