CReaper210

Where is the ending?

Revisado: 05-16-21

Narrator is great, Marc Vietor is amazing in everything I've heard him in.

The story takes place maybe a few years after the main Terran Fleet Command Saga. Exact time is unclear, I'd guess no more than 5 years or so.

Basically we have a lost human colony in the wild west type era of their world and one of the Pelaran guardian AIs is here trying to subjugate the natives. It's not totally evil from his point of view, it's simply how he is implementing the Peleran 'cultivation program' where they uplift certain worlds up to specific technological stages in order for them to become powerful and further expand the influence of the Pelaran Alliance.

The book has elements if litrpg stuff, where the main character has hidden abilities that unlock as time goes on.
This personally felt incredibly out of place to me in the Terran Fleet Command series. This series has nailed things like the tactical implications of tech advantages, interspecies diplomacy, and the intricacies of uplifting and enlightening lesser advanced cultures. This book has none of this.

The main reason I'm leaving this review, however, is the ending. Or rather, the lack thereof. You have the main character talking to the bad guy, a couple other things happening at the same time. Rather large implications for the universe of Terran Fleet Command that connects to the main story. And within literally 10 minutes of this, that connection is outright CUT and no longer relevant, and without ending the story, the bad guy leaves the area, and the book just ENDS.

???
I don't even know. If an ending can ruin a book for you, don't read this. If you want a bit more background info for the Terran Fleet Command series, this book does have some of that, but even so, it's absolutely not a sequel of any kind. And as I put in my review, the one connection to the previous books that actually made me excited to get to the end, had absolutely ZERO payoff and singlehandedly took this story down another point for me.

It's very strange how average this book is considering how much I loved the main series. I feel that this story could have been much better if the author didn't feel compelled to lump it into the same universe. I totally understand why fans like other and myself could like it because it could have pulled off something really cool, but this one was a total dud.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fun, but didn't progress the story much.

Revisado: 01-14-21

The narration is amazing, as has been the case with the rest of the series with John Lee.

But after finishing this book, I don't feel satisfied like I did with most of the other books in the series. I feel that it's only really the ending itself, the last one hour or so, that really gave the readers/listeners what we came for.

Our main crew goes to a Reeh-occupied planet with humans on it and three quarters of the way through of the book they are there really doing basically nothing. Fighting with random aliens on the planet and dealing with the divided human population and learning about the history on how they got there. Interesting, but almost completely irrelevant to the main story.

And then the book is split with us getting to see the Corbi evacuation. It was cool, seeing some of how they go about doing that. But I couldn't help but feel that the whole storyline was unnecessary. It very much seemed to serve the purpose of showing Liala and how she is handling things. I would have much rather that this corbi storyline have been cut down to a few chapters, leaving out the chapters with individual corbi, and instead having added to the storyline on Qalea.

Honestly, I really did enjoy the book and the action, dialogue, politics, space battles, etc. and seeing all that stuff and how it works in this universe is always a blast to listen to. I just ended up wishing that more would have happened to progress the main story. I expect pretty much all spiral wars fans to enjoy the book either way and important things really do get revealed near the end, so it's going to be a recommendation for that if anything, but for me, this felt almost like a side story to me, even though I understand it's absolutely not.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Fast paced, progressive urban fantasy

Revisado: 08-02-20

I ended up loving this book and the series as a whole. If you like urban fantasy books where the main character is suddenly discovering his powers and growing powerful pretty quickly, this is something you'd like. It's most similar to Demon Accords and it was my searching for something similar to that that caused me to find and read this book and boy, was I happy I did.

The series is about a man, David, who is a cop in a smaller town, who finds himself being attacked by vampires. Something happens and he discovers that he's an 'empowered', which is a human who is, well, empowered. Imbued with new powers, strengths, abilities, and now knowing about the supernatural world, he's informed and asked to join a government organization that keeps the peace in face of various supernatural threats, ranging from newly turned creatures like vampires or werewolves, to awakened trolls or summoned demons.

There's lots of action and very little romance. There's a decent bit of diplomacy and politics thrown in, which I especially like when you get to see how the actual government works both within itself and when it comes to interacting with other governments, organizations, and supernatural communities.

The story wasn't perfect by any means, but it was interesting enough to keep me engaged all the way through. The best way to describe it would be very entertaining, but still fairly simplistic.

Narration was perfect. I've nothing to complain about there and Ray Porter always delivers. After seeing the interesting description, it was seeing Ray Porter as narrator that made me pull the trigger and as always, he delivers.

Overall, I loved the series. To me, there's something special about this series when it comes to that straight forwardness that, for some reason, most other fantasy series' just don't do, and I appreciate it here. The ending, without spoiling anything, left me totally satisfied and only left me wanting more. That's a win in my book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

New narrator

Revisado: 05-15-20

Mainly just wanted to say that this narrator is not the same as the one from the mainline series. I'm unsure why there was a switch, but I will say that after getting used to it, I've grown to like the narration just as much. Accents and tones end up being roughly the same and I had no trouble distinguishing between any of the characters.

I'm looking forward to seeing how many of the other characters end up being portrayed in future books. I would love to see William come back to narrate because I think he voiced Vesik pretty much perfectly, but I would also be totally fine with Erin Moon continuing the rest of the series if it comes to that.

As for the story, this book continues almost directly after the last short book and the characters are all still fighting and trying to fix everything that's going on. It was fairly straightforward and the action is cool as always, with various powers and abilities being thrown around. Spoilers prevent me from saying much more.

And while this would be obvious to many people, I will also say, don't read this book unless you've read the previous books. It's very much one continuous story, especially the shorts after book 8, which seem to be continuing one after another with multiple shifting perspectives.

Overall, great book and I'm already starting the next.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Amazing!

Revisado: 05-09-20

I love this series, and this book is just as good as I hoped it would be.

I would not recommend starting this book without reading the first two books in the series. While you could probably follow the main story fairly easily, there's a lot of very important context and story elements you would be missing out by starting here.

With that said, this book was great. It starts off with the various alien races becoming more and more ingrained into the imperial military and really becoming somewhat unified. It feels like a very real, natural progression from what we got with the first two books. The thing I loved about this book, is that while it continued the trend of showing the brotherhood that forms between all these soldiers in the military despite their many differences, it's so much more than just fighting. The previous books have all delved into the interspecies relations, politics, diplomacy, etc. as well, but this one goes even further into it, which I thought was a huge plus. I loved seeing the progression made in integrating the alien races into the predominantly human society, the choices they have to make, concessions and ramifications involved. I want more of it.

If you liked learning about the other alien races, their views of the humans, their situations within the empire, their loyalties, the politics, from any of the previous books, this book has more of that. The main character is far past the point of training, and so we get none of that here, which is a change from the previous books. The amount of action is roughly the same as in previous books and instead of the many scenes of training back when Leif first enlisted, we instead see how Lief handles the duties of being not only a much higher rank, but also a well known alien marine with followers. And my favorite parts were always when he has to deal with those things he's uncomfortable with, like diplomacy, leadership, and public speaking.

I really hope to see a fourth book, and I also hope to see even more of the type of content that this book delivered, of seeing the empire grow and to see aliens alongside humans as first class citizens.

The narration was great. Maxwell has done a great job with all the books and I was easily able to distinguish all the voices from each other.

Overall, I loved it and would highly recommend, but I would still suggest reading the books in order, just in case anyone who reads this is thinking about starting here.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Alt history with aliens!

Revisado: 05-02-20

To start, the narration was perfect. It's honestly kind of a given, Ray Porter has never disappointed for me. He nails every character and manages to make everyone sound distinct. Even going so far as to nail the voices of people like Nixon and JFK. It was incredibly impressive.

The actual story was awesome and very unique. During the space race, aliens end up showing up. And history is changed then and there. The story constantly shifts between two twin brothers. The loyal US soldier, Kyle, and his criminal brother Connor who gets into trouble. You get a bit of the prologue, with the aliens showing up and the very immediate aftermath, and then the main story which takes place just a few years later.

I thought it was really interesting to see some of how the world has advanced in that time with instead some alien tech influences as opposed to the natural progression of our real world. And even how the criminal world is changed, both in terms of how they operate and how they're pursued by the law given everything else the world now has to deal with.

The only thing that annoyed me, and it's more so just because I can completely relate to the actual experience, is the character Connor and his total, utter, complete arrogance, lack of care, discipline, or respect to anyone or anything. I hope anyone that reads this is nothing like this dude.

Great book though! I really did enjoy it immensely and I think this would absolutely be a good listen if you think District 9 + alternate cold war history sounds cool.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Firing Solution

Revisado: 02-29-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The Ixan Prophecies Trilogy is a space opera book that takes place after a devastating war between Humanity and the Ixan species. Humanity is the dominant power within the galaxy, a position that brings resentment from most of the other species due to their ability to control what's known as "dark tech", forcing those other species to rely upon them. Stuff starts happening, everyone distrusts each other, weapons are fired, lots of people die. That's the gist of it without spoilers.

I think the narration was perfect. I've listened to Mark Boyett many times before and he's eventually gotten to be one of my favorites and he doesn't disappoint here. I imagine he could make a genuinely bad book sound good. Everyone sounds different, I could always distinguish characters from each other, the quality was perfect, and he does a good job of making female voices sound feminine without sounding... exaggerated, something I find a lot of narrators do when voicing the opposite sex. I think pretty much everyone would really enjoy the narration. I particularly love his voice for the character Keyes(I believe it's the same tone he used for Wolfe in the Black Fleet trilogy).

The book itself, I would say it's great with few exceptions. I really enjoyed the story. It had multiple twists I didn't see coming, I really liked most of the characters, although I did find a few particularly annoying, dialogue was mostly good, although there were certain parts that occasionally sounded unnatural, as in it's not something that a character should be saying at that particular time. There's several scenes where two opposing factions are having a dialogue and you will often get a monologue-like moment where they're explaining what they're doing or plan on doing and it can come off as forced exposition. It sometimes felt as if the character was deliberately laying out his plans for those of us reading the book and hoping none of the other characters will ever mention how weird it is. It didn't end up becoming a huge deal for me, but it was worth mentioning.

There is also the fact that the cast is comprising of humans and many other alien species and really, most of the aliens are basically human in all but appearance. The author tried making some of them different via various physical attributes, but you find through conversations and the alternating points of view that they all think in pretty much the same way. Again, not a huge deal for me, I absolutely don't mind that kind of stuff(as long as the aliens are not humans, but blue or with pointy ears, it's fine for me), but some do prefer 'alien' aliens and this book is definitely lacking that.

All that said, it's a solid space opera with plenty of action, a bit of space politics and diplomacy, and a surprisingly large amount of character development considering the premise. I've always loved seeing the politics of the universe when I read stories like this, so seeing how the various alien governments, the human governments, and the interloping diplomacy between them are working is the most interesting to me. I actually would have loved to have seen more of that. That stuff was more of an afterthought, mostly happening in the background while we got glimpses of it every now and then.

Overall, a very solid scifi book. Space combat and character development for the crew on board the super-carrier is what you're mostly getting in this book and I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

By the books revenge story

Revisado: 10-24-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This is a world in the future where megacorporations have become so large and powerful that even the governments cannot stop them, where it's actually seemingly the companies themselves acting as the government, and occasionally even fight openly with each other at times.

The one thing I want to get out of the way first: the narration. I loved it, I think it was near flawless. I thought that some of the female characters sounded a bit too similar at times, but there was also never really a moment in the story where I could directly compare them. Apart from that, I loved the narration. The male characters in particular were very well done.

The story itself was I thought pretty good, but also barebones and fairly straight forward. The book being only 5 hours means there isn't a whole lot of time for character development. But at the same time, it skips any filler, romance, or pointless side missions that you may end up seeing in other similar, longer books. It gets straight into the actions and maintains a similar pace throughout. The main character, Marco, is something of a mercenary who works for whichever corporation is paying him, but eventually gets betrayed, causing him to seek revenge. That's the gist of the story, and there isn't a whole lot in terms of twists and turns.

If I could, I would have preferred to give the story 3 and a half stars due to the simplistic nature of the plot and what a couple times throughout felt like extremely forced exposition and background storytelling. There is one particular scene(won't spoil, but it should be obvious at the time) that I thought was far too long and seemingly existed solely to inform the readers, despite it being character dialogue.

Overall, it was a fun action book with some futuristic tech and a look at a cyberpunk world dominated by megacorps. If that sounds cool and you're fine with what is essentially a "popcorn flick" of an action book, this would probably please you.

I received this book for free and voluntarily left this review.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 38 personas

Solid.

Revisado: 08-31-19

This series is, at its core, a study and report on humanity when 'exploited' to do what we've been doing since the beginning of our civilization. Wage war.

There is the Amplitur alien species. The only known alien species capable of some form of telepathy. They use this 'gift' to 'influence' other alien species to their side to assist in fulfilling what the Amplitur deem "the purpose". The purpose being something eerily close to a religious belief, the end objective being to unite all intelligent life in the galaxy and eventually the universe. Sounds nice, until you realize the Amplitur are using their abilities to mentally 'suggest' to other species to side with them and their purpose, giving those other, lesser civilizations no choice in the matter. And if they don't get what they want through mental suggestion, then either force of arms or biological manipulation are employed. In the end, the Amplitur get what they want, regardless.

On the other side is the Weave. A federation of aliens that formed an alliance with the sole purpose of fighting off the Amplitur to retain their independence.

With that bit of background, the main premise of the series is this: Almost none of the alien species are capable of violence. To most alien societies, to be violent, is to be inherently uncivilized. The Amplitur have modified several of their recruited/allied races in order to be more capable and proficient in combat where they otherwise wouldn't be. For the Weave, it is only the Massood that are capable of fighting, and they do so reluctantly.

Enter Humanity. Looking for new allies, the Weave discover Earth and realize that humans could be a huge boon to the war effort. Evolving as predators on a deathworld and a mindset in which they seem to actually enjoy fighting.

One thing to keep in mind is that almost all of the fighting takes place on the surface of contested worlds. Space battles, while they do happen, very rarely result in the destruction of ships, as they almost always retreat to underspace to either leave the area or conduct repairs. Most efforts are spent sending soldiers to the ground in order to wrestle control of the world from the enemy, either to prevent the resources from being used by the other side, or to liberate the populations on said planet. It is a war of ideologies more than anything else, with both sides wanting to recruit allies and prevent xenocide of any kind.

Overall, I found the story enjoyable and different from what I'm used to, with the caveat that it's predictable and generic, with some admittedly cheesy dialogue at times. I absolutely loved the narrator. Every character sounded completely different and whether male or female, human or alien, they were all 100% believable.

Don't go into this expecting some amazing, flawless, and intriguing novel that makes you think. No, this is humans being recruited for war and about how the galaxy is now dealing with the one, known species that revels in it. And that's how it is all the way through.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Great

Revisado: 08-13-19

Very much enjoyed this one. This is a story about humanity, far in the future, after having taken over multiple alien species, whereas humans are among the highest 'tiers' of society and the various alien species are generally considered lesser people. But with a new leader, it has been decided to attempt to integrate these aliens and to have a single nation which just so happens to have humans and various aliens as citizens. In return for these aliens serving in the military, they are then granted citizenship, an equal to that of a human.

That's the premise. But this book, overall, is more so a story about brotherhood, about becoming a marine and standing beside your brothers in arms, regardless of color, shape, gender, or even species. It just happens to take place within a sci fi universe which I can honestly say makes it all the more interesting if you want to learn about the politics in a spacefaring empire.

The entire point of view is from a single alien, a Wyntonan named Leefe, from the very start of his recruitment all the way to having to test himself in battle alongside other humans and his own kind. He has to deal with xenophobic humans, prejudices, and even general racism both against and from his own kind. The story feels very reminiscent of what real recruitment would realistically be like in relatively modern militaries dealing with new recruits of color in a society that isn't used to it.

The story tackles quite a lot in a relatively short amount of time, but it all fit for what it was going for. What it would be like for aliens to train alongside many humans who consider them to be lesser beings.

The narrator was perfect I think. Pronunciations of alien words and names seemed fine, although I can't comment on if they were accurate to the author's intent. I could easily tell the difference between various characters and the quality sounded clear with no issues.

The dialogue did feel cheesy/cringy at times and definitely make it feel like it had some unnecessary exposition. Characters would ask weird and simple questions or otherwise commented on things that, within the universe, should be a known position/situation/answer and felt more like a way to explain something to the reader.

Apart from that, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it for two particular reasons. If you're into military stories and want to see the process of training to be a marine for a minority(for aliens of course) or if you just want a sci fi story to see how a human government and people deal with various aliens within their society, the latter of which is what pulled me in initially.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña