Tag Archives: 4.5 stars

Apr 21 2017

AudioBook Review – TFS Ingenuity

Taking a little break from some other audiobooks, this was a nice one. 🙂 and I look forward to more.
TFS Ingenuity: The Terran Fleet Command Saga, Book 1 | [Tori L. Harris]
TFS Ingenuity: The Terran Fleet Command Saga, Book 1
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 4/18/17

“Not too bad”

I picked this up last week, needing a break from some of the LitRPG I’ve been listening too and this sounded pretty interesting.

I always like following Jeffery around, usually not too disappointed. But, I have to say this one was a little bit of a letdown. Only in story mind you, not his narration, can’t ever fault the effort he puts in.

I think what bothered me was the length of this as much as the fact there was a great deal of information, backstory and other things that lead towards the sort of climax of the story and then into the possibility of a next book. I think there were lots of places that story was almost skimmed over, where I’d have liked to get to know some of the smaller details, the conversations and the actions that this huge world and writer could have explored.

Maybe walking us through some more about the tech advancements would have also helped. I love science in my story but also want to feel it fits right, I defo wanted more here too.

I did really think the characters were developed enough, I felt for them in all their situations, and even for the aliens that were visiting and fighting to help Earth. As for who is what and on whose side, I’m still not 100% sure. There’s so much to ask and to hope we get some answers for. I’m very interested in the next book, so I’ll look for it now, or keep my eye on Jeffery.

I do also think length wise this is a lot of set up for the rest of the series, and that this is a long-standing story that might well span a lot of books. So I might forgive this a little more.

Thanks for bringing me new writers and to the writer for the new worlds. 🙂

Jan 26 2017

AudioBook Review – Roak

AudioBook Boom was exciting this week, as there were 3 SciFi which I was alotted 🙂

If anyone wishes to sign up, in exchange for some honest reviews this is the best way ever to discover new talent both in authors and narrators.

https://audiobookboom.com/

So, the last couple of days I’ve been listening to Roak.

Here’s my review.

— — — — — —

Roak: Galactic Bounty Hunter | [Jake Bible]
Roak: Galactic Bounty Hunter
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 26/01/17

“Dark, moody and brilliant.”

I have to admit I was a little nervous coming into this one right from the start. It promised a lot of action and tension!

There were some great descriptions of the setting and of Roak. His character was blatant. Pay me or you’ll suffer. But, when he was the one left suffering I was unsure as to what he was physically capable of.

Roak, is one of those characters you love to hate. He lives by simple rules and he does everything he can to keep on, keeping on. It takes a while to realise that he’s not actually a bad man, he’s just set in his ways, and does his job. Along his journey to get ‘paid’ Roak comes across some really cool characters. Some that you’ll feel so sorry for and others you’ll love to get their comeuppance.

Andrew, has just the right tone for this novel, deep, gritty and he totally has the right voices to pull off the different aliens along the way too. In his performance there was such humour, and I really enjoyed both the writing and acting. Great job.

I think my only quibble was I just wanted more, haha so I went to look for more work by Jake, 🙂 and I do hope that Andrew gets to narrate some more.

I was given this book by the author/narrator without obligation for review via audiobook boom.

Jan 17 2017

AudioBook Review – Star Divide

Really great to be back with the Athena and the Boxan to see where this great SciFi was going to take me.

Review as follows –

Star Divide: Ascension, Book 2 | [Ken Lozito]
Star Divide: Ascension, Book 2
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 1/17/17

“Excellent second book!”

I was lucky to stop by and see Jeff Hays new releases because I didn’t know these were out! haha, it was nice to be back so soon with the crew of the Athena, and to see how and what was going to happen to them in their dire situation. From Michael trapped on Pluto to the crew now in an unknown galaxy.

The character development is really good, I enjoyed the little menage a la 4 that’s been going on, even though we know that Kayleigh and Zack are meant to be with each other, it seems that they’re just not going to get that right just yet. Katy is a wonderful gal and does Zack a load of good by being nice to him, I do wonder though if it’s going to go south it will just end up with Katy and Hicks being hurt. 😦 and that sucks these two are really nice characters.

As for all the alien stuff, it takes off after the first book and the speed and action doesn’t really get chance to let up. There’s one thing after the other for the crew, and my heart was literally in my throat for most of the read through. What I really love about this is it’s not quite your typical alien invasion ‘we must destroy Earth’ of course no doubt they’re on the way to doing so, but this is more exploration gone wrong with fallible characters you grow to love.

Jeff of course is an excellent narrator, his tone and voices really make this pop out. And it was a great listen while driving. I can’t wait to get the next book on. Thank you to you both. This is an excellent series. 🙂

Jan 11 2017

AudioBook Review – Delverrs LLC

Following Jeff, I picked this up while spending most of my credits this month! haha

Excellent AudioBook – Well worth a listen, especially if you’re fond of the LitRPG genre. This happened to be my first, it won’t be my last.

Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus | [Blaise Corvin]
Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 11/01/17

“First LitRPG listen”

When you like a narrator you do tend to find books and genre’s you’ve never listened to before, so this was a first for me. I did used to game a lot when I was younger but I’m a bit out of touch now.

The story had a great sense of humour from the get go. Our two Mc’s are transported to another world and meet the God – Dolos. Who through his intentions brings out the sarcastic unbelievability of our human nature. He doesn’t appear much, but he has a good role. There were some POV shifts that didn’t gel with me at first, but once I got used to it, it was much easier to follow, it could well be that this is an audiobook and not me reading it where the confusion lies…

I hadn’t known what to expect from the plot, and I hoped that it would entertain, yes it did. There were some really great points and then some low ones. I did find that although the Mc’s were almost 30 and older, that their mindsets were that of much younger guys, for me in their 20’s either that or their teenage male hormones just kick in at stupid times and especially around the women of the planet. I would like to think guys a little more mature didn’t act like these two in some situations. Their reactions in most situations are quite normal, even if they’re accepting to their new situation a little too easy, but as explained theres reasons for that.

In relation to the two ‘ladies’ they come across, I think that both of them ending up in a relationship with the two Mc’s is a little too good to be true and feels a little more like hero worship and entrapment of some kind, at least to me.

Of course, I can’t fault the performance, Jeff really brings the best to the table and he’s always going to make something amazing. As an audiobook I listened til just before Chapter 15 before I the writing actually pulled me out the story. As I’m new to the genre, I’m not 100% sure on how switching POV’s so late in the story is acceptable, but I guess it is.

Marine’s pov here didn’t do anything for me, and I have to be honest. As a script writer and juggler of multiple POV’s they’re important for me to be early on in a story. I can only think that and the same goes for the other POV’s that sneak in now and then.

There were two pretty important big battles in here, and the most important for me is the fight against Thod obviously, and this is a really great scene. Almost wanted the book to end soon after, I honestly am not sure that the dungeon scene later measures up to it.

Overall, I had some fun, laughed and routed for the Mc’s in their quest. I know I’m not quite the target market, and that shows in the way I perceived some of the plot points. I do think this is a good book and that people of all generations and those who love both Fantasy, Scifi and this newer genre will enjoy.

I look forward to more from Jeff and Blaise. Thanks for the entertainment. 🙂

Dec 9 2016

AudioBook Review – Silicon World

I had the great opportunity to finish this trio off. And I was very happy with the twists, and characters, although not tied together unless you count just AI’s and super twisting plots.

Review as follows, if you’ve something to spare, and want a good few hours worth of story telling, this is a bargain!

Silicon World: Man vs. Machine: 3 Book Bundle | [William Massa]
Silicon World: Man vs. Machine: 3 Book Bundle
UNABRIDGED
Reviewed: 12/9/16

I was excited to get the last in the series on this, and it didn’t disappoint. It was great to re-listen to these amazing stories.

Silicon Dawn

The whole story didn’t linger, it started off fast paced and didn’t let up. I am not a ‘drawn’ out person and it held my attention from start to finish and it held my attention throughout. It wasn’t something I wanted to put down, although, during my day, I have to. I get to listen in 30 min sections.
What I enjoyed the most, was the fact that even though there are many AI stories, and some are very similar in nature. This didn’t follow the ‘plan’ I first envisioned. I’m an avid reader, of both scripts and stories, and listening to this was great.
There were quite a few to be fair. And Adam’s realisation’s came with great consequences, the fact that he could and would have jumped into the crusher to save his partner, and the fact that Tera basically had been lied to and abused all her life. There were huge decisions going on as Adam processed all these.
I think everyone will be glad when Adam isn’t dead. We all think Tera’s killed him off. It was both written well and narrated well. Just enough emotion, sadness and then joy when we switch chapters and into Adam’s POV inside the police computer.
Considering I’m not a ‘cop’ kinda girl and thriller stories really aren’t my thing either, this was well executed. I would defo listen to more from both the writer and narrator.
I did buy this the other day and hadn’t expected to get through it so quick. I kinda wished it had been longer, because I’d only just started to get into it, and then it was over.
Although the story itself didn’t warrant being any longer, perhaps I just hoped there was more for the pair, then I went to look and I guess there is, as this is book 1. So now I’m happy.
Thanks for the ride, I’ll be back! lol

Silicon Man –

Thoughts as follows and some SPOILERS

I was interested to follow this series and see what happens next. Or with whom I’m kinda glad that we got new characters to enjoy. Though it was a little predictive, (hence the mark down) I still enjoyed the performance from Joe and got involved with all the characters.

Cole Marcellus, is a cop with a terrible past, he’s dedicated to his cause and wants to stop all AI from hurting others, or running away.

There are some very interesting facts given very early on in this story. The Alsatian. The procedure for the upload… (which I have to say had me cringe over anyway, I mean uploading to a mechanical body… if this were possible… and it got out, how many ‘people’ would want to do just that. Doesn’t bare thinking on. However it does seed doubt in your mind from the get go.

So when AI cole is out and on his mission he gets to see some really awful ways that humans abuse the AI’s, and it’s kinda sad. The AI that rescues the cat is great, cause I am sure Cole was going to do it otherwise. But I do agree with him Cole should have let the enforcer zap him, he got in a whole lot of trouble. haha but saying that he wouldn’t have got to the underground as quick otherwise.

In regards to the whole underground and getting Solace. I honestly thought this whole section of the story was way to quick. Really stupid, no QT period or checks, or well it was just that, too quick and stupid on their part. And for me listening to it, I was shaking my head all the way through.

I did love Kira, and her background with Ron, that was well interspersed. When the Tak Team came in and they broke the underground up again another thing that was a little too predictive was the fact that Cole was still human and AI cole was never going to get back to his body.

The realisation for him though was well played. Even down to Zora putting in a safety memory wipe.

Solace was also one that was never going to get out of AI tak’s grips. I think for me what let me down here wasn’t the fact that I knew it was coming, but if there had been that little bit more build up with Cole and him (not just that one conversation) then it might have felt harsher in my ears, I might have gotten to know him and care for him. When they find him as a blank, I’m pretty indifferent to his story. Even if he’s been this huge hero for everyone, he kinda wasn’t for me.

The ending was pretty awesome, Joe added a depth to the excitement with the tone and pitch of his voice. Human against machine, brilliant and so so glad that Human Cole went back to see to Janson.

So much scope for this world, and the series. I’m still a fan, but sometimes slower is better with the story 🙂

Waiting on the next instalment!

Crossing the Darkness.

This was a shorter piece, and not really interactive with the others, but it held the same ideas and style of characters. This I enjoyed, along with William Massa’s usual traits, it was well written and very thought provoking. I could imagine the characters, and I was really routeing for Faith, she wanted everything to be so much better. She never imagined what she would wake up to. As a wide read and listened reviewer I found all of these stories very refreshing, thought engaging, and real. They make you think on so many different levels, that sometimes it really hurt.

Joe’s narration sets all these stories off to an amazing start, from the get fo there’s feeling, inflection, and character traits that you learn to love through each story. What Joe puts into each person is something second to none. And I have him very high on my narrators to follow list. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed in these tales.

I think really my only quibble was the length of the last story, of course, it sets of the set, but I thought and felt there could have been more from the writer on this. That it just didn’t quite satisfy me in as much as I got to know the characters, the story unfolded with a few twists, and it left me satisfied, but still like I needed more.

Overall this is a set I’d highly recommend, because of the content throughout and the narrator. I look forward to more from these two, I know they are a great pair.

🙂