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  • Lunar Discovery

  • Discovery Series, Book 1
  • By: Salvador Mercer
  • Narrated by: Mark Boyett
  • Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (566 ratings)
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Lunar Discovery cover art

Lunar Discovery

By: Salvador Mercer
Narrated by: Mark Boyett
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Summary

What lies on the dark side of the moon could change the course of humanity forever.

When a Chinese rover discovers an alien technology on the dark side of the moon, it is up to Richard "Rock" Crandon and his NASA team of scientists and engineers to devise a way to return before the Chinese and Russians.

Forced to deal with bureaucratic oversight and a complex team of personalities, Rock Crandon pushes his team to their limits.

With pressure mounting, the world is pushed closer to conflict and war as the NASA team finds itself seriously behind in the newly initiated space race. The future of mankind, its ideological and technological advances are at stake, as the world's super powers race to discover what lies on the dark side of the moon.

Who will get there first, and at what cost?

©2015 Salvador Mercer (P)2016 Podium Publishing

What listeners say about Lunar Discovery

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    295
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    346
  • 4 Stars
    137
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  • 2 Stars
    8
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    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    260
  • 4 Stars
    160
  • 3 Stars
    71
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    13

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Discover every cliche

Any additional comments?

The characters in this story pander the worst storytelling stereotypes. What makes it worse is that they seemed to be trapped in the 1970s! The leading Russian protagonists are Vladimir, Dimitri and Olga - I can only imagine that Ivan was on holiday. They talk in that weird Cold War spy film vernacular that no one actually speaks ("...my old friend and mentor", to give one example) and one even ends his sentences "..., comrade"! And this is supposed to be set in the 'near future' as the narrator reminds us at the start of every chapter - so more than thirty years after the end of the Soviet Union.

I bought the audiobook because a number of reviews commented on the technical details. I can only assume that these reviewers don't come from a science background. There were two howlers in the opening five minutes, absolute nonsense about 'trapped microwave radiation' ( I can only guess that Mercer hasn't heard of the inverse square rule), and the classic line that the ship "accelerated at a constant velocity", which has now become a family catch-phrase.

The story itself is the type of thing you'd have gotten out of Hollywood during the height of the Cold War if it was sponsored by NASA: American brilliance, incompetent and/or corrupt Chinese and Russians. But most disappointing is that the story is not properly concluded (almost as if there is going to be a second book). This isn't fair on those who have paid good money for a full story.

The narrator did a fair job, but his English accent was all over the shop - all the way from Dick Van Dyke to Queen Elizabeth - sometimes in the same sentence. I'm no expert on Russian, but all the character had exactly the same accent and spoke in the same stilted fashion - this wasn't helped by the corny dialogue, comrade.

All in all, there's nothing to see here, move along, move along... .

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Initail Thoughts

Ok Good story at the outset. What Gets my GOAT is the constant Refernce at the start of nearly every major Sequence to the "IN THE NEAR FUTURE DAY XX" This is a totally useless statement as everyone knows at the start of the book it is in the NEAR FUTURE. So why repeat it every 10 mins or so. In a multi part Novel. You just need to state the time frame at the start of each Part. Having Just completed the Dark Fleet Trilogy (all three) which is far more technical in its content it was a better LISTEN.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible SF

Cheesy storyline (hello Arthur C. Clarke) and cliched characters. I burst out laughing when after about 5 minutes after discovering an unknown signal from the moon, a scientist said ‘It’s aliens’!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good science and plot, but characters are 2D

If you could sum up Lunar Discovery in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyable realistic Sci-fi

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lunar Discovery?

Just before the Rabbit (If I explain further then it's a spoiler.)

What about Mark Boyett’s performance did you like?

Good consistent delivery although I am not sure why he ascribes a British accent to one of the NASA ground staff when there is no mention of his origins in the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I like a book I can enjoy, especially while driving.

Any additional comments?

It's clear that the book could have developed the characters better, but that might have taken away from the tempo of the narrative. There is good science here but nicknaming the main character 'Rock' was not a good way to elevate him in any way and the Chinese characters were badly neglected in the second half. For future books it would be good to revisit some of these to maintain the human aspect of the story to match the science moving forward.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

really enjoyed this

well written, nice story, pro-yanky! but why not! fun, exciting and a decent amount of adventure.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Mediocre, not really worth a listen

As others mention, the whole "near future" thing is a mistake on the editor's part. It should have been said only once or maybe a handful of times. The voice acting is mediocre, but acceptable, not the performer's best work as I've heard much better from him.
The story is intriguing, but would probably be better off in a short story form, not a full book. As for the techno-babble, it's just that: babble. It uses some technical words but uses them completely wrong most of the time, and much of it doesn't make any sense at all. It also seems to be more of a Cold War story, except for being set in the near future. The characters are basic stereotypes and not interesting at all. There are also some large plot holes and mistakes. Some plot lines seem to go somewhere and then just don't and turn out to be of no relevance at all. Simple filler or not fully formed ideas put in anyway.
The book also ends pretty abruptly. With a lazy retrospective exposition kind of ending added on. As if the story had already ended and then the author thought about making a series out of it, so a last minute rushed ending was added on. The ending of the story makes no sense at all, but I won't spoil it here. It's easily the laziest and weakest part of an already not very good book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A simple story well told

Not the deepest or most complex story but there’s a sense of purity and simplicity in it. It reels you and keeps you reading. Would reccomend!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good story

If you're a fan of near-futuristic science fiction that centers around the space race, this book is a great choice. I particularly appreciated the vivid and detailed descriptions of each scene, which really brought the story to life

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome sci-fi story

This audiobook was sensational, funny and gripping. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. It was also incredibly well narrated by Mark Boyett.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible characters, engaging story

There is a plethora of characters in the book and most feel very flat and can be reduced to one or two stereotypes. One character exists literally only to say "damn ruskies" now and again which really got on my nerves when listening to the book.

Why 2 stars and not 1 you wonder? The actual plot was engaging and casual fun. If you feel like listening to a space race with twists and turns, then maybe get this if it's still free. If you want your characters to have more depth than a puddle then I recommend any other sci-fi book.

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