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Swarm
- Star Force, Book 1
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 10 hrs
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Summary
Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet! Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there.
A novel of military science fiction by best-selling author B. V. Larson, Swarm is the story of Earth's annexation by an alien empire. Long considered a primitive people on a backwater planet, humanity finds itself in the middle of a war - and faced with extinction.
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What listeners say about Swarm
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- Londongirl
- 26-05-17
Such a shame
Really liked the narrator and the story was well paced. Unfortunately spoiled by very dated storyline and some poor writing. It reads more like 1950s science fiction with very limited imagination. Very big plot holes (no clues where the spaceships come from or why & the science is plain silly) and a shockingly callous & 2 dimensional attitude from the professor lead character. Perving over some conveniently half naked nubile Latino student ten minutes after the violent death of his kids? Really? I would not recommend unless you are really in the mood for truly mindless entertainment.
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39 people found this helpful
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- Neil
- 23-12-12
Flight of the Navigator for adults
Exciting within the first 5minutes and sets up a world that is gonna force me to spend all my credits til I've listened to them all. Narrator has great voice and tells it well. No two characters come across the same. To me, that is the difference between a good narrator and a great one.
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18 people found this helpful
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- M. Nilsen
- 15-03-18
Sexist and a bit dull
Larson apparently one needs female characters as the protagonist’s sex doll, sexy assassin (not even sure what that was all about) or a manipulating and calculating dumbass politician with no power. Absolutely no character development in any of them. I’ve read several of his books before and always thought them a bit chauvinistic and misogynistic, however, I am a fan of alien invasion sci-fi so I tried this one as well; but this is the absolute worst one.
The protagonist is unbearable and quite flat. Dead kids? I’m over it in a second. Half naked lady who’s dead? I’m gonna bone her. Got myself an alien ship? I’m just gonna be awesome and make loads of stupid decisions, but I don’t care cause, yeah, I’m awesome. NO DUMBASS, YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU’RE DOING - PLEASE REALISE IT NOW!
So yeah. Not a fan. Mark does an alright job narrating this dull and sexist book though.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Robert
- 11-04-14
Good start but needs work
This was an enjoyable listen and one that I would recommend but it is not without some flaws and quibbles which are relatively minor and don't detract too much from the main story. There are a couple of issues around the logic of the nanos and macros and with the nano ship Alamo's behaviour but nothing terrible.
The biggest weakness of the story is the character development. The main lead character generally behaves in a believable manner and is a likeable character that you can follow and get behind. Most of the other characters in the story though are quite thin with little developed between the main character and them. The main female character has some potential at the beginning when they meet on the ship and when she is recovered but this is pretty much wasted as she falls into a rather simple adoring female role that borders on the uncomfortable. And, here is where the story falters the worst, with dialog and behaviour that while possible in the situation they are in seems a bit wrong footed. There were a couple of times where I thought the author was going to go into a full blown sex scene but fortunately the author restrained themselves and didn't veer into trying to write erotica or porn.
Overall the novel moved along and you are able to develop a fondness for the lead character and a desire to read the next novel to see what happens to him and the universe he resides in. Hopefully, as the story advances so will will the writing and character development.
The narrator did a good job and was able to convey the story well and create character voices that you were able to associate with the various characters.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Sharon
- 12-05-14
Swarm - I want to join up!
Would you listen to Swarm again? Why?
I really enjoyed this introduction to the Star Force series. I'd relisten to it again but I'm just enjoying the second book at the moment!
What did you like best about this story?
The details of the life aboard the ships and how the commanders learn to control the ships. Also, although it was military sci fi, the background details were excellent, how people lived and learnt to deal with day to day life.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
Some of the planning of the battles, the logic for how things were worked out.
Any additional comments?
This was an excellent introduction to a series I think I'm going to love. Depth of characters and details of battle strategies made this a brilliant choice.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Mr
- 21-09-15
great first book
Great first book. great story. like all the bv larsons books so far. looking forward to book 2
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6 people found this helpful
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- Azure Teal
- 22-11-17
what a douche bag
This guy is my least favourite sci-fi hero. he hasnt heard of team work or collaboration. BV Larson's female characters in this book were soooooo shallow and stupid like. I have eye sprain from rolling my eyes so much. Someone please tell me men don't actually operate like this because then our species is doomed!
loved the universe created and how this story is going! on to the next book.
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4 people found this helpful
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- ashley
- 09-05-15
Excellent
Really good. hooked straight away. A good fast progression. brilliant sifi idea. b.v larson legend
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lawrence
- 04-05-15
Another gripping Sc-fi from Larson
Listened to Larson's Undying Mercenaries series first, and some of the broader ideas seemed to have been copied from these earlier books. But that did not subtract from the thrilling story in swarm. Hooked now!
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3 people found this helpful
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- se
- 23-09-15
Took a risk!
What did you like most about Swarm?
Never been a fan of this genre before, however this was different.
I found it hard to guess what was coming next most of the time, which I enjoyed.
Going to try the next book.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Mark Boyett?
Yes
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No.
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2 people found this helpful