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Battle Cruiser
- Lost Colonies, Book 1
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Series: Lost Colonies, Book 1
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
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One starship will either save Earth or destroy her.
A century ago our star erupted, destroying Earth's wormhole network and closing off trade with her colonized planets. After being out of contact with the younger worlds for so many years, Humanity is shocked when a huge ship appears at the edge of the solar system. Our outdated navy investigates, both curious and fearful. What they learn from the massive vessel shocks the planet. The lost colonies have survived - but the reunion isn't going to be a happy one. Our descendants are vastly superior in the art of warfare. Worse, there are other beings undreamed of beyond the human frontier: strange, unfathomable...alien.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- S. Morris
- 02-05-16
Simplistic But Accessible Sci-Fi
I had just completed reading the lengthy and fairly heavy Fear Saga and so decided it was time for some lighter fare. I spotted Battle Cruiser from B V Larson and having read and very much liked both the Star Force and Undying Mercenaries series of books from this author, I decided to choose Batlecruiser as its premise sounded interesting. Given just how much I've liked Larsson's other work, I didn't bother reading any reviews prior to opting to purchase this title and despite the narrator being different from the previous Larson books listened to in the form of Eduardo Ballerini, I decided to get this book.
Having been used to the excellent Mark Boyett's narration, I did find it a little strange to be listening to a Larson book from a new narrator. however, this was offset by the fact that this was a totally new and unconnected story to the other two series' of books from Larson I'd read so in a way helped mark this story as something totally new. Ballerini's narration is crisp and competent but he lacks the range of character voices which means that several male characters sound identical. he is also less able to render convincing female characters too but that is less of an issue. The thing that struck me very quickly into reading this story was how clipped and odd the key characters dialogue is. William Sparhawk, his voice and the way he speaks and often acts is rather reminiscent of a 1930's action hero. it seems rather incongruous to hear lines delivered in quite such an old fashioned style. To further bolster the image I had in my mind of said 1930's story, I found most dialogue to be rather simplistic and lacked sophistication to the extent that I had to wonder if this story was either written for a younger target audience or was deliberately penned like this as a tongue firmly in cheek adventure rather like the old Flash Gordon serials. I half expected Sparhawk to come out with something like "You're a cad and a bounder sir!" . This story is quite far removed from the much more visceral, gritty and often foreboding stories from Larson which makes me further believe that this book was intended to introduce a younger audience to Larson's works.
I still found this story mildly interesting and will follow the series if nothing else if not to see how things pan out. I can't say this is a bad book but it is quite far removed from Larson's other work that it might not appeal to the more hardened Larson fans out there. Given just how sophisticated children are these days I would say that Battle Cruiser might be suitable for somewhere around a 13 year old to get their first taste of an accessible story that will ease them into the other, darker science fiction out there.
If you're in the market for some "sci-fi light" or have not tried a book of this genre before and just want a gentle start in this field then Battle Cruiser might just be for you. if you're a fan of books in the Undying Mercenaries series from Larson then you probably will not like this story so could give this one a miss.
6 people found this helpful
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- John
- 12-07-16
Bit samy, samy, as Star Force.
Bit samy, samy, as Star Force. I read all these. and loved them. but this was too similar. Mr Larson you need to come up with new ideas.
5 people found this helpful
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- MarkM-D
- 31-05-16
Good storyline
This book is worth listening to, but you have to get over the narrator first. Shame it lets it down.
3 people found this helpful
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- Dimitar S.
- 06-01-16
Nice story
The author delivers amazing story as expected. The narrator is also good but i prefer when it`s done by Mark Boyett.
3 people found this helpful
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- Martin
- 09-07-16
Need to stick with it
First few chapters were slow going and I'm not a big fan of way its written in the first person. that said, once my personal issues were removed and the story got going I grew to enjoy it.
2 people found this helpful
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- Geode
- 03-10-17
Terrable!!! Far from Larsons best!
I was hoping for a good listen with this book.
Unfortunately what you get is something that starts ok then gets slower and slower. By chapter4 you will be hoping the arrogant stuck up hero "Sparrow hawk" (who we are told ever other sentence is not) is killed off.
Sadly from what I have heard so far this book is not worth investing your time to listen to it.
Come on BV you can do better than this!!!!!
1 person found this helpful
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- Hani Mohammad Al-Shakks
- 25-05-16
entertaining but ...
b.v. larson has much richer stories in terms of story arcs and characters including star force and undying mercinaries series. with that said this story was just fine. not as good as the mentioned series but still fine. the narrator was not as good as mark boyatt but again he has done an ok job in my opinion. My biggest issue with the narrator was that some character voices can not be distinguished from one another.
1 person found this helpful
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- Aeroplane boy
- 11-03-16
quality
loved it . great story. I could picture the characters in my head . well read 5* .... If you love Sci fi it's a must .
1 person found this helpful
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- GobiD
- 07-03-16
Awful Narration
The story is passable, another BV Larson novel with cutout characters and reasonably predictable plots. It's a little like visiting a well loved roller coaster, all the twists and turns are as you expect but it's still fun to ride.
What makes this a car crash of an audio book is the narration. I dislike giving negative criticism but just now and again one comes across a piece of work that defies logic and explanation. I dare say that Edoardo Ballerini is a talented narrator, but his delivery of this novel was completely ill judged. Almost every character voice was ridiculously melodramatic. The lead character was made to sound like a standoffish, entitled, prig. Any humour was completely missed at every opportunity, and some of the voices were mystifying, they would be saying one thing but the emotional delivery was saying something completely different. I started listening to this on a long car journey with my brother and we had to keep pausing the book as we couldn't believe the awful delivery. The only reason I listened all the way through was to hear if there was a plot twist to justify his delivery. That'll be a refund methinks.
5 people found this helpful
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- ParBoiled
- 22-02-16
Flew by !
Story' s absolutely brilliant, the book feels like it finished in thirty minutes! I would recommended!
Par
1 person found this helpful
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- Williams J Saraiva
- 06-03-17
I like the author
Where does Battle Cruiser rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
in the middle
What did you like best about this story?
Space
Which character – as performed by Edoardo Ballerini – was your favorite?
I think the narrator does all characters really well. The problem is that the main character is a pompous man with a British accent (to make it more pompous). This ultimately makes the story a bit dull.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
no
Any additional comments?
I really like BV Larson's books but I think the narrator made this book sound really boring. I do have to say that the main character is nothing like McGill from the UM series or Kyle/ Cody Riggs after the first Starforce book. I read the first book but I catch myself falling asleep.
6 people found this helpful
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- Russ
- 27-12-15
Disappointing, Juvenile
The concept for “Battle Cruiser” could have spawned a dynamic, textured, engrossing world, but it was so poorly executed that tackling each chapter became its own, special chore. Frankly, the quality of the writing in this book was way sub-par, with all the sophistication of high school-level prose, however professionally edited.
B.V. Larson's first-person narrator tells the story strictly linearly, with no flashbacks or deep exposition beyond what's immediately necessary to the situation at hand. Add to that a complete lack of guile on the writer's part, and what might have been meant as plot twists are easily guessed well ahead of their would-be reveals. The idea of such a story suffering from a case of plot holes and loose ends ought to be ridiculous; sadly, the diagnosis is very real, and it's terminal.
The character development is just about as robust, too. The reader gains only the most superficial insight into any of the secondary characters, all of which have approximately as much dimension as the paper on which they were first printed. As for the main character, he tells the tale with such melodramatic (almost histrionic) bravado, as somehow to come across as a simultaneously whiny, pathetic, and pitiful, pompous ass.
The real disappointment here, however, is the dramatic reading. It might be better never to ask why Edoardo Ballerini chose to read this story in a breathy, somewhat hushed, NPR-style voice, all while playing up the writing's shortcomings. Granted, he didn't exactly start with the best story ever written. Still, the uncomfortable tone and unimaginative speaking styles only make a lousy book more boring.
To give credit where it's due, I've read some truly excellent work by both B.V. Larson and Edoardo Ballerini. These two really do have the capacity to engross their audience. Sadly, “Battle Cruiser” doesn't come close. If, as Audible suggests, this truly is Book One of a new series, let’s hope Book Two returns both writer and narrator to their usual high standards.
56 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 01-10-18
Bad
Main character is arrogant and condescending to everyone around him. He is trusting when it helpful to the plot and skeptical when it helps build tension or his curiosity leads to some discovery. I have never read anything by this author before and will not try again. If you are not already a fan of Larson skip this book.
4 people found this helpful
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- Trudy Owens
- 24-11-16
We have met the enemy and he is us.
This book started off sounding very much like Renegade, book 1 of the Spiral Wars by Joel Shepherd, so much so that I thought I was rereading that book. There are the same ruling-class families, the same son who disappoints his family by joining the military, and the same crusty old aunt. But this is BV Larson, so the story is much better.
The tale begins with this common enough plot line at first, and then we meet the aliens, the enemy, The Borg and the Amazons, and things get different really fast. There's lots of Larson space action, and Marines action. The characters are fully developed, and distinct. These are people you could actually know. You will want to read this because the next book is even better!
Edoardo Ballerini gives Capt. William Sparhawk the classed gentility he deserves, yet manages to voice the rough-and-ready Marines, the super-pragmatic giantess, and the old space hounds as well. You will enjoy the book so much, you'll want its sequel just as soon as you finish this!
4 people found this helpful
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- Don Gilbert
- 26-12-15
An Unlikely Hero
From the master of military Sci-Fi, the creator of “Star Force,” and the “Undying Mercenaries,” B.V. Larson has developed a new trilogy that is somewhat different from his previous work called, “Lost Colonies.”
In this first book, “Battle Cruiser” we meet Captain William Sparhawk; an antihero type that seems to be lacking conventional hero qualities but it is through these flawed and questionable personality traits that some dark humor of this story shines. He is a complex and polarizing character that some listeners’ may not like or understand but I think most will as he eventually develops into the hero that is needed for this story to progress.
The narrator, Edoardo Ballerini, captures the essence of Captain Sparhawk perfectly and I can’t wait for the next book.
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- The Super-duper Amazing Silver Golem
- 25-07-16
So corny, but...can't stop listening...or laughing
Meet William Sparhawk; a lanky, responsible, and well intentioned captain of a struggling military. His stifled, but satisfying career goes off the rails after he is ordered to routinely investigate a comet far from earth. Suddenly, he is captaining a new alien spaceship, gained a odd new crewmember, and is being randomly attacked by the paranoid people he works for.
The story is entertaining, but not necessarily for the reasons the book summary brings to mind. Instead of some riveting spacefaring survival adventure we get a laughably corny eighties style adventure where the main character seems to be the only one who attempts to think before they act. Every action Sparhawk takes is a declared attempt to help Earth, but at every turn he is hampered by the very people he is trying to assist. In fact, after Sparhawk's third superior in a row attempts to throw away billions of dollars in missiles in order to murder him because the new ship he found makes them nervous. Eyes will began to roll and chuckles will ensue as straight laced Sparhawk gets more and more frustrated with each repeated declaration of peace he makes.
With the writing and narration of Edoardo Ballerini, "Battle Cruiser: Lost Colonies Book 1" turns out to be a fun audiobook that a listener will feel oddly compelled to keep listening to the end. They might not be sure WHY or even if the entertainment value of the book was intentional, but it's there.
14 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-06-16
Frustratingly bad
Very shallow characters with no progressive development. Plodding and extremely predictable story. The author took a promising plot and destroyed it with dull witted unimaginative characters.
26 people found this helpful
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- Jean
- 17-07-18
Great story!
Loved it! Getting the next book in the series now. Very good narration. I'm a BV Larsen fan. Went back to look for more after listening to newer series and find this gem.
2 people found this helpful
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- GregBB
- 08-07-17
Another great series
I am a huge fan of B. V. Larson, started with Star Force and moved to Undying Mercenaries and devoured everything there. Lost Colonies is very similar so if you love those series you should love this series.
2 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 20-02-17
Good start to a new series
What did you love best about Battle Cruiser?
I liked the way he was able to convincingly, and dare I say, realistically, overcome seemingly over whelming odds to achieve success
What was one of the most memorable moments of Battle Cruiser?
the whole book was good
Which character – as performed by Edoardo Ballerini – was your favorite?
The Narrator was perfectly able to convey the lead character. The main character rebelled against his parents, but he still maintained his aristocratic demeanor
Any additional comments?
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.
2 people found this helpful