Fear the Sky

Caught me by surprise, and held me till the end.

Every now and then I like to peruse a narrator's work to see if they might have narrated something else I'd be interested in, and on a whim I grabbed Fear the Sky expecting a middling sci-fi story, I'll be honest the cover art looked like a C level self publish job. But RC Bray did a great job with the martian so why not.

And then the book grabbed me and pulled me through the 20 odd hours till I was wondering why the heck the other two book werent on audible yet because I wanted more.

79 of 84 people found this review helpful

Highly Enjoyable

Would you listen to Fear the Sky again? Why?

As one who prefers my science fiction to be within the realm of possibility with minimum hokiness, Fear the Sky delivers on both accounts. This modern day War of the Worlds is how an Earth invasion may actually take place in today's modern internet age. Along with the cool technology, there is no shortage on character development, which combines through R.C. Bray's narration into an enjoyable read. Definitely worth the investment in money and time, and I am so waiting on the next installment in Audible.

12 of 12 people found this review helpful

Audible Where Are The Rest?!

I really enjoyed Fear The Sky. The plot is original and character development is so good as we watch a young man turn into a hero through hard work and force of will. I was invested in the series immediately. I knew the author had completed at least three books in the Fear Series so I felt comfortable with my investment. (waiting for a good series to publish the next one is something I try to avoid!)
Yet now as I go to get the other two bestselling books in Mr. Moss's series I discover they are not available through Audible!? Each book is a best-seller on it's own and several years old. The narrator is putting our new works. The thing is it is not just one series. I myself have the same issue with three GREAT series Audible starts then dropped.
I am very eager to continue : Trevor H. Cooley's, Bowl of Souls series is completed through book 8 yet only 3 are available on Audible, each VERY successful and Author Sara King has a popular bestselling series thar Audible only taped one of.
Still, this book deserves 5 stars and is worth the cost.
Beware when you're looking for a good series, just because this series has been completed and the narrator is working do not assume Audible has picked up

308 of 334 people found this review helpful

amazing

paid for the whole seat, only used the edge. R.C. Bray is a fantastic narrator.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Wow! Had me at edge of my seat.

Narration: Amazing performance. Captured each of the characters.

Story: Could have been cheesy. The author managed to keep it contained. I enjoyed every bit of it.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Did not want to stop listening

What did you like best about this story?

The amount of research that Stephen Moss must have done in regards to the technical detail is amazing - it made the whole story more compelling because it sounds so believable and scientific. But there are things that still need to be resolved and I really hope that the next book is on audible soon - I was very disappointed when I saw that it was not available on audible (crossing fingers) yet.

Have you listened to any of R.C. Bray’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I heard R.C. Bray first in The Martian and was how I found Fear the Sky. This book really shows off his talents in creating different voices for the characters, something that was not required as much for The Martian.

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

I normally listen to podcasts during my commute and gym sessions but took up listening to Fear the Sky because I did not want to stop listening to it.

34 of 39 people found this review helpful

Good idea, but the writing style suffers

I enjoyed the story. 'Fear the Sky's' story has been told many times, but this take was original enough to stand out. As other reviewers have stated, the depth of technical understanding here adds some interest to the novel but also is very dry. Its interesting to me that RC Ray who read the Martian so well is reading this. He does well with dry stories.

In my mind, what drags Fear the Sky down are the many many points of view the author takes on. Many of which were the invaders. All of the suspense is sapped out of the story.

The writing is not very well done. Its ok, but uninspired. Stephen Moss' style is more akin to a technical brief than a rip roaring alien invasion novel. I'm not going to go out of my way to pick up another one of his stories in the future.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Awesome new series!!

Incredible story and excellent narration! I can't wait to listen to book two! Hopefully it will come out soon.

19 of 22 people found this review helpful

Survival of this onslaught is hanging by a thread

These aliens certainly have a well thought out invasion plan. Their main concern is making sure this beautiful planet of ours is not spoiled by nukes before or at the time of their main fleet arrival in ten years time. Eight robotic super agents who appear to be human with a plan to infiltrate the nuclear powers and four weaponized satellites with massive coverage of all our communications and the ability to monitor all visible activities (they could tell you how many fingers you were holding up if you are outside) paint a very grim picture.

It was so oppressive, I almost gave up when a couple of my heroes were ruthlessly dispatched courtesy of a satellite. But Stephen Moss has a plausible push back strategy against overwhelming odds. The story actually got so intense and entertaining I broke my rule of always doing something while listening. At that moment, if you had walked by me in the kitchen, you would have seen someone sitting at the table with earphones on, eyes glazed and their mouth half open.

I will let you discover what the "thread" is that gives us a chance to survive the first onslaught. Be warned this is a great story and if you take it on, be prepared to be compelled to purchase the second book in the series "Fear The Survivors" which is scheduled to be released July 14 2015.

22 of 26 people found this review helpful

Good premise. Pleasant listen. Sometimes verbose.

I have often sneered at the 'bunch of gigantic ships' vision of conquering Earth. It's a ball 8000 miles across. I don't care how many ships you have or how super they are, conventionally military engagement is silly.

Moss seems like he is trying to figure out a way that is, if not actually plausible, represents an idea that could work if science fiction weren't fictional.

The story is fun. The characters, iffy, but never annoyingly so and some are nice. The logic of the story is good and it mostly moves right along. I recommend the book. It's worth the time.

But, in case Mr Moss reads reviews, I'd like to tell him: Pay attention to the pacing of subordinate events. There were a handful of scenes that I thought were never going to end, to the extent that I thought about quitting. (Then I realized that would mean I wouldn't find out the rest of the story and endured.)

R.C. Bray is, as always, very good. He manages to avoid my favorite pitfalls, bad opposite gender voices and, worse, goofy accents. He also manages to do a nice job of distinguishing characters and create enough (and not too much) emphasis and energy where the story calls for it.

Nice book. You'll enjoy it. I look forward to the next installment.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful