amazing

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

67 people found this helpful

So close to excellence

The Good:
The first 2 and 1/2 books of this series are excellent. The story follows key figures reacting to a hostile alien invasion who have a plausible plan. While there are certainly instances of technologies that don't exist, nothing in these parts falls so far from what we know to be called magic (well, maybe one exception but I thought it was reasonable for a scifi).

The characters are varied, engaging, and very believable. There are consequences to mistakes and characters that have genuinely opposed interpretations of morality. Not just "good" and "bad" guys, but hard questions about how far to go, what can be done, to save the species.

The Fugly:
About half way through the third book a big event happens. Something that was built up to that I was looking forward to. An event that could have been an excellent arena to speculate on morality in the face of annihilation. Not only does that event get skipped over, once the book gets past that point all of the morally "wrong" actions that were going on are then continued by the characters who wanted to stop the "wrong" behavior that they were so upset about. Further, the plot is largely resolved with "technology" that can only be compared the author waving a magic wand and shouting "TA-DA!!!"

If you can accept that the ending is going to be silly and the author will abandon all moral speculation at the said point, then these are must read books. But I have a hard time recommending a series that ends so badly.

The Narrator:
Come on, this is R.C. Bray. He's excellent. I bought these books looking for books that he narrates. He's that good.

42 people found this 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.

51 people found this helpful

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.

149 people found this 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.

18 people found this 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

362 people found this helpful

Unfinished ‘trilogy’

I really enjoyed the first book and while the rest of the series got continuously stranger and less cohesive I was hanging in there. However, I got to the end and expected to find another book waiting. The story ended with multiple threads unresolved, many questions unanswered and a deeply unsatisfying ending. As a reader, if you’re not ok with that then don’t bother starting the first book. I’ve never written a review before but I’d hate to have other people waste their time the way I have on this series.

11 people found this helpful

Needs some editorial help

Starts out pretty well, with a decent amount of momentum and some strong characters, including a very engaging protagonist. I particularly liked being surprised when the Evil Aliens turn out to be quite a bit more complicated and conflicted than expected. I do think the author has some trouble handling the scope of the material he has taken on. As the perspective widens to encompass a world-ranging plot and the number of characters proliferate, the protagonist disappears for long segments and the narrative flattens into summary, more "tell" than "show." I also found myself stumbling over the number of redundancies and solecisms in the text which get distracting after a while. Too much of that and you lose trust that you're in the hands of an author who knows what he's doing. Still, it is quite original take on an old story--the Alien Invasion--and the characters and situations commanded my interest sufficiently to keep me going to the end. I think there's still the potential for a great series here if Moss can build on his strengths and lose some of the flab in his writing. A good literary editor (and copyeditor!) would be able to help with that.

7 people found this 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.

42 people found this 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.

24 people found this helpful