Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Cassandra's Challenge cover art

Cassandra's Challenge

By: M.K. Eidem
Narrated by: Ian Gordon,Jennifer Gill,Jess Friedman,Gary Gordon
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Nikhil cover art
Grim cover art
Finding Her Cyborg cover art
Protector of the Realm cover art
Hunter's Claim cover art
Warriors of Sangrin: Box Set Volume One cover art
Cathian cover art
Choosing Riley cover art
The Clecanian Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3 cover art
Claimed cover art
Voxeran Fated Mates Box Set Books 1-3 cover art
Ral's Woman cover art
Tonight and Forever cover art
The Gifted cover art
Forbidden Shifters Complete Series (Books 1-6) cover art
Warriors of the Oasis cover art

Summary

Cassandra Chamberlain has always stood out. It's hard not to at 6'1" and 165 pounds, with jet black hair and sapphire blue eyes. And if that isn't enough, she is also brilliant, graduating from Harvard at 15, teaching at MIT at 19, and up for the prestigious Magellan Award at 25. She's never really fit in. Not with her peers, not with her contemporaries, only with her family.

But everything changes when the Earth is attacked, and Cassandra and her niece, Victoria, are the only survivors. Suddenly the smartest woman on the planet has to relearn everything. Everything she's believed to be true is challenged, and she has to learn to survive, not only for herself but for Victoria, because someone wants them dead.

Admiral William Zafar is the youngest Admiral ever in the Coalition fleet, the hero of the Battle of Fayal. At 7'1", he's 325 pounds of Carinian male in his prime who is feared and respected throughout the fleet. He is a royal from the House of Protection, carrying its birthmark, and considers its king one of his oldest friends.

But when the Regulians destroy a previously unknown planet, leaving only two survivors, he finds he's willing to risk it all to protect the woman he loves from the Regulians and the Carinian traitor that wants her dead.

©2013 M.K. Eidem (P)2016 M.K. Eidem

What listeners say about Cassandra's Challenge

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    78
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    56
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    67
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Like Listening to A Movie

This book was hard to put down!
I must speak of the performance of this audible book first. We have a relatively good narrator but what brings the book to life are the specific female and male voices for each of the characters and the background sound effects that bring each scene to life without actual visual. This is the first I've experienced and it's like experiencing a movie with everything except visual input.
The story itself was entertaining and certain aspects of it showed in-depth understanding, research and development of scientific issues/ideas from which flowed a believable story. A few points are taken away for the predictable aspects of the story and the over indulgence and dull delivery of erotic parts.
Generally I found the book very interesting and endearingly romantic. I also think there is a lot especially on the political front from which further books in the series can build upon. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Good but not Brilliant

The story follows Cassandra and her young (9 years old) niece Victoria who become refugees from Earth which is destroyed at the start of the book. We watch Cassandra and Victoria struggle to come to teams with what has happened and Cassandras quest for justice for Earth.

There is an acceptable love story which runs though the book and hold most of the story together. It is quite amazing that this distant plant speaks very good English and only has different item names.

I found the book quite enjoyable but nearly gave up about halfway when Cassandra was trying to trace the traitor code - too much detail and rather boring.

I think that a couple of hours could have been cut from the 22 without affecting the narrative. I am not sure I will reread 22 hours is a long investment of my time to do it twice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Gave up after six hours

I might have stuck with this if it had been edited down to a more reasonable length as I did have some curiosity about the story, but I concluded I couldn't give it another sixteen hours of my life.

Narration - there is a narrator and people voicing the characters. They have clearly been recorded separately, as the person playing Cassandra always sounds as though she is in a large echoing room, when people she is talking are not. The actress does not appear to have read around her lines and generally is fairly unemotive. It is especially noticeable when she says something with no emotion, then the narrator says - "she said angrily/sleepily etc.."

It's not giving anything away to say Cassandra and her niece are the sole survivors from Earth. They are on a spaceship and the story picks up again a few days later. I can only think that their rescuers are particularly unempathetic, as a couple of times people with whom they have been interacting over those days apologise for not remembering that every one they know has just died.

There is very little background or world building. Cassandra herself, who is meant to be super intelligent, shows no curiosity at all about their rescuing race or their enemies. It is some five hours in that we are told a little about their family system, but that doesn't arise out of any enquiry by her. By the stage I stopped we have been told nothing at all about the enemy except their name. If I were the only one of two survivors I would be asking for a little more information. As a reader I also wanted more idea about the ship she was on - it has families on board, is that because it does long voyages; there is more than one place to eat - so are there hundreds of occupants; it apparently doesn't have a captain, as Cassandra's lover is the admiral, but also is in charge of the ship. I don't think the author has visualised things for herself. We are constantly told that Cassandra, at six foot one, is considered very small, yet there is no comment that she finds everything outsized for her use.

I found the characters quite one dimensional and was left wondering how William ever achieved the rank of admiral. His reaction to any problem seems to be to yell and swear at whoever brings him bad news.

All in all, if this had been cut down to a short novel the basic plot would have kept me going, but there was insufficient to keep me interested for its length.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

this was the first book

this was the first time that I bought a book from aurdable and loved it. I was surprised that that sound effects were included. and actors were acting out the book.
I have since found out that this is not the norm, I think that I was spoiled by it. other books just had one reader.
most of m k eidem books are acted out. I have crocheted and crossstitched while listening to the books many others too. it's been a good distraction for me as last year I broke two bones in my neck and fell down the stairs breaking seven in my spine, still not cleared yet. so a good distraction in all

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

just didn't do for me

I just couldn't get into this book. I was board,. the main narrator has a very monitor voice.

I hope you like this book, the blurb sounded so good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • DS
  • 31-07-19

Pretty ok!

I enjoyed the story more than the performance. The actors seemed a bit disjointed but I enjoyed the story, subject matter and Cassandra's strength!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book

I have read Cassandra challenge and thought I'd try the audio book,although I knew the story I really enjoyed it .however i found the sound effects distracting the sound of footsteps 👣 etc I didn't need the sounds effects I have my own imagination .but still worthy of 5stars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

4 stars probably for all the wrong reasons

I do a lot of brain work so "trashy" novels are my way of taking a brain vacation. This book was an epic vacation!

I'm pretty sure I laughed in all the wrong places. For example, every time the narrator had to cry, I was in stitches. My daughter does a better fake cry when she's trying to get her way. Maybe they meant to inject a bit of humour? I certainly took it that way.

I loved that our leading lady was the tour de force in this piece. She's smart, able to physically defend herself, and really family oriented. I mean she's so smart she did 5 PhDs before the age of 30 - pahahahaha! Maybe she was bored? The voice of Cassandra was a bit too pious and clipped for my taste there was enough intrigue in the story to keep me hooked on the story unfolding rather than the h's voice.

Not sure I would have laughed this much just reading the book but listening to it was a great! Loved the sexy rumble of Admiral Zafar's voice even if he was sometimes a hothead with boorish manners that made me roll my eyes, but I even enjoyed the eye rolling!

Of course, the key thing for me is that it all ends happily. I'm dealing with enough stress and uncertainty in real life, I don't need to look for more in a book. The HEA on this doesn't disappoint.

So yes, depending on your mood this is anywhere from a 3 to 5 star read. I'm heading for the next one!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

lovely

I like this author. The audible books have the same voices. Sometimes though they can be a bit lacking in emotion. But I love the books and it's a good listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Highly Recommend

This is a brilliant audio book. It's one of my favourite books anyway, but the audio version is extremely well done and it's not just someone reading it, it's completely engrossing with excellent narration and sound effects. Would definitely recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!