Trust the awesomeness!

This is an audio drama so expect music and sound effects. I recommend having a quiet place to listen to this. I split my time, some of it listening via a speaker and some time with headphones. I had no problems with either. But when outside with surrounding noise it was a little harder to concentrate. Not to hear, but there is a lot going on and it’s best to concentrate to enjoy it all.

I really enjoyed this audio drama. A lot of work went into it. I would buy another one if one became available again. I enjoyed the story. Can’t wait until the next audiobook or audio drama.

I love that Kate Mulgrew was Nagatha.

R. C. Bray is as awesome as ever.
Skippy might sing a little! So enjoy!

Oh be warned Brock Steal is a clicker/snapper when thinking.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Space opera at its operatic best!

This was even better than I imagined it would be. Skippy and Joe back with star studded accompaniment.
The story told by Skippy format really works well, it was compulsive listening and I rattled through it almost in one go.
There’s little else to say really, other than; come on you dumb monkeys, download it already!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Very disappointed

This was my first ever audio drama. I don't know why that should matter, but based on people commenting on negative reviews on Goodreads, it clearly does for the audio drama fan club.

I was really looking forward to listening to this audio drama about one of my favourite series but found myself often annoyed and disappointed by this performance.

First off: I assume Craig and Bray have discussed how certain characters should sound when making the first audio book. So that the listeners get the feeling Craig wants them to have. Clearly this has all been thrown overboard when making this audio drama..

Second: Who came up with the brilliant idea (yeah that's sarcasm in case you've missed it) to make elite ops sound like overly cheery giggling teens? I've never seen special ops in real life, but I'm pretty sure they are a bit more professional..

Third: Odd that Smythe suddenly has this enormous urge to keep throwing in English slang all the bloody time, he doesn't do that as often in the earlier books and I've yet to encounter the first person from England using them so often..Again, I don't really see special ops using so much silly slang during a mission, it's just poppycock!

Fourth: I can go on about the other characters, but lets just say I found them overly dramatic and totally not in line with the books,

Fifth: Funny how even with Kristang tech it sounds crap when people communicate over their radio.. Made it also hard to understand in in the car.

Sixth: Why the constant (annoying) echo when people on board a spaceship talk? We know it's small, no need to remind us all the time. Just picture doing that in the Star Trek series..

Seventh: It was often just hard to follow due the loud music and other background noises, made me wonder if they ever listened to it themselves. It did add to the whole feeling, but it could have been done a lot better.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Dear Mr Musk

Elon.... Dark Lord of Meme.

Skippy and Tesla advertising ?

Outstanding stuff. Finally it's not a shambolic War of the World's type of rammel.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Best Scipie/Barnie yet

Best so far, can't wait for next one, has to be in the same format as this one.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Bring backthe old format

A good story and I'm not disappointed to have downloaded this but please go back to the previous single narrative format for future books

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great laugh with a good story.

Very well done, book narration will never be the same. can't wait for the next book.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

please don’t do this again

why did you have to do it like this - silly sounds and bad transition stop

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

High Production Values, But ....

I was in two minds about getting Homefront, the first audio drama, relating to the very successful Expeditionary Force series of books from Craig Alanson. Why? Well, because as good as audio dramas can be, I had my reservations after listening to the sample on Audible. Sometimes, when you've read a lot of books in a series, you have the voices and other aspects of the characters fixed in your head, so actually hearing someone else's depiction or portrayal of them can be disappointing.

Clearly, this was a very expensive production given the major names featured in the cast. Kate Mulgrew and Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager fame as well as Hollywood Trek actor Zachary Quinto, don't come cheap. I often dislike the use of "big names" in such productions as I tend to think that the producers feel they need to draw people in by having such big names. When that's the case, I do begin to wonder if there is more style than substance to be had as is so often the case when more money is spent on a few people than the production as a whole.

I dithered for a long while, but finally relented on the basis that there may be something in Homefront that is required for the subsequent book, Armageddon, in this series. Nope, although Homefront is mentioned in several places, it is not required to have listened to this story in order to appreciate anything else that follows.

The story is a decent one,with good performanjces by all concerned, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't help the sense that it was slightly contrived purely for the purposes of making an audio drama. Perhaps the hope was to lure in a new audience segment by creating an Expeditionary Force related story, but in what some might consider a more "accessible" format for those who require more than just the portrayal of the written word. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, Audible studios have produced some really excellent Alien based audio dramas, but, for a reason I perhaps cannot quite put my finger on, Homefront wasn't nearly as satisfying as the books in the series.

Kate Mulgrew, for example, played the sub-mind AI, Nagatha, too straight for my liking. If you listen to R.C Bray's interpretation of Nagatha, she comes over as a refined older lady somewhat enamoured with Bishop. This is the main issue I have with such audio dramas, the interpretation of how a character is portrayed can change which only serves to undermine the character in my opinion..

Perhaps something as good as Alanson's series of books cannot be done any justice despite how much money is thrown at it. To me, it's a bit like way back in the 1980's when I used to play text adventure games. As computers became more powerful, new adventure games began to include graphics in addition to the text and for me, this was a step back despite how good the graphics got. Infocom, the premiere text adventure software house back in the day, had a very good advertisement to make their point. They had a picture of a human brain with the tag line, this is the best graphical computer ever made. The point being, that what we imagine based around the prose of a good story, is what makes the book a journey of the mind that no expensive re imaginings can do justice too.

Homefront, as a stand alone, might be a good introduction to those unsure whether to dip their toes into the Expeditionary Force series of books, but to those, like me, who have read the entire series to date, it is a poor relation despite its high production values..

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Skippy saves the world again with monkeys helping.

I have all of Craig Alanson’s Expeditionary Force through audible and listen to them a lot, this however is a new direction for the author to take and he does not disappoint by setting Skippy as the narrator/hero and 1st person storyteller is a stroke of genius.
The cast is amazing and do a great job and sound like their enjoying themselves.
It can be listened to as a stand-alone story but it does help if you have read or listened to Columbus Day to more understand the Dutchman’s crew.
I have read other reviews which criticise the music and background sounds but I did not notice and as it is narrated and sung by Skippy who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket then it’s all part of the drama.
Let’s have another please.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!