Swarm
Star Force, Book 1
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Swarm
Narrated by:
Mark Boyett
Buy Now for £14.99
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Narrated by:
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Mark Boyett
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By:
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B. V. Larson
About this listen
Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet! Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there.
A novel of military science fiction by best-selling author B. V. Larson, Swarm is the story of Earth's annexation by an alien empire. Long considered a primitive people on a backwater planet, humanity finds itself in the middle of a war - and faced with extinction.
©2010 B.V. Larson (P)2011 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
mercenaries series and having reached the fifth and currently last book in
that series, I decided to switch to Larson's other major saga the,
Star Force books, to keep me going until the next title in the Undying Mercenaries
books becomes available.
This book started quite well and I was soon sucked into the story. however,
things started to just not feel quite right with regards the way the story
protagonist, Kyle Riggs, behaved especially given his overwhelming loss
suffered at the start of the book. There are interesting concepts here for
sure but I think the problem with this book I have is the execution rather
than the concept. I find it quite hard to put my finger on exactly what it
is about this book that doesn't sit right with me. I would describe this
story as interesting but not compelling as I found my introduction to
Larson's work was in the shape of the Undying Mercenaries books. Maybe it
feels to me that so far this first book was written for a younger target
audience than my late forties as it seemed to lack the grit and depth of detail I'd come to
expect. Many aspects of the critical elements of the narrative were just
skipped or dealt with very quickly. For example, it might have been
interesting to establish the deadly nature of the first battles with the
invading machines by inserting sections dealing with the initial encounters
during the first land battles but instead Larson basically just mentions
that all human resistance was wiped out.
Without trying to give anything away, there is no attempt to send Nano ships
to scout the area around Venus when it has been determined that Macro
activity is going on. Surely it would be obvious that some kind of
build up was going on there but yet nothing is done to monitor the evident
beachhead being made nor was any opportunity taken to launch a pre-emptive
strike upon the alien encampment there before they had become too strong or
entrenched.
The other thing I didn't care for was the annoying Crow character. he just
seemed too silly for my tastes and just wants to play soldiers rather than
really add anything to the story. He proves useful initially to Riggs but soon after is just a nuisance really.
Also, the Sandra character appears not much more than a lust interest for our recently bereaved professor of computer science and in fact is a student at his university and some 14 years his junior. This aspect seems rather odd to me and just a little shallow and creepy as I can think of plenty of other things more important when fighting for my life and sanity than eyeing up a young lady. Hmmm ... perhaps I am just too old to see this story element in a positive light.
Unlike Larson's Undying Mercenaries stories, I am not chomping at the bit to
get hold of the next Star Force book. I am a little ambivalent with the
story so far but I guess I will check out the second book.
. To be fair, there are many more in the Star Force collection and so
I am hoping the story will evolve and mature a bit to bolster the series as a whole.
Mark Boyett's narration as with the Undying Mercenaries series is excellent and he has an easy voice to listen to. his rendering of a flat emotionless computer voice, for example, is akin to a Vulcan from Star Trek giving a monologue and is done very well.
I am not going to suggest that potential readers of this book give it a
miss. however,, I cannot sing its praises either. As mentioned, it is
interesting but not what I would call compelling reading. I would say to
give it a shot and then make up your mind whether to move to the next in the
series or not.
Interesting But Not Compelling
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Where does Swarm rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
From the beginning Swarm charges along a full speed, the atmosphere is spot on and desperate.What was one of the most memorable moments of Swarm?
The black surface of the ship has a personality of its own.Have you listened to any of Mark Boyett’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I've started the Steel World books where Mark Boyett performs a different younger big ego character which comes across well, whereas in Swarm and Star Force he performs the slightly older lead just right.Visual story telling great read
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over all a solid and interesting scifi story.
a decent book
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Great story development.
Smart storry telling.
Amazing narrator.
had to get extra credit to get the next book.
Couldnt wait for the next month.
What a great start to the series.
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Dont read the next in the series
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