William

My first venture into the world of military Sci-Fi was John Ringo, and I was so disappointed with his books, that I was reluctant to try a different series in the same genre. When I saw that the narrator, Mark Boyett, was the same as the Ringo books that I had disliked, I had further reservations, even though Boyett is a great narrator.

My fears were totally unfounded. This is a light, action-packed sci-fi adventure where the fast-paced story is never held back by overly-detailed technology explanations or self-righteous, right-wing sermonizing as in the Ringo books.

The sci-fi tech is very interesting and well-thought out. I found it was also pleasing that the tech did not seem to be the point of the story, but rather was secondary to the well-conceived plot.

The protagonist questions himself, and yet is capable and competent, with a good since of humor. He is very likeable and it is enjoyable to be privy to his decision-making process throughout the numerous battles with the Macros and other species.

I usually just listen to my audiobooks in my hour commute back and forth from work. The Star Force series has been so intriguing and gripping that I had to bring it into the house and listen to it there as well.

I've finished three of the books so far, and each time I finish one, I don't wait until I have the credits to buy the next installment. I've not had this much fun with Sci-Fi in a long time, and I will probably be exploring more of B.V. Larson's books in the future.

Kyle Riggs, with the help of his trusted military officers, and Marvin, a sentient artificial life form, must battle impossible odds as Star Force faces enemies on all fronts.

At the same time that Star Force is fighting for its very life, Kyle Riggs attempts to delve into the relationships between the Blues, the Macros, and the Nanos. Unraveling that mystery could be the key to survival. However, things are looking bad back on Earth, where Crow has used his military might as leverage to gain enormous power.

These are fast, rollicking page-turners that keep you in suspense the whole way through. BV Larson's imagination does not fail him as we see new approaches to many brand new challenges.

The characters are immensely likeable and you root for each one along the way, even Marvin, who seems to always be a step ahead of Kyle Riggs, much to Star Force's benefit, and Kyle Rigg's chagrin. Once again Mark Boyett increases the enjoyment of these audiobooks with his talented portrayal of characters of all nations (and species).

If you are looking for sci-fi that is fast-paced, fun, and incredibly interesting, I'd recommend the Star Force series for you. The author has carefully crafted a military sci-fi universe where new discoveries and surprises await, leaving the reader astonished at the depth of B.V. Larson's imagination.

Most sci-fi series that I have read have at least one book where things do not click, or the plot seems forced, or difficult to believe. In contrast, every book of this series is strong, and I keep thinking that the best one is the book I just finished.

Mark Boyett, the narrator, is quite amazing as he seamlessly switches his accent from one member of an international team to another to yet another. It adds an extra dimension of enjoyment over the text version of the books.

I couldn't believe how much I liked this book when I launched into the first few chapters. I also couldn't believe how much I disliked this book when hour after hour was spent discussing the pros and cons of various engineering problems.

Instead of the rapid-pace events of the book's beginning, be prepared for bureaucrats, negotiations, engineering brain-storming sessions and one meeting that leads to another that leads to still another, seemingly endlessly.

I appreciate that John Ringo has given this a great deal of thought and wants to include the detail he has imagined for this project. However, I just really don't care how you are going to solve the problem of cutting a door through a nickel-iron chunk of asteroid.

This is not really hard sci-fi, which I love, but hard engineering fiction where a person is supposed to enjoy the debates about advanced engineering topics. Included in these long discussions are questions about how much tonnage some device should be, and the pros and cons of having an interior 9 kilometers across versus 10 kilometers because they didn't use enough volatiles when expanding the sphere.

I'm not surprised to find that Dan Simmons also writes horror stories. This well-crafted tale is punctuated by grisly and gruesome scenes that make you gasp in horror. I sometimes found the descriptions so disturbing that I would have to stop listening, and come back to it, when I had gotten over the impact.

Simmons has few equals, if any, in story-telling. Instead of having haunting images presented to me as I read, I would have preferred a PG-13 version.

Note: I hate horror movies, murder mysteries, slasher movies, and anything involving macabre depictions of torture and death. So, this is written not as a warning for the general listener, but for anyone who might think twice about listening to or reading a horror tale.

The narration in this story is excellent.

I am an Alan Dean Foster fan, and now a Ben Browder fan. I've enjoyed Browder on Farscape and Stargage SG-1, but his reading of this very entertaining novel made me appreciate how vast his acting talents are.