David

This, the second novel in the series, suffers from a number of flaws that make it a difficult audiobook to get lost in.

"Old Man's War" walked the reader through alongside the protagonist while he discovered a strange universe. In this book everything is told to the reader directly, not revealed. Recapped in painful detail for anyone who read the first novel. The main character is not particularly engaing, and characters stand around monolgueing like villians in a Bond film. I could not finish it.

The phrase "special forces soldier" is repeated a million times, and must die.

I enjoyed this audiobook. Both the story and the narration are less compelling than others in the series. The narrator is a bit jarring at first, but warms up to the material after a few hours.

I have read most of Mr. McDevitt's work. This is the first I have listened to as an audio book and I found that nothing was lost in the experience. The narrator did an admirable job. The story loses a bit of steam two-thirds through, but I still enjoyed the whole.