2nd Gen

By: Andrea Vaughan, William Vaughan

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Humanity's last hope...

With Earth rapidly becoming inhospitable to human life, GS Archean carries a one-way crew of courageous passengers to Uelara, an Earth-like planet in the Cieri star system. Uelara is ideal, except for one minor detail - its distance from Earth. Traveling at sub-light speed, the generation ship won’t reach Uelara within the original crew’s lifetime.

Thirty years into the journey, a new generation born on the Archean trains to fulfill the first generation’s mission. Eager to reach Uelara, the second-gen crew prepares, as planned, to assume their parents’ responsibilities - that is, until...someone goes missing and a devastating secret is discovered, putting the future of the human race in jeopardy. Will the crew rally and carry out the mission - or is humanity doomed?

It’s all up to the 2nd Gen.

"The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard." (Gaylord Nelson)

©2018 Andrea and William Vaughan (P)2019 Andrea and William Vaughan

Doesn't end

A pet peeve of mine are books that end in the middle of a sentence, which is exactly what this book does. Right when it's getting good, it stops, and I guess I have to wait for the next book to find out what happens to the characters. On the one hand, I do want to find out, so that's good, but I dislike abrupt endings and books that don't standalone. I took off one star because of that.

On the positive side, this takes a familiar sci-fi theme -- a long multi-generational star voyage -- and comes at it with a fresh perspective and some intriguing action. It's realistic, but not too technical or tedious, and focus on the characters. There's a bit of a murder mystery (maybe) and I liked the way the young people develop into adult leaders. It's a story with real potential.

It's just a shame that so little is resolved in this first book of what obviously is planned to be a series. I would not have bought it had I known. I'd have waited until I could read the whole thing at once. (I do the same with TV shows, binge-watching them as I can't stand having to wait for the next episode.)

Soooo Many Cliffhanger....

The story was good, although predictable at times. Loved the world and characters in the story, but OMG, it seemed like ever chapter ended in a cliffhanger! It got annoying at times but all in all I enjoyed the book and would read more if it became a series.

Pleasantly Surprised I Enjoyed This Sci-Fi

I am a crime & non-fiction afficianado and definitly not into sci-fi at all. But I decided to try this book based on many positive reviews. I must say I really enjoyed the story line & the way the reader worked the story. Characters were so well developed & I was able to relate to each one. Just when I thought I knew where the story line was going, a new twist was introduced. I could hardly wait to know what happened next. My favorite shock was the deceipt of Gen1 to Gen2. Don't want to ruin it for anyone. I hope if you listen you will enjoy as I did.

Hopefully this will get a 2nd Gen- err book.

It started off a little slow, but it quickly picked up and held my interest. I kept thinking it was going to be one of those fake missions where they never left Earth and were in a simulated crisis mode to see if multi-generational crews could be feasible.

Simultaneously too long and too short

For the first third of the book, literally nothing happens. NOTHING. The first sign of anything intriguing is then teased out for another hour or two before its actual, completely unsurprising reveal. After that, it’s a mad scramble to get to the end of the book, with minimal additional story. I can only surmise that the incredibly long intro was to pad out a clearly short story into a novel.
The narrator, Luke Daniels, is fantastic as always, and is the main reason I made it through that painfully slow first third. He’s the reason I gave the “overall” four stars...he’s two of those. The authors were clearly more focused on fleshing out a bunch of side characters who, by the end, only a couple of do anything worth even giving them names.
It also ends oddly, with what I BELIEVE the authors thought was a cliffhanger but felt like “oh who even CARES about that at this point?”. It’s not a book that feels like there’s any story LEFT at the end, so that “cliffhanger” isn’t going to make it feel like an incomplete story.

Not my favorite book

Too much time spent on the minutiae of a bunch of 20 somethings playing hide and seak for the first quarter of the book. A lot of unrealistic drama. Without spoilers, when the tragedy occurs, it's so unrealistic. How could that whole group be in one place, hundreds of people, and no one from the 2nd gen there? Didn't anyone work the night shift? Or was in the kitchen, or visiting elsewhere in the ship? I know it's scifi, but circumstances were really pushed to the limits of believability.
Narration was good with good accents, but some female characters voices were too masculine. Nut not bad.

I got through it

Ummm. It was ... captivating? But simultaneously frustrating. I don’t think I have ever had such strong emotions towards characters in a book.

The story took a while to gain traction, but then things quickly happened. And the authors really like to play off cliff hangers, a lot!

Overall, it was an decent listen. I probably won’t get the second book (if there is one). The single book ended just fine.

Dramatic reading made the book even better.

Having already enjoyed reading the book, I had no imagination for how an audiobook could be different, or even better. However, this dramatic reading was exciting, entertaining, and added such dimension to the characters. I loved it! I listened to it all in one sitting and was thoroughly enthralled. This clever story is so appealing, especially to adolescents and young adults. This coming of age story encompasses many of life’s most difficult experiences, including grief and loss, death, depression, and finding life purpose, self-efficacy, relationship building, teamwork, exploring the morals of right and wrong, accountability, and so much more. I would highly recommend this book in any format.

2nd Gen Audiobook is a must!!

I’m so impressed with this audio book!! Great story, interesting and deep characters, full of adventure, science, reality, imagination, emotion, and on and on!! The voice actor was fantastic and captured the characters and story in such a way that I couldn’t wait to hear what was coming next in this Sci-Fi but very human story. I highly recommend this book for all ages!

We want more!

I just finished reading 2nd Gen and I need more now! This book was compelling, poignant, fun, and thought provoking. It deals with tough subjects in a bite sized way that allowed me to think thru them as the characters resolved their own feelings. The relationships ring true to me and I believed in their choices. I want to read whatever comes next. And there must be a next. The Vaughn’s need to hurry up and get us the sequel.