Orion Colony

An Intergalactic Space Opera Adventure

By: Jonathan Yanez, J. N. Chaney

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Humanity's Exodus is about to begin.

When half of mankind revolts and demands more opportunity, those at the top decide on a compromise: They will build the first colony ships and allow the rest to discover new worlds and start over.

Twelve ships are built. The first is called the Orion.

Many are eager to go, but only 100,000 are chosen for each vessel. Far from Earth, a new life awaits, and it promises the prosperity they've always wanted.

But still, resistance stirs.

There are those who are eager to sabotage this new expansion effort, threatening the promise of a new life. As Orion moves through the void of space, towards a distant world, its passengers must fight for survival in an unprecedented conflict.

Win or lose, their future will be forever changed.

Experience a sprawling galactic tale in this first entry to The Orion Colony series. If you're a fan of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, or Indiana Jones, you'll love this epic, space opera adventure.

©2018 Variant Publications (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

A good book but VERY poor value

As typical of Audible produced books, each book in this series is only 5 hours yet each is the price of a book that is often to 4-5 times as long. As far as sci fi guess, this is really just a few chapters of a story that is sold as if it were a complete novel. It surprises me still that Audible would gouge it's members like this.

Love It!

Since starting JN Chaney's Renegade Star series I've been hooked. Haven't been able to put a single book down!

Good space drama part 1...

...but it just ‘ends’, to be continued in the second book. I don’t particularly mind that since I enjoyed the characters. Note that the setting is space/space ship/space travel, but this is a space drama, not hard sci-fi; there are no explanations of the tech. Scott Brick is great at narration, though there were a few times his voice did not change as the character changed, making for a few moments of confusion.

Totally engrossing

Between the writing talent of Chaney, and Yanez, and the performance of Ray Porter I couldn't wait to drive so I could listen.

Entertaining but shallow

This is a rather short story about a man embarking on a colony ship to another world. Mars (and Earth) are composed of two classes… the elite who are genetically-engineered to live forever, and the normal people who aren’t. In other to create opportunity for normal people, the elite have financed and organized ships that will go to new planets. Dean, the main character, is a mechanic who is caught up on the first ship launch and must work to try to save the ship from terrorists who want to see it destroyed.

The story was fine, if not safe. It is fairly shallow, but still entertaining until it reaches its main climax. At that climax, when Dean faces off against a terrorist, the entire following events could have been easily dealt with had he just shot and stunned the terrorist. After that, the book is setting up to go in a completely different direction for the remainder and future books, which is fine, but really isn’t the original story that was set out. A lot of things didn’t make a ton of sense… like the motivations of the terrorists on the ship, or the fact that the ship had no redundancy in any of its systems, or much security for that matter, or the fact that all of the escape pods of the ship were in just one level. Most of the characters are just developed enough to push forward the plot, and not much else.

Overall, its a fun little book to listen to, but not earth-shattering or deep in any way.

Good sit-in

Sit-ins not my favorite type of story. I'm more for the fantasy stories. However I really enjoyed this story and plan to get the next book in the series

Simple but highly enjoyable

This book was exactly what I looking for to listen to as I work. The plot is very simple; It’s an enjoyable world and story, revisiting a familiar immortal-rich-people-and-poor-trampled-upon-humans without dwelling on it or letting it get political or dragging down the storytelling. The world of story needs more like this.
The action is plentiful but not overdone, and the pacing keeps moving at lightning speed, you just fly through it. Where the authors’ talent really shines though is in the characters and dialogue. I laughed out loud so many times and occasionally found myself nodding in agreement with what someone said. The main character is excellent, complex and layered, and heroic but with a dry, sarcastic, self deprecating sense of humor. I’m eager to explore a new world through his eyes.

2 nit-picky things: A colony ship of humans falling randomly out of hyperspace after a sabotage right on top of and literally crash landing on an earth-like planet that happens to be habitable for humans requires a fair bit of suspending disbelief, but once you just accept it and run with it, like you would any tv show, the faster you can get back to enjoying it. This is also the first in a series so it’s possible there is more to why they landed, in all of Space, precisely somewhere they could survive.

And second I’m not a huge fan of Stacy whom I presume is the leading lady. She’s just kind of meh. Not unlikable but not likable either. Part of it might be her voice. The narrator does a spectacular job with all the voices with the single exception of Stacy. She’s supposed to be this snarky hot secret agent and her voice sounds like an office matron. It’s actually kind of funny. And it’s a funny book so maybe that’s intentional I don’t know.

Overall really enjoyed it and can’t wait to listen to the next one and check out more by this author team!

For those who care: this book was clean with only a mild sprinkling of profanity

Nice listen, good pace

This was my first introduction to Ray Porter. I like him. Voices were great. I though the storyline is enjoyable. I immediately went to the 2nd book and I’m almost done with that. It’s nice how there’s not a lot of down time and each books flows directly into the next. In truth, it could

Nothing new here

Fairly competent entry-level sci-fi, but not worth the purchase for serious fans. Very derivative with no new concepts and lots of hand-waved technological advancements. Ray Porter is always good though.

Another fun perspective in the Renegade universe!

The narrator does a very good job. I always appreciate when a narrator can do different voices and make them sound good. This is another fun story in the Renegade universe from a different and enjoyable angle. Easy read/listen and fun adventure!