Prelude to Extinction

Xenophobia Series, Book 1

By: Andreas Karpf

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.

Warm sunlight shone on his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long-abandoned structures that lay nearby.

Evidence points to a massacre; the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers.

Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option - but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they can’t even begin to understand.

©2019 Andreas Karpf (P)2020 Podium Audio

Critic reviews

"Fans of hard science fiction will particularly enjoy this thought-out, well-paced tale of a small crew's unintentional close encounter." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Readers eager to immerse themselves...and have the SF check out will find this mission irresistible." (Booklife by Publisher's Weekly)

"Best sci-fi I've read in a long time!" (Steven Moore, author)

Good plot, some weak characters

Enjoyed listening to the book. Two of the characters became stereotypical and absurd overtime. Jack who is supposed to be the leader, spends much of the book describing how he can’t do things that any normal leader would do. And the irritated engineer character is so formulaic and overblown that he would never of been allowed in a spaceship. A little more moderation in the characters would’ve made it more enjoyable, but overall, it was a good story.

Good story okay characters

The first thing I would like to point out is the speed of this book at 1.0 on the audible player on my phone was really slow. It didn't sound like someone talking in slow motion, the speed at which the narrator was talking/reading was slow, So I listened to this at 1.10 speed which was much better.

Now, the characters in the story were kinda weak. We don't get much in the way of character development which is okay if the characters in the story are actually "in character." But the people in this story just didn't come across as people who would actually have the positions they were supposed to be holding. They did manage to come to the correct conclusions about things and make the right decisions but the interaction of the characters in various situations just wasn't how they would be considering the mission at hand. If the next book has none of the original characters that would be fine with me.

The narration is just okay. The narrator tries to do different voices and intonations but just doesn't quite pull it off.

The science part of this science fiction story was good but there were some times when some things didn't add up, but to move the story along suspending disbelief form time to time is okay.

So this seems to be the first book in a series of books to come in this universe. This could go a couple of ways. If the story dwells on the minutia of Earth's politics and social issues then I am out. But if the author keeps focused on the story arc and gets humanity to where it needs to be then I am in. The ground work for a really good space opera has been laid and I hope the author doesn't get side tracked.

Deep Space Exploration with twists

Awesome listen with plausible situations with logical outcomes. The hard science aspects of the book are easily understood and explained in good detail.

Fantastic

Loved from beginning to end. Can’t wait for book two Should be a fun ride.

Mixed Bag For Me

This book suffers from lack of R.C. Bray syndrome. This is not the books fault. That is why I gave it an overall score of four in story four stars.

It’s different from the usual pace, which I liked a lot. However, the performance of it with regard to the narrator, whom I’m sure is a nice person, but just fell flat for me.

The character that is annoying Jack, throughout the whole book is so offputting. That character feels forced, and realistically would never be on a ship in that capacity. But I understand why the author did what he did in that he created the narrative of dialectical and interpersonal relationships.

FTL is meh

The FTL is kinda meh in this book. To the say least.

The regular space travel and other bits of science is pretty good. There’s very little action in this book and it gets rather dull. I’ve kind of slept through some chapters because of how slow the plot was. While written well, it couldn’t keep me focused until something that actually drove the plot forward happened. The book needs more conflict and excitement to keep the reader engaged.


Ya the ftl was annoying and really pointless for what it does to time. Which makes you wonder why even use it on a tactical sense.

Meh

Ok story with a little too much filler. Nothing new to readers of science fiction. Narrative was ok.

wow what a great book

this is in my top ten for sure! aliens, space travel, future tech. yeah like the perfect syfi book.

engrossing

This book got off to a slow start and I did not think I was going to like it. However I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. The characters developed and the pace sped up. By the end, I was really glad to find out more books were coming.

Sequel Is Complete!

The sequel to "Prelude to Extinction" is titled "Latent Flaw," and will be released on 09 August 2022!