Rare Earth

By: Kurt Allan

Narrated by: Derek Shoales

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

A lost mining crew, 400 million miles from Earth. A retired miner journeys to find out why.

"There's something out there...."

Waldo Packwood has had a rough time of things lately. He's lost his job, his friends, and finally his family. At 50 years old, he's living alone in a small apartment wondering what's happened to his life. He's unexpectedly asked to travel to Hector 1, a lone asteroid in the Jupiter Trojans, to investigate the missing crew.

"That's just it, Waldo", sighed the director, "we don't know what happened."

His trip is a struggle from the beginning, as he discovers more about those around him and what they're willing to do to keep Hector 1 to themselves. Instead of answers, he's cast into the fight of his life as he struggles to uncover the secrets and lies that have been built around this distant world.

Rare Earth is a gritty science-fiction thriller and debut novel about an unconventional hero and second chances.

"It's going to be that kind of story, so buckle up."

©2019 Kurt Allan (P)2020 Tantor

Great Story and Narration

I found myself immersed into the story from the very beginning. Author and Narrator developed plenty of mind candy and I could nearly place myself within the scene.

Just ok

Interesting on the technical aspects but the main character just didn’t react to the situations as a trained professional. Good concept but poorly educated C plus on this

Really good

Excellent hard science fiction. I really enjoyed this book. Some science fiction is silly or overdone, or the protagonist is too much of a hero. This is not silly, not overdone, and the protagonist is realistic.

Entertaining!

This story was imaginative and thought provoking. It was a good old-fashioned who dunnit set in space, coupled with the raw, human element of a wounded father just trying to do the right thing. I highly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in space, dramas, or mysteries.

Talked to fast.

Sometimes the narrator talked so fast I had to replay what he read.
I will not be told how many words my review must contain$&@“

Decent story

Story was good, but not overly exciting. Still i retesting. Was kinda of slow, but good. I wish the ending was a little longer.

I fought hard and pushed through the pain...

Having grown up on Asimov, Heinlein, Clark and the classics, I was looking forward to a plain old space fairing story. The lack of depth in the plot, the characters, and just about everything about this book made me regret getting it by the end of the first chapter! I hold in respect people who put themselves out there, who pour their heart out writing stories, and who open themselves to criticism - so I gave it a chance, I really did. It's just that the constant obsessive attention to most innate details (as if the challenges of space exploration have not been known since Verne, or that movies like 2001: Space Odyssey, Apollo 13, Interstellar, or The Martian never explored them), the constant toxic inner monologue of the main character, the throw away secondary female characters, or the constant technical errors made this one of the most painful read I have ever completed. Who is to blame here: the writer not seeking feedback, the editor not providing any before putting this out there, or the publisher for putting their name on this... I don't know, this one is for the burn pile.

Decent, below average.

Narrator was too dramatic, characters were too stupid. Acceleration vs speed errors, and similar mistakes.

meh

The narrator can only do what the text enables, however it was pretty monotonous. Character voices were weak, little difference in tones etc. The book needs editing. Way too much soliloquys by the main character. Chases rabbits at major events in non critical ways to the story. Looks like the author was trying to meet a minimum word requirement for submitting the book.

Bad reading worse story

Narrator has a habit of runningalltheendofhissentencestogether. Super distracting and obnoxious. Plot was repetitive and at times seemed AI generated. Lacked depth and any entertainment for me. Character personalities were all over the place and lacked consistency. Save yourself 12 hours and skip this