Salvage Rat

Salvage Rat, Book 1

By: Larry N. Martin

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Star Force pilot and hero Wyatt McCoy left his medals and career behind after the Rim Wars, disillusioned and bitter when he learns the truths behind the conflict. He takes his converted gunship, the Nellie B, and heads to the Near Fringe, salvaging derelict ships and abandoned stations and mining colonies.

Dr. Beth Parker is a space archaeologist, documenting the history of planetary expansion and colonization for Kalok Enterprises and the Interplanetary Mining Guild. A piece of alien technology embeds itself in Beth's arm, giving her the ability to see the energy impressions of long-ago people and events. When Beth uncovers proof of genocide that could bring down the big mining companies, she's the target of assassins.

Wyatt makes a split-second decision to intervene, launching them both into a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game with some of the most powerful organizations in the system. They can prove Kalok and Interplan killed millions - but can they live long enough to tell their story?

©2018 Gail Z. Martin (P)2018 Tantor

surprisingly good!

space, salvaging dead spaceships, an evil corporation hunting the protagonists, cover-ups, action.... solid fun. recommended!

Good story line

I was very happy with the story line and the characters were excellent I hope there will be more books to come!!

fun adventure

simple and creative, adventure through the stars with well written characters and imaginative scenes.

What is it with guys and gals?

Everyone thinks their partnership is non-platonic, am I the only guy thinking they should take the plunge? Every day could be their last, how about dying somewhat happy?

Terrible narration of a mediocre story

Overall I found this story lacking in excitement and emotion.

In particular the narration was very poor. Jeffery Kafer has an almost monotone quality to his voice and lacked much if any differentiation in his voice between characters. Yes there are worse narrators, for example Joe Farinacci's reading of "Galactic Freighter" but having listened to narrators the likes of Scott Brick, John Sharian I know just how much more life can be brought to an audio book by a great narrator.

The direction and editing of this audio book was abysmal. As an example, one of the supporting characters name is "Beth". At one point in the story the narrator said "Bob". Either the Jeffery Kafer was just reading the book verbatim or the production crew wasn't focused on their work to let something this obvious slip through into the final product.

The story does have some merit but this book needs another two or three passes through the editing cycle to add the polish I come to expect from Audible titles.

It's ok

The summary made this book sound better than it was. I thought it would be an interesting adventure book but, it just felt like one battle seen after another with little to no character building or dialogue. I was looking for an adventure book and I found something that was not my cup of tea. If you like battles and some type of conspiracy of the big companies against the little guy this book is for you.

The Narrator did a good job.

Didn't finish

The story never really caught my attention. It wasn't bad just uninteresting to me. Never made me root for the MC.

Falls a bit short.

It has all the right ingredients for an epic space opera, but falls short due to a nonsensical plot, and two dimensional characters.

Not a pleasant story

I stuck with this book till the end, but I did consider quitting a couple times and I did resort to fast forwarding through some scenes after a few too many graphic descriptions of things like savaged bodies, being doused with gore, and people catching on fire. While the main characters were likable and I did find myself hoping they would make it through to the end, I swear they had the worst timing in every situation and probably shouldn't have made it. The book focused so much on death and destruction, orbital bombardments, killer storms, slavers, killer droids, and worst of all.... greedy murderous corporations and loan sharks. (Eek!) I was also really bummed that my favorite character in the book only lasted for about one chapter before being killed off. Not bad writing, but the complete opposite of uplifting.