• A Show of Force

  • Frontiers Saga, Book 13
  • By: Ryk Brown
  • Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
  • Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,017 ratings)

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A Show of Force  By  cover art

A Show of Force

By: Ryk Brown
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
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Publisher's summary

The liberation of old worlds...

The addition of new allies...

The fall of a regime...

The death of a trusted friend...

The Aurora begins clearing a 20-light-year sphere of safety around Earth, taking out Jung forces as they liberate the core systems. However, Captain Scott and the Alliance quickly discover that not every world wants to be liberated, and the Jung have a few surprises of their own.

©2015 Ryk Brown (P)2015 Tantor

What listeners say about A Show of Force

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Lots of Action

This is one of my favorite space operas. It has been great fun watching Ryk Brown evolve into an excellent author. This is the 13th book in the series. The series should be read in order otherwise the reader is lost. This author does not go back and fill in details from prior books.

In the last book, Earth has been cleared of the Jung. The Arora and Celestia are all shot up and the asteroid repair station is also damaged. In this book the repairs are in process and Nathan sets out to clear the Jung from neighboring star systems. He hopes to save them from destruction by the Jung and convert them into allies for the Alliance. Jessica once again goes undercover on a strange planet. The Arora faces off two Jung battleships alone. Unfortunately, Brown kills off one of the key characters. Oh, how could he! The book ends in a cliff hanger.

The book is well written. In fact, Brown’s writing improves with each book. The plot twists and turns. The action is non-stop and the pace is fast. Brown continues to build his characters and adds new ones. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Jeffrey Kafer does an excellent job narrating the book. Kafer has narrated all the books in the series, which I think is great to have only one narrator for the series.





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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

So you wanted a cliffhanger...here it is

Where does A Show of Force rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I listen to audio books everyday, especially when I am working. I listen to about five books a month. I attempt to listen to books that will stimulate my creative and intelligent side with some reasonable level of drama. This book was confusing because the author made two of the smartest main characters pretty dumb to create drama and to hook us in for the next book. We don't need a hook to keep us reading, we need a good story.

Would you recommend A Show of Force to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend the series with caveats. I like the series (all the previous books), so I hope Mr. Brown will resurrect the intelligence of the remaining main characters, so that they can save the galaxy.

Which character – as performed by Jeffrey Kafer – was your favorite?

I really like Jeffery Kafer. I like his work so much, I look for his books to listen to.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did have an extreme reaction to this book. I was pissed that Mr. Brown killed off one of the main characters. This character was one of my favorites. If Mr. Brown kills off another main character, then I might reverse my opinion of this series. I listen to these books for pleasure, not pain. Write books that give hope and not sorrow. If I want really sorry stories, I will listen to the news.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Bomb it to bits

I read / heard the entire series. It's entertaining enough, and a bit addictive. However, when I got to the end, after 15 books of 10 chapters each, I realized it wasn't over. The author left several important threads unfinished so he could write a spin-off series (Rogue Castes) and thus take more of my money and time. And he's also writing another series, which goes back in time to show what happened to Earth so long ago, when the mother-of-all-plagues struck, and humans took to the stars in colony ships.

As I read book after book, it began to feel like each book was a TV episode. Where one book ends, the next one picks up, often on the very same day or week. Across the series, the author has been teasing his readers. For example, we hear brief snippets featuring Captain Dubnyk (of course he is not what he seems) and with Admiral Galardi (another deceiver).

Told in 3rd person, and set on earth, in space, and on various far-flung planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, this is the story of a handful of fleet academy graduates who find themselves far from home, on the Aurora starship, the only ship of her kind, engineered with advanced technology.

When the recurring heroes Nathan, Vlad, Cameron, and Jessica get caught up in someone else's war, they have to decide whether to play Good Samaritan or look away. Given that the bad guys are bombing entire planets to rubble, it's not really a hard call. (But all that bombing got very old across this series, as did all the detailed battle scenes).

In this book, someone dies. Someone who has been with us from book 1. I felt his death. Good scene. On the other hand, Jessica was about as stupid as possible. Clueless. How does this jive with her supposedly savvy spec-ops characterization? It doesn't. Naralina the interpreter could have been given a bit more play in this book.

The author has a strange way with words. Sometimes I wonder if he gets the nuance of meaning in "mumbled" verses "muttered" (his heroes mumble all the time, but they are leaders?). And they "sneer" at each other. I think he means it to be playful, but for me, that word connotes mean-spirited malice. He repeatedly uses the phrase "each and every" too.

The bad guys in this series are really evil. Planet killers (really?), traitors, and their ilk. I wish the author would write a more vivid, detailed, and satisfying death or imprisonment scene for them.

Bottom line, this series is not great, but not bad either. I like some of the characters, especially Vlad and Cameron. And Abby, Miri, Dumar. Loki and Josh make a great contrast. I enjoy their conversations while running cold coast recon in enemy space. Some plot twists are pretty obvious, but sometimes I'm surprised.

Decent narration. It is good. However, sometimes the dialogue sounds too crisp and monotone, like reading from a textbook.

Contents across series: I'd say PG 13. One quickie sex scene, lots of religious swearing (which felt gratuitous and out of place for this futuristic, distant setting), lots of F-bombs (which did somehow feel right -- the F word has been around forever and adapts well for varied usage) and lots of death.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The last hour of story killed me!

The vast majority of book 13 was one of the best stories I've listened to yet in the Frontiers Saga universe. Ryk Brown takes his listeners to numerous points within a 20 light year span of Sol and delivers a story where the Alliance and Earth not only get an opportunity to strike back, but strike back hard. Within this scenario we are introduced to many new worlds and actually spend time on their surface getting to know the people and their values. Book 13 feels much more in depth than its predecessors in detail and span of story.

But the last hour or so of the story just kills me. It goes from bad to worse to unbelievable. I'm confident books 14 and 15 will help right some of these situations, but I was left so disappointed in book 13. The new challenges our characters face and the loss of some favorites will stay with me for some time to come. I'm also not a fan at all of characters acting outside their control as hinted back in the Liberation novel and continued here as a major theme. I would much more prefer characters acting nefariously due to a flaw in character values or something more obvious like greed or corruption. This oould be in lieu to mind control. As I'm coming very close to spoilers, I'll end here and move on to book 14 after a short break from the story to recover.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Continued good storytelling

With some unexpected twist and turns the story arch is still interesting and builds well throughout the narrative.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Offensive meets resistance, cliffhanger ending

A Show of Force is another great military syfi story from this author. The alliances unbeatable jump drive finally meets defensive resistance near the end of the book. A steam role storyline is prevented. Another major event for the series occurs in the last 30 minutes of the book. The narrator performed a quality job as well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wow

Each book is better than the last. Definitely recommend! (Not happy with the ending but hey, stuff happens)

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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That is how you kill off Sgt. Weatherly?

What a load of crap! I cannot believe you did that to the Weatherly character. I stopped reading and wont be coming back to this book.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

the most stressful book as of yet

i had to put this down many times as i was overwhelmed with what was happening. the galaxy has been descending into chaos, this episode suggests at the forces at work before the story began were long into play. i need a breath of air, wow

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting book

What a great book with a twist I never saw coming. Very interesting set back. Can’t wait to get onto the next one.

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