Live Free or Die

Troy Rising, Book One

By: John Ringo

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Beginning a New Series by a New York Times Best-Selling Author.Will the People of Earth Bow Down toAlien Overlords—or Will They Live Free or Die?

First Contact Was Friendly

When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World

When the Horvath came through, they announced their ownership by dropping rocks on three cities and gutting them. Since then, they've held Terra as their own personal fiefdom. With their control of the orbitals, there's no way to win and earth's governments have accepted the status quo.

Live Free or Die

To free the world from the grip of the Horvath is going to take an unlikely hero. A hero unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and with enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win. Fortunately, there's Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than just getting rid of the Horvath.

Troy Rising is a book in three parts—Live Free or Die being the first part—detailing the freeing of earth from alien conquerors, the first steps into space using off-world technologies and the creation of Troy, a thousand trillion ton battlestation designed to secure the solar system.

©2010 John Ringo (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Loved it

Loved it enough to listen to it again. And I don't usually do that.

Blows my mind!

What did you love best about Live Free or Die?

Simple but not stupid beginning, Scale kept getting bigger and bigger. Lots of practicle info, realistic physics and not-too-tough math to keep things plausible. Great for those of us that actually do build things. Metalurgy for the masses!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Live Free or Die?

When you realize just how big and tough the Troy is.

What about Mark Boyett’s performance did you like?

Easy to keep trak of all the characters, never silly or over the top.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Atlas Shrugged the Death Star.

Any additional comments?

Best Sci Fi I've heard since the first Dune. Starts small and keeps getting bigger, bigger biggest!

Just amazing!

I *really* enjoyed this book! I found the story interesting and told in an engaging way.

I liked the characters and I loved the touches of humor (when the alien first tastes the MS) and the many oblique SciFi references.

I look forward to the next one in the series.

Just Great

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. This takes a "reasonable" approach to how man kind might leap forward very quickly into the space game. The overall plot is classic American dream material. A clever man thinking quick to make himself more awesome and save the world all at once.

A right-wing sci fi wet dream

Narrator was great, as usual, but the story... sigh.
I'm sure that the word "Libtard" is uttered by this author on a daily basis.

In a way, it's nice to see a sci fi book that has another slant, but this one is over the top with its liberal hating, mysoganistic bent.

Enough with the right wing bullshit

Great story, but we get it you hate City people and liberals. Stick to sci Fi

Excellent, original story

Great sci-fi story without the usual sci-fi feel. I loved the practicality and smart capitalist emphasis without being preachy. The occasional jab at political correctness makes the book even more enjoyable. I'll definitely be reading the whole series. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book.

Lost because of all technology descriptions.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't finish this book. You need to be a scientific engineer to follow along.

What was most disappointing about John Ringo’s story?

Story line got lost in all the technical jargon.

Which character – as performed by Mark Boyett – was your favorite?

Tyler, the main character.

Was Live Free or Die worth the listening time?

Not for me.

Any additional comments?

I enjoy a good sci-fi book, but not when you need to be told all the details of any working machinery.

Too much science, not enough fiction

Way too much tec data but the story was interesting enough to warrant getting the next book.

Compelling story stuff with distasteful conservative tirades

The story itself, and the performance by the narrator, I enjoyed very much. It’s just a shame that Ringo felt so often compelled to have the main character preach the right-wing gospel. It went beyond character development and over the line into annoying and awkward.