Marines: Crimson Worlds

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Jeff Bower

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Erik Cain joined the marines to get off death row. The deal was simple; enlist to fight in space and he would be pardoned for all his crimes.

In the 23rd Century, assault troops go to war wearing AI-assisted, nuclear-powered armor, but it is still men and blood that win battles. From one brutal campaign to the next, Erik and his comrades fight an increasingly desperate war over the resource rich colony worlds that have become vital to the economies of Earth's exhausted and despotic Superpowers.

As Erik rises through the ranks he finally finds a home, first with the marines who fight at his side and later among the colonists - men and women who have dared to leave everything behind to build a new society on the frontier, one where the freedoms and rights lost long ago on Earth are preserved.

Amidst the blood and death and sacrifice, Erik begins to wonder. Is he fighting the right war? Who is the real enemy?

Now Included: A sneak peak at Crimson Worlds II: The Cost of Victory. Read the first three chapters, immediately following the end of Marines in this Kindle edition.

Crimson Worlds II: The Cost of Victory - Available Now!

Crimson Worlds III: A Little Rebellion - December 2012

©2012 Jay Allan Books (P)2012 Jay Allan Books

Good story, a little hard to listen to though.

So far I am about 10 and a half hours into the story and I gotta say I really like the story, the world he built is great and the story sucks you in.

However the narrator is... To be honest he isn't the best. I see in some reviews people like the machine voices for the radios, and others don't. Personally I like when you add little touches like that.

My problem is that the narrator has this habit of making words sound like questions and he tends to be slow (speed up to 1.5 on the app helps a lot).

I guess all I am really trying to get across is that the story is great, but the narrator can be a bit hard to listen to.

Story is very good! Narrator is very flat.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jeff Bower’s performances?

No. Mr. Bower's performance reminded me of a college lecture hall performance. His narrator's voice sounds forced and very artificial. His character voices are falsetto and sound like they should be part of anime.

Any additional comments?

This book is well written and builds the Crimson World story line very nicely. It has made me desire to listen to the next in the series.

It was okay.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The reading of secondary characters in the same nasal voice was a bit distracting. I think a straight read, second reader, or such would have been better. The book lagged several times as the author added data that was mostly irrelevant to the current story. It may be critical information later, but the information should have been provided later in a smoother fashion. For example, in the middle of everything, Jay Allan stops to explain current political structures, terminology, etc.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jay Allan? Why or why not?

I might. The parts that were moving were good. The constant stops to go over some tangent are a bit distracting.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Jeff Bower?

No, I don't think I would. Again, the nasal voice for every single secondary character was distracting and did not add to the reading.

Any additional comments?

This wasn't a bad book. It was just a bit slow and I found the narrator to be distracting. There were several good sections that were riveting.

Really not that good

Reads like a first attempt to write a book.
Characters were bland there was no character development basically one character in book and he was boring. Narration was decent.

3,2,4

Sadly the narration was slightly off. hard to explain. A combination of oscilating volume of the narration possibly quality issue or it could have all been the narrator.
Gave me abit of a headache.

great series

very well told story. backstory is revieled with good timing and the story carries forward without lag. i was not a huge fan of Jeff Bower as a narrator but he really came through in his work on this series.

sit back and relax go out of this world

easy to follow and do other things over all enjoyed it just need the other books to fill in that ending

Almost

What did you like best about Marines: Crimson Worlds? What did you like least?

I really like the story line but it lacks polish and the voice performance is way to monotone. Also, what's up with the unannounced preview of the next book?
To short for the price.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jay Allan? Why or why not?

Yes

What didn’t you like about Jeff Bower’s performance?

Monotone, lacked voice inflection and the secondary character voices sounded over done- just bad.

Did Marines: Crimson Worlds inspire you to do anything?

Write this review.

Any additional comments?

I'm not giving up, I hope the writer and performer improve.

inappropriate narration decent story

What did you like best about Marines: Crimson Worlds? What did you like least?

Story line is ok, not much of a twist you could pretty much guess what was coming

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Add more characters with different skills

How could the performance have been better?

More military like presentation.

Did Marines: Crimson Worlds inspire you to do anything?

NO

Narration is tiring

Overall I thought the story was fairly decent but the narration I found was "irritating". The narrator tried to add in some sound effects which was creative but he narration rhythm was monotonous. The book would have been so much better in my opinion with a different narrator. As for the story itself, it suffers from being more of a "story narration" rather than characters "experiencing" the story. I will try the 2nd book of the series, but if it is more of the same, I will probably drop the series.