Out of the Dark

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Charles Keating

Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The launch of a new science-fiction adventure series - by the New York Times best-selling author of the Safehold series and the Honor Harrington series.

The Galactic Hegemony has been around a long time, and it likes stability - the kind of stability that member species like the aggressive, carnivorous Shongairi tend to disturb. So when the Hegemony Survey Force encountered a world whose so-called "sentients" - "humans", they called themselves - were almost as bad as the Shongairi themselves, it seemed reasonable to use the Shongairi to neutralize them before they could become a second threat to galactic peace. And if the Shongairi took a few knocks in the process, all the better.

Now, Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity’s cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, more than half the human race has died.

Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize scattered survivors without getting killed. And in the Southeastern US, firearms instructor and former Marine Dave Dvorak finds himself at the center of a growing network of resistance - putting his extended family at lethal risk, but what else can you do?

On the face of it, Buchevsky's and Dvorak's chances look bleak, as do prospects for the rest of the surviving human race. But it may well be that Shongairi and the Hegemony alike have underestimated the inhabitants of that strange planet called Earth...in David Weber's Out of the Dark.

©2010 David Weber (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Weber pulls off this conceit in audacious style with a focus on military-powered action that will thrill fans of his Honor Harrington series, and he keeps the pedal to the metal right up to the almost unbelievable conclusion." ( Publishers Weekly)

Would pay full price or more for a sequel!!

Where does Out of the Dark rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have listened to several thousand audiobooks so that is a hard question to answer without spending a lot of time listing and rating all of them. Hazarding a guess id say it ranks in the top 50. I have listened to it 3 times or more.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Out of the Dark?

Hard to choose one, off hand I can recall at least 5 and its been at least 2 months since my last listen. I also do not wish to give anything away, spoilers suck.

Which character – as performed by Charles Keating – was your favorite?

Another hard question. As I recall, they where all well performed and there are many different characters in this book, so precluding several more books and subsequent character development I really can't say.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. It is the only book blending Science Fiction and Fantasy about which I am willing to say that.

Mispronouncing words is a killer when the story is

You would think that there would be a proof listener or someone to verify pronunciation!

It's not a war story if it's 90% talking.

I'm less fussed than some of the readers by the turn towards fantasy part way through the book. In my case, what really made me struggle is all the time the characters spend either describing things that are happening somewhere else, discussing what they should do next, or driving their inner monologue roughshod through their entire backstory. Reminder for the author: "Show, don't tell".

Good book

A really good book, strange ending, but a good book none the less. Waiting for the second!

unknown Hero

Love this book you do not know who the real hero is till the end have read it 3 times

The twist was unexpected…

I did not like the extra spec talk. APCs, NPCs, KEVs… Ugh. I did enjoy how the story flowed and then slowly bam, it changes from sci fi to horror. Fascinating storytelling.

There better be a sequel...

I agree with the comments about the ending of the book, it seemed a bit rushed to me. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and hope that the story will go on. With an ending as 'abrupt' as this I think most readers will agree, there better be a sequel. So much left to fill in and develop.

What a COOL ending!

This was a fun read from beginning to end - and the end was such fun! Got to love this guy - fell in love with his books only a couple years ago and now cannot get enough of them.

Shoot! No sequel

Loved the new book by Mr. Weber. Now I have another (hopefully) series to follow fanatically by one of my favorite authors. Surprising twist and all.

surprise deus ex machina

so first off spoilers. That out of the way. So I only have one or two troubles with this book. First off no point of you female characters. Also the only reason people want to do things is because their family has been murdered. Which is a little silly. I do things all the time and I haven't had my family murdered.

spoiler two the deus ex machina. which I forgive a little bit just because it's so amazing and ridiculous. the deus ex machina, is vampires. Vampire save the world. I find it a little ridiculous A little amazing and it made me smile a lot.