• Poor Man's Fight: Poor Man's Fight, Book 1

  • By: Elliott Kay
  • Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
  • Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,655 ratings)

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Poor Man's Fight: Poor Man's Fight, Book 1  By  cover art

Poor Man's Fight: Poor Man's Fight, Book 1

By: Elliott Kay
Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
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Publisher's summary

High school senior Tanner Malone has bombed the Test, a high-stakes exam that establishes how much he owes for his corporate-funded education. Burdened by a crushing debt that rules out college, Tanner enlists in the navy of Archangel, a star system with four terraformed worlds. But he hasn't factored in the space pirates.

Just as Tanner begins basic training, the government ramps up its forces to confront a band of rowdy raiders who are wreaking havoc in the void. Led by complex and charismatic Captain Casey, the outlaws love a little murder and mayhem, but they are also democratic, egalitarian, and devoted to freeing each new recruit from debt and corporate oppression.

Assigned to the front lines, Tanner soon finds himself caught in the crossfire between ruthless foes, cruel comrades, and unforgiving space. Can he do his duty when good and evil look so much alike?

©2015 Elliott Kay (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Poor Man's Fight: Poor Man's Fight, Book 1

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

YOUR TOO WORDY

WHAT IS A HEAD? (bathroom)
This is a YA book if I have ever read one. It shouts YA. It is also a conversation based book, where they talk more than do. Boot Camp is extremely tame. It is not badly written, but I sure don't understand the high rating and reviews. Narrator was more bored than I was. It's your money and their are lots of books to chose from.

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45 people found this helpful

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

DIE HARD…In Space! The student loan wars

I picked up Elliot Kay’s rollicking “Good intentions” on a whim, thinking perhaps it would make for an entertaining break from my usual interest in Sci-fi and fantasy, and was pleasantly surprised when beneath the highly adult themed overtures of the book was a very well written, character and plot development driven book.

Shocked by this turn of good fortune I got the sequel “Natural consequences” and was even more impressed by his ability to tell a fantastic story while seducing his readers with all the sensuality you would expect from Sherrilyn Kenyon or some such other author.

Seeing as I had gone two for two with him I dared to take a chance on this book. Now, anyone who reads Sci-fi and fantasy will be quick to point out that THESE TWO GENRES ARE NOT THE SAME! No matter how readily the guild and (publishers) may want to and continue to classify them both in the same category.

The “Sci” in Sci-fi denotes “Science”, meaning the author has to make a plausible case for scientific origins of events and technology in both story and character. Unlike “Fantasy” fictions in which spell casting and magic can be easily explained through less ornate imagination.

This is why many Fantasy fiction writers don’t or can’t do good sci-fi. The science has to be plausibly explained to be good and this is not something that can be done easily or as easily as explaining a spell.

I say all this to preface my trepidations when I came across this book, as my only experience with Mr. Kay had been with the two fantasy books above so I was unsure if I wanted to sully my experience with a bad sci-fi book. Based on the strength of his prior works, I cashed in my confidence points and spent the point on this book, and boy am I glad I did.
What a story.

This is a very well written and developed Military sci-fi. Yes you will find some familiar themes like the reluctant hero thrust into uncertain situation, acting with valor and honor and with a bit of luck, overcome the bad guys almost single handedly. This was “Die hard” in space

I loved it.

It was enjoyable, and driven by excellent plotlines and characters, and anyone with student loans may even find greater sympathy and enjoyment from this series.
Great work Elliot Kay, looking forward to your next series.

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37 people found this helpful

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

I wanted to like it..

Any additional comments?

I've read other works by the author (Good Intentions) and thought I would like his try at Military Sci-Fi. Unfortunately I came away more than a little disappointed. The protagonist Tanner just didn't work for me. His self-doubt and insecurity came on a little too thick in the beginning. I get he was young and inexperienced, but while his experiences at the start may be true to life, it felt too forced. As if his troubles were suppose to endear him to us, but ultimately made me feel annoyed with him.

The story picks up once he starts his training. I don't think the novel covers any new ground with the boot camp portion. Its been done a million times in other books and movies, but it was still fun and I felt like Tanner really did develop as a character.

Running parallel to Tanner's arc is the story line of the pirates. I almost wish the author spent more time with the pirates. The character Casey was a continual favorite of mine. In many ways they had the more interesting story line.

Then the third act. Other reviewers have called it Die Hard in space. I just felt it was completely over the top. Tanner goes from a competent, albeit an inexperienced crewman, to becoming Rambo. He is repeated injured, sometimes gravely, but continues fighting against impossible odds. Don't get me wrong, much of later chapters are very exiting and Tanner is smart in his attacks, but there are parts that made me groan at the complete unlikelihood of his success. In the end he comes away as the big hero and everyone celebrates.

And here is where I had the biggest problem with the story. (Minor spoilers here) Earlier in the story Tanner has a run in with some pirates on another ship. His initial fight came off much more realistic and the resulting aftermath felt very grounded. Tanner's discussion with the chaplain felt real...it made him human. Not so with at the end. Friendly banter with a friend and then on to awards. To me, it felt like the guy should be going through some major PTSD.

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18 people found this helpful

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

Corporatocracy rule in space!

First, I found the writing quite good, along with the narration; even though I found several areas that diminished the overall story itself. This is a coming of age story of a high school bookwormish protagonist, Tanner Malone, who through outcomes somewhat out of his control decides to join the navy on an enlisted track after failing to score high in the college placement tests. Part of his decision came from the encouragement of his very popular high school female friend, who he has an unrequited crush on. She scores very high on her tests and decides to join the navy on an officer track.

While in boot camp, his female drill instructor who has high character expectations and dishes out pain when the recruits fail to measure up (I really like her character the most in the novel.) During boot, the one female recruit, who is the top of their company, hooks up with him afterward for a one-night fling.

While the leader of the their alliance is male, but the real political heavyweight is his female political advisor. There's also a couple of female admirals, one being a 5-star fleet admiral. Except for Tanner, most of the male characters are either in minor roles, lazy, vindictive, bullies, incompetent or very much evil. There is one evil female but even there, she has Zena warrior skills

I've noticed a trend in recent SciFi/Fantasy novels for there to be this type of unnatural unbalanced portrayal between the genders and, while I enjoy novels that include strong female roles, those that are skewed as this tarnishes the novel.

Also, the sections where mild-mannered Tanner surmounts insurmountable odds during life/death skirmishes and his ability to learn how to operate highly complex systems by merely "RTFM" is more than a bit jumpy-sharkish.

With all that said, I have to admit, I found the audiobook entertaining.

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15 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Drawn out, Good Ending

Intriguing story, long sequences of build with little resolution. Opens wide doors then resolves them very quickly. It's a decent listen, but not something over the top good. If you are a patient person this book is for you. If you like action, look elsewhere.

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13 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

all female characters are read like airheads

the book was okay, the narrator makes all the female characters sound like valley girls

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ridiculous voice acting

A lot of valley girl impressions and strange pronunciations. Otherwise it's fine
Is this enough already?

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Author worthy of binge reading

So far I have binged every book this author has put out so far. The authors writing and stellar narrator combined to bring the story and characters to life in a truly fun and creative tale.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Exciting and excellently performed

This book was a lot more than I expected. I really liked Tanner and the fact that he is a reluctant yet dedicated participant in all that is thrown at him. Surprisingly, the pirates were also fascinating. They were written to make them *almost* likable (if it weren't for the murder, raping and pillaging). These are truly despicable men and women yet they have an interesting sense of humor and the scenes where they weren't acting evil were actually entertaining. The backstory of the world this book inhabits is complex and multi-faceted. As we discover during the story, not everything is as it seems; there are hidden layers to everything. I was thoroughly engaged for the entire book and listened to it very quickly. I did not want to stop listening, not just because the story was so entertaining but also because the narration was fantastic. Unique voices were used for every character and even the female characters sounded good (which doesn't happen often with male narrators, in my experience).

I was able to listen to this for free as part of my Amazon Prime subscription but it would have been well worth an audible credit or the cost of the kindle book plus the whispersynch price. In fact, I think I'm going to go buy the kindle version of book 2 plus the discounted Audible book as soon as I'm done with my review.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, bad scene transition

I don't know if it was because of how it was written, but I was getting lost sometimes during the scene transition. The story would jump from characters without having a clear break between scenes and I would have to rewind when I realize that the setting changed. It's a good story, but the transitions between scenes and characters made it a confusing one.

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3 people found this helpful