• Swarm

  • Star Force, Book 1
  • By: B. V. Larson
  • Narrated by: Mark Boyett
  • Length: 10 hrs
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (7,707 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Swarm  By  cover art

Swarm

By: B. V. Larson
Narrated by: Mark Boyett
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet! Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there.

A novel of military science fiction by best-selling author B. V. Larson, Swarm is the story of Earth's annexation by an alien empire. Long considered a primitive people on a backwater planet, humanity finds itself in the middle of a war - and faced with extinction.

Battle stations! Listen to another Star Force novel.
©2010 B.V. Larson (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Swarm

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,671
  • 4 Stars
    2,673
  • 3 Stars
    936
  • 2 Stars
    281
  • 1 Stars
    146
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,189
  • 4 Stars
    2,118
  • 3 Stars
    568
  • 2 Stars
    86
  • 1 Stars
    48
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,316
  • 4 Stars
    2,292
  • 3 Stars
    981
  • 2 Stars
    285
  • 1 Stars
    151

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

great man vs. machine opening shot

Any additional comments?

i'm a casual scifi reader. i've read a few, but scifi is usually my 3rd stop when looking for something new. i like standalone books, but i'm drawn to series. i was drawn to this book based on the plot, number of reviews, and the high ratings. so, i gave it a try, and i'm glad i did.

i've read hard scifi and military scifi where you really have to pay attention or rewind to get it. the alien technology in this book easily makes sense since nanotechnology has become so mainstream the last few years. the tech is cool, and you can see how it works, and the potential benefits. the tech makes sense so you can understand how our hero uses it.

speaking of our hero, riggs, he is a college professor. he teaches computer science. this is a cool twist b/c you can see how he interacts with the aliens. i'm not giving anything away by saying the aliens are machines. it's fascinating to witness riggs learn how manipulate the machines' programming to answer his questions and accomplish his goals. i write code all day long for work, but you don't need to understand programming to understand and enjoy riggs' interaction and manipulation of the machines' code.

the story opens with riggs being abducted by a spaceship in the middle of the night. i won't give much away, but riggs eventually gains control of the ship. he learns that over 700 other ships have been scouring the earth looking for "the right kind of people." just as riggs and the others start to gain some semblance of understanding what's going on and how to manipulate their ships, their ships take off into outer space declaring enemy detected. the enemy is another group of machines, who riggs names the macros. they are after earth's resources.

this book has battles in space and on the earth. the macros are cold, heartless, and relentless, just as you would expect. there's a lot of plotting and in-fighting between the earth's forces even as the macros attack and slaughter millions.

the battle scenes are well drawn out and smartly done. the space battles are a match of wits; whereas the earth-based are battles of attrition.

the book is fast-paced and enjoyable with a touch of mystery. the review, mark, puts it perfectly, " Its a very entertaining story that keeps you listening. Every time you start to wonder about a certain topic, or why is this happening, or why would they do that, the author fills you in. Its as if he knows just when you want an answer but makes you wait just a bit longer for it to keep the story going."

note: mark, i hope you don't get pissed that i quote you, but you put it so aptly.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

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

Pretty good little scf-fi story

I found this to be an enjoyable little listen. Not 5 star worthy but I got hooked nonetheless.

The premise is a bit like the 'The Last Starfighter'. A small fleet of advanced alien ships arrive on modern-day Earth. Each one chooses a human pilot - one per ship. The ship and the pilot are interfaced with nano-technology and human pilots find they're equipped with devices of incredible power.

Just as they begin to contemplate who sent these ships and why, the reason is thrust at them....another armada arrives, and it is hostile. Earth quickly realizes that the arrival of the first fleet was a gift to help combat the second adversarial fleet - which is fortunate because the level of technology they're facing means they'll need all the help they can get.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

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

Allen abductions anyone?

This is just a fun little series that will easily help you pass the time. The storyline is fresh and the narration does it justice. Give the series a try you will be glad you did.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

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

Read the 2nd book and...

I was going to give this a better review. However, after reading the second book in this series, I feel some fair warning is needed due to issues with the writing. I have seen this described as a school boy's fantasy and I would tend to agree with that assessment. I have to wonder if Larson is as paranoid about aliens, as callous towards loss of life, and holds as much dissent towards government as many of our characters in Star Force book 1 because often the rational of the characters seem to presented in such fashion.

My main issues with this book starts with the romance. It is almost agonizing in this one and gets worse in the next. I don't think the voice given to Rigg's girl friend helped either. Kyle Rigg's is supposed to be some sort of leader to Earth, but that doesn't stop him from having sex whenever possible with her catty girl friend making him look like the pirate he is called. By the way, who really buys he is a grieving father when right after his children are butchered he becomes a love sick puppy with no impulse control for sex amongst his followers? I am not a prude, but the romance does become excessive and unnecessary.

The other thing I disliked was admiral, emperor, or whatever you want to call him, Crow. The man is plainly power hungry, shady, with no obvious qualifications for leadership and only serves to hound Rigg's about his decisions. For some reason Riggs puts up with his crap and calls him a superior despite the dangers this can bring (yet he still maintains that he is smarter than the "pro's" because the government just will mess things up). So we establish they are pirates yet they don't seem to understand why the US government would want to be running the show. Instead our professor Riggs blunders along making wild assumptions that of course tend to be correct and if they are wrong, well, many people just die. He is overly confident and really isn't the hero you care to believe in when he goes around killing with no regard to life (you will see this especially in the next book). In the end I found it very hard sympathize with him.

There is more I could add to the list but these are the major details from the first book that carry on and get worse. This isn't a masterpiece by far, but I did enjoy this one enough to buy the second because it had a campy feel to it and plenty of action by the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

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

Good

I liked the first book in this series. It was a little rough listening to the detailed description of the deaths of the children and I found the alien ships were fairly one dimensional. points for original story ans characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Sorry

This is a really bad book, I like his other books but this one is just bad. Sorry

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

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

The great and powerful Kyle Riggs

I’m sure I’ll take an unhelpful reviewer hit for this, but Kyle Riggs is a hypocritical moron. Within the first few chapters I found myself hoping for the death of this “great” man. I continued to pray for his untimely demise in books, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. I’m assuming he never actually bites it in 10 or 11 but really don’t care at this point. I know this is an unpopular perspective and being buried in the 4000 other reviews this will probably never even be seen, but I hope this will bring me some closure regarding this tool.

Why do I dislike this galactic hero so? Where do I begin? It could be because after a very devastating event happens to his family, he is preoccupied with banging some stranger. Perhaps it could be how he has declared himself smarter than every other being on the planet. It could possibly be irritation derived his many non logical “great ideas”. How about a combo. He continually made stupid unilateral decisions effecting the human race followed by a complete about face on the “final” decision to do the exact opposite thing (but still stupid). His decisions were based on whatever fancy he had at that moment damned be consequences.

It didn’t take long to realize how big of a tool this guy was so I don’t know why I basically listened to the whole series. I really liked the concept of the technology and if the main character was really a “hero” the series would have been great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Meh

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I think people that like poorly written Sci Fi will like this book. The premise was implausible and had very little to offer.

What was most disappointing about B. V. Larson’s story?

The story was just bad.

What didn’t you like about Mark Boyett’s performance?

It was okay.

Any additional comments?

I don't normally give bad reviews to books, but ever since I listened to this book Audible has been suggesting I listen to all of the rest even though I gave the book one star. I'm not sure what Audible is thinking, but every month 3 out of the 9 suggestions for me are from this author and this series. So, while the book was bad, the experience since listening to the book has been worse.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Plot holes, unbelievable characters

What would have made Swarm better?

Creation of believable characters, removal of plot holes

What does Mark Boyett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He was pretty good at the accents, voices, and keeping them straight. He also brought energy and life to the story.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Exasperation, pain, offense

Any additional comments?

I wanted to like this book enough to finish it. I really really did. For so many reasons. But I was suffering. I was suffering too badly to continue to suffer, after getting at least 65% through the book. I love sci-fi, and I love speculative stuff and I can suspend disbelief for weird or new or even scientifically inaccurate stuff, so long as it's believable within its world. But so much of the human interactions here were completely unrealistic. The most prominent female character was inconsistent AND embarrassing. Forget the Bechdel test - the two female characters never spoke to one another and the main one never seemed to worry about anything other than a man no matter who she was talking to. Here's a great quote I remember from shortly before I quit the book "I could tell she wasn't going to give me any more sugar just then, so I decided not to beg for it. Women don't respect that." I won't even try to go into the plot holes that were so numerous my brain was feeling like the proverbial swiss cheese, just trying to keep track. I wasn't expecting high literature from this book, but this book was just too bad for me to continue.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I don't understand the hype

What would have made Swarm better?

Any additional comments?

I had some pretty high hopes for this book going in based on the mass of good reviews…I was seriously disappointed. I like fiction, but the situation still has to be plausible. There is no freaking way that all of the worlds governments are just going to hand over all of their hopes and precious materials to a group of rag-tag, untrained, and undisciplined civilians who just happened to pass a ridiculous test outlined by the new alien spacecrafts. Also, why even have the children in the beginning? This section did not add anything to the story what so ever. I get the whole emotion thing, but having the main character's children get eviscerated and then hearing that he just kind of brushes it aside was a distraction (I'm also a father). There is no way that this guy would be able to function in that situation. I do not believe that the author understood the emotional impact that this section would have on readers with children, and I found it to be a distraction throughout the whole book. Also, how does a college computer science professor suddenly (within a few months) become a leader of over 7,000 super-marines without any prior training? Having been in the military, this was way too far out for me and acted as a slap in the face for trained military leaders. The idea was good, but the authors execution was off. I will not be listening to any more of this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful