Swarm

Star Force, Book 1

By: B. V. Larson

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 10 hrs

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.

Simple Concept, Great Plot, Great Performance

I like how it's kind of realistic despite being sci-fi. It doesn't give anyone ridiculous abilities that would appear to violate laws of physics. My only complaint is the lack of creativity when it comes to solving plot conflicts. By the end they're just shooting at stuff, or shooting it some more if that didn't work. Overall great read. 8/10, would most likely read again.

Sci Fi Popcorn

Would you try another book from B. V. Larson and/or Mark Boyett?

I bought the three books in this series.

Would you recommend Swarm to your friends? Why or why not?

Mildly entertaining, I followed through the third book but I doubt that I will get any more when available. It's not really good Sci Fi, nor is it good military action. Competent performance by Mark Boyett but not really special. In spite of short length (around 11 hours) I find myself wishing these books would just get to the conclusion.

AWESOME!

Love this book. Action packed and really hooked me in. There are some unrealistic things but hey, this is fiction so I just enjoy the ride.

A great story almost ruined by token romance trope

I liked the premise and the power fantasy. I just don't believe the romance subplot added anything to the story. If anything it deterred from it. There is no logical way a loving father who's lost their child would stop their grieving and start think of sex the moment a helpless naked woman showed up.

And the following developing token romance felt forced and unnatural. Not to mention completely unnecessary and likely added to fulfill some weird fantasy of the author. More focus on the grieving father angle would have been a much better alternative. Its lazy writing, do better please. Thanks ~

Great first book in a series

Written well and kept my interest throughout. Looking forward to the next one in the series.

Great read

This was the best sifi that have listened to in a while. Not that it is brilliant by any means, but it is very absorbing, has great pacing, is well performed and avoids most of the pitfalls which have ruined so many other contemporary sifi series. As with a lot of sifi – most of what happens is absolutely preposterous, but Larson dose a great job of making everything seem plausible as it unwinds. The hero is strong, the situations novel, the conflict imaginative. Not deep literature, but a great story.

What made this best for me is actually what it left out. I have read a lot of this style of sifi (invading space aliens etc) and in most of it the author seems more interested in tub thumping about their politics than actually telling a story. Swarm mercifully avoids this. Sure, there are political conflicts and strains, but there is too much serious stuff going on for Larson to bother going into snide asides about how easy it would be to defeat the aliens if it were not for all the liberals and hippies getting in the way, or to go off on some rant about impending global melt down caused by greedy corporate right wingers.

The other pitfall Larson manages to dodge is not getting his ego get caught up in his hero too much. Ok, so the hero is your cliché average guy swept up by events and single handedly saves the world (several times), but he is written well enough that this feels genuine. Often, such a heroic main character just feels like the author is using the hero as an excuse to write about an idealized version of themselves, allowing their ego to explode out all over the page. Again, Swarm mercifully avoids this. – very refreshing.

All in all 3 thumbs up and I hope Larson will turn out a lot more like this.

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.

Different but the Same as others

if you read "Troy Rising" by John Ringo, you will see similarity between the 2 series. But at the same time there is a lot of difference and twists.

its really good and to proof that i got the audible 3 credits offer to get the next 3 books. :)

enjoy

Good listen

Bought this one on a whim & glad I did. Enjoyed the book and look forward to the next one. Narrator did an excellent job.

Great book

Any additional comments?

I was a little worried about getting this book because I didn't know if it was really my cup of tea but after only about a hour in I was hooked. I plan to buy the rest of the series.