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.

Great

Loved the story line and idea behind it. The beginning was a bit slow. As I got through it though I realized it was necessary so for you, the readers, done give up! you will love where it goes. I can't wait to get the next one.

Pretty Good Alien Invasion Story

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Good beach/vacation read. Characters are not very complex, but the story moves along at a pretty good pace.

Would you be willing to try another book from B. V. Larson? Why or why not?

Although this book had an interesting premise, I probably wouldn't buy from this author again unless there were no more interesting choices available at the time.

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

Good pacing, good differentiation of the various characters voices.

Do you think Swarm needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I think Swarm does need a follow-up to see how the main characters and the mercenary soldiers have fared after a year of service to the alien war fleet. Additional background on the aliens would add complexity and dimension and make the story more interesting.

Fantastic ! Series

Would you listen to Swarm again? Why?

Oh yes I will, I'll wait about 4months then re listen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Swarm?

The entire story line is my most memorable moment.

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

Mark Boyett made the audible book one of the best listens I've had. Great emotion, one of the best readers I've heard.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I could not shut it off, as soon as I finished one audio book I would load the next book.

Any additional comments?

I don't do many reviews, but I'm hooked on BV Larson, and Mark Boyett. They make a great combo..I just wish he did all of BV Larson's audio books.

What a breath of fresh air!

I love sci-fi novels, and was quite excited to tackle this one. This story was so unique from anything that I had read in the past, that I was caught completely off guard. I loved the harshness of the storyline...the super fast pace of the plot...and the amazing visualization that the author led me to. The pacing in this book was breakneck, but Larson never left out any details that were necessary to the storyline. The main character was quite cold in his immediate emotional recovery from the death of someone close to him, and that part of the story seemed to not fit very well, but the author dealt with it in a quick "take it or leave it" fashion, and I found that I soon left it.

The narrator did a fantastic job. I wasn't thrilled with his voicing of the Sandra character, but that is personal opinion and someone else may love it. Other than that character, I though his choices were very good!

Great read, and I look forward to the next installment in the series!

Great Book

Would you consider the audio edition of Swarm to be better than the print version?

Audio is easier for me to do as i drive around a lot and do not have time to sit down and read.

What other book might you compare Swarm to and why?

Have not listened to anything like Swarm.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Original and Fascinating SciFi!

This novel was FAR better than I expected and the synopsis does not do it any sort of justice. The general premise is one that I've never encountered before and it had me hooked from the start. I don't want to spoil anything, as the surprising plot development was the most delightful part of this book for me. If you haven't already read a review that gave everything away I encourage you to get the book without ruining this aspect for yourself! Suffice it to say, Mr. Larson gives the tried old story of alien abduction a twist that might put it into a whole 'nother sub-genre where humans are made to fight for a good cause against their will and under baffling restrictions.

I REALLY want to talk specifics but the gist is that Riggs is put in a situation where he must work around the bizarre limitations of an artificial intelligence and technology beyond his comprehension to achieve a goal of epic proportions. This is complicated by the fact that he is a random person of no authority forced to take on huge responsibility in a very short time and with no instruction. As many other reviewers have already said, he also must do all this directly following the death of his son and daughter.

Some reviewers have expressed disbelief at the progression of Riggs' roles and of his response to the death of his children or the plausibility of the plot as a whole. I disagree with all of these. Don't get me wrong, the premise of the story is WILD but it is plausible (at least within scifi) and the rest is really a pretty reasonable progression of events.

Riggs goes from a nobody to a person of extreme import because he was one of few people given ultimate power by virtue of the premise. What he does with that power and how he responds is quite understandable and reasonable to me. He never makes any leaps in logic or presents with any knowledge or ability that I would consider to be beyond a normal man with a proper education. In fact, I think his character is quite well done. If anything he's just unnaturally calm in crazy situations. His response to his childrens' death is not ludicrous as some reviewers have said. It happens in a situation of high adrenaline and violence so it is completely realistic that he initially turns his despair into rage. In such situations, people usually do not give themselves over to grief until the situation has calmed down.

The plot is pretty well laid out and supported by teasing clues throughout the book and further into the series. The technology is pretty basic and unadorned. All of it has roots in modern day technology and none of it is really explained in enough detail to say that it doesn't make sense. The author seems to have acknowledged a lack of schooling in physics on his part and the characters admit their ignorance to understand the tech.

There are only one or two other characters besides Riggs that are developed in any significant capacity and, unfortunately, his girlfriend was not one of them. When she was presented at the start I had high expectations for her but nothing more was ever added. She is used as a human companion (and concubine) for Riggs and little else. Crowe is an entertaining personality and the author sets up an age-old relationship between them that serves the political drama.

The narrator has a pleasing voice. His character discriminations are mostly very good but the main female is basically just Riggs with a slightly different accent. Nevertheless, I was never distracted by the narrator and the main voices were very satisfactory.

Overall, I was blown away by the fantastic premise of the book and I very much enjoyed Riggs as a character and his puzzle-solving with the computer (think trying to get a murderous Genie to do your will). It is a unique and gripping adventure with bouts of frequent action broken up by intriguing ideas and thought exercises. Highly recommend it for scifi fans!

Lots of sci fi but not much humanity

There was no one in this book whom I cared about. For me that makes a pretty poor novel. The reader was mediocre .. it seems like the only accents he has mastered is a southern drawl and or Russian. Well, there might have been a Frenchman for a short time .. but he was killed off ... and I didn't care. There were a lot of dramatized battle scenes that reminded me of Terminator but not as good. This book just didn't work for me at all.

Okay...Interesting Ideas, Poor execution

Over all I thought the book had some interesting ideas.

I had a couple of big issues with the book.

Part way through the book seems to switched books, and seemed to become for militarily focus: which the main character focused on getting bigger guns. I'm not sure I would have minded, but the book didn't start out this way, and the sharp turn left me disoriented.

The other thing that really bothered me was how some of the characters (side mostly) were treated. Without going into to many details, one of the characters seems to be there just for the authors boyhood fantasies. While the other "characters" are suppose to be one of his main driving motivations (as brought up many times throughout the book), seem to be completely disregarded most of the time until plot convenient.

A fun take on alien invasion.

Overall a bit juvenile and the unnecessary sexy parts made this story unsharable with my young son. But that’s the worst of it. It’s generally a fun listen and I like the universe that’s been created. Lots of interesting ideas and some solid science/ imagination. Good to just listen and have a nice time.

good but ends abruptly

the book was good. good listen. I would recommend it. it did feel like the author decided about three quarters of the way through that they didn't want to write a really long book so they just started speeding through sections. but again it could have gotten them monotonous, so maybe that's why they chose that. you just felt really sped up. which was good in some ways, but didn't always make a lot of sense in other ways. but I would still recommend the book to those who like science fiction, strategy.