The Dead Sun

Star Force, Book 9

By: B. V. Larson

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Kyle Riggs sits uneasily upon Earth’s throne. He’s liberated his homeworld from a tyrant, only to replace him. In The Dead Sun, the ninth book of the Star Force Series, the Great War between life and the machines reaches its final chapter. Both sides have new technology and expanded industrial bases. Star Force and the machines attempt to exterminate one another in a final, glorious conflict. Along the way, Riggs finally learns who his real friends and enemies are.

The Dead Sun concludes The Star Force series but don’t worry – we’ve got plenty more military sci-fi action from best-selling author B.V. Larson. Check out Steel World, book 1 in B.V. Larson’s new Undying Mercenaries series.

©2013 B. V. Larson (P)2014 Audible Inc.

A Fitting Finish !

Where does The Dead Sun rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top 25.

What other book might you compare The Dead Sun to and why?

No direct comparison comes to mind, but it was a very good story. All final segments of a long story contain many loose ends to tie up, BV did a fine job. But I think there is a possiblity that left some "wiggle" room, if Kyle gets boared or if Jr. ever gets the "Call". 'nuff said.

Which character – as performed by Mark Boyett – was your favorite?

Kyle.

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

No, It was a "Fitting Finish " to a Great Story.

Any additional comments?

Give B.V. Larson, and Mark Boyett my thanks.

A good finish

If you could sum up The Dead Sun in three words, what would they be?

An entertaining listen

Who was your favorite character and why?

Kyle Riggs, because he is the leader, and does things on his own terms.

What about Mark Boyett’s performance did you like?

His different voices and inflections stay consistent throughout the entire series.

Any additional comments?

Maybe they should call Colonel Kyle Riggs, Colonel Horatio Horndog. The only thing that got annoying about his character was his incessant inclination to want to bang every woman he came in contact with. It sometimes gets tiresome.

Great ending to a great series

Would you consider the audio edition of The Dead Sun to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version; however, I considered the audible version as superb.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Col Riggs as he was the main character, and as such more 'developed' by B.V. Larson.

What about Mark Boyett’s performance did you like?

Ability to portray emotion in the various characters.

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

Yes, even though I could not. I listened as often as possible.

Any additional comments?

The series was superior, and this as the end was the pinnacle.

Great, engaging series!

This is a fun series! The science isn't 100% but I liked the lead character/hero. This book finishes the series but there are two other about his family. Heading there now!:)

Awesome official end!

Another great book and great narrator. I simply can't understand how people like books where the author is doing character building for hours and hours and nothing else happens.. and then the whole story develops in 1-2 hours. Larson gives you story from the beginning and you will enjoy it all the way to the end.

Riggs finally finds some peace

Larson has finally (after 9 installments) brought some closure into the life of one Kyle Riggs. At the end of the 8th installment, Riggs had finally succeeded in defeating Crowe and undertook the arduous task of restoring some semblance of rationality to Earth. Needless to say, he tires quickly in the job of governing and returns to space. He and Marvin cook up a scheme to glimpse beyond the Thor ring. There is more revealed regarding the ring and machine origins as well as some critical information regarding their particular local cul-de-sac. Riggs must battle the machines again and deal with the Blues all the while, sidestepping assassins and coup attempts. With a sense that Earth is safe for the foreseeable future, Riggs apes Cincinnatus and Washington to enjoy the sunset.

The sci-fi elements are in line was earlier installments with a bit more esoteric physics of gravity control. The space battles continue to evolve with the machines learning faster than humans. The limited alien diversity (intelligent anthropomorphic variants of Earth animals with annoying personality disorders) is still present.

The narration is passable with a limited range of characters.

Excellent !

Great story,the narrator is excellent as always.I really enjoy Marvin as a character and will surely listen to it again in a year or so to revisit the crazy scientific inventions.this is one of the most enjoyable production on audible in my opinion.i hope to see more of these characters but the steel world series is great too.

Written under Duress

I thought the first 8 books in this series where very good (though the last couple started to get a bit repetitive). This book however just felt like B.V. Larson was forced to write it by someone with a gun to his head, his hart just was not in it. I felt like he had a list of items he needed to tick off to close out the series and he just worked his way through them.

Particularly annoying to me was the sudden inconsistencies in this book that have never happened before. For example, before a particular mission a piece of important kit is removed from all the ships (a good reason is given), but then during the mission they find they need that kit so they use it. No comment is given about how they suddenly have these items which where all offloaded before the mission, no ‘lucky for Rigs one captain disobeyed orders’ no ‘thankfully the factories had produced more while on route’.

I have just finished ‘Steel World’ also by B.V. Larson and have found it to be a good start to a possibly good new series. I just don’t think he should have written (or at least released) ‘The Dead Sun’ unless his hart was in it. I truly believe that he wrote this book under duress.

The Narration by Mark Boyett is just as good as all the previous books in the series. I can’t fault him.

By all means, if you are the type of person that needs closer then you should read/listen to this book, but it is not B.V. Larson’s normally good work.

Went on binge w/ this very good series.4-4.5 stars

Went on binge w/ this very good series.4-4.5 stars on average. I'm catching up on reviews for books #4-11. At this point I'm ready for a break from the series, but will surely return for more. It's hard to make battle after battle interesting for this sort of space sci-fi book, but this series seems more creative than several similar books, and the overall story is good.

Riding into the sunset Starforce style

Most wars do not have a direct satisfying conclusion. in book 9 we finally after tremendous effort achieve the core mission Starforce and Kyle Riggs set out for. More importantly Riggs finally gets some recognition and uses that banked goodwill / new title to finish things once and for all.
A strong finish for a long hard war, even if the ending is much more clean and fleshed out than anything we would get in real life!