The Second Ship

The Rho Agenda, Book 1

By: Richard Phillips

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1948, an alien starship crash-landed in the New Mexico desert and brought with it the key to mankind’s future. Code-named the Rho Project, the landing was shrouded in secrecy, and only the highest-ranking US government and military personnel knew it existed. Until now.

The US president is preparing to unveil one of the nation’s greatest secrets when three students stumble across the wreckage of a second ship outside of Los Alamos. With a single touch, the alien technology the government has spent untold resources trying to unlock is uploaded into the minds of three teenagers — teenagers who now know the frightening truth about the Rho Project.The battle for humanity has begun.

©2012 Richard Phillips (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

An exellent story. It kept my attention.

The story seems meant for young adults, however, this old guy enjoy the story and is looking forward to the next one.

Fantastic story!

I loved every second of this book. I just couldn't get enough. Can't wait to listen to the second book.

Excellent story - mediocre narrator - good listen

Richard Phillips' the Second Ship feels to me like an action comic like "Danger Girls" packed with intrigue, covert espionage, kick-ass fun and subtle humour, but without the girls. The main characters in this story are three high school children who become geniuses after being exposed to an alien ship. This happens at a time when the existence of another alien ship is made known to the world by the US Government. While using a lot of narrative clichés Phillips is able to drag you into an entertaining story without much need for afterthought. It is action-packed and he knows how to create serious suspense within the story.

As for Macleod Andrews, the narrator, he almost killed the book for me with what felt initially like a monotonous voice and a thick American accent. I had to take some time to get used to him.

For someone who like adventure, espionage, super-enhanced whiz kids and great suspense, this book definitely comes highly recommended.

Power Rangers meets Scooby Doo

The Second Ship is a childish, sci-fi romp. The basic premise is that the government has been studying an alien vessel for decades. Coincidentally, just as its presence (and wonderful technology) is revealed to the public, three teenagers discover a 2nd alien ship and become endowed with various superpowers, both mental and physical. As the story progresses, sinister activities are taking place with the cabal studying the 1st vessel which the kids stumble into and begin to investigate. This is the initial installment in a longer story arc that ends rather suddenly with little closure or resolution and some minor set-ups for the next.

The major knock to the story is the pre-teen orientation in terms of style. All the adults are one dimensional with parents being largely clueless, teachers are overbearing, the good guys are squeaky clean, and the bad guys are diabolically evil (and multiple creepy peccadillos) with the ringleader being a caricature of a megalomaniac (one can anticipate the final denouement, "and I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you kids"). The ending sets up for the next, but resolves almost nothing with lots of unanswered questions left hanging.

The narration is well done with a great range of voices and an enjoyable pace. This is very light, mindless listening with juvenile sci-fi elements.

Don't Mess with the Johnsons

HIS STOMACH LOOKED LIKE IT BELONGED TO A COMIC BOOK SUPER HERO.
I did listened to all of this, but I almost gave up several times. This is another book that suffers from Trilogyitists. It also suffers from not knowing what it wants to be. The author writes mostly a YA book and then throws in gory fight scenes. In one scene a guy is strangled with his own intestines. There are also some sexual innuendo's, but not much. All the gory scenes put together could probably fit on two pages, but they are there. The plot is so convoluted that it almost gets silly. Do we need another teenage super hero book? If I heard, I FORGOT TO BREATHE, once I heard it ten times. How original is it to have the cheerleaders and football players be mean and evil? The theme of the book has been done so many times it worn out. The book is not terrible, it is just very common and over done.

The narrator is so bad at voices, that at times I not only could not tell which character was speaking, but I could not tell what gender they were.

The kids in the high desert and the drama therein

Would you try another book from Richard Phillips and/or MacLeod Andrews?

Yes, but not right away. Sometimes abit juvenile, then moving into moments of adult sci fi. Well written, and the charcters grown on you, but it is not the cleanest story I have heard.

What did you like best about this story?

Conflux of sci fi, science fact, conspiracy theory and thoughtfulness.

Which scene was your favorite?

Conclusion.

Did The Second Ship inspire you to do anything?

Consider follow up downloads.

Any additional comments?

Worthwhile, but know that it hints at younger fantasy, at least for me.

Amazing Series

Any additional comments?

I don't pick books that are targeted to kids or teens and this is not one of those. I actually didn't know that three of the main characters were high school students and that's good because by the time I realized it, I was so engrossed in the book that I hardly noticed. Not only is this an adult series, filled with incredible science, espionage, international events and amazing story lines, it is a masterpiece of character development. I don't think I ever felt the kind of anxiety for the safety and success of the characters this series brought up for me. I don't know why...just really cared about every one of them. I think a lot of it was because this is more of a character-centric author, vs. situation-centric. He just didn't spend as much time describing the minutia if detail in the environment that so many other authors like to do. Instead, even his environment descriptions were really more of a description of the characters' experience, insights and realizations.

You will not be disappointed in this series. Just be forewarned, if you start with "The Second Ship" I can pretty much guarantee you'll buy the other two in the series and then you'll be left longing for more.

A YA Close Encounter of the Second Kind

Imagine for the moment what might happen if instead of one, secreted-away UFO crash in Roswell there was actually another, a second one, that had crashed but had been left undiscovered until present day. Further imagine that it was accidentally discovered by 3 high school Juniors and by carelessly bumbling around and playing with stuff they knew nothing about, they are touched by the craft's intelligence and changed such that their individual natural talents are supercharged and they begin on a quest to uncover the secrets of these UFO encounters and the horrible truths being hidden by some Los Alamos scientists. Truths that, if brought to light, will not only put them in peril but the entire international community.

That's what we have here, then throw in some hyper-skilled crack secret agents tasked with discovering some strange occurrences at Los Alamos and that will take all their years of surveillance and martial arts training to just keep themselves alive.

The SciFi elements stand up quite well and I found the story elements dealing with quantum entanglement switches for providing great distance tap-proof eavesdropping fairly entertaining.

Along with Richard Phillips skillful writing, MacLeod Andrews narration is perfect for the telling of novel. His youthful voice is perfect for providing a contemporary tone to the story.

All told, this is an excellent book that will entertain YAs and older adults, both. I've enjoyed it so much that I've already purchased books 2 and 3 of the series.

Edge of you seat action and interesting stuff too!

If you could sum up The Second Ship in three words, what would they be?

Super awesome fun

What did you like best about this story?

The whole story line - the way Jack doesn't get taken advantage of for being stupid.

What about MacLeod Andrews’s performance did you like?

He is kinda nasal at times - I don't like his voices for women one bit but overall doesn't make me not want to listen to the next one.

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

No - but who want to sit down for 11 hours and listen to a book?

Any additional comments?

AWESOME book and great reading by MacLeod.

Very Good

Haven't read the rest of the series yet but this first book makes me want to continue. Nothing overly deep, and a bit YA, but good storytelling.