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.

Nancy Drew for the SyFy

this book was very well written. plenty of Science to go with the fiction. It was adult enough for the mature minded.

5 Stars Across The Board? Hard to believe, but ok!

I pick books I know I'll like. It's a hard thing to do. There's a few things I look for:
- Have I already read their books?
- Have more than 4 people told me I'd like this book?
- Do I really really like this genre enough to suffer a crappy book?

See that third one? That's the risk I took on this book. Never heard of the author, never heard of the book. Not even Audible had recommended this one, I think I went digging for quite some time and finally found this and decided, "oh what the hell".

I'm glad I did.

The story was great, the pacing, the characters, the plot, the writing - I liked everything. The narrator didn't do a perfect job of women's voices but can you really judge a guy for that? It would be creepy if he WAS able to slip into a completely convincing woman's voice.

But I digress.

From the beginning, the story had me hooked. I don't know if maybe I'm just juvenile enough to appreciate teen fiction, or maybe the author is smart enough to write adult fiction that's masquerading as teen fiction? I don't know. There were parts that I wondered whether he WAS writing a teen-sci-fi book, or an adult-sci-fi book, and is there really a difference?

I digress again.

Aliens, space ships, mind control, super human qualities, James Bond assassin types, this book has it all. Balanced perfectly, narrated perfectly. A book this long can only be consumed in parts, (usually in the car). I found myself thinking about the story A LOT between listens, and then after the book abruptly ended.

And honestly, the only thing I DID NOT like about the book was the way it just kind of stopped in the middle of

odd choice of protagonist

overall I enjoyed this book. The choice of teenagers, high school students, as the protagonists did allow the author a lot of latitude for them to make stupid choices repeatedly and to heighten the tension there by. Unfortunately the rest of the book is clearly not young adult based. College students would have been a better choice, and I think more relatable to the intended audience. Still a fun read. I rate this a solid four stars.

Interesting

Like science fiction and an average but slowly developing story. A little too long though.

A good mix of Sci-Fi, Mystery and.. some good old

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I am a 59 year old Sci Fi Fan who is trying to introduce my teen son to the world of...
What if this could happen or be Sci Fact? What would your life be like? What would the World be like if... The writer and narrator make it easy for me to ask myself these questions. I can't wait for him to Listen to or as we are teach our Dyslexic barely can read Teenage Son (Ear Read) this hard to put down Sci-Fi Novel...

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

MacLeod is an articulate, responsive narrator and he is able to seamlessly change voices for all of the people involved. Very easy to listen to and he brings life to all of the different characters.

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

I originally purchased The Second Ship for my Teen Son.
I make it a habit to briefly review any book I get for him and...
I just could not put it down. The start of the book was a bit slow
building on the characters and the base plot. I just kept waiting
for What's Happening Next!

Any additional comments?

A good mix of Sci-Fi, Mystery and.. some good old behind the scenes Hi-level Corruption.

Good Sci-fi

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is a new take on an old story. Roswell is something we all know about, and has been written about before, but this take is new. I like it, and it's a good start with some engaging side plots. Some you see coming but the reach of the others brings you right back in.

What other book might you compare The Second Ship to and why?

It's hard to pick a comparable book. Though in a way it somewhat reminds me to a curious mix between a few tv shows. The primary is The 5000 because of the underlying plots in the book and what happens with the teenagers.

Which character – as performed by MacLeod Andrews – was your favorite?

I really liked Jack. I suspect there's something more to the character, and you can hear it in the performance. Very well performed.

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

Some parts lulled but all in all it was a good book.

Any additional comments?

This book has some slow parts, some wtf parts, and even a few that make you slap your forehead at how some of the character's behave. However, for all the grumbling the teenagers might make you do, the other characters exhibit an engaging intelligence that in the end, looks to be aging those kids fast. Good read, new take on an old story, can't wait to "read" the other books in the series.

Keeps ramping up.

I loved this book. The characters were great, and as always McLeod Andrews was excellent. He changes his tone and inflections subtly depending on which character the book is focusing on. Giving the narration movement and progression. His character voices are spot on.

It starts out feeling like a heavy teen fiction. But it ends like an ass kicking action novel.

Fast paced and technologically entertaining.

If you like Daniel Suarez, the Martian and James Bond, then here we have a combination of all three.

Teen Sci-Fi or Spy Techno-Thriller?

Would you listen to The Second Ship again? Why?

Yes I would reread this -- This has a complicated plot as it shifts from kids to agents to scientist viewpoints. There are some plot points & technical points that are easy to miss.

What other book might you compare The Second Ship to and why?

Its hard make comparisons -- At times it tries to be a teen book. At times it tries to be a spy book. At times it is trying to be a scientific thriller. It makes for a very odd genre mix that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I can see elements here that remind me of movies like Flight of the Navigator or The Explorers, but only vaguely. This is done far more seriously with much brighter kids than either of those movies. But they are still kids, mixing teen crushes, snobby teachers and basketball with Cold fusion and Quantum Switches. Not many other modern day books deal with alien technology quite in this way either. But I do find some familiar concepts brought up along with some new ones -- done in some innovative ways.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"The news said the alien ship the U.S. found would change the world... What would YOU do if you found another one?....And it warned you OF the first ship?"

Intriguing start to an intriguing series

I read a lot of scifi, however they normally aren't of this sub-genre. I was hesitant to begin this series, but on the recommendation of a friend I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed. You can see the building block of the over-arching story taking form in the debut novel and I am hooked!

The narrator does a good job of making the characters sound unique enough to differentiate between the major characters. The characters are also portrayed well, and they are not needlessly stupid to move the plot along (which I am grateful for). The writing is intelligent and detailed, without being overly verbose. I am intrigued to see where the story goes and what happened to Mark, Heather and Jennifer. Onto book 2!