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.

Please Try To Get a Movie Made

Listening to this again years later I still think this would be better than many sci-fi movies.
Has it ever been shown around as a movie concept?

I would go see it.

Great story, brilliant reader

Any additional comments?

Good story, very compelling and well paced. But the real treat is the actor voicing this book. He really does a superlative job. All characters are distinct, he doesn't ever fall into a stable or boring cadence and is generally very inobtrusive.

Light fare sci-fi - But I liked it!

What made the experience of listening to The Second Ship the most enjoyable?

It is a good premise and there is a lot going on to keep you interested. There was always the sense of wanting to know what was going to happen next making this a fast read/listen.

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

He's not the best narrator I've listened to but he did a very good job. Character voices were okay.

Any additional comments?

I've seen a lot of reviews that say it's geared for Teen or YA, but being in my mid forties I enjoyed it. It seems that if a story isn't "Gritty" or "Dark" then some people think it must be for teenagers. I don't agree. I guess I'm more of the Star Trek mindset where a Sci-Fi story can have fun and include happy people. While at times the story is a bit Juvenal (it does center around teenagers,) there are other times where the story involves killing with some blood and gore described. There's talk of kidnapping, rape, and torture but without details - which was fine with me.

There was a lot of stuff going on that I think the author wove together pretty well and the action / fighting scenes were well done I thought. It was a little hard to keep track of all of the characters and I found myself reviewing some chapters to make sure I knew who-was-who.

If you want a light fare sci-fi read where you don't have to think too hard, with a clever story that has a lot of suspense, mystery, and action, then is may be a good story for you. If you're looking for a dark and gritty story then you should probably pass. But you may be missing a good thing...

Good but read rho inception series first

This is an excellent book but as the title says at least read the first book in the Rho Inception series first before starting this novel. The Jack Gregory character is an enigma in this story and if you read the first rho inception book you will understand a lot more about who he is and why he is so abnormally skilled. I reviewed those books (in short they are good albeit very light on sci-fi aspects) and you can look them up easily. Be warned the Rho inception books are alot more adult oriented than this series. The items he glossess over in this one get full detail in that series.

This is a nice YA science fiction series. The great thing is it has enough adult elements that adults can enjoy it just as much. In fact calling it a YA book is not quite fair. It is more like an adult book with teen characters that writes very adult situations with just a deft enough hand to make it easily accessible to young adults as well. This book has some pretty dark stuff in it like rape and torture. It is inferred but usually not spelled out in enough detail to warrant warning mature young adults away.

All in all a good book. If you read at least the first book of the previous series prior to this one a lot of the mystery of Jack will be solved for you. This book stands alone just fine if you choose not to do so. Let's just say there are some really good reasons why he is so good. This one is definitely worth a listen.

OMG, teens save the world. ROTFL

In all the mentions of this novel and peripheral encounters I had with it prior to reading, it somehow eluded me that it’s what I would consider ‘YA’ material- the polarizing Young Adult label that either terrifies or ensnares readers in droves. Fortunately, it is undoubtably SF as well, and carries the theme of danger lying in wait alongside graciously given gift-horses. As stated in the publisher’s jacket summary, it is about the recovery of alien technology from crash-landed UFOs. There’s some promising conflict set up between two opposing alien civilizations from which the two crashes originate, but it is largely deferred to subsequent novels. The teenage trio of protagonists take on some superpowers, as they tend to do in YA stories, and struggle to save the world while keeping their secret from Mom & Dad. The challenges they face all played out very over-and-done quickly, even after some heavy foreshadowing, and so the victories seemed unearned. The three teenagers are also all written fairly interchangeably I thought, and I never full distinguished them in my mind. I will leave it to younger readers to judge whether Phillips successfully captured teenage thought and dilemma adequately, although I suspect his characters a bit over-matured. One satisfying technique used here successfully was to slowly weave together plot threads from disparate characters which at first seemed unrelated. With a number of unresolved questions and troubling character disappearances, we seem well positioned for a follow-up story, though I hope it expands the stage settings and characters.

A great listen to an Alien invasion

Would you consider the audio edition of The Second Ship to be better than the print version?

Yes, as the author was very involved in the book, and I would stop reading and just sit back and listen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Second Ship?

As the young people began to be changed by the alien presence.

Which scene was your favorite?

As the agents who came to investigate began to realize something was not as it seemed.

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

No, but I listened to it in two.

Brilliant and Amazing

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

yes

Any additional comments?

This was the most amazing, brilliant trilogy I have read in years. It was impossible to put down. The writing was good, the characters relate-able, the story was amazing - I know, I keep saying amazing. I just finished the third book and I am just sitting here in awe of the story. WOW is really the only word that comes to mind. I hope that Richard Phillips continues to write stories like this for years to come. If you like a great science fiction story, that could be happening out your front door as you read this review, then you will love this trio.

intriguing story

at times the story line became confusing as well as the number of characters involved. Some parts of the story seemed to get cut off.

brilliant

it was great star to finish. I was sad to see it end. I hope there are more in the series.

Good story , unbelievable characters

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes and no. I like the story but clearly the author knows nothing about teenagers and family life around teenagers...these children are just too polite and too perfect.

What did you like best about this story?

The underlying these is complicated and holds a lot of scientific imagination without being overly descriptive.

Did The Second Ship inspire you to do anything?

It was good enough to buy the second book Immune, which I think is better with more action and imagination.

Any additional comments?

The first book made my teeth grit with all the herbal tea, getting up early to watch the sun rise and gluey politeness of the main character Heather. I also find it a little unbelievable that such intelligent science whiz kids would consider religion.So good story on the one hand, unbelievable characters on the other.