Starman's Saga: The Long, Strange Journey of Leif the Lucky

By: Colin Alexander

Narrated by: Alex Freeman

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the story of Leif Grettison, a crew member of humanity’s first flight to the stars, even though he had not expected to take that trip.

The year is 2069. The Troubles, a decade plus of proxy, and direct warfare among the US, Russia, and China, had brought the world to the brink of apocalypse. It was close enough to finally scare the leaders of the powers into signing the Geneva Treaties, a set of agreements pledging peace, cooperation, and the dismantling of the military complexes.

A centerpiece of this is the International Space Commission, organized to promote business in space to serve the world and to launch the starshot as a rallying point for all humanity. The pilots of the mission are drawn from each of the three major powers while the crew is comprised of the best and brightest scientists the world has to offer. However, political expediency has played a role in the assembly of the crew and they are riven by academic jealousy, personal dislikes, and the same political and ethnic animosities that produced the Troubles.

Leif is the only member of the crew who is neither a scientist nor an engineer. He is the winner of the BerthRight Lottery, a publicity stunt to send an “everyman volunteer” to the stars. He is a US Army veteran who saw much combat in the Troubles. When he meets one of the pilots, Captain Yang Yong who flew for the PLA Air Force during the Troubles, they both have the same immediate reaction: Hate at first sight.

However, an interstellar mission far away from Earth’s help faces many hazards, foreseen and unforeseen, and the return home carries an insidious danger of its own. Handling these threats requires skills that are not in the realm of science. If the crew is to reach their destination and return alive, Soldier-boy Leif and Fly-girl Yong will need to figure out how to work together. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

©2019 Colin Alexander (P)2020 Alton Kremer

Great book.

Honestly, the Introduction almost made me stop listening, which would have been a shame. Entertaining hard-ish Sci-Fi Adventure story.

Good book

Great book. Hope there is a sequel. Really enjoy the story and narrator . Awesome.

Much more enticing than I had expected.

Easy listening; good narration.
Not necessarily a story that will grow into a classic scifi, but the treatment of human relations in stressful situations was handled well and became one of the mainstream directions of the saga.
I enjoyed the few unanticipated twists in the tale and found myself agreeing with the ultimate decision by the two main characters; a great solution to an untenable situation.

Shockingly good

Picked this up on a whim. I can only say that except for the idiotic intro this is a book that compares well to the Forever war. It is that good

Solid credit

I bought this because I am in between releases from my favorite authors. Interesting story, decent narration, and the characters engaged me. hope there is a sequel.

A memorable story

A great futuristic story told well and a source of great enjoyment to anyone interested in space and humanity.

Engaging and fascinating

All I can say is “just gut it out for the first 30 minutes!” The book is fantastic. Really.
The narrator, on the other hand, is horrible for the first 30 minutes or so, then hits his stride & the rest of the book is great.
I can’t wait to start the next book, but I’m hoping someone else has bee chosen to narrate it. It’s such a great story……please do it justice?!!!

Slow beginning. I kept forgetting the purpose …

…of the half ass mission that was glommed together in a shoestring, and it seemed destined to fall apart. But every few minutes a clue would roll out that pulled me along.

At long last.

Finally, Great book all around.
With 300 plus titles in my library all science fiction .
I can tell you this is one of my favorites.
Please continue the strange journey!

Didn't enjoy this book

The reason is the characters are just too stupid with confused motivations. They are all basically spoiled rich teens who must have exactly what they want or a more than $trillion space mission goes to shit. Extremely unrealistic. Don't enjoy giving 1stars and negative reviews but this one needed one because I feel the other reviews tricked me into buying this book.