The Cruel Stars

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Morgan Hallett

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

With a ruthless sect of humanity intent on wiping out their species, five intrepid heroes must think like their enemies in this epic sci-fi adventure for fans of The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica.

The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “species purists” intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong.

The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all- or die trying.

These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.

©2019 John Birmingham (P)2019 Recorded Books

Wanted more - Got enough

I have read most of Mr. Birmingham's novels and enjoyed. This novel offers us characters who are compelling and likeable ( we have seen characters like them in previous Birmingham novels) although the setting of space nazis just struck me as a bit cliched. The universe itself seems well conceived but, for me, it fell a bit flat, Still, there is enough here to have me coming back for the next book [ultimately, this is the test] and I hope that a slower start resolves into a great end.

Intriguing

Moves pretty quickly. It mixes a lot of tropes and I think that makes it fun and easier to listen to.

Just finished reading this, loved it.. nice one JB!

I, for one, welcome a return to the military sci-fi of Weapons of Choice era - natch

A barrage of action & comedy 💥🤣

I don't consider myself well-read. I never took any writing classes. I don't know what's needed to properly tell a story, build a world, or develop characters. But I know what I like, and that's action. Call me uncultured, call me a shallow reader, but I love it when a book takes me on an adventure at a million mph, and The Cruel Stars does that in spades. 👍

There are 6 different characters you follow, and the first 6 chapters are dedicated to introducing each character. After that, all hell breaks loose. And from that point on for about 50% of the book, it's constant action.

Now, when said hell breaks loose, it may cause some confusion for the reader (or at least it did for me). That's because there is no lead up, it happens almost instantly (damn near mid-sentence). Things start out normal, people going about their day, then suddenly gunfire, explosions, people trying to eat each other. It comes out of nowhere and almost makes you feel like you accidentally skipped a page or something. But it's okay, just roll with it. My thought is that this was intentional in order to give the reader the same sense of surprise and confusion as the characters.

But I do want to take a moment to mention, what I feel, is probably the books only downfall. It's that there are a lot of sci-fi words and acronyms that get thrown at you with no explanation as to what they mean. It often seems like your just expected to know, or you're left to figure it out through context. While the context does help, it felt like a sci-fi version of English slang: these aren’t real words, this isn’t a real sentence... but I know what you mean.

And finally, not only does this book have tons of action, it's also hilarious 🤣. McLennan's banter with his AI partner Hero (favorite character), Seph's "screw it" attitude, and Booker's struggle of trying to find a new body; when there's no action, there's comedy. There's one part in particular, when the action subsides and the all protagonists finally meet each other for the first time, it's a laugh-out-loud collision of personality types.

I can't wait for the sequel. 😬

More!!!

There’s only one thing bad about starting a new John Birmingham book. It’s that it will probably be the first of a series, and that means you’ll want more by the end. Cruel Stars has a world of great imagination, but is so real, you’ll feel you know these characters. At least I did, and I want to know them better. Come on, John, get writing!

Comoetetive and fun Space Opera

Well-paced. A number of well-fleshed-out characters, if not fantastically unique. There was (is?) much more to be done with however. Good tech talk. Worth the listen.

As for the “performance:” the narration was well-paced and the voicings competent. My only complaint (and I don’t know if this should be directed at the narrator or the producer), is that a number of words were consistently mispronounced, words for which there are not disputed pronunciations. Sloppy and distracting.

Summary: a fun “read”/listen. It’s major flaw is underutilization/developers,ent of its characters and institutions. Presumably,there are sequels intended in which more detail will be added, but there was little reason to withhold them in his book and they would have been the strongest aspect of it had they been included.

Love the narrator, story was good popcorn fare

Had a pretty decent story. Pretty light reading so good for listening while doing chores or exercising. Definitely takes inspiration from the book Altered Carbon.

Loved the Narrator, she definitely elevated the material.

Great sci-fi adventure book

in the beginning this book follows three main groups that all end up coming together in the storyline. The audiobooks reader does a fantastic job. The story is engaging and made me interested enough to purchase the second book in the trilogy. I imagine I'll get through that one just as quickly and be waiting for the third one to come out on 2023.

A little loose in the story line

I’m a big fan of sci-fi, but I found that this story jumped between three stories and the transition made it rough to follow. I’m still going to give it a listen, but while paying less attention.

A full tale

I enjoyed the universe building in this novel and that it was a complete story that can stand on it's own.