Trial by Fire

Caine Riordan, Book 2

By: Charles E. Gannon

Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau

Length: 26 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Sequel to the national best seller, Nebula Award finalist, and Compton Crook Award winner Fire with Fire. Science fiction adventure on a grand scale.

When reluctant interstellar diplomat and intelligence operative Caine Riordan returns from humanity’s first encounter with alien races, sudden war clouds burst. With Earth's fleet shattered by a sneak attack and its survivors fighting for their lives, Caine must rely upon both his first contact and weaponry skills to contend with the non-humanoid enemy. And when the technologically superior attackers sweep aside the solar system's last defenses, and traitorous corporations invite the invaders to land "security forces", humanity fights back with its best weapons: cunning, inventiveness, and guts.

But as Earth hurtles towards a final trial by fire that is certain to scar its collective memory, Caine discovers that there may also be large and disturbing gaps in that memory. Clues point to a much earlier inter-species apocalypse, buried in humanity’s own prehistory. Which raises a terrifying possibility: What if the aliens' invasion of Earth is not one of conquest, but preemption? And what if their harrowing memories of a long-past cataclysmic war makes them willing to do anything to keep it from reigniting? Even if that means exterminating the human race?

©2014 Charles E. Gannon (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Excellent story and PHENOMENAL voice acting.

After I finish this series I will be looking for more books narrated by Kevin Pariseau. His annunciation and voice acting skills are bafflingly superb.

interesting world building

I am really enjoying this series. I find it to be an interesting combination of spy novel and war story.

A really great, enjoyable listen

In this second novel, the Earth is invaded and all of Earth's defenses and plans are finally put to the test.

I absolutely loved this novel. Everything that made the first one great is continued here. It was fun learning more and more about the alien races in the accord, and about all of Cochran's defense plans for Earth. The interplanetary politics and the military space battles were fun. There were some really great alien characters and Caine continues to be a fun diplomat/rebel/secret operative who is always in extraordinary circumstances and uses his brains and wits to git out of them.

For the audible version, this is one of the best narrators I have ever heard. He nails all the characters quite well (though I don't really care for the southern accent of the Opal character), and he never misses a voice. His voice for Caine really brings the character to life.

Overall, I was quite saddened when the novel finally ended as I wanted it to keep going. I guess I'll have to eagerly await the next book in the series. One of my favorite reads/listens in a long time.

NOTE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Great military Sci-fi

Charles Gannon weaves a story that's hard to put down. It also leaves you hanging for the next installment

Interesting Story

Any additional comments?

I listened to this right after listening to Ringo's Troy Rising. Two interesting and very different takes to the same scenario. Ringo's is a far-rightist take (anti-government, pro-capitalist) with warfare styles similar to that of European colonial expansion while Gannon's is a moderately leftist take (pro-environment, anti-business) modeled off the Vietnam war and similar modern clashes. I enjoyed this book both for the writing and the comparative differences in approach.

Confusing

The story line is rather confusing and hard to follow. The first book was even harder, I needed to restart it after finishing.

Great!

I hated a couple of the characters, which is great!
It can be a little slow, but push party those few bits, and you have a great story that lasts hours!!!!

A great blend of hard SF and adventure thriller

I hesitate to call it Space Opera since it seems more grounded in real science than that, but the cast of characters and their heroic activities are still a rip-roaring good time. Certainly the excellent voice acting contributes to that atmosphere of square-jawed, steel eyed daring-do but that is all to the benefit of an entertaining listening experience. This is a wonderful blend of Lucifer's Hammer and Dos Savage. Enjoy.

Buy it, before they run out of audio files.

The story is compelling, while on a few occasions a bit too nearly interlocking it's logical and plausible. The conveyance of emotions of the characters is moving.

Book 1 held such promise. Book 2 didn't deliver.

Idea of Vietnam-as-earth did not work
Too much good guys getting always right
We don't need the exact caliber if every weapon fired in every passage if the book every time. Really.
Loved the first book. This one is sadly C grade Ra Ra "USA USA" mil scifi.