U-10

By: Sam B. Miller II

Narrated by: John Pirhalla

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Koritt Diviak’s assignment was simple - travel to Earth and return with a human specimen, along with samples of their technology. After Koritt’s transport crashes in the desert of Afghanistan, Army Ranger Lieutenant Ty Lavender commandeers the ship, along with the U-10 - the most ingenious technology in the galaxy focused into a weapon with multiple capabilities -and uses it to protect his team from local insurgents, who want retribution.

Things heat up when special operative Lincoln Frost shows up, determined to appropriate the alien technology for SEED, the top-secret, power-hungry US paramilitary agency tasked with eliminating threats to national security. Thinking a breeding pair will be even more valuable to his home planet, despite the animosity between them, Koritt captures both Lavender and Frost, along with the U-10, and waits for help.

But rescue isn’t coming...and the humans are more intelligent, and resourceful, than Koritt anticipated. As the true purpose of Koritt’s mission comes to light, the battle begins. Under attack from all sides, hidden agendas emerge, and Koritt, Lavender, and Frost - all at odds with each other - will do whatever it takes to ensure victory. Now they must work together if they - and the planet - are going to survive.

©2019 Sam B. Miller II (P)2019 Sam B. Miller II

U-10

This audio book has a story line that is enjoyable, fast paced, sci fi action adventure. If you are a fan of sci fi genre, this audio book is for you.

Military Special Ops against Aliens and Spooks

Koritt is an alien tasked with kidnapping a human for his superiors. Lavender is a special ops commando who is used to getting the job done, no matter what. Lincoln Frost is trained to manipulate and bully anyone she needs to in order to recover alien tech for the shady company she works for, SEED. What none of them know is that Koritt’s planet has decided that humans are an illegal experiment that must be destroyed to cover their tracks.

Koritt’s ship promptly crashes and Lavender quickly swoops in to scavenge the broken vessel. They find some interesting artifacts while Koritt observes. Then Frost is on the scene, expecting to be obeyed. She didn’t count on Lavender’s total disregard for orders or his resourcefulness...or how quickly he would learn to use the U-10. Add in some locals who keep trying to obliterate everyone and things become interesting really quickly.

I enjoyed this listen more than I expected to. It had interesting characters that I liked and cared about. The story was interesting and I had a vested interest in earth staying intact. I also took an instant dislike to the owner and head of SEED and kept hoping that he would get his hat handed to him. In the end, this was a well thought out story which light in the right places and serious in the right places. The narration was well done and enjoyable to listen to. John Pirhalla gives a nuanced performance where it is easy to tell who is speaking at any time and his voice can be deep and gravelly or high and nasal.

I received this audiobook for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Review U-10

John Prihalla is an accomplished and extraordinary narrator. This is one of his finest, he doesn’t disappoint.
Sam B Miller has written a “Clive Cussler” style, page turner, action packed science fiction book “U-10”.
The aliens, the super tech, the earthly creatures, the fantastic alien computer ( nick named Elvis), all play into the plot that keeps you grinning and turning pages ( so to speak... It is an Audio book). I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you Sam for the opportunity to listen and review this book!!

Thank you for a Good Story Mr. Miller!

Quite a fun read/listen,
The story itself at first seems like the same ole same ole with the Alien Crash in the desert but the U-10 changes everything.
The tech of the U-10 was quite imaginative and unique to Sci-Fi in most respects. The rest was left a mystery and some we know very well. I hope Mr. Miller will give us some further hints on how it works in the next book.
Character development was initially brief but quite sufficient to the story-line to give us a feeling on how a given character would evolve throughout the story with only one character that you had to guess at motives.
The story itself is well balanced fast paced with the good the bad and the uncertain characters all coming together in unexpected ways. The hero while obvious from the start had allot of help throughout the story. The conclusion leaves one wondering which character is truly the bigger hero so enjoy finding out.
Hard to put down (written) or stop (audio), you want to see what happens next. I look forward to the next book and hope Sam will involve me again!
I Must add my review is possibly mildly biased as I helped Sam with ideas for the Tech and some minor editing from 1st draft to final draft (I am mentioned in the acknowledgments). I feel it's only fair to say that I was involved I made a few minor suggestions but the Story is truly all Mr. Millers

Adventure, Aliens, and action

If you have become tired of the standard first-contact science fiction stories, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with Sam B. Miller’s new audiobook release simply called “U-10”. Not only is the story well expressed and the action flows like white-water rapids, the audiobook’s narration by John Pirhalla was professionally performed and flawless in its execution. He is a narrator on my radar to watch. The publisher’s summary does a decent job of giving you an idea of what the audiobook is about, but it is only a small example of all that will be uncovered in this fast-paced alien adventure. If you like contemporary science fiction with a fair amount of unique and interesting technology along the way, I suggest you pick up “U-10” and give it a listen.

The book is mainly about an alien society sent to earth to retrieve specimens of humans for their continued studies. I did enjoy that Mr. Miller added elements of humor to the story such as when are shown the pile of bureaucracy involved in such investigation activities. The aliens were required to fill out forms in triplicate before the mission could proceed. It made me think of the reputation of the United States Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and their required paperwork for a simple address change. The alien sent to perform the task experienced issues and was required to land off course near a group of US military members in an Afghanistan region. The members of this team were all well assigned for their given roles or possessed skills. Every one of them were required to stick together and be a functional unit to accomplish their end goal. Being in the information security industry, my favorite member was “Hashtag”. Yet, every time he was referenced, I could only imagine a twitter or social media tag being referenced.

What I found interesting in this story was not only that people were dealing with an alien visitation, but the United States was also in the middle of a heated battle with local insurgents trying to destroy them. So, there were actually two enemies to deal with as the story plays out. On top of all of this, we also have a covert agency assigned to investigate said alien visits much like the movie “Men in Black”; but far less humorous. You know it is not a good day for our team when this mysterious agency shows up with the highest level of clearance. Our team members struggle with the many different orders from above and even who they can ultimately trust.

What made this book more interesting was the unique and rather alien technology the team discovers. By simply adding, what appears to be a digital punch card, this alien swiss army device they discovered is able to become almost anything, and if misused, it could destroy not only our team but the entire world as well. The technology itself felt alien and I liked that it was not just earth-based devices that were more powerful. The only technology that mirrored other books was the use of universal translators, but even the way these were incorporated by the humans were different from others. Not only are we given a view into the U-10 device itself, but we also learn of the other alien technology this mysterious agency stole or confiscated from past alien encounters. This is one of the main reasons the secretive company has such power. Some of this technology is also leveraged against our alien visitors as well. Again, I highly recommend this to both technology sci-fi enthusiasts.

Unlike with other audiobooks in this genre, the aliens see the humans as savages and much lower on the galactic IQ rating. We are also shown the heavy set of rules governing various types of life, and thankfully humans are granted a small level of protection because they exist and are a bit sentient compared to animals and other life on the planet. Humans are thought to be nothing more than an unintelligent creature with some drives and motives, near animal status. The aliens quickly realize that they have underestimated humans and begin to see them in a very different light once they discover just how smart and innovative they really are.

I enjoyed that the author sprinkled in some pop-culture and nostalgic references for the listener. There is also an alien computer which is given a fun name by their human counterparts which keeps the laughs going as well. At times I would have liked to have had a few periods of downtime or more character backstory to better understand them. Although the action was flowing like white water rapids, there should be some time before experiencing the next set of rapids; I felt the story lacked some of these lulls. The story does close up the main plotlines. However, I can see where there might be future books in this series based on the potential open plots the story could pivot to.

The audiobook’s narration was done exceptionally well, and I liked the simple addition of some audio effects such as one sounding like they were talking to another via a radio. I do not recall any audio artifacts such as swallows, background noise, or page turns. The audio was clean and crisp along with the volume consistent. The ability of Mr. Pirhalla to voice the many different characters and keeping track of their accents was seamless. It made the characters feel alive and personal.

Parents and younger readers I have to give Mr. Miller credit for writing a science fiction book of this caliber without the need to include vulgar language or overly sexualized material. There is quite a bit of violence, some graphic at times, but nothing overly excessive for an action science fiction piece. I think young teen readers would enjoy the story along with adults.

In summary, the audiobook was a real rollercoaster of a ride. It was filled with action, adventure, and aliens. What more could someone ask for? There were a few plot holes and I would have liked to have had more background details on the characters, but these are more easily overlooked as the story if designed for entertainment, and that it provides. I have enjoyed some of Mr. Miller’s other books, and this one is right up there as well. If you enjoy aliens, science fiction, and mysterious agencies, I think you should give this book a listen.

Disclaimer: This book was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for an unbiased review

Alien has landed!

Good book and good narrator. Interesting mix of characters. Great plot exploring what could happen if an alien showed up on Earth and one of the possible outcomes in the race to capture the technology. Cliff hanger ending that bodes well for a second novel in this series. Worth the time and credit.

This book provided for free for a fair and honest review.

The storyline had potential but in the end a bust.

The writing felt very junior in that simple plot devices were employed to move the story around. There was not a smooth flow and I cringed as new story pieces were added. I often felt cheated rather than intrigued.