Valhalla Station (A Space Opera Noir Technothriller)

The SynCorp Saga: Empire Earth, Book 1

By: Chris Pourteau, David Bruns

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The Expanse meets The Godfather in this space opera/sci-fi noir thriller about corporate greed, rebellion, and mankind’s survival among the stars.

Revolution threatens a longstanding peace....

Thirty years after the Syndicate Corporation saved Earth from climate-change extinction, SynCorp’s Five Factions rule the solar system with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove. Food, entertainment, safety, security - SynCorp provides it all. In return, the Company requires complete loyalty and obedience to corporate law.

The Soldiers of the Solar Revolution claim life under SynCorp is slavery cloaked in comfort. They launch their rebellion, targeting the pillars of corporate production: Sabotaging refineries on Mars, shattering Callisto’s orbital ring. Meanwhile, brutal pirates siphon off Company resources in the Belt, and hackers tap into citizens’ implants, addicting them to fantasies shaped from their own dreams.

Besieged on all sides, SynCorp’s Five Factions are in retreat. The rebels aim to destroy the Company to free mankind. But does mankind really want to be freed?

©2019 Hip Phoenix Publishing (P)2020 Aethon Audio

Outstanding!!!

this was an amazing book. I can't wait to listen to the next one in the series. Must buy!

Complex and rich political intrigue

An explosion breaks the peace and tranquility of a mine on Mars, leaving multiple dead and great chaos. The Solar System is ruled by SynCorp’s Five factions, but the balance is threatened, and things will not be the same.

There are several parallel stories in this book: on one hand, we have one of the survivors at the mine, with terrible psychological sequels; on the other, we have the heads of the Five factions, and Fischer, a mercenary sent by the head of SynCorp to investigate what is really happening. I did enjoy the multiple stories and the relationships among the characters, which resulted in a rich story with multiple nuances. I always enjoy a good space opera with political intrigues and a society that could have perfectly derived from ours, years in the future.

Although the story is entertaining and intriguing, I have the feeling that it could have been much more were the characters more developed. I was, sadly, not able to relate to any of them, probably due to the extreme of their predicament, but also to the fact that there could have been much more complex, adding an extra layer of magnificence to the narrative.

This is the first book in a series, so there is no real conclusion to the story, but it is also the fourth book of the SynCorp series, and even though this one can be read without previous knowledge of the series, I think having read the previous books would have made some parts more enjoyable. In the second half of the book I felt that, somehow, I was arriving late to a party. Maybe due to this and the fact that I didn’t really care for any of the characters made me disconnect a bit towards the end.

Bronson Pinchot did an excellent job voicing the different characters and keeping the narration consistent, but I have a small setback to mention. Some parts of the story are told in first person by Fisher, and Pinchot used for him a monotone and inexpressive tone, which made me zone out each and every time the book switched to Fischer’s point of view. I think Pinchot wanted to showcase Fischer’s coldness and professionality but it just did not work for me, and I struggled to keep my attention during those parts.

All in all, it was an enjoyable audiobook, and one that I would recommend to all fans of space opera.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Well done story from many perspectives

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to the next books to see how the story continues.

The authors do a great job at painting a very possible future of human civilization after we survived the climate crisis with the help of a large organization, who then carried humanity to the stars.

You follow various characters through this story, all with different parts to play, mostly separate from each other until they aren't. There really isn't a single main character, which is great as you end up not knowing which side you should be rooting for as you see the story unfold.

I haven't listened to a book narrated by Bronson Pinchot before, but he is a great narrator. He had very separate voices for all of his characters, and even read the story differently when moving to a different character's perspective. I was very impressed with his work, especially when narrating the perspective of the detective-type character.

I give this four stars, but for me that is pretty high. I only give five stars to books who I feel are seriously epic, so four stars to this book should be considered "it's great" as Audible labels it.

An interesting solar system

There are a lot of characters, most of who own planets, which is an interesting concept. I liked the narration too.

I was given this audiobook for free and have voluntarily left this review.

Awesome drama

I cannot wait to see what happens next !!
The characters are deep and well developed the story should be a tv show.

always a stellar performance by Bronson Pinchot

very well written. even better than I anticipated. really looking forward to the next one!

Pretty Good Book

I really listened to this because I enjoy Bronson Pinchot's narration in other books.

The story starts off a little slow but picks up and brings all the various plot lines together nicely.

Stacks is back? or is he

if you liked Optional Retirement Plan the main character is back in a pre-sequel with a greatly expanded cast and multiple viewpoint characters.
the expanding world of the five factions is a great bit of world-building and I am looking forward to the next one
even though the narrator has been changed in this book Bronson Pinchot delivers a good performance that contributes to the story
In the end highly recomended

Excellent story and narration

I very much enjoyed the narrator. The story was character-driven but still full of action and intensity. Emotionally intense as well.

Political Intrigue in Space

This book was pretty good. It was definitely a set up book. There was lots going on and the POV kept switching . Normally I like that but there was so much going on in this book that it got a little confusing at times with the POV changes. There is a lot of political intrigue in this book and that part was great. Good character build up but I feel like they need to continue to be fleshed out more. Like I said this book had lots of set up so the next book will hopefully build off it well. Narration was well done as well. There is plenty of adult language and themes in this book. Also a very bad abuse situation so be aware of it coming into this story.