Marines: Crimson Worlds

The narrator's voice is jarring and the tone put me off almost immediately. His diction and the way he reads the book just don't do it for me.

Didn't feel the story was very well fleshed out. There isn't any connection or real character building. The listener/reader will have to put effort into seeing the protagonists views and the main story guidelines. Marines is good for one listen and done.

His tone and involvement in the book were obvious, dull and jarring. The use of electronic voice changers to enhance the story was a cheap ploy to make his rendition better.

Noise for your ears while you do heavy physical labor.

Very disappointed in this purchase. The sample clip was not a good representation of the narration or story.

The story itself is actually a good story. No, it's not original, offhand "Old man's War" by John Scalzi comes to mind, but still an entertaining listen. I actually enjoyed the story in and by itself. But...Two chief complaints, first the narrator. This story just does not fit his voice. He reminds me of the "Motel 8"'s commercial voice over actor saying "...and we'll leave the light on for you...". not a rough and tumble type of voice your expecting. Second, the second half of the book is really only about 3 hours long, the rest being the first 3 chapters of Book 2. I didn't appreciate the abrupt ending and was about 30 minutes into the organizational flow chart before I realized the book was over. I will read Book 2 eventually, but I will need to listen to a couple of other books with different narrators just to adjust my listening comfort agian. I do recommend the book, but with patience as a virtue.Rooster

Sadly the narration was slightly off. hard to explain. A combination of oscilating volume of the narration possibly quality issue or it could have all been the narrator.
Gave me abit of a headache.

The Story was well written and you can tell Jay Allan spent a lot of time creating and researching his worlds.

I found the story a little fast and not enough character development. Lots of action.

The performance was ridiculous; the narrator did little to further the story or the series.

That the book was thought out. Lots of research.

Someone meaner and nastier.

It needed a tough voice.

No. The narration definitely detracted from the otherwise excellent story.

The book reminds a lot me of the Lost Fleet series with a little bit of Legion of the Damned thrown in. It is filled with exciting battles on both land and in space. While the story is just a bit formulaic, it held my interest well, and thankfully didn't get bogged down in human interest love story lines like so many others of the genre.

The voices and the pronunciation were both extremely cringe-worthy. The narrator particularly bombed on the female characters, making them sound more like whiny caricatures almost too painful to be endured.Many words were consistently mispronounced; noteworthy was the score or more times he pronounced "habitable" as ha-BID'-able. Arrgh!

The time spent was enjoyable, which is my primary barometer for a good book and the story was good. But the poor narration made listening difficult.

Starks War, and B.V. Larson's Star Force series are relatively comparable. But their narration far outperforms this novel.

I think Mark Boyett would have been a better narrator for this novel. His cadence and tone are good for military novels.

I cant really see this as a movie or TV series.

I really tried to ignore the narration as much as possible. The most irritating part was that more often than not the narrator makes statements sound like questions. Almost Valley-Girl-esque. He does it everywhere, and seemingly randomly. He also over dramatizes mid sentence which is extremely distracting. Like listening to a valley girl William Shatner overacting a children's story.

Peculiar, Entertaining, Promising

What I like about this book and in turn what has endeared me to this series is the cast, the universe, and the potential. Allan has created a fascinating universe for his characters a world that I would love to explore.

Bower is not my favorite narrator, his performance was so jarring that the first time I started to listen to this book I put it down in disgust within a few minutes thinking that I had purchased a poorly written, poorly pronounced piece. I came back to the series last week and ended up falling in love. That being said, you may find Bower a little different or annoying at first be sure to listen to the sample before you buy!

Viewed by itself this book is perhaps mediocre. Yet, I am truly a sucker for space opera and after reading this book and its sequel I have to say I absolutely love this series. Before you buy let me break down why I love this book and why this series is worth spending your time on, and then let me tell you what to watch out for!

What I love:

The fiction that this story occupies is deep, far deeper than we are immediately exposed to. I got the distinct impression that the author has a grand vision of what the universe looks like in his world (More on this later)

I see amazing potential in this series that it has not yet reached and I am basing alot of my enjoyment on that. I hope that the author follows through on the hints he is leaving and does this series justice.

If you like these books you might like this one too:

Old Man's War
Legacy of the Aldenata
Troy Rising
Prince Roger
Armor
Star Force

One major difference: Marines: Crimson Worlds is Human vs Human



Things I don't like:

It isn't the best writing. I love it and I'm a sucker for it but this is scifi pulp its fun and enjoyable and I think that this series has the potential to transcend that classification but with only book one and two out this series is currently only delivering the title: Marines + Crimson Worlds (Blood).

If you are looking for a deep read or an epic space opera I think you might be more satisfied with a different title however, if you are like me and you want some unique action with solid characters in promising new world give it a shot.

My verdict:

If you are new to scifi or space marines there might be better options to start off with. If you are a grizzled veteran like me, dig in I think you will love it. You need to love this genre to love this book.

very well told story. backstory is revieled with good timing and the story carries forward without lag. i was not a huge fan of Jeff Bower as a narrator but he really came through in his work on this series.