Janissaries

By: Jerry Pournelle

Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka

Some days it just doesn’t pay to be a soldier.

Captain Rick Galloway and his men had been talked into volunteering for a dangerous mission, only to be ruthlessly abandoned when faceless CIA higher-ups pulled the plug on the operation. They were cut off in hostile territory, with local troops and their Cuban “advisors” rapidly closing in—and then the alien spaceship landed.

Rescued from certain death, they now must fight another world’s war.

©1979 Jerry Pournelle (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Almost a classic

I first read this novel when it came out, decades ago, and I found it fascinating and well written. Now to be able to listen to a great narration of it, well done!

greatness

so good you got to listen to it all. Jerry, Larry and SM Stirling gotta check them all.

Great story.

Nice variation on humankind struggling against interstellar odds. The mix of old civilization elements with modern world very well.

Speed up audio to 1.1 or 1.2

The story was a little slow at first but got better. The pacing of the reading was too slow, which might have been part of the problem. I sped it up to 1.1, which was much better. I then went to 1.2 and then 1.3, which was a little fast.

Excellent story!

Excellent story in the first of three parts. Well read too! Waiting for the son to finish book four!

Would make a great TV series

Janissaries is a quick listen and a very intriguing concept for a story. I like the narration. I’m not sure why a major studio like Netflix or Apple or Amazon does not turn this into a streaming series. It would be fantastic. If you have never read anything by The author, listen to or read this book immediately and look up the great Jerry Pournelle’s bio on Wikipedia. Audible please bring the fourth novel in the series “Mamelukes” to audiobook as soon as possible.

A classic I had never heard

This isn't my favorite "lost regiment " style book but it is very good. sometimes the plot seems to move to slow then too fast. Really enjoyed this and recommend it.

A product of its Time

I could condemn the implied racism and the sexism but the story is a product of it's time and genre. The story was better than many of this military sci-fi genre & performance was good. Despite being a left leaning feminist, I enjoyed it

relatively straight forward, entertaining

Well, this was for me an easy-to-listen-to, entertaining story, with a reader who did a proper job without causing any irritations. The story is straightforward: mercenaries are sort of abducted/hired from earth to do a job for aliens. Main part of the story then plays on a planet (at the time of the story not too different from earth) with a society at the development stage of the early Roman empire. There is bit on the military side of things, there is romance+castles, horses+battles, there is some looming dark galactic background story.

What I really liked about all of this, was that it was what I was looking for: an easy going entertaining reasonably quick read/listen with a potential series continuation. There was no great depth to the story, there was no repetitious dwelling in people's motivations or thoughts, no endless descriptions of non relevant details, neither the romance nor military nor any other specific aspect was over-emphasized.

So if you like something light and fluffy for in-between & if you don't worry too much about plausibility just give it a try.

Superb book now with superb presentation.

If you could sum up Janissaries in three words, what would they be?

Thanks much to Jerry and his Janissaries series. It has been a favorite of mine for decades. I was stunned to see it available on Audible, as Jerry was normally a 'non ebook' hold out. Very few of his works went to ebook format and abook format. So I snapped it up immediately when I saw it available on Audible. Keith Szarabajka's could NOT be topped. He rules in his presentation and reading. Not just a reader, he emotes (I mean that in a good way!) the characters in the book with great skill. I hope Keith will be able to keep on this series, along with the mysterious 4th sequel Mamelukes (Janissaries IV: Mamelukes (work in progress for fifteen years as of 2012).

Who was your favorite character and why?

Reluctant Captain Rick Galloway reminds me of our founding father George Washington. Recognizing the truth in developing a society with a know world shattering threat building at the border.

What about Keith Szarabajka’s performance did you like?

Superb!