Dark Operator

Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator, Book 1

De: Doc Spears, Jason Anspach, Nick Cole

Narrado por: Stephen Dexter

Legion Dark Ops has always been a unit shrouded in secrecy. Tasked with performing covert missions, its kill teams are filled with the best warriors from within the ranks of the Legion.

Kel Turner is one of the youngest legionnaires ever to be selected to its ranks. After many battles and trials, he is faced with the greatest challenge of his life - operating by himself on a remote planet at the galaxy's edge, a foot soldier for the policies of the duplicitous House of Reason, tasked with solving a crisis that would take ten kill teams to resolve.

Diplomats, spies, shadowy terrorist groups, and an enigmatic general work with and against Kel as he fights to save a society from itself. What can one operator do alone, separated from his kill team, fighting a war that has no name?

This lone operator doesn't know what it will take to win. He only knows he's not going to lose.

©2020 Galaxy's Edge LLC (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Spot ON!!

Galaxy's Edge has always hit home with me as a former infantryman who did a lot of work with operators during the surge in 08'. This book hit home in particular. SO much nastalgia for me here on every level bringing me right back to my service. Fantastic performance by the narrator. Hope more is done with the third co-author here as he brought another level connection for someone like me to the universe that is Galaxy's Edge.

Not a bad listen... but why?

First and foremost the book really isn't all that bad, in fact it's actually an easy listen with a decent amount of action and intrigue.

However, upon the book coming to an end, I was left wondering why the title was even produced and how it really fit into the larger GE storyline. Of course the republic is bad, people get used and people die, but we as listeners know that. Thus, there really wasn't any new information gleaned from the book. Cal was cool, but he simply isn't a major player that I can see. Again, not a bad listen, but had I skipped I would not have missed much.

Not even close to what I was expecting.

Once again, the Galaxys Edge series surprises me. I have listened to the Legionnaire series, Savage Wars series and the first installment of The Nomad Series. I thought I knew what i was getting into. The story initially made me think I was getting a gritter, more detailed storyline based on what I read in the breakout series, but by the end I was even more surprised at how invested I got into the human side of Kel Turner. It was extremely well written.
It is also worth noting that the narrator is top notch. I was a huge fan of RC Bray and was bummed that he wasn't the narrator in this series but quickly learned that I liked Stephen Dexter too. I was also very relieved that Ray Porter wasn't getting this one, his style is just not for me.

Definitely different vibe than main GE story line

Personally I liked the story even though it was a pretty loose connection with how the main Galaxy's Edge story plays in. I will agree it's especially annoying that they didn't get a consistent pronunciation between books for the Zhee (this book he pernounces it like it's spelled) but reviews blaming the Voice Actor are definitely in the wrong considering there is definitely several people listening in on sessions and someone from the publisher should have been doing some kind of overall quality control.

After reading through other more strongly worded reviews I can understand where they are coming from... but I think a lot of that lies pretty heavily on the tone the narrator setup. It was an odd production choice to make it seem like every situation the MC is on the verge of an emotional breakdown and have that much whispering. The stage whispering for dramatic effect did get old...it's especially jarring if you are coming from the other main GE books with RC Bray's perfect military voice and even the people who did Takeover and the Contracts and Terminations series.

Other than that I would say it's definitely not the Band of Brothers/Starwars style that I'm sure most people expect from Galaxy's edge. It seems like a more realistic take on what an undercover agent would have to do and there really isn't a lot of Scifi. Still an interesting story although would like to hear another Voice Actor or a different producer to see how much it effects it overall.


TLDR; Not really a strict Galaxy's Edge book but if you like spy/espionage it's still enjoyable. Narrator was given very dramatic directions.

Great story. Terrible narration.

This was an overall good story — an in depth view in the life of a Dark Ops Legionnaire— with exactly the wrong voice. His speech is sotto voce, like he’s talking to someone nearby without wanting anyone else to hear. He even deepens his voice, like he’s telling a secret. The battle scenes were performed in the same voice which made them totally unexciting. This is not a narrator I will listen to again.