Deadland Drifter: Publisher's Pack

Deadland Drifter, Book 1, 2

De: Ell Leigh Clarke, J. N. Chaney

Narrado por: Scott Aiello

Contains books one and two of the Deadland Drifter series.

Deadland Drifter, book one

When a dental appointment goes sideways, former Union operative Jack Burner wakes to find himself drugged and imprisoned, and he's given a choice: assassinate an admiral or be killed himself.

With no other option, Jack reluctantly accepts the mission, only to find himself being trailed by a mysterious blonde woman who may or may not want him dead. As if dealing with a terrorist group wasn't enough.

With the fate of the admiral and thousands of lives hanging in the balance, Jack stands in the middle of an event that could ignite a war on the edge of the Deadlands and Union Space. Despite his exceptional abilities, training, and tenacity, even Jack has little to no chance of preventing this particular powder keg from exploding. He's going to need a miracle.

Deadland Wanderer, book two

A mysterious message beckons Jack to a clandestine "meet", but something is off. The code is identical to one his team used back in his Union days.

When no one shows, he and Sara find themselves drawn into an investigation to uncover who sent the message...and why.

It isn't long before they find a trafficking ring that snatches women from shelters and wipes their memories, all with the hope of selling them to the rich and powerful as "wives". But this is bigger than just a gang of criminals. There's an organization that stretches across both sides of the law with connections to elected officials at the very top.

©2020 Variant Publications (P)2020 Podium Audio

The performance is exceptional

_Deadland Drifter: the two book series_ by J.N. Chaney receives four stars from me. I found the text to be a lot of fun and very engaging.

This was an audiobook so first the reader. Scott Aiello read this text, and he was superb. He has a deep resonant voice that matches the character well. Additionally, he used a great selection of voices for his characters. I found them all distinctive and believable. seriously, while I liked the book, I question was it the text or how the text was read that really pulled me in. For this boo, I'm going to side with the reader.

What I liked: loved the main character Jack Burner. He's careful, thoughtful, and open minded to partnering with a female. He doesn't treat her like a second class citizen while he does a man's work. They work well together, and I enjoyed that aspect of the novel a lot. I also like when he felt protective of her that he questioned this. This was realistic to me. And this followed in both books.

Recommended: yes, great fun and excellent listen.

Great set of stories in the Renegade Universe

I really enjoyed the whole thing and would love to see what the dead lands have to offer in further installments! Doesn’t have the same polish as some of the other series, but a very different take on life in the Union… well in the dead lands adjacent to the Union.

honestly it's all could have been solved

spoilers!!!!! please for the love of God I understand you wanted to make this epic but use an explosive man. they knew he was the leader they knew this would have stopped the plot FFS just use the explosive they found you blow up the goddamn barn. no joke you could have made this a lot more fun had you just let them kill those people at the barn and then go sell the issue with me explosives or killing the general but you're making it difficult where it does not need to be

Action packed and very enjoyable

I loved both books. Good character development, great narration, and very good storyline. What’s not to like!

Good teen story

I thought the first book had more interesting situations and features than the second book. Overall, not a bad listen while doing work.

great book

Another fun romp through the Renegade Star universe! I like Burner. He's got that Jack Reacher feel to him. Very fun story with a nice group of misfits.

Nice

I enjoyed the writing style which had a little humor, mixed in with a good storyline and pace. Even though there was shoot em' ups and killing, there was also compassion and morals. Men and women were given equal weight, and Jack Burner and Sara were very likeable.

Too Many Inconsistencies to be Great

It's possible I could rate this as 4* - I do think my complaints are nitpicking. We have several good things - protagonists and antagonists who do reasonably intelligent things, characters who have some defining traits and differences, moments of mystery and investigation, moments of action.

But let's take a look at some of the inconsistencies -- we have a world with starships, galactic level face recognition, retinal biometrics.... and there are MULTIPLE occasions where the protagonists steal vehicles with incredible ease, and with techniques that would not even work on vehicles in 2025 - let alone whatever year this is supposed to be.

Then we talk about the way that this super spy protagonist is supposedly not terribly tech savvy. uh huh... sure...

Things like that --- it's like they decided to shoehorn a late 20th century detective drama into a Late 28th century setting, without doing any of the thinking that would be needed to set up proper worldbuilding and plot that reflects that tech level.

So yeah -- it's a pretty well written book with plenty of positives -- I don't criticize anyone who says they like it. There's plenty to like.

Slow beginning

2.5 The ending of this story was good and very satisfying, but the first half to three quarters was slow and hard to get through. It needed more action and a faster pace.

Ok story but not much sci fi

Story could have been placed in any current modern city. Nothing remotely techie. Sure it’s set mostly in space (station)but that’s about it. Mostly bullets(?!), fighting and detective work. Narration was good.