First Line of Defense 2

First Line of Defense, Book 2

De: Benjamin Kerei

Narrado por: Travis Baldree, Gary Furlong

Morgan Mars is doing everything he can to protect humanity from alien invasion.

But even his new organization, The First Line of Defence, isn’t enough to save what’s already lost. Sectors are collapsing like dominoes as the aftermath of the 20th Cycle invasion leaves everyone trapped in the falling Sectors. No one knows what to do. No one, that is, except Nicholas Thistlebush. He has a plan to save Sector 6. The only question is, what will it cost him?

©2024 Benjamin Kerei (P)2024 Podium Audio

Question on existence, done in a fun Sci/fi way.

While a departure from book 1, it is a great, fun alternative perspective of the Great Game.

Great book two

I think this is as a great book two in this series and I cannot wait for another. I enjoy the rejuvenating story in this one

Not what I expected

It's not very similar to the other books by Benjamin Kerei. It doesn't even feel like it's in the same universe as the first book and only has brief appearances by Morgan. I can see how this might have been a chance for the author to play with different concepts, including some psychological trauma, but it really didn't fit well with the first book.

There were some interesting developments, but since they were with Morgan and weren't the focus, they feel brushed over.

A+ story

Seen they did duel narration. I normally hate these but they did a good job on their character. The part I hated was which ever narrator’s chapter they did all character. Took me almost an entire chapter before I realized they didn’t introduce d a new character just due to this. I’m sure this was done to another Travis scheduling issue issue but the author can only do what he can do. While Travis is in my top 3 favorite narrator his lack of schedule management makes me say just drop him completely. Rant over

The good - the writing/story is awesome as usual. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Isaac Asimov of Isekai

While this is labeled as a sequel it's more like a parallel book taking place in the same universe as the first book with cameos from Morgan. Initially it felt like i'd been tricked, but after the first chapter i became just as addicted to it as the first book and unable to stop listening until the end. This author has quickly become my favorite, maybe because Rothfuss hasn't written anything in a decade, because he tackles unusual subjects with very grounded and realistic perspectives and this book is no different. As with many of his characters, this is an exploration of someone's self-awareness only taken to an extreme degree after an early in-game class boost of the main character. He is a man with flaws who is tackling those flaws using some weird methods.

This author has me excited for his next books in a way that i haven't been in years. He's grounded and without a lot of fluff. It feels like every 'scene' has a purpose and i'm not wasting time, unlike so many other books who write like they're being paid by the letter or are aimless. I recommend any book he's written, partially because the others are voice acted by Travis Baldtree who is amazing and seems to be in perfect sync with Kerei's style. Cannot rate this book series high enough.

Absolutely hooked

Loved both narrators. Great story. Can’t wait for that next one. When does it come out?

What a beautiful Painting

The first book in this series almost lost me. By the time I was half way through this one I was ready to quit the series. I only stuck around because I was at work and bored.

I am glad I stayed with it. It was like watching one of those speed painters, the ones that paint backwards and upside down. At first your hoping it's worth the time. Then you get annoyed and a little angry. Then you finally start to see something in the painting. By the time the painter finishes the painting the right way your amazed and let breath.

During the last half of the book I cried, laughed, then cried some more. Thank you Benjamin, Travis and Gary for the beautiful painting you made for us.

Felt Like Filler

There was retcon shenanigans; A new MC that took up most of the book; and not a lot of progress made. IMHO this is a filler book ( or maybe 2 filler short stories rammed together.

Alright, here’s a spoiler alert. You’ve been warned!

The new MC is an atheist who gets power that he thinks resembles those of the Christian God (they don’t, btw). This leads to him and others philosophizing as well as him going insane. The insanity part isn’t so bad, but there’s nothing even remotely interesting about the junior apologetics course. Also, this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but if God is as powerful as the Bible portrays,why on earth would the apparent age of the universe prove anything? The MC literally starts off as an archeologist who’s researching ruins put there at the start of the game and he can’t put that together?
On to the retconning. Remember that sign over everybody’s head that lets everyone else know what bad things they did? Poof, never happened. The eradication of all the baddies? Poof, just a bit of population control so some are still around. I’m not even going to get started on Morgan’s new “wife”.

All in all, this book was about the author wanting to write a one-off MC story in the same universe, with a much different tone and a little set up for Morgan’s eventual return. If he’d just done that as a start to a new series, I wouldn’t have minded, but doing it when I was expecting station silliness or at least a fun team-up against a kraken (as depicted on the cover). Instead I got an atheist’s guide to being an agnostic.

A side book too early

This feel's like book 5 of a series but, unfortunately this is book 2, and that doesn't really bode well for the reader.
Having a different main character for book two is a bold choice, and an MC that is almost the exact opposite from our first books protagonist. The tonal shift, does lead to good world building, but also take up 3/4 of the book, and that is why it doesn't feel great for book 2 in a series.
It's not a bad book, but rather, it almost feels like a side story, or something parallel to what made the first book so good. I usually don't mind those, but as this is a main-line part of the story, and we are exploring a glossed overview of how vast and alien the universe truly is. It's just not exciting because it's a 80 year old man sort of playing a pirate adventure on a sea of stars. That sounds cool, but it's used to be an allegory for just how little the humans don't understand with what they are dealing with... which isn't really that cool when it's the majority of the book.
I want to finish with something good. As with Ben's other books, his strongest parts of writing is understanding family, and love of community, I didn't know where to fit that bit of info in here, but he really does understand how to express enjoyment and love for family that few sci/fi authors get. He really does know how to give motivation through emotion, and it never really feel's hamfisted or something that is backburner.

Different from the First, Perhaps Even Better

In addition to Morgan, there is a new main character. Usually, I find that adding both a new main character and a new narrator tends to detract from the experience. However, this book is impressively good! The political and emotional elements, as well as the plotlines, are so masterfully crafted that they made me wonder about the high level of intelligence and emotional understanding required to achieve such depth.

Initially, I was skeptical about Nicholas's storyline, but it brought tears to my eyes several times. It also explored fundamental theological questions from a thought-provoking perspective, earning an incredible level of respect from me. The exploration of existential crises and the emotional range of the AI and similar lifeforms added further depth to the already well-developed characters and storylines.

Overall, don't be put off by the lower ratings. Be prepared for a more mature storyline with a dual focus on Morgan and the new main character!