To Valor's Bid

Monster Girls in Space, Book 1

De: M. Tress

Narrado por: Jack Smith, Anne Marie Lebeaur

Desmond McLaughlin was just getting through his life and trying to survive. A 9-5 job and a hobby that cost more than it earned left him just enough money to afford a crappy apartment and time to dream of something better. He was expecting to spend most of his life like this.

He hadn’t expected to be greeted by a CIA agent waiting inside his house one evening. He wasn’t expecting that CIA agent to tell him that he was being drafted for a special mission. And he really wasn’t expecting to basically get kidnapped.

But most of all, he wasn’t expecting to be told two important things. One, aliens were out there. And two, they wanted to take him as the first of the locals drafted from his planet to go to one of the few super-dreadnought class starships in the Hegemony and learn magic.

Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana—a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe—meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.

©2024 M.Tress (P)2024 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Good story/pace/narration

There are sections in the narration that seem extremely challenging. Also some pronunciation issues with specific words that I had to rewind and re listen to just ensure I heard something right. Some of it is nit pic-key, I still give high marks. I guess I am so used to some of the British pronunciations it sort of was odd. Also, I think there are some audio quality issues , where it’s like the baritone of the male actor’s voice sort of winds up running into issues. I am not sure if it’s the audio quality or just the voice depth and my headphones.

Well done

writing and character seem real and interesting. magic system had some thought out into it. The aliens are noticeable alien but they are still relatable. Author avoided making an one race as the "bad guys", which is refreshing.

Trying to keep track of all the aliens species is a bit of a chore but that is by no means a deal breaker. Would be nice to

Entertaining!

Fantastic story, good audiobook. Odd pronunciation of a few long English words. No dictionary I could find had those pronunciations. Otherwise fantastic!

Amazing world building, dissapointing male voice.

If it wasn't for the amazing world building and interesting gender reversal, and big women, I wouldn't have kept listening. Anne Marie Lebeaur is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the book, Jack Smith just doesn't really have a pleasant voice to listen to, and his intonations kind of ruin a lot of good scene's, like when he calls Chloe his precious, it just makes me laugh a lot because of how he sais it and how it sounds coming from his voice, instead of having a warm feeling romance is supposed to give you.

an exciting adventure

First you find out, that aliens are real, then you discover magic exists and you can use it. Finally out of all the people on earth, these aliens want you!