A Small Percentage

By: Jim Cline

Narrated by: Donny Barton, Jim Cline, Dawn Seaman

Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

Alien battle fleets converge on earth at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Technology and intrigue blend to form a graphic study of politics, morality, and the brutality of total war. A bitter, hard fought war is raging that ranges from the depths of interstellar space, to a nuclear Battle of the Atlantic, to savage assassinations, and Machiavellian usurpations of power and control.

For Mature Audiences Only: Explicit language and situational violence. Must be 18 years of age to purchase.

© and (P)2000 Timberwolf Press

A+ story; C- readers

Ok, I went into this story having read all of the other comments. I'm glad that I decided to go for it since the story itself was great. It's a nice twist on the alien invades earth story, and the battles are awesome with all of the detail the hard sci-fi fan loves. The drawback is that when you're really getting into the story the readers let you down. It's really hard to listen to their wooden voices. It sounds like they were handed the script and just read it . . . no warm up, no grasping of the story, just a straight read.

So, I recommend this book for it's story, but not for it's reading. The reading won't stop you from listening, but it definitely does decrease the enjoyment.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Cats & Pigs in Space?

I chose to download "A Small Percentage," much against the dire warning and judgment of the other reviewers who indicated that the narration and sound effects were so dire. (More of that later) This Sci-Fi tale both horrified and intrigued me and kept me interested enough to complete it I'll probably have to listen again at some time in the future.

The brutality of the main characters is just beyond compare, I was seriously beginning to wonder how Jim Cline (The Author) managed to think up so many ways to dismember, mutilate and generally destroy a human being and most of the human race for that matter. For all that the author tries to deliver a strong moral message in that people in power are mostly corrupt, the "Bexsus" acting as both invaders and police who without hesitation destroy the corrupt and criminally minded. As the book starts to fade into repetition and subsequent boredom a new race of invaders rear their ugly pig like self's quickly proving to be the equal of the "Bexsus" in brutality, shear nastiness and a total indifference to the welfare of the human race. As I listened on in morbid fascination a new intriguing reality came to my attention and that is the one thing that really kept me interested and listening.

The most horrific Audible Book I have listened to date? Probably. I'm not normally a seeker of gratuitous violence or the macabre, this book gave me nightmares and for some reason bugged me for days after wards. If that's what the author intended then he sure succeeded with me.

Finally the narration, is a typical Timber Wolf Press production, overblown characters and on occasion ridiculous sound effects, personally I enjoy Timber Wolf?s "OTT" presentations, it seems to fit the "Pulp Fiction" character of the books they produce

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Worst narration, but story not bad

I've probably listened to a couple hundred books since joining Audible some years back. There's no question in my mind that this is the most AWFUL audiobook narration of all time. The main narrator is not too terrible, but there is a female who reads like a 6 year old, with no grasp of the character or the story. There's another male reader who is pretty poor. And the sound effects are absurd. Especially the shrieks from the humans and pseudo humans every time they're wounded or killed. And the organ music is like an absurd parody of a 1930s horror broadcast. Still, I begrudgingly admit the story isn't all bad, and had enough twists to keep me listening to the end.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Very Good Sci-Fi !!

I oringinally heard this audio book a few years ago. It was streamed in weekly episodes, 42 of them. It was also free at that time. After buying an iPod, this was one of the first audio books that came to mind. The story line is awesome! It's a theatrical reading, not just someone reading a book. It's very entertaining! I have only one complaint with this audio book. As the story progresses you hear some of the readers playing different roles. They attempt to change their voices but it's clear that many of the roles are read by just a few people. Even with this in mind, this audio book is well worth the money, and then some.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great Story - Horrible Audio Performance

After reading reviews from other readers I almost didn't select this book. I'm now glad that I did. I thought the story was very entertaining and refreshing. I agree with other readers that the performance of it was the most horrible audio I've ever listened to. The actors performances had no emotion to it, I believe my text to speech program could of read the lines better. With that said, don't let it deter you from listening to the book. The story makes up for the poor performance.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Have patience

This book starts out slowly but picks up steam as you figure out the relationships and what the plot is. I Really enjoy the multiple voices and sound effects this is the first audiobook I have listen to that used sound effects. Not a blockbuster but good enough to be entertaining.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great Story Poorly Read

Whoever read the female parts needed to be fired (though they all are fired now as Timberwolf Press no longer exists). Male parts were great. They had one woman reading all the female parts who had a terrible Texas drawl - even when she was reading alien parts. Her voice was very wooden... and... sounded.... like.... she .... could.... not... read ... well...

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Really bad

The book is below average. The dialog is dull and lifeless. But it's the quality of the audio rendition that really merits attention. The narrative is bad enough to embarrass a HS drama dept. Whereas a good narrative easily has you imagining the scenes and the character interaction, this narrative makes you imagine 3 utterly bored people sitting at a table reading their lines.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great Listen!

A very fine book. Before downloading the book I read some of the reviews here which were not so positive. But I still went ahead because I had just completed listening to DeathStalker series and was in the mood for some more alien related scifi advertures.
A small percentage turned out to be a great listen. The writing was well paced out and kept me interested through out. As you listen to the book you will feel yourself siding with the humans and the aliens alike.
Since the book was recorded in 1998 the sound dramatization is not that good. At times it is a bit crude but the story is so good you would not care.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Best invasion book I have encountered!

Highly recommend this to invasion story plans. Perfect setup for a follow up book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent - compulsive listening

Whilst not perfect, this is never the less an excellent audio book which kept me up for several late nights not wanting to stop listening to find out what happens next.On the downside there are a number of plot twists, but I found it quite easy to see most of them coming. Also some of the Earth destruction is a bit long winded. These are minor points though and I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys sci fi adventure stories.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Excellent comic book fun!

This is a wonderfully fun audio book - a simple tale of alien invasion and the morals of three races, 2 alien and us humans. It will not win any literay prices,and at times the violence is described in graphic detail, however if you want entertainment and escapsism then this long audiobook delivers in buckets.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful