• A Sword Into Darkness

  • By: Thomas A. Mays
  • Narrated by: Liam Owen
  • Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (225 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
A Sword Into Darkness  By  cover art

A Sword Into Darkness

By: Thomas A. Mays
Narrated by: Liam Owen
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Humanity is no longer alone in the universe. An unknowable threat approaches Earth - and we are completely unprepared to face what's coming.

Aerospace tycoon Gordon Elliot Lee cannot stand idly by while a mysterious alien presence from Delta Pavonis bears down upon mankind's only home. Shut out from NASA and military support, Gordon is forced to go it alone, to sow the seeds for an entirely new sort of planetary defense: a space-based naval force.

Joined by Nathan Kelley - a bloodied naval warrior, scarred by his own actions in the waters off North Korea - and Kris Munoz - an avant garde scientific genius with more ideas than sense - these three will scour the very edges of fringe science and engineering to attempt development of Earth's first space navy in time to oppose the Deltan invasion.

Beset by ridicule, government obstruction, industrial espionage, and their own personal demons, it will take a miracle just to get off the ground. But the challenges on Earth are nothing compared to what awaits them in space. Against an unknown alien enemy with vastly superior technology, a handful of human scientists and warriors must become the sword that holds the darkness at bay.

Missiles will flash, railguns will rumble, lasers will burn, and defenders will die. If they fail, our end is at hand.

©2013 Thomas A. Mays (P)2014 Thomas A. Mays

Critic reviews

"Solid adventure, intrigue, and speculative space-tech, from a rising star in military science fiction." (David Brin, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Existence)
"There are brilliant first contact stories, great space combat stories, and amazing stories of technological discovery. Rarely do you find all three in the same novel. Remember the name Thomas A. Mays. You're going to be seeing it on the best-seller list." (Jeff Edwards, award-winning author of Sea of Shadows and The Seventh Angel)
"Sharply written, suspenseful, and tightly plotted, A Sword Into Darkness reads like the best Tom Clancy novels, with a science fiction heart provided by Arthur C. Clark. Can't wait to read more from Thomas Mays!" (Graham Brown, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Zero Hour)

What listeners say about A Sword Into Darkness

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    97
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    102
  • 4 Stars
    57
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Man, THAT Fell Apart!

OK, First off, upon reflection, I'm left with a slight feeling of "I kinda enjoyed this book", however, there seems to be one of those "Good Book Slumps" going on currently, so thinking I MAY have slightly enjoyed this book MAY be due to desperation from a recent lack of GOOD Sci-Fi Books... Have I lost you yet? If not, You're doing better than I am!

In the Sci-Fi Genre I have come to EXPECT that the Earth Encounters Aliens who are almost always technically superior to us, yet somehow we always seem to pull some stunning Victory out of the jaws of defeat by doing the best we can with what we have... This ain't that kinda book...

In this book, the Aliens are THOUSANDS OF YEARS ahead of us technologically, yet in nearly no time, a few people, hampered (as usual in books) by "Big Evil Governments and Big Evil Corporations", defy ALL odds and forces arrayed against them, and suddenly advance Physics, and our Technology, about 500+ years. I started to feel disconnected at that point by the GIGANTIC sudden LEAP in technology, and then everyone acting like they've understood it all for a 100 years or so.

But when we DO use this new Technology to build HIGHLY ADVANCED Star-Battle-Ships (In less time than you could build a canoe), we race out to confront the coming threat! What could the MASSIVE Alien Threat want from us that they couldn't obtain MUCH easier from the MANY other Planets and Asteroids they've zipped by? What do WE have that they can't get anywhere else??? When THAT question was answered, I literally laughed out loud and just began TRYING to suspend ALL belief in reality and just enjoy SOME PARTS of the rest of the story...

...but THEN things go downhill from there... To *ME* (And you may feel differently about it), It just felt like the Author couldn't think of a way to make advances and "threats" at least "SEEM Possible", so he kinda resorted to the old "We can do these impossible, unbelievable, things because... well... BECAUSE I SAID WE COULD!" The action scenes seem to be tossed in at random and forced into place, like someone said "There should be some Action here".. and the daring hero buckles under immediately after the appropriate amount of "Action" is finished.

I dunno... just seemed really "Jumpy", "Forced", and the plot seems to often depend on "And Then A Miracle Happens"...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Audio Rendition of Military Sci-Fi

What did you love best about A Sword Into Darkness?

The concept of humanity having two decades to prepare for first contact, the vivid description of the technology, and the high-stakes plot were awesome.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was the brilliant girl who blew up her developing the futuristic propulsion system. Who doesn't like a girl like that?

Which scene was your favorite?

Describing my favorite scene would be a spoiler because my favorite scene was near the end. Suffice to say, it was the final battle scene.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The launch of the Sword was a pivotal moment that moved me.

Any additional comments?

I gave this four stars in its Kindle format, really 4.5. I gave 5 stars to the audio version because it felt more real and alive hearing it. The reasons I withheld the 5th star in the written version were washed away by the audio.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Easily the best space combat novel I've read ( and listened to) in years. Smart physics, badass space battles, and cool technology.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • D
  • 09-04-14

Decent story, nearly unbearable narration

Any additional comments?

The story has some problems, straining credulity now and again, and there are a couple of threads that never really get resolved, but it's pretty minor stuff. The characters are a little flat, but the story isn't really character-centric so that doesn't impede things too much. Overall, it's not bad if you like military/space sci-fi, but there are better titles out there. I don't regret the purchase, but I don't imagine this will be one of the books I listen to more than once.

Which brings up the real issue I had with this title. The narrator is awful; not just sub-par, but actively distracting and damaging to the enjoyability of the book. I will make a point to avoid anything narrated by Liam Owen in the future.

He has this really cheesy, oddly enunciated delivery, like he's doing a higher-pitched impression of the "movie trailer guy" schtick as interpreted by "sports radio voice guy," always putting weird, awkward emphasis on words where it has no place. I felt like he was waving his hands around in my face to make sure I noticed his delivery instead of just letting me get absorbed in the story being told.

On top of that, he consistently mispronounces certain words. Luckily, these words do not appear so often that you end up crawling the walls, but I flinched every time he pronounced with the word "gantry" with a hard J sound. Add in the fact that he has almost no ability to make character voices distinct from one another (apart from a few really bad accents), and his narration all but ruined the listening experience for me. I had to stop listening a few times out of annoyance with him, and had the book been much longer I doubt I would have made it to the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fairly enjoyable despite Narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I don't know if I can recommend this book or not. The story wasn't bad I have listened to a lot of books in this vein, and it did a decent job with the "save the Earth by making a big leap in technology premise". I feel I would have liked it more if the narrator was better.

Would you be willing to try another one of Liam Owen’s performances?

Liam Owen's voice wasn't bad, the big problem with his performance was he often mispronounced words. Lots of them. It was almost as if he had never spoken them aloud before. This happens at least once a chapter and it's very distracting. It takes the listener out of the moment while you try to figure out what he was trying to say.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unforgettable Story!

Really enjoyed the story here. Found it to have great mix of hard science making it all feel very real, solid characters and exciting story line. The build up here was excellent, nice twists and adventure here throughout. Narration here was also great making this an enjoyable listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Solid Summer Scifi Fun!

Great story about a wealthy visionary who sees an upcoming alien threat years before the government. He assembles a great team to develop technology to confront an alien warship. Solid believable tech. Love how the story evolves over the years.

You can tell how the author's personal military life gave this a great realistic feel.

Thought the voices here sounded very good as well!

Overall a rare find!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Lazy Narration / Good Story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

A Sword Into Darkness is a pretty well-told, science-filled, military science fiction story. It begins with the detection of a potential "first contact" and tells the story of how we might rise to meet the challenge of an unannounced ship from another planet. The characters weren't really deep, but they weren't two-dimensional either. And while the science threatened to overtake the story a bit, at times, I found it enjoyable.

Would you be willing to try another one of Liam Owen’s performances?

I was disappointed in the reader who badly mispronounced words like piquant, heady, and gantry (as pee-kwant, heedy, and jantry). Sorry Liam, but you can get a pronunciation on dictionary.com. Do your homework. Also, while I don't require a lot of voice differentiation out of my narrators, his two-character dialogues often left me wondering who was speaking. Based on this performance I would be leary of listening to another book with Mr. Owen as the reader.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exciting story

Exciting story. Hated getting out of the following commute to and from work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Indulge in some war sci-fi

It's not a complex story or full of mind bending ideas, but is instead a classic story about human pererverance, ingenuity and blowing shit up. Take a break from the brainy stuff and indulge in some unadulterated space war.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful