Absolution

Tribari Freedom Chronicles, Book 4

By: Rachel Ford

Narrated by: Megan Green

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

New wars and old conflicts. An empire reborn from blood and ash.

Nikia Idan led an uprising that liberated the Tribari people. Brek Trigan saved his colony from starvation. Captain Drake Elgin protected the citizens of Central from loyalist forces. The worst was supposed to be behind them.

When a loyalist fleet appears in Tribari airspace, the tenuous alliance between the military and parliament is strained to the point of breaking. Meanwhile, a rogue governor's quest for independence will put the empire's promise of freedom to the test. 

The decisions of these few will change the fate of many.

©2019 Rachel Ford (P)2019 Rachel Ford

3.5

I think this was my favorite of the series—all the different plot arcs coming together, a little light, sweet romance cropping up, and the social/political upheaval coming to it's expected conclusion. I don't think anyone will be surprised by the ending. Nor would they find it particularly exciting. But it is satisfying in it's way. The writing was clean and readable (or listenable, since I had and audio version), as it has been throughout the series and Megan Green did a good job with the narration.

I was still irritated by how close to the real world this alien culture is. Someone jokes about not running marathons, someone else gets on one knee with a ring to propose marriage, wives still take husbands names, etc. It's all just so very familiar for what is supposed to be patently alien. I guess this could be humans far enough in the future to have genetically changed, but that's not really even hinted at. There is a 'original home planet,' so I guess it's possible. But the hints are pretty weak if that is supposed to be the case. All in all, I didn't hate it, but I'm not disappointed to be finished either. 

Note: I received a free copy of this book. I chose to listen and review it.

Space Saga

I was given a free copy of this Audiobook In exchange for an honest review. A new empire Nikia leads the Tibari people and Brek ( my favorite ) saves his guys from dying. A lot of decisions were made and a lot of lives where changed in this book series. Would make a great movie.

Amazing Story

I was captured by the story of struggle for the people of Central. Nikka works hard to bring peace to the empire. However, there is a rogue fleet out there working against the new government. Parliament sends their best guy Elgan to find the fleet. When he does, Elgan makes an important decision on what to do about the rouge fleet. Meanwhile, Nikka struggles with her pregnancy and what to do about her brother. Her friend Breck stands by her side and is there to help her when she needs it. I loved every part of this story and I highly recommend listening to this audio book.

I was given a free copy to listen to and to post my honest review.

Excellent book!

I was not a fan of the first book in this series. The second one was better. The third one was good and the fourth excellent. I honestly don't know how this series got published with such a poor beginning.

The author obviously has a lot of talent and an amazing ability to weave together complex plots and subplots. Looking backward at the story (having read all of the books), you see how all of the complex threads come together. I would even go so far to say that this story would make a great tv series.

However: How many people will never pick up book 2 to continue the series?

The narrator has grown on me in four books, but I still think a different choice would have been better.

It's not over yet...

After finishing liberation I was surprised that this was a full length novel,
surely there wasn't that much to do to wrap up the series - boy was I wrong.
This story answers a slew of questions I didn't even know I had:
What will Trappers Colony do with their new found freedom?
What about all of the consortium that ran off and hid?
Who will be the next Supreme Leader?

All of these questions and more are answered in this final conclusion to the
series. This story is one part military strategy, one part political satyr, one
part romance and two parts intrigue as the tensions boil over. If you have read
the story this far you can't go wrong with this conclusion.

Getting better

Not a fan of the Narrator voice Megan Green for this story. I feel it just does not suit it.

Tribari Freedom Chronicles Conclusion has done the series well. I feel that the author has grown.

Although I would love to hear more to this series, I just cannot stand to hear the dead dead dead again.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request in exchange for this honest review.

Good conclusion to the series

I’m really glad I had all four books in this series lined up in my Audible app so I could roll from one right into the other. I was doing some household chores when I finished Liberation and cued Absolution right up. Rachel Ford picked up nearly right where she left off and I feel like these last two books were the stronger ones within the series. The challenges that each character had to face were compelling and it kept the action moving so that I was no longer as annoyed by the narrator as I was in the first and, especially, the second book.

I like how Rachel Ford combined the story lines of Nikia Idan and Brek Trigan: Nikia being forced to serve and act as a face of the successful revolution because of Grel and the baby; Brek learning how to be a minister in a world that he feels uncomfortable in. There was so much potential, both political and personal, here that I couldn't wait to see where it went.

Again, I loved the story line for Captain Elgin. There was a bunch of action and intrigue with his parts, and I loved his interactions with his fellow Captain Mercer. I would have been happy to see more of him.

One of the issues that I had with this series is that I felt many of the bigger story arcs were glossed over or too brief. I know the first three books were fairly short and Absolution was double the length of those, but I really wish Ford would have delved deeper into all the major areas of the series: the bad guys, the fights, etc. Just when I would really settle into the story it would jump into something else. The big scenes didn't have enough meat to sustain me. I wanted more!

I will say that there was plenty going on in this final book of the series. Maybe a little too much? It just seemed like Ford kept tossing plot after plot into the story when it would have been stronger to break each new conflict into a different book and expand the series, or just cut some of the fluff altogether.

Now that I've finished the series, I would rate the audiobook narrator at a solid C. I disliked Megan Green through the first two books. By the third I adjusted to her quirks and I mostly cruised along with her in the fourth book. I still believe this series would have been better served by having a male narrator or someone who is excellent at doing a range of male voices, considering the number of main male characters there are in this book.

One note on the production of the audiobook. Green's transitions between scenes were so quick that sometimes I was bewildered on what was going on. It sounded more like a continuation of a sentence rather than a changing of perspective. It's a small matter, but would make it easier to listen to and understand if there were slight pauses in those parts.

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Great convergence of storylines to the end

This is the seventh book I’ve read/listened to by this author, and fourth in this series. What an awesome conclusion!! I’m sorry it’s over.
I previously listened to book 1, 2 and 3 of this series. Book 1 and book 2 parallel each other in time and cross at one point. Book 3 introduces a few new characters and eventually the paths of the main characters (from these previous books) cross and they each have their part to do in the reform. Some of them do it purposefully, others by chance.
In this, the final book, it starts with Brek going to Central to represent everyone on Theta. The provisional parliament, lead by Nikia, is muddling through the remains of the Tribari Emprire. They’re trying to unite everyone under a fair, elected government. A loyalist fleet is threatening the peace. Captain Elgin and his crew are trying their best to protect the Tribari people. Tal, Tig and Govenors Nees all have important roles to play. Despite all, there are those trying to undermine their efforts.


This is the fourth book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Megan Green ) and I would listen to another. She does better job performing than just reading the story. Her character voices are mostly distinct and she imparts personalities.
There is some static in the background of the audio recording that is a bit disruptive.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing (that I recall).

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

A good conclusion

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Absolution concludes the Tribari Freedom Chronicles. I originally thought book 4 would not have much to add to the series as book 3 seemed to be a conclusion of the Tribari uprising, however I was wrong. Book 4 definitely adds to the series and if you’ve invested in the story up to book 3 you should definitely read book 4. This book ties up a bunch of storylines and leaves us with some hope for the Tribari future. The author does a decent job of writing, and I’m sure if she keeps at it the quality will go from decent to great in the future. The narration continues to be on par with the other books. Overall I would give this 3.5 stars.

👍🏻

I did enjoy this series. It’s a bit to political for me to really get into it. Maybe because it felt a bit to real. Rachel Ford’s artistic world building makes it easy to get sucked into the story. Pretty dark and gritty compared to her other series I’ve read. I did like that.

Not fond of the narrator. I’d prefer to read the book over listening to this narrator. She has a lisp and it’s just too distracting to enjoy the book.

-I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.-

Too much light romance

After the three previous novels, this was a disappointment. In the middle of a civil war, the plot digresses almost entirely onto being that of a light romance novel. This is not what I was looking for. Ultimately I found it a bit boring, although a less monotonous narrator could have made the audiobook sound a lot better.

Freedom comes with a price

the price in this case for me was the character development. I just felt that this really fell flat, it was inevitable that the story arc was going to follow down this route and that alone would not be to bad but it felt very straight forward and a bit boring. I felt the worst thing was the character development and how the relationships changed so quickly it just felt implausible and by the end I was just counting down the minutes. overall I have found the premise for these 4 books really good but felt that the execution didn't match up to the potential.

Great book

Loved this book. It's a great conclusion to the series, however there's still some unknown left so a hope for another book. All the characters are back and their adventure continue. I enjoyed the narrating by Megan Green.

Final book of Tribari Freedom Chronicles

The concluding book showed the struggle to live up to the ideals fought for and the temptation of power. Everything let to a conclusion and a glimps into the future of the characters. Maybe there will be more adventures of the Tribari coming up?
Narration had either improved or I got used to it after listening for 30+ hours during the previous books.

Emotional

This final book involves multiple threads of various groups as the New Empire struggles to conclude the war and create a workable government from the remains of the old Empire. There are many emotional moments as people realize how vulnerable they are and how fragile the situation is. Some of the characters at times seem immature; but this is a science fiction novel not a political thriller. The listen is enjoyable and the characters have been built up across the books until they reach the point desired.
The narrator has a British accent and it took me a couple books before I was able to follow her without having to listen very carefully. But it did happen.
This book was provided free of charge and this review was voluntarily given.

Absolution

The characters were interesting, including the character development and relationships that each of these characters had formed over the series. I also really enjoyed the political buildup.