Alexander X

Battle for Forever, Book 1

By: Edward Savio

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Get ready for audiobook three, League of Auld, coming in January 2023, by listening to the Audible best seller, Alexander X (#1 overall).

Alexander Grant is a little too good at a few too many things. Two dozen martial arts. Twice that many languages. Chess, the piano, sports, forging excused absences, you name it. He graduated high school top of his class 17 times. Of course, no one knows any of this. Not that he wants to go unnoticed. It’s just safer that way.

So for the last several decades, Alexander has been forced to move from town to small town to even smaller town—he just bought his 651st house—in an effort to live a painfully quiet life. But when a mysterious cabal attempts to kidnap him and kill his friends, Alexander must use all his skills and centuries of training to outwit the most dangerous man alive, the mastermind of a plot that would change the world forever.

Clever, intriguing, skillfully woven with humor, Alexander X launches us on an epic journey toward a future few of us will survive, rising from a past we never knew existed.

©2019 Edward Savio (P)2019 Babelfish Audio

More for Young Readers

Great, witty book performed by the perfect narrator. The book follows three high school students, and I think it’s targeted primarily to that audience. That said, I enjoyed it and will likely but the next book in the series.

The great thing about this book is that I was able to share it with my ten year old during a road trip.

Has one F-bomb; no sex; mild violence

Cost me a lot of sleep - it is that engrossing!

I have nearly 1000 titles in my Audible library. So many great listens have I enjoyed over the years. This book was one of the very best books I have ever experienced. Wil Wheaton's performance is one his very best of his fantastic narrating career.

I always wonder about reviews that state part of the story or items such a the plot. That can be found easily. The story was one of the most engrossing I have experienced. By combining the excellent story written by Edward Savio and the narration, it makes one of the most explosive book experiences.

Savio must have great knowledge of Boston and history. The story moves easily between centuries of history and moving through Massachusetts while telling a story in the present day. Savio's knowledge of the streets of Boston, including the subway and some of the waterways, shows in great detail as the book unfolds.

It is such a fantastic book, I started to imagine it in my mind's eye like a movie playing out. I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

Totally enjoying Wheaton's performance

First, Wil Wheaton makes the comedy and the action rock. The premise is intriguing. A world where a very few of us age only a couple of days a year. Basically, aging at like 1/100th the speed of everyone else. What are all the amazing/cool/horrible things that would have happened to you over all that time? Who would you have been? Alexander X is one of those few. But as interesting as living so long might be, there's something else going on. Something bigger. No spoilers, but we don't get all of it, everything doesn't get wrapped up in this book, but I got enough of it to leave me satisfied and left me wanting more. Hope it doesn't take forever for the second Battle for Forever book to get released.

Slow moving YA

I bought this book based on all the 5-star reviews, but I feel like I wasted the credit. I am six hours into a ten-hour book and I could not care less about what happens next. It seems I am in the minority, but I am 43 years old and maybe that has a lot to do with it. I was hoping with Alexander being 1500 years old it would not be a highschool love/adventure story, but it is and on top of all that it moves as slow as molasses. The few times something happens, like an attack, even those parts of the book are not exciting.
This book is missing something and since I am not a writer, but a chef I can't put my finger on it, but it leaves you wanting for more than it has to give. I will not be finishing this book, because there are so many more books I could be spending my time on.
In my opinion, the characters are not developed and even though some things are explained to death, they are the unimportant parts of the book.
Wil Wheaton does a fantastic job as always, but even he couldn't keep me engaged in a boring story.

Immersive Action and Compelling Narration!

I was already familiar with the previous books from this author, so I was hopeful that Alexander X would live up to my expectations. I was definitely not disappointed as I became immersed in the unique world of Alexander "Grant." This Audiobook made the long round trip drive between LA and Las Vegas immensely enjoyable for my family! My teenage kids even stayed in the car to finish the last ten minutes in our driveway! Wil Wheaton's narration was precise and compelling, and added the perfect vocal tone to the story. I hope that the next installment will be released on Audiobook before our next vacation!

Cool mix of sci-fi and hidden history

Great book for a mix of tweens, teens, and adults. It’s hard to find a book that meets this criteria. I found this much more interesting than let’s say the Percy Jackson series because the author, Edward Savio, weaves in pieces of actual US history, as opposed to myths in the other series. As a parent it feels like the literary version of hiding spinach in a meal. The kids don’t even realize they are learning; they just feel entertained. Bonus!

My kids and I really enjoyed the superb narration. It was easy to follow character changes and the character voice added to being able to focus on the story. No weird slurring or character stereotypes.

Refreshingly Original

There are allot of these types of books around and most are centralized around super powers of some kind. The characters Savio presents are unique in that it presents the case of what “abilities” someone would obtain just by simply having more time than others. It emphasizes wit, knowledge and experience as the keystones for survival instead of some supernatural edge. Lastly, it offers a unique perspective of the internal clash of emotions that manifest in the mind of a character with the rash emotions of a teenager and a mind that has seen and remembers a multitude of lifetimes making the same choices across the

Great historical references, entertaining humor and a compelling storyline with no drop offs. Very impressed.

Smells like teen spirit

Maybe I’m a little too old for this genre but Savio is so entertaining and has great character development. Quite a unique plot and original ideas for a genetic mutation that you must experience it thru Wil Wheatons masterful storytelling. Give this one a chance. You won’t be sorry for at least a thousand years.

Very slow moving

Great concept, but the author didn't seem to know what to do with it. Nearly immortal kid facing more or less normal adolescent angst. The high school chapters setting up the story are a little YA, but fun. I loved the little tidbits of history, though I wasn't able to suspend disbelief over how this kid was trying to live anonymously to protect his secret yet always at the center of everything. He was at Agincourt, knew Shakespeare, was present in the new world when Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island, lived among the natives long enough to play an early version of lacrosse, returned to Europe to meet Napoleon and Percy Shelley, then came back to the US in time to be at Gettysburg?

Once the world building is established, the book shifts gears, as the character finds himself in danger. Drags his normal high school friends with him while he runs away. Gets found, fights. Runs away. Gets found, fights. Runs away. Gets found, fights, runs away. Finds respite with an older immortal friend just long enough for the friend to do nothing to move the plot forward, gets found again, runs away again, and in a thrilling twist, fights somebody unrelated to the plot. Wil Wheaton is a pretty engaging reader, but he couldn't salvage this.

Cookie cutter YA not even Wil Wheaton could save

The only reason I even finished the book was Wil Wheaton’s narration. But I felt even he got bored half way through.

Otherwise there’s really nothing good to say about this book. It’s cookie cutter Young Adult dribble, with stereotypic characters, including the young (or not so young) love stricken hero and the oh so bad evildoer set on destroying mankind.

I actually liked the base premise, a new spin on (pseudo) eternal life in the form of a slowing aging process. So instead of someone getting to a certain age and then staying here, here the protagonist ages across his whole life by a factor of 100 slower than usual. That means he’s a baby for hundreds of years, to turn 16 means he has to live for 1600 years etc. But in the end it’s only a prop to create a protagonist that is in his teens but more than a thousand of years old, and preciously little is done to create a meaningful backdrop to explain how, just for example, someone who’s a baby or toddler for hundreds of years can even survive.

Anyway, it didn’t take long to realize that there wasn’t much here. And predictably the book ended up without any conclusion, just so there’s a reason to have another book. I, for one, will certainly not waste another credit ont this series.

Great concept, over complicated

love the concept, performance is unmatched, would have benefited with being less busy
looking forward to the next book

too much action and too little plot

Starts well and just gets worse and worse with just more and more action scenes which I found boring and did little to develop the plot or characters. I struggled through it just so I could check if the ending would be any good. it wasn't

Great audiobook

Great book but I can't help but feel the story and plot is a mish mash of movies and books I've previously listen and read and watched. But don't let that detract from the book it's very entertaining. Narration from wil Wheaton is very good. Probably one of my favourite narrators. Overall if u want to be entertain this is it, if u want something new different taxing the brain etc ur gonna be disappointed.

A great book

as above...found myself a tad confused with the descriptive aspects but got quite involved in the characters...
The humer is quality and action sequences well written ...
Obviously theres more to come..I have purchased the 2nd book b4 I've finished this so that tells you it definitely worth another credit...
I honestly dont know how many in the series or the year of publication but I can see the usual 6 book catalogue....though only 2 on audible...
Not a fan of bashing the ENGLISH chapters as I come from the MOTHER of most nations...maybe just maybe Edward Savio reads this and put a good word in for us over here across the pond...although I will not be holding my breath...

Good beginning

Good beginning looking forward to the next book. As always Wil Wheatons performance was excellent.

Great concept; beginning & middle. Bored at ending

Wil Wheaton is phenomenal at anything he reads.

Great concept, and exciting beginning and middle, but lost engagement towards the of the book. I wasn't excited for the sequel.

Book should be a best seller !! very good

Book should be a best seller !! very good. why has this not sold 100K copies??
The books funny, different, actually containing a lot of facts that are not commonly know.
to add to all that its brilliantly narrated by Wil Wheaton. win/win...

Very good

Definitely one of the best books I been through recently. Wil Wheaton rocks as usual.

Going to volume 2 straight away.

Wil Wheaton's narration never let's you down!

Pretty similar to lots of other titles out there (think Percy Jackson) but still novel in its own way. The narration is top notch.

I gave up

An idea that could be so good but this is not that story. This is story that never settles into a decent narrative. it's math is wrong throughout, tphere's a long series of ridiculous, tedious fights. I am an avid SF fan but this very poor indeed. The narration not great either.