Asbaran Solutions

The Revelations Cycle, Book 2

By: Chris Kennedy

Narrated by: E. M. Carberry

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Nigel Shirazi was first in line for the chairmanship of Asbaran Solutions, one of the prominent "Four Horsemen" mercenary companies. First in line...until his drinking and temper caused him to fail out of college and get disinherited by the family.

Now he leads the life of a playboy, enjoying a stipend from the family to stay out of the way. But someone is out to get his family, and Nigel is all that stands between the hidden enemy and the destruction of Asbaran Solutions and the Shirazi family.

Nigel will have to learn to control himself if he's going to take the reins of the company, figure out who's behind the vendetta against Asbaran, and work out a way to stop them. But they've taken his sister hostage, and that makes him a very, very angry man!

©2017 Chris Kennedy (P)2017 Chris Kennedy

Story was like a 10 year old wrote it

Don't get me started on the performance, there was almost no inflection in his voice. The story itself was just... Bad. No comparison to the previous story. The characters made few decisions that make sense and they didn't feel developed at all. They make the same exact mistakes throughout the story. The story itself repeats itself, many of the scenes feel recycled. I'll never read a book by this author or read by the this narrator again.

Why?

change the narrator. change the author. story fixed.
This book comes off as if the author was given a homework assignment and did the minimum work possible. additionally he pretty much just took the first story and moved some words around and made it terrible.


p.s.
I will be getting my credit back

What a flop

So I picked this book up because I enjoyed the first book in the series which was fun book and I deeply enjoyed. I saw it was a different author, but the same universe so I decided to take a chance, boy do I wish I hadn't.

The Pros: what few of them there are, it takes place in the same universe and Cartwright's Cavaliers. It had a solid premise. There was a bit of insight into what was going on in the wider universe of the books.

Cons: First the narrator, I usually don't complain about the narrator but this one was pretty bad. He'd rush through a sentence only to pause wordlessly for several seconds, then rush through the next to pause again. The effect is extreme annoyance.
Secondly: while the plot had a good premise most of the story are the characters wringing their hands over how impossible their goal is.
3: the characters all blend together with none of them really standing out, even though narrator did give each their own distinct voice. They just don't develop and don't have different enough personalities to really be different people.
4. In several places the book takes the perspective of several different characters, most of whom all die in predictable ways. Once more the super robot suits and the elite merc. units the galaxy supposedly fears all die pretty easily and in mostly stupid ways too.

In the end there were a lot more things wrong with this book and I really cannot recommend anyone buy this, just save your money for the next book in the series

I tried to like it. Seriously, I want to like it..

Any additional comments?

I made it 1/4th through the book and gave up. The story might be worth reading a few times like I did with the first book but the performance was awful. The narrator was mostly monotone with all the characters, There wasn't enough variance in the reading to distinguish male from female or alien from human. It was not an enjoyable experience.

What a let down in the Revelations Cycle

What disappointed you about Asbaran Solutions?

Not only did the story not have anything unique about it, the main character was a whiny hot head that couldn't hold my interest for 5 minutes. Plus, most of the characters that were worth liking (and few there were) got killed. In fact, most of the people were killed in this story, and quite needlessly. Poor character development, and way too much worthless introspection. Unlike the first book, there wasn't any interesting plot twist or even a unique concept presented like the Ragnar or Splunk were in the first of this series.

Now, onto the narrator. Absolutely horrible. It was painful to listen to him. Almost felt like he was reading from an IBM basic language manual. So monotone, very little to no change in character voice, and nowhere near consistency in what the common characters sounded like in the last book. In fact, he presented the characters so blandly that it was very difficult to follow who was talking. No emotion at all. Never will I listen to a book again where his name appears.

What could Chris Kennedy have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Let Mark Wandry rewrite it for him. At the very least, get a better narrator. A new narrator may have helped a bit. Didn't love any of the characters, much less like any of them. He needed to develop them more.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of E. M. Carberry?

Craig L. Good, the same person from the Cartwright's Cavaliers. At least the shared characters would have sounded the same.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Excessive disappointment.

Any additional comments?

I hope any additional installment in this series has a new author and a different narrator.

narrator killed it

What would have made Asbaran Solutions better?

any narrator that wasn't as monotone as this one.

How could the performance have been better?

fire this narrator and make him go back to reading in church...so monotone

Any additional comments?

I tried!..really tried to listen..loved the first book..but man the narrator sucks.

acceptable military sci fi

Without spoilers, the story itself was good enough. Hopeless battles, sacrifice, stompy power armor, that good stuff is all here.
I feel, however, that the experience was hampered by a mediocre narrator; characters all speak with one of two voices, neither of which is describably "female", and no attempt at all is made to portray characters who are stated to have accents, with accents. Some words are mispronounced, and the performance is simply lacklustre.

I liked the book.

Would you try another book from Chris Kennedy and/or E. M. Carberry?

I don't believe that I would try another book by this writer or narrator other than for "The Revelations Cycle".

Would you be willing to try another book from Chris Kennedy? Why or why not?

Most likely not. I felt that the book didn't flow. In later parts of the book the port of view were thrown back and forth way to much. Also I don't feel the writer followed what had been set fourth in the first book.

What didn’t you like about E. M. Carberry’s performance?

The saving grace was that the writer felt the need to quote every person talking to each other due the lack of inflections of the Narrator.

Do you think Asbaran Solutions needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. hopefully this stays a stand alone book, But I do hope that this book ties in with the over all story arc.

Any additional comments?

While I liked the book. This book really falls short of the first book. If the writer writes another book for "The Revelations Cycle" I would probable buy it. But I will say in closing, This wasn't the worst book I have heard/read. and I did get some enjoyment out of it. If you try this book just use a credit.

Every second word is f**k.

I LOVED Cartwright's Cavaliers and this was a pretty good story too. I'm not even that picky about language but have you ever heard someone use so much profanity that you think "do you have more than 10 words in your vocabulary?" That's how I felt about this writer. Literally uses "f**k" 7 times in a single run-on sentence. Lame :/

An acceptable story with a horrible narrator

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

No. To be honest, I would have been better off reading it and having the voices in my head narrate it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Asbaran Solutions?

For a second novel in a series, the tone changes very much from the first. It seems the lack of personal deaths in the first novel has been made up in the second.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was dull, monotone and lacked skill. Many times I was confused by who was supposed to be speaking in the story.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Any additional comments?

Please, do not let this narrator ruin any more books until he has improved his range and skill.

The end of the Revelations Cycle for me

Would you try another book written by Chris Kennedy or narrated by E. M. Carberry?

Sorry but no. It seemed to be rather pedestrian faire - flat, B-grade space opera. If you are new to the genre I would try Craig Alanson, Joshua Dalzelle or Joel Sheperd.

Would you recommend Asbaran Solutions to your friends? Why or why not?

No.

A worthy Sequel

Asbaran Solutions is thankfully on par with its predecessor, Cartwright's Cavaliers. If you enjoyed that book, you will easily like this entry also. As this is a Chris Kennedy outing, instead of Mark Wandrey, there are some differences in writing style here that you might enjoy more, or less, depending on your tastes.

Cartwright's Cavaliers really focused on building up and developing its protagonist Jim. Kennedy doesn't do as good a job with Nigel in Asbaran Solutions. The supporting cast, apart from one of two people, seemed to be a lot more forgettable. In its place however, is a story with more subterfuge, and with mech suit battles more evenly spread through the book. The tone seems a bit more adult this time around also, with Cartwright's Cavaliers veering occasionally into VA territory.

The narration however, is average, sometimes awful. When someone dies in this book, the narrator makes the character sound like they just realized they've left the oven on, not that they've just been blown apart. He's not to my taste, but your mileage may vary.

If you are thinking of picking this one up, id suggest listening to/reading Alpha Contracts first. It adds some nice backstory, that really drives the story along

Depressing, plot holes, new characters

First, this is not a direct sequel of the first book. The first, which I really enjoyed, left obvious points for the story arc to continue at the end, but I guess the author(s) changed their mind and took the series in a new direction. Shame, and seriously not what I was expecting. And as the author introduces plenty of new characters, he also kills offs most of them - which is kinda not my thing. I found it jarring, bleak and depressing, meaning it is also a total change in tone from the first book. The new characters not that likeable, make poor decisions, and the book is just full of gaping plot holes.
Very disappointed, will not continue series.

Disappointing follow up in series.

First book in series Cartwrights Cavaliers felt fun and unique with decent writing. This book feels like it was written by a High School student who feels the need to explain every detail and emotion with lots of words even though the reader understood what was going on two paragraphs back. Voice acting is also just OK. To be fair the voice work may more be an issue of the material worked with vs actual performance. It's just a bit cringe worthy overall. I would return this audio book if I could as at chptr. 20 I am done and refuse to finish as I have better use of my time.