Asteria

The Last Hope for Humankind

By: David Collins

Narrated by: Cassandra Arnold

Length: 1 hr and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

With the Earth on the brink of complete annihilation, Carla joins a group of engineers and builder-robots in a race to complete the lunar colony of Asteria. Unwittingly, she unveils a dark secret that threatens not only to cause yet more civil unrest and test the morals of society back on Earth, but also threatens the continuation of the human species itself. Set in the year 2069 where the world is ravaged by wars, famine, and disease, and ruled by a psychopathic tyrant, can a small group of engineers and scientists pull the Earth back from the brink to ensure the continuation of the human race?

Bonus content:

• Alternative ending
• A first look at my upcoming book: Dragon Planet

©2019 David Collins (P)2021 David Collins

Great short book

It’s a great short book or story on a possible future of the end of the earth. I enjoyed the premise and the mystery of the NASA astronauts.

Highly Enjoyable!

I highly enjoyed listening to David Collins’ new audiobook release, ASTERIA. The action is non-stop, the characters are interesting and realistic, even Jerry, the AI enhanced builder-bot. The story is exciting, though disturbing, due to the many similar elements that are currently playing out on Earth today.

I am not a fan of alternate endings and think the original ending was best and any other ending distracting and unnecessary< but that is my own personal opinion.

Astral

A refreshing, easy to follow storyline that grabs you and has you cheering for, laughing at and feeling like you know the characters.

A Thriller!

Things are not all what they seem on the lunar colony of Asteria. Technician Carla and her colleagues strive to make the planned community designed to rescue the people of Earth a livable space for all. War, famine and natural resource destruction is quickly rendering the planet uninhabitable leaving billions to perish. When one of Carla’s AI enhanced bots goes missing, she unexpectedly learns the secret decisions and cover-ups by those at the highest levels that will have dire ramifications for Earth’s population. Their trust shattered, will her band of newly found renegades be strong enough to circumvent those in power and change the course of events? Carla and her colleagues decide to take a stand against the powers that be, facing improbable odds. The President and his cronies want her defeated using any means. As the final conflict nears, it’s a battle of technical wits that has life or death consequences for the people of Earth–will the passion of the few be enough to defeat those with more nefarious plans? Author Collins keeps us guessing ’til the very end with this dystopian, apocalyptic tale. Listening to this audiobook, I also very much enjoyed the narration of the story by Cassandra Arnold. She keeps your interest with her engaging style, capturing the characters' essence and emotions as they embark on this final, dangerous mission. Readers/audiobook listeners even get a delightful twist, Author Collins has also provided an alternative ending that will keep you reflecting on what the future might bring…Which will you choose?

The Lunar Colony of Asteria

Set in 2069, the earth is on the brink of complete annihilation. So, engineers and builder robots rush to create the lunar colony of Asteria. A dark secret is discovered and it threatens the existence of the human race.
Actually written in 2019, I couldn’t help but compare the author a bit to American author Ray Bradbury in how he foretells future happenings in his imagination.
I enjoyed this short novella and also the narrator’s foreword. She nailed the description of the story and relayed it well in the telling.

Space colonization and political corruption

When the Earth becomes uninhabitable, the Lunar colony of Asteria is touted as humankind’s last hope. As it turns out, however, only those rich enough to save themselves can manage to relocate there, and it appears that Earth’s most abundant export is political corruption.

It’s short, but it sets the stage for a larger story and gives a taste of things to come. I want to know what happens next!

I loved that an alternative ending was included! That was a nice treat.

Nothing New Here

I am not a huge fan of science fiction. So it is entirely possible that someone who particularly likes that genre will enjoy this work more than I did. The story does develop rapidly, so that is a plus, I suppose. But I never felt as though I got to know any of the characters well enough to find them interesting or to care very deeply about them. It seems to me that every work of literature or drama should somehow enrich the reader, the listener (in this case), or the viewer either spiritually or intellectually. I did not feel as though I got anything out of this except an hour's distraction, and I really did not need that. A prisoner with nothing else to do with his time would be grateful for an hour's distraction; not I. The theme is one that has already been done to death: good-guy rebels attempting to overthrow an evil regime. They don't even go about it in a very creative way. This is not a badly written story. It simply is NOT inspired. It's just more of the same old thing (one of the most common themes in sci-fi).