Earth Interstellar

Proxy War

By: Scott Olen Reid

Narrated by: Joshua Saxon

When the XSS Cousteau makes first contact with the Rheas, a pre-space flight alien race, it creates an opportunity for an economic windfall for Earth.

After 300 years of paying tribute to their benefactor, the Vrene, humanity can use the relief. Only the Chzek already have a claim on the Rheas, who they want to enslave to serve their empire.

Unknown to the humans, the Chzek are long-time enemies of the Vrene. With little choice, humanity and a Chzek vassal race are made proxies of their more advanced benefactors and are compelled to fight Earth’s first interstellar war. Questions arise as Commander Kree, captain of the Cousteau, and others realize the Vrene have been preparing Earth to fight this war with their enemy for hundreds of years.

Did their “benefactor” set them up to fight a war they do not want and cannot afford?

Or, did the Vrene do them a favor preparing them for a war they were already destined to fight as the Chzek expand their empire? Earth Interstellar is an engaging and fast paced story of future interstellar conflict and war in space.

©2018 Scott Olen Reid (P)2019 Scott Olen Reid

Well thought out SciFi Novel

This is well thought out book. The author spent a lot of time fleshing out the universe and giving us the back story. But you can really tell how much thought went into it when it comes to space combat. Space is huge, and the author points out how missiles might take hours to reach their destination. Also, you wouldn’t know what your opponent is doing immediately, due to the speed of light. The story still moves along at a decent pace. I’m looking forward to seeing where he takes the story. The narration was ok, but the narrator didn’t really give the female characters women’s voices. Also, I like it when narrators give aliens strange or unique accents, but almost everyone in the book has an American accent. Overall, it was an enjoyable listen and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes in book two.

This audiobook was provided by the narrator at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

War and politics, loved the story

An interesting story with solid, somewhat predictable events. I've enjoyed the interaction and the evolution of characters. Event transition could use a cleaner cut but it did not damage the overall impact.
It is a fun listen and I really enjoyed the story. I am looking forward to episode two.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Best Space Book on 2020

5 Stars for
Earth Interstellar
By: Scott Olen Reid
Narrated by: Joshua Saxon
This was the best space story of 2020 for me. This book has ailen politics that the humans have to live and die under. A lot of thought and planing went into the space battles as they were totally realistic. I can not wait for the second book, just to start with this book again. This book was given to me at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Must Read.

This book made my “Recommend” list which I reserve for books that I think someone who does not red that specific genre constantly would enjoy. It is definitely a war book based in space, but it also has lots of character development, politics (on an interstellar scale) and a decent amount of science/exploration.

The science portion of the book reminds me a lot of the Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor. (To be clear the humor seen in that series is not present in this book). Scott Olein Reid does a good job of taken into account how the speed of light can impact warfare as well as the advantages certain alien advantages can have a significant impact on a battle and a war. This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

The narration from January Saxon did a lot to add to the story, The inflection he was able to produce helped put you right in the middle of the story and there was never a point where the audio took you out of your willful suspension of belief.

TLDR: If you like Space/war or political stories you will enjoy this book. I cannot wait for the second in the series to come out. There is a lot we still do not know.

It was worth the listen

The story overall was good, however it could have used more depth to the story, it felt as if it was just a general outline. There are a lot of jumps in the time span which I understand are somewhat needed because of how long it takes them to travel. I found the narrator was hard to follow, in the beginning he was reading to fast for my liking and it was difficult to know where the transitions scene to the next were, or were one character stopped and the other started. If I could have read it instead of listening to it I probably would have liked it more.

Would I recommend it to someone? Yes

Would I read another book by the author? Yes

Would I listen to another by the the same narrator? Yes (updated)

**EDIT** After a short email exchange with the narrator I decided to listen to another book by him. I am only 2 hours into it but It has changed my mind about him.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."