In the Orbit of Sirens

The Song of Kamaria, Book 1

By: T. A. Bruno

Narrated by: Michael Reimer

The last fragments of the human race are forced to adapt to a dangerous new world or face extinction.

When starship mechanic, Denton Castus, is caught in the destructive path of a devastating war, he abandons his home and seeks refuge on a distant planet. However, this new safe haven has undiscovered threats of its own. Eliana Veston, a scout preparing the planet for the refugees, struggles with a deadly pandemic that is killing off colonists. The hunt for a cure unleashes a new threat to humanity - the Sirens - mysterious beings with incredible powers and a deep hatred for invaders.

©2020 Thomas Bruno (P)2021 Thomas Bruno

Great sci-fi

I really enjoyed in the Orbit of Sirens.

The world-building is beyond great. Kamaria is well thought out, alien, fascinating, and alive. It's one of the cooler planets I've visited in a lifetime of sci-fi fandom. I'm excited to dive into the rest of the trilogy to explore more of this world.

The structure is phenomenal. Bruno sets up multiple different timelines but is able to bring them together perfectly, and he does a great job with the push-pull of tension and release. The action is exciting and clearly written, visceral without being overwritten.

i really dug the characters and audibly reacted to multiple moments while listening in my car as I felt the joy, sadness, dread, and triumph along with the characters.

Again, I had a great time listening to this story and would recommend it to any sci-fi fans looking for new worlds to explore.

Easy 4 stars

First and foremost, I must thank T.A. Bruno providing me with an ARC for my honest review.

In the Orbit of Sirens is your typical sci-fi story full of epic space battles, searching new worlds, interactions with other alien species all while in the name of keeping humanity alive for generations to come.

The world building and storytelling was fantastic, I found the author’s creativity and attention to detail to be on point and it kept me engaged from start to finish.

I was a bit caught off guard by the horror in this book as it was not something I was expecting however I really enjoyed it. The only part I was not a big fan of in this book would be the romance side of the story but that is just because I am not really into reading romance, I do however think it was well done.

All in all, I really enjoyed the story and I think this could make a killer adaptation for film or maybe something like a Netflix series. Although I have not typically been a huge sci-fi reader in the past (love sci-fi movies though) I look forward to reading book two and this just might be the series that pushes me to add more sci-fi to my TBR.

An intriguing blend of sci-fi and fantasy

In the Orbit of Sirens was an intriguing book with surprising depth and complexity. It's categorized as science fiction on both Audible and Amazon, but Bruno seamlessly blends fantasy elements into the novel. The story is set on a newly colonized world -- but one already inhabited by intelligent, indigenous lifeforms. The planet has rich mythology that comes to life as the colonists discover the god-like creatures they refer to as Sirens. The Sirens have powers and abilities that defy scientific explanations, and they are tied to the planet as Gaia-like protective deities. With the plot revolving around the supernatural Sirens, the story deviates from most of your typical sci-fi adventures to be something somewhat unique in the building of genres.

I'll admit that I wasn't that impressed with the book before the various plot elements came together and the narrative started to solidly move forward. I was about a quarter into the story before becoming hooked on the building suspense and intriguing mix of sci-fi and fantasy. Besides the unique premise, there was also good dialog and interaction, an interesting cast of characters, and an entertaining plot that was difficult to predict. While the story does come to a resolution at the end, there were also a few loose, unresolved threads that leave a perfect opening for future books in the series.

The narration in the audiobook version is something of a mixed bag. Some parts of Michael Reimer's performance are excellent. For example, his character voices (especially using a synthesized voice for a marine who uses a cybernetic voice box) are very good and, for the most part, distinctly unique. It helps that Bruno describes his characters well, making it easy to attribute accents and speech patterns -- and Reimer replicates these well. However, at the start of the book, Reimer's default narration voice felt flat and monotone and was a bit of a turn-off. The lack of voice inflection was so bothersome that I almost stopped listening after only a few minutes. However, once character dialogue became prominent and character personalities became more evident in POV text, the issue narrowed to become only a rare and minor annoyance.

Special thanks to T. A. Bruno, who provided me with this book at my request.

Amazing sci-fi

With fantasy elements to boot. loved it! Highly recommended to all science fiction/ space opera fans.

Cool new world

There is some really good world building in this book. The history established in this story is well thought out and the planet where the book happens is very interesting. There wide cast of interesting characters and the story is very engaging. The narration is very well done. He gives voices to a lot of different characters.