The Encounter

Andromeda, Book 1

By: Brandon Q. Morris

Narrated by: Joel Richards

A planet in the endless emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any sun.

And yet there are people who populate its vast caverns, living, working and loving. Since time immemorial, they have been on course for Andromeda, the neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the prophecy of the ancients, the one goal that unites them all, their cult.

But then the unthinkable happens: the journey stops because the planet enters the orbit of a mysterious object that can't be seen in any telescope. Scientists doubt its very existence, though they can't give any other explanation as to why the journey to Andromeda has come to an end.

And then the messages start.

©2022 Brandon Q. Morris (P)2022 Podium Audio

Good, but dangerously close to space opera

I quite like the book. Morris is always reliable with science - that's why I like him despite some shortcomings.

Generally, I feel that the author is maturing - particularly in terms of dealing with characters. Early books, the Icy Moon series, offered a lot, but the characters were awful, straight from young adult literature. Andromeda feels OK, though placing a plot in distant future - thousands of years in the future - always threatens to border with fantasy. No worries, here you have your distant descendants to use keyboards and screens, calling with a watch or using a methanol combustion engines.

Beware, the end is irritating. The last chapter is just a prologue to the Book 2 of the series and will keep you hanging off the cliff.

Narrator reads with an unnatural and affected gravelly voice.

Narrator is obviously talented, but chose to read with a deep, gravelly voice which doesn’t sound natural, like he’s channeling Christian Bale’s Batman. The more I listen the more annoyed with the reading I become. I’m going to try to finish the book so that I can properly rate the story, but the voice really gets in the way.

Where's the Editor?

I love the idea and the imagination, but goodness the writing is wooden and almost patronizing.

Not so good 😢

Narration was bad (in my opinion) suffered through the whole book. By hour 4 I was wishing it was over. Great book to fall asleep 💤 to.

Odd and wandered

Sorry, but gave up early. Story drags and I didn't see the point of finishing it.