Bill Baldwin's The Helmsman

By: Bill Baldwin

Narrated by: Steve Cumming, full cast

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the few survivors of a League sneak attack on his poor and miserable homeworld of Carescria, Wilf Brim sets out to settle the score. Were it not for the attrition from the war that followed, Wilf would never have escaped his lower-class status and been accepted into the Academy. Now, freshly graduated, young Sublieutenant Wilf Ansor Brim, Imperial Fleet, begins his first assignment, Helmsman of the I.F.S. Truculent.

Intended for mature audiences.

(P)Timberwolf Press

The Helmsman

Having read the earlier edition of this book several times over the years, I approached this with excitement and trepidation. Excitement at having an old friend taken in new directions by the author's rewrite and an audio version. Concern that the audio production would leave a bad taste in my mouth diminishing the enjoyment I have received from the written version.

However, with the exception of a few southwestern twangs, which might be entirely realistic for all that I know, I found the audio version a faithful and enjoyable visit to the universe of Wilf Brim. Voices served to convey the individual characters and the narration was smooth and fluent. Background sounds were a little overblown at times, but rarely enough to not dimish the overall experience.

Looking forward to future voyages.

Bill Baldwin

A fantastic book. This was my first glimpse into the world of Wilf Brim, but it will not be the last. This was the first audio with a "full cast" of different characters that I truly enjoyed. My only difficulty with the audio was the occasionally overenthusiastic sound track in the background. I can't wait for more of the series to come out.

Bill Baldwin's The Helmsman *Unabridged'

The author's writing is painfully sophomoric. This is a dramatization read by a full cast that includes amateur actors, adding to the pain. Except for an embarrassing romantic subplot that includes bad poetry and a few four-letter words it is my strong impression that this is a children's book unfit for anyone over the age of 14. The plot is vague and meandering and the poorly developed two-dimensional characters are not memorable, making this book difficult to follow. I love audio books. I've read at least 50 and I've really enjoyed at least 40, but not this one. This may be the worst I've read. Buying this one was a mistake.

Not worth the time

The Helmsman is at best an amateur effort at best. Kids might enjoy it although it does have a few scenes that parents might not want their kids to hear. The dialogue is laughably bad much of the time and the voice acting in this dramatization is utterly horrible and hamfisted. The narrator for the non-dialogue parts does a fine job however but that does little to save the audiobook. I'd definitely recommend passing this one by.

The Helmsman

One of the best Audible books I have listened to so far. Wilf Brim takes you on an epic journey through space of war,high adventure,romance and a fascinating look at what the distant future may be. This book totally captured me in every way, Timberfwolf did a really great job with the sound effects and cast.

I've listened to the whole book twice in as many weeks and look forward to listening again soon.(Very unusal for me!) I very much hope and look forward to another Wilf A Brim space adventure - with his strange dichotomy of friends and their passion for "Logged Neeme"

Fun, Fun, Fun

The reason we listen to these books is to be entertained, taken to another place, or to help get thru boring tasks. If u like Sci-fi you should like this book. My only complaint is that Audible only has the first two books, ugh!

Whats with the units of measure?

I really enjoyed the story and characters. But whats with the new names for measurments and time.. Why bother? I found it distracting.. Also think I would have prefered a regular reading rather than the dramitization style of this... I sometimes found it hard to hear what was going on, and the sound effects in the background didnt really add to the story.. Those complaints aside I really enjoyed the book.

Couldn't finish it

I satarted out thinking, "OK, its unbelievable but enjoy a chilish adventure. The dialogue was so painfully hokey, I couldn?t finish it. The dramatic reading and sound effects were cool but I just couldn't take the bad dialogue anymore. The romance sounds like it was the fantasy of a prepubescent

So bad it's good

I really enjoyed the book as light, escapist listening. This is by no means great literature. The descriptions are overdone, the dialog stilted and cliche-riddled. The sex scenes are puerile. Nevertheless it really is a lot of fun--like a B-movie space opera.

Yummy!!

Can you say YUMMY, GREAT, WONDERFUL... did I say great? This book was wonderful, entertaining, and totally enjoyable. Think of a mixture of "Starship Trouper" , a little light romance not quite unrequited love, as the low-ling does get a break with the princess. I listened to the book nearly nonstop.

first class story line

this is one of the best stories I have encountered and I hope to see the rest of the series on Audio Book Soon?

Space Opera with attitude and heart?

This, together with its sequel "Galactic Convoy" is true, blue, space opera in the style of the master; E.E. Doc Smith. Our hero finds himself in numerous cliff-hanger situations that he escapes by the skin of his teeth! Then manages to become involved with 'Galactic Royalty', in the form of a Princess, no less! Really enjoyable stuff.

a good boys own.

not a bad story but a little sloppy in the love scenes . met about the drewbwould be beþer.

helmsman

this was an excellent read and a totally unputdownable. I will now start on the book 2.