Black Ocean: Astral Prime Collection

By: J.S. Morin, M.A. Larkin

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 61 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

A station at the edge of the galaxy is about to become the center of the universe.

Cedric the Brown is a wizard with a dark past. In an effort to make amends, he hides in plain sight among the residents of a space station he once nearly destroyed. Cut adrift by a bankrupt megacorp, the mobile mining station sets off to uncharted space in a desperate attempt to scrape by. 

What they stumbled onto would change the course of the galaxy. 

A planet. 

A lost alien race. 

A secret that will lead to all-out war. 

How will a station filled with scoundrels and crewed by former miners handle being the fulcrum of history? 

Astral Prime is a collection of all 12 Black Ocean missions chronicling the adventures of a mining station on the edge of known space, along with five short stories. This series follows in the traditions of Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 with high-stakes space station intrigue and epic discoveries.

©2018, 2019 J.S. Morin (P)2019 J.S. Morin

Builds the Black Ocean by leaps and bounds

If you've enjoyed the Black Ocean so far, and want more lore and expansion, this is for you. Some familiar characters but not the old crew, and Astral Prime does more to build the Universe. Don't waste your time pining for the old stories. Just enjoy the new characters and the occasional nod to your old friends. This is an epic tale that gets bigger and bigger as you continue.

These books hover around the former mining station--I mean it's named after Astral Prime so duh--but also stretch out across the Black Ocean. This is a way more in-depth jump into all of the different species and alliances. Ever wonder about the different cultures in the Black Ocean?

Once again, if you want the old stories just listen to those again. This is something new that brings more to the Universe.

8 people found this helpful

bleh

The authors did a decent job of creating the conflict and background, but the protagonists and supporting characters just aren't likable. Self centered, functional morons. I found myself wanting them to be red shirted so other characters could take their places. There's a premise that one key character is there based on guilt, but this background was not explained 13 hours into the series (a little more than 1 book) and I just couldn't listen anymore. It's possible I missed it as I often found my mind wandering. But that tells you something in itself. I wanted to like it, I really did. But as when I started listening to Twilight and Bella started droning on about teenage angst, I stopped and found better stories. Naramore has a solid reading voice but the style/tone was like a "Star Ship Troopers" propaganda video. While it worked in the SST movie, it just didn't fit here.

2 people found this helpful

Wonderful story and I loved the narration.

I want more black ocean stories. I enjoyed this series soo much! I wound up binge listening to the entire series.

1 person found this helpful

Meh

This collection isn't terrible. I have listened to nearly the entire volume. I do however feel it is better suited for a YA audience.

1 person found this helpful

Manufactured drama through stupidity

This book is entertaining but falls short on character and plot driven events. The suspense or drama created for each scene is preceded with stupid actions that is contrary to the character's normal intelligence and understanding breaking the immersion and enjoyment of the plot. It is just one stupid action to the next driving the plot forward making it jarring and shallow.

1 person found this helpful

the other collection is MUCH better

this story never gets interesting, the annoying parts just get more intense until eventually I just wanted the galaxy to be eaten by tentacle beasts. this collection is in no way comparable to the other, amazing, stories based in the same universe.

1 person found this helpful

Quit reading reviews and get this series already!

The team of Morin and Naramore hit another one out of the ballpark. If you liked Galaxy Outlaws, you need to listen to this series next. If you haven't, what's wrong with you? The Black Ocean series has quickly become my favorite sci-fi series!!

1 person found this helpful

Much ado about nothing

Long winded
Slow paced
Boring.

Previous books about the pirates were better and more humorous

1 person found this helpful

I am super bummed that it is over!

I really enjoyed all of the missions. Such a treat getting to listen to them all at once and it was a really long listening experience I didn't even realize I was on the last one. Absolutely stunning narration and the story pulls you in so if you miss stuff you will want to rewind but overall just a great sci-fi audiobook experience.

1 person found this helpful

Great listening experience!

For just one credit you get almost 62h of really good audiobook! This was a really great ride too,

Well written, great story arc, lots of interesting characters. Some discussions between characters are absolutely fantastic, also lots of great humor.

A good story, but a lot of offensive language

Astral Prime. A continuation of the Black Ocean Universe. If you enjoyed Galaxy Outlaws, you will probably enjoy this. Many of the characters from Galaxy Outlaws are referred to or make an appearance, so it is a bit like seeing an old friend. While this is a stand alone story, you will get more from it if you listen to Galaxy Outlaws first.

There, for me, are only two problems with it. The first, and most off-putting for me, is the amount of offensive language, whether that is swearing or blasphemy. If you live in a world where this language is common place, then it will not be an issue, For me personally, it is jarring and unpleasant and unfortunately frequent.

The second is the author's over-use of the word "parse" or "parsing". It is a silly thing, but it comes up so frequently that I could not help but wonder if the author was playing a game with himself to see how often he could fit it in.

The story is basically well-told light sci-fi fare. It is not quite as "Firefly" as Galaxy Outlaws but is still close enough to say that if you like Firefly, chances are that you will enjoy these tales. Cross Firefly with Star Trek TNG and you will get a rough idea of what to expect. With dragons. And Magic. And swearing.

The characters are well drawn and rounded.

The narration is excellent.

Although I like the stories and the characters and the worlds in which they inhabit, I will not be listening to any more of this author's work. The swearing is too much for me - so much that despite my enjoyment of everything else, I regret starting the voyage.

1 person found this helpful

you might like it

Harry Potter meets Kirk. this book was not for me,but if you like dragons and space this book is for you

1 person found this helpful

ok till end of book4

spoilers
i'm struggling a bit with this one, everything was great right up till the end of book 4, where the essence of an alien trapped in a mages mind inprisoned for 100's of years suddenly and inexplicably escapes, with no explanation of how and without the mages notice, I was like...wtf?
then on to book 4.5 where a self righteous ex girlfriend (mage) turns up and ridicules Cedrick for not being a better man and then leaves, pointless and more than a little irritating.
then on to book 5 where said alien essence magically appears in the mind of the worst human in this universe without letting us know how or where it happens and tells him he is going to make him a gazillionaire, so what does he do with this info? he goes back and tries to have the director of the tin pot oar mining station killed?? why? he has all the info of alien tech in his head he can go anywhere and sell it to the highest bidder!
there are a 100 different ways this could have gone from the end of book 4 and most of them would have been better than this, with 40 hours left to go I really don't want to waste the credit, but I'm really struggling to keep listening.

Excellent

A vast and seamless story, in depth loom at lots of the races of the Black ocean. Great well round diverse characters including lots of camoes from previous Black ocean series. Brilliantly narrated. Highly recommended.