Cadicle

By: Amy DuBoff

Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg

Length: 19 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

A character-driven space opera with adventure, intrigue, and romance for fans of Dune, Ender's Game, and Star Wars!

When Cris Sietinen leaves Tararia as a teenager to learn more about his prohibited telekinetic abilities, he thinks he's started a new life. Years later, he learns that freedom was always an illusion--he and his family are at the center of an elaborate galactic conspiracy orchestrated by the governing Priesthood.

Genetic engineering, political manipulation, and preordained destinies converge when Cris and his son Wil learn of a secret interdimensional war against the mysterious Bakzen. But the real enemy may be far closer to home. With knowledge of the Priesthood's hidden agenda and its disastrous political ramifications for the Taran empire, Cris and Wil embark on a mission to save their civilization from certain destruction.

This collection includes the first three volumes of the Cadicle series.

ARCHITECTS OF DESTINY
Cris Sietinen was born with rare telekinetic gifts--abilities outlawed by the governing Priesthood. A new future awaits when Cris receives an invitation to join the TSS and begin their sanctioned telekinesis training program. Except, following that path puts him at the center of a generations-old galactic conspiracy.

VEIL OF REALITY
The greatest deceptions are never suspected. After twenty years with the TSS, Cris Sietinen is in the unprecedented position of being both Lead Agent and heir to a High Dynasty. When his son is captured by the mysterious alien Bakzen, Cris uncovers a hidden truth that forces him to question all that he once took for granted.

BONDS OF RESOLVE
A year after his encounter with the Bakzen, Wil is still grappling with his upcoming role in the war. However, Wil finds unexpected support when he befriends a new TSS trainee from Earth, Saera. Through their budding relationship, Wil comes to terms with the purpose he was born to fulfill and gains comfort in the knowledge that he won't have to face the future alone.

©2016 Amy DuBoff (P)2017 Podium Publishing

I enjoyed it. Great character development, good storyline with some interesting locations.

Looking forward to see what our hero does. Especially liked the idea of a shared bond between true loves. The next book could be really good also.

7 people found this helpful

Need More

I have the books on Kindle. I know have the Cadicle series. NOW I am waiting on what happens. Hurry Amy I need my mind-space-crack!

This story is easy to follow and opens your mind to possibilities. Also if anyone knows the "Ringing moon" Theory will love how she uses it!

3 people found this helpful

childish

Story is pretty juvenile and horribly predictable. Might be a good read for pre-teens except for the foul language.

2 people found this helpful

Takes inspiration from Dune, but far from inspired

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I think it was written for a younger audience in mind. But if it were a little more mature and didn't read like a Teen-mag fan-fic about the new hot boy in class.

Would you ever listen to anything by Amy DuBoff again?

Not likely, and I again, I feel that it was meant for a younger audience.

What does Josh Bloomberg bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Um.. the words. There is no way that I would have read this. I am at work and nothing else to listen to... sure, I will listen this awkward collection of teen angst

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Oh, a lot of disappointment.

Any additional comments?

If you are over 14 DO NOT TOUCH

5 people found this helpful

Childish

My fault for not researching farther, but this seems to be written for a child. Conflicts are resolved in unrealistically simple ways. No depth to character development. Author seems to have no concept of a fight. Narrator seems to have trouble reading.

3 people found this helpful

Not a space opera, should classified young adult

This is not a space opera at least not in the same class as say John Campbell. Other than being written in the future where space travel is possible it's not even science fiction. Character development is limited to describing young teens with huge amounts of self doubt.

Clearly written as three smaller novels the pasted together the plot is simple the story line jobs across time every time the author gets stuck on how to move the story forward.

Cannot recommend.

3 people found this helpful

I really tried to finish, but couldn't...

What would have made Cadicle better?

Stop the angst and introspection. At first I thought it was just the reader projecting so much indecision and angst. In the end, I realized it was partly the reader but mostly the author.

What was most disappointing about Amy DuBoff’s story?

It's meant for teen to pre-teen, but marketed otherwise.

How could the performance have been better?

Every voice seems like they are worried about everything. "Do you want butter on your pancakes?" is delivered as if someone is offering to cut off an appendage.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Cadicle?

At least 50% of the volume. I listened to it at 2.5x speed and was still bored silly by swaths of negative introspection that went nowhere.

Any additional comments?

The characters are all babies. Grow up the entire lot of them, even the old folks. People, and I would hope even more so people in the future, are not this frail, fragile, and full of self doubt.

Please also analyze the time frames - they are incredibly wacky. The author takes liberty to jump decades, but considers 18 hours of captivity "literally forever".

Every topic builds to a climax that never, not even once, happens.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

200 pages of build-up to:

Problem:
X has been taken by a race that is superior to us in every way (vaguely described how and why) and is in a secure facility that we have never, not once in hundreds of years, even got close to.

Resolution:
"Ok, I'm his dad so I'll go get him with zero planning, one ship, and no idea of how I will get back. Oh, they ended up being sixth-grade stupid and have a lot of infighting. I retrieved him from the other side of the galaxy and got out all within 48 hours using using broken technology with the massively superior enemy actually knowing I'm coming and having already set a trap."

Resolution pages: 5

It's surreal to explain. "We got him, he so stressed at having been away from mommy and daddy for just over 24 hours. We have to really baby him and treat him like an infant in a diaper." Did I mention that this s the most powerful person ever to have live that we are talking about?

It took two volumes to lead up to the main character even existing. After all that wait you'd really want to slap the dude in the face as a wake-up call. There is nothing likable, respectable, or even vaguely interesting about him.

Ok, now I'm upset I even made it through two volumes...

3 people found this helpful

A Fun Read

This was a fun story. That's why we read a novel, isn't it? I enjoyed it. The characters were likeable and didn't do stupid things that nobody in real life would do. This is no Dune, Enders Game or Battlefield Earth, but it was enjoyable. Knowing what I know now about the book, I'd buy it again.

1 person found this helpful

Shallow and Boring

5 hours in and I still don't have anything but a very shallow idea what the characters look like; how the world of the book is structured politically, socially, etc. Interesting ideas are presented and then...dropped. We are told just about everything instead of being shown anything. The first five hours are basically the conversations with oneself or others between action. There have been no action sequences yet, or any tension building. We know there's a big secret but the characters don't have any way to show us how they start becoming suspicious- well, except the narrator says they are suspicious. The main character starts off 16 years old but reads like a younger boy. 20 years later, he still acts and thinks like a young boy.

If a good editor had really pushed the writer for a substantial re-write, this could have been a great story. It's a great idea. Just not executed fully.

3 people found this helpful

Psychic War between Humanity and a sub race

Architects of Destiny - Part 1
Cris Sietinen is a young man who is heir to the Tararia High Dynasty, one of the ruling Dynasties that control the galaxy, along with a rather secretive organisation called the Priesthood. To speak out against the Priesthood is basically a death sentence.
Cris does not want to be heir though, he wants to live his own life, and part of that life includes exploring the telekinetic abilities that he has, but is not allowed to understand due to the Priesthood, which strictly forbids them. He has been able to develop some simple Telepathy, but this is it. He knows that he can do more.
There is an organisation, the Tararian Selective Services or TSS that could help him, but Cris isn’t sure this is the correct path either. His older brother was killed before he was born, and his parents have never gotten over it, Cris was basically conceived as a substitute Heir to the Dynasty, not because his parents wanted him, and his Father just sees him as a tool for the future, and his Mother has no love or interest, still lost in her grief.
As such, Cris runs away from the Dynasty grounds, and fortunately for him, stumbles across a Freighter Captain who happens to need a Navigator. Cris’s family business is Navigation, so he has been trained from a young age in Navigating the stars, as well as the Navigation Systems, as this is what they make and sell to amass their fortune.
DuBoff gives us a fascinating look into both the galaxy she has created, as well as the character of Cris during this period, and we get to see a bit of the Character of Tom, who is a fun minor character.
Eventually though, Cris’ past catches up with him, and the TSS come for him, and he decides to join their ranks.
Again, this part of the story is descriptive, a ‘coming of age’ part of the story, in which we not only get to learn more about Cris, the power that he contains and the possible future that he has, but we also start to see the background of this story unfolding before us. Architects is almost a backstory to the main story of Cadicle, and it is clear in these early stages of the story, why this is the case, as again, DuBoff takes the time to not only give us background into the characters of Cris, and eventually a woman he meets, Kate Vaenetri, but it allows DuBoff to also fill in various back story for the future, and do some impressive world building in the Cadicle Universe.
She has created an amazing universe full of brilliant characters, an in-depth hierarchical political system, with multiple facets, and set the scene with numerous plot lines that are teased out in this first book.
One of the really clever bits of writing, something that is a good hook for Sci-Fi fans, is not only the shadowy organisation of the TSS, but the entire concept of the psychic powers in this Universe. The actual powers they can use, the levels, how they are measured etc. There are hints at what all of this is, and it is obvious that Cris is one of the most powerful to have ever been born, but we also learn that there will be another.
Overall, this is a clever, creative, fascinating story, with exceptional character work, that makes for not only a fun and enjoyable read, but it is utterly enthralling, once you start, you find you can’t put it down.
There are a lot of different elements to this story, and any Sci-fi fans will love this story, I suggest if you love a good Sci-Fi read, just jump in, it is well worth it!!

Veil of Reality - Part 2
In the 2nd Chapter of this Epic Space Opera, we have moved several years into the future, Cris and Kate are now full Agents of the TSS, and are 2nd in command only to Commander Jason Banks, who leads the TSS.
They also have a son, Wil Sietinen (or Wil Sights, following in his father’s footsteps), who is approx. 14.
Wil has been born and raised on the TSS Base, and as such, is not only the youngest Junior Agent ever, he is also one of the smartest kids ever to, with knowledge and understanding of Jump Drive technology and Navigation, that surpasses anybody else in the TSS, possibly the Galaxy. There is an ongoing problem to solve about the independent Jump Drive that has been an unsolvable problem for decades, and as a subproject for each of the Junior Agents to have a go at to see if they are able to beat it. Wil of course, is the lead at this even without being a Junior Agent.
This story follows the life of Wil as he grows up in the confines of the TSS, and we learn about not just the incredible abilities he has, psychic, academic and physical, but also strategic and tactical. This is rather a sad story in some aspects however, as we see a young boy growing up in a life in which his destiny has been totally mapped out for him, and what is worse, Wil is so intelligent, that he is able to understand this as well.
It is not long before his enemies come to realise the threat he poses as well, and whilst the Priesthood are happy with the possibilities that Wil presents, there is another faction, something far more deadly that no one really knows of, an alien race known as the Bakzen, who also understand the potential of Wil.
This is our first real look at both the Bakzen race, and (without trying to give away spoilers), a potential threat that has been lurking in the shadows for centuries that the TSS has not really known about.
It is this fear of Wil that drives the Bakzen, under the command of General Carzen and Tek another Bakzen Military Commander, to capture and take Wil hostage. The Bakzen see Wil as the Primus Elite, one of the most important figures in the Galaxy, and thus by capturing him they will have taken the advantage from the TSS.
This leads to a rescue mission of course, led by none other than Cris.
Meanwhile, a traitor has also been discovered at TSS headquarters, and Kate must use all her abilities and powers to try and locate who this is, are they working alone, why they did it, and what they plan to do next?
The first book was an introduction to the Sietinen Dynasty, covering 2 generations, Cris Sietinen and his Father, before introducing us to the Tararian Selective Service, (the TSS) and DuBoff also spent a lot of time creating an in-depth, politically intriguing, and extraordinary Universe.
In this second story, we have been provided the tale of Wil, the son of Cris and Kate, thus the Sietinen Heir, but he is also highly intelligent, and incredibly gifted, and, according to everything, he is the Cadicle or Primus Elite, the one that will end the long standing war between this mysterious race known as the Bakzen and Humanity.
This is a brilliant story, with political scheming and plotting, battles in multiple forums (including the psychic, which is one of the really great parts of this story), psychic abilities being used, it has it all.
There is still great character development in this book, as we learn so much about Wil as well as more about Cris and Kate and Banks.
Veil of Reality is a brilliant sequel in this series which is going to be an epic series. I am already half way through book 3 as I write this review (it’s awesome!), and I have bought the rest of the series as it is just sensational.
Get on board now, as there are new books coming!!

Bonds of Resolve - Part 3
Part 3 sees the introduction of Saera Alexander, a young woman from Earth, who is a new recruit at the TSS, and on her first day makes an incredible impact on Wil as they cross paths. As they see each other for the first time, there is a shockwave in the resonance surrounding them that leaves them both reeling from the strength, and totally enthralled with each other.
Bonds of Resolve has multiple story lines, each that are rather fascinating, and it is easy to see that DuBoff is a master storyteller, building not just a strong story, but taking time to develop her characters and to create a strong universe for the story to play out in.
The story follows Saera’s time at the TSS, and Saera quickly becomes a Main Character, as we get introduced to her, and learn about her background from Earth, her abilities, as well as some strong character development of not just her, but the other candidates that she trains with. DuBoff also takes the time to create more of the Universe, using Saera to provide a fascinating history of Earth and how it fits into this Universe.
DuBoff has taken a lot of time to craft this this exceptional story, with its individual locations, outstanding characters, and this strangely familiar, and yet utterly hostile alien race that is hell bent on the destruction of all of Humanity.
Even within this race, there are different facets of political intrigue, giving the story a different aspect again.
One of the really fascinating features of this story is the psychic abilities of the characters, from the simple ‘Telepathy’, to ‘Telekinetic’ skills, and the full range of skills that Wil is trying to develop in the Bakzen war.
A lot of the development of Wil’s character, and the other trainee’s, reminds me so much of the Galaxy Primes series written by E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith, and the Golden Age of Sci-Fi, with the compelling, in-depth storylines, and the stunning world building, including the powerful Psychic abilities.
Part 3 also sees Wil training towards Simultaneous Observation, the one ability that will allow him to see the Bakzen ships in real space, in the rift, and in subspace, thus allowing him to respond before they arrive, or possibly, if they can develop the right tech, attack them during transit. It will single-handedly turn the tide of the war. But at what cost?
Because at the end of the day, they are talking about killing an entire sentient species?
And as Wil undergoes his training, he must pass a further test, one in which he must meet and pass a test of the Aesir, the race of humans, that ascended thousands of years ago.
Bonds of Resolve is a fascinating story, with some brilliant new characters, but it also raises (without giving away spoilers), some very interesting, and possibly terrifying new questions for Wil to answer.
DuBoff is just a genius at writing a purely spectacular series, one that is totally captivating that you can’t put down, as you are drawn to the extraordinary characters that she has created, as well as this engaging and enthralling universe she has developed to tell a story that the masters of old would be captivated by.
If you haven’t yet jumped into the Fractured Empire series, now is the time to do it, as DuBoff is introducing new stories to the series, and this is one series you just have to read!!

The Narration by Joshua Bloomberg is brilliant. He speaks with such a wonderful clear voice, he is so easy to understand, with good pronunciation of words. The Narrator does great character voices, both male and female, he creates a really great dynamic between the male and female characters, giving them very distinctive voices so you can easily recognise which character is speaking, allowing you to just enjoy the story, without having to constantly struggle to try and work out which character is speaking. Bloomberg also brings a lot of emotion to his characters so you can clearly understand what is going on with the story, if the characters are unhappy, joyful, excited, distressed.
One aspect that Bloomberg did really well with this story is that there is a lot of inner monologue from the Main Character, and he provided a slightly different tone between the Main Characters speaking voice, and Monologue voice, it was very clever, and for us listening, it allowed us to know when he was thinking and when he was speaking, it was exceptional Narration.
Bloomberg is outstanding, I will be adding him to my ‘Must Listen To’ List of Narrators