Colony One

The Elderon Chronicles, Book 1

De: Tarah Benner

Narrado por: Jacqueline DeGraff

Maggie Barnes is at the end of her rope. She’s young and broke living in New York, and her newspaper job has been taken by robots. When she’s offered a job aboard the first civilian space colony, Maggie thinks it’s her lucky break.

For Jonah Wyatt, the Space Force is his last shot at a military career. After years of tracking down the members of a deadly cyberterrorism ring, he was discharged from the army and stuck working one menial job after another. Now this disgraced combat specialist is headed to space.

At first glance, Elderon seems to be a futuristic utopia: Bots do the laundry, meat comes from a lab, and the latest technology expands the scope of human capability. But as Maggie digs deeper, she realizes that Elderon is not at all what it seems. When she receives a tip from an unknown source, she’ll go undercover to learn the truth and place herself in the crosshairs of an all-out war.

©2018 Tarah Benner (P)2020 Tarah Benner

Tarah Benner Never Disappoints

If you’re a fan of dystopian novels, this is for you. I loved The Fringe and Lawless series so when I saw Tarah Benner released a new audible novel I had to buy it. I listened to the whole book in less than 24 hours!
I’ll be honest... the narrator isn’t my favorite but you get used to her after a couple of chapters.

Loved it!

I learned about this book from a dystopian/apocalyptic group I am in. I was excited to give it a try. I can say that I didn't love it during the first 2 chapters. However, it quickly sucked me in and I couldn't stop listening. I wanted to know more and more about the characters. It is such a great story and I can't wait to listen to the next book! I'm hooked!!

instantly started book 2

kept my interest the entire time with no slow points.
I'm looking forward to seeing what's next

just so so.

I struggled to finish this book. Even though the narration was good, it took way too long for the story to develop. Maggie/Magnolia was a royal PIA and I got really tired of her dramatics. Jonah was, well he just was. All the characters seemed to not fully develop during the story.

This is one series I won't follow and am sad I spent a credit for it.

So amazing!

Loved this so much! Cannot wait to read more! This is like my favorite genre and the author nailed it!!! Glued from the beginning to end !!

Awesome!

Fantastic from start to finish. very gripping story that sucks you in. The ending was a perfect hook to get you into the next in the series. Fantastic narrator! Can't wait to start book 2.

good story and a new really enjoyed authors notes

the author did a tremondous amount of research which she explains at the end. love that piece. Narrator is good .

A slow first half, but picks up!

So I have already read this series and won a copy of the audio book. I was excited by this as this is the only way I will 're-read' a series these days. There are so many awesome books out there, I am never satiated.
When I first read BOOK ONE I was not overly excited by it, as I had been pulled in faster with some of Tarah Benner's other series (apoc), and this first book seemed really slow and didn't stand out too much. It was a little better listening to it, either my expectations were too high the first read through, or the audible variation is slightly more captivating.
What brings down my review a bit was that there were a couple of things that don't seem hugely plausible (like a specific infiltration, without saying too much), and although there were some explanations, it still felt a little stretched. But OK, once you get over that and get half way through the book, then the story really gets exciting with a series of confrontations and plenty of action. The twists are intriguing enough to make you read the following books, and I am glad that I did, and although it might not be my favorite series of Tarah's, it is still very entertaining and very eye-opening to the world that we live in now. The author's note at the end of the book is very interesting!
The narrator I was not overly keen with, there are bits to how she reads the narration parts that were a little lilting and unnatural (although you can get past it). But she does manage to give each character a defining voice, which was pretty good. I hope that the narration sections improves in the following books.

Space Odyssey Extraordinaire

This is a creative new standout entry in the space novel genre. The cover does an excellent job of showing the titular space colony though I was pleased to find the story is more personable than the cover suggests. The plot and pacing are both exciting and quick. The world building is a fascinating creative build of plausible, near future science that shows its depth when you read the Author's notes as she walks the reader through the real life touchstones used in her process. Characterization is well done, though I hope to see more relationship development and depth in Book 2 . This book felt like those exciting depths were just skimmed. The dialogue is solid with no false tones or super annoying characters. So, if you like your space novels with lots of twists, with quirky characters and solid world building, which a lot of super fun space robots and tech nerds, this will be a great series.

I love the detailed research section that Tarah Benner Lots of fascinating detail in those pages, While the book is fiction these events could just as well be unfolding in the not too distant real future. Adds depth and fun to an already rich smorgasbord of events that would translate without a doubt into an amazing TV series.

I cannot end this review without a comment on the narration by Jacqueline DeGraff that is absolute perfection, elevating the story to new heights both for male and female characters,. So for me it is onward and upward to Book 2. Or will it be downwards back to earth for our MC's - I can't wait to find out.

Not a great narrator

I am nearing the end of this audiobook but it hasn't been a very good read to get here. I will finish it but I won't be buying anymore in this series. The story and plot took a while to get going. How the main protagonist does her investigation stretches credulity a bit. The narrator, to my ears, was awful with very little to differentiate who was speaking.