Contact

A New World, Book 1

De: M.D. Neu

Narrado por: Steve Connor

A little blue world, the third planet from the sun. It’s home to seven billion people—with all manner of faiths, beliefs, and customs, divided by bigotry and misunderstanding—who will soon be told they are not alone in the universe. Anyone watching from the outside would pass by this fractured and tumultuous world, unless they had no other choice. Todd Landon is one of these people, living and working in a section of the world called the United States of America. His life is similar to those around him: home, family, work, friends, and a husband.

On the cusp of the greatest announcement humankind has ever witnessed, Todd’s personal world is thrown into turmoil when his estranged brother shows up on his front porch with news of ships heading for Earth’s orbit. The ships are holding the Nentraee, a humanoid race who have come to Earth in need of help after fleeing the destruction of their homeworld. How will one man bridge the gap for both the Humans and Nentraee, amongst mistrust, terrorist attacks, and personal loss? Will this be the start of a new age of man or will bigotry and miscommunication bring this small world to its knees and final end?

©2019 M. D. Neu (P)2022 M.D. Neu

Enjoyable if the book fits what you want

Full disclosure - I received a free copy of both this book and its sequel in order to write a review. This review covers both this book and its sequel.

This book and its sequel cover the politics surrounding first contact between an alien species of refugees seeking to settle on Earth and our governments. It's an interesting premise. But it progresses glacially slowly.

Wade into the wonderful world of an alien species speaking awkward English which slowly gets better over 18 hours of content. Enjoy occasional action-filled interludes as the main character, who is apparently a psychology graduate who works at a tech company, gets recruited because of his heroic actions in saving alien dignitaries from terrorist attack into a position within their government.

It's fine. Like, there's probably too much talking. Just hours and hours of talking around, politicking, explaining cultures to one another, people being polite and politic.

But God, the characters are *dumb.* Reveals which are absolute shocks to them are blindingly obvious to the average reader with the knowledge those characters had at the time. The solutions they present to problems are simplistic and sub-optimal, like the serious suggestion that these aliens build a floating city somewhere rather than giving them habitable and uninhabited or minimally inhabited islands in places like the US Alaskan Coast, the islands to the North of Antarctica, the various sizable uninhabited islands of Oceania, etc. No suggestions of building embassies - which would be fascinating in and of itself, and the story just doesn't progress quickly.

But if you want people talking about cultures with each other, then this book may be for you. It isn't dull. It's entertaining in places. I just think you can do better.

One other note - at one point in the second book, the main character falls in love with an alien man and the book morphs into a gay romance novel. That's not my cup of tea, but I didn't really have anything against it. I did, however, find the ~2 hours of content describing their courtship as a lot excessive in a science fiction novel. But if that might be up your alley, their budding romance appears to be sweet and wholesome, so knock yourself out. Me, I did not need to hear about "his body responding," aka him getting an erection, on multiple occasions. My feedback for the author is to incorporate everything which made that romance sweet, but shorten it. There's plenty of authors who do this well - take Expeditionary Force, where there's a long running romance between the main character and one of his subordinates that is hinted to and shown in small bits throughout the series, and when finally consummated, is woven into the story so it isn't discordant, and is never explicit.

Steve Connor, the narrator, did an acceptable job. I have some gripes, but he didn't read in a monotone. I do wish that he would have used a less calm/soothing voice for the main character's words and his general narration, because it did sound somewhat like he was reading a book to a child. I would also have loved to see a little more variation in how different characters sounded, as most of them (including practically all the aliens except for a disgruntled security officer) sounded basically the same. But he did make an effort on some of the characters.

Altogether, this book has an interesting concept, but it is held back by a short length per novel (I think a credit is worth 15 hours of book, not 7.5 and then 11), a meandering story which sometimes lacks focus, and a discordant overfocus on romance. However, for the right person, it would be absolutely worth a purchase and listen.

3 stars for the book, 4 stars for the narration.

Good

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. That said, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I gave it a go. Some of the characters were a bit over the top but not in an off-putting way. Interesting story.

great story on the politics of first contact

The story focuses on the social and political hurdles that human race must overcome when a species similar enough to our own makes first contact. It isn't bogged down by pseudo scientific explanations of alien technology, instead develops a world of culture to be weighed against our own. I enjoyed it start to finish. Steve Conner's narrative voice has a somewhat robotic cadence, but he did a wonderful job when speaking with different distinct character voices.

An alien species alters the future of humanity

Received as a free audio copy from the narrator, Steve Connor to review, this is and honest review. This thought provoking story surrounding the alien race called the Nentraee, whom have lost their planet they once called home and are in a desperate search for a world to settle and their fleet of ships won't survive forever. Humanity has always wanted to not be alone in the vast universe, they just didn't expect an enigmatic species to show up on their doorstep. It brings about a unique situation as both humans Nentraee find a path forward that both species can benefit from the shocking revelation. For Todd Landon, his average life of marriage, work and friends is altered with the arrival of the Nentaree as he becomes embroiled in a web of politics and a complex alien culture he doesn't fully understand and her could never imagine he would lose his husband and friends Jerry in and attack committed in fear, forcing Todd to look at his future in a new way. And gaining a new and poignant meaning in his friends and family. A beautifully written series beginning inhabited with memorable characters, highly recommended.

Unique

This story of an Alien race arriving to Earth asking to be a part of the 'people' has a very unique twist or two. I loved the descriptions of the Nentreaee, their physicality, their unique ways of showing their discomfort, embarrassment, and anger, and their singsong language. I found it interesting that this book was more about the social and political difficulties, rather than how much more developed their technology was than the human race, although that was made more than evident. The gay romance of this story was sweet and interesting. This story kept me interested enough that I am glad that I have the 2nd book, "Conviction", as well, and won't have to wait.
I listened to the audio book version of this book and found that, in the beginning Steve Conner had a bit of a stilted cadence. I almost wondered if I was going to make it through the book...but am so glad that I stuck it out. Steve Conner got much better, more comfortable with the dialogue/narration and did an excellent job with the characters and their voices.
All in all, I recommend this audiobook and will be reviewing the 2nd soon.

Good story decent narration

The story was fun to listen to, characters a little over the top. The narration seemed robotic at times, but it was a quality listen. I was gifted the book for free in return for a honest review.

Alien!

Not what I was expecting but very well narrated and a great story. I will be anticipating book two!

Entertaining

Contact
Read and thoroughly enjoyed. A different take on the first contact genre. I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and happily leave my honest review.

Interesting

I really enjoyed listening to this story. Narrator does a great job with the characters. Characters are likeable and the storyline is interesting and captivating.