Crusade

Starfire, Book 1

By: David Weber, Steve White

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Spacers call the warp point Charon's Ferry. No star ship has ever entered it and returned since a vengeful Orion task force pursued a doomed Terran colonization fleet into it in 2206. Almost a century has passed. The fiery hatreds of a quarter-century of warfare between the Terran Federation and the Zheeerlikou'valkhannaieeee, the cat-like species humans called the "Orions", have eased at least a little. The "Grand Alliance" forged by the need to fight side-by-side against the genocidal Rigelians remains, but there are those on either side who continue to hate, continue to distrust. Now the strength of that war-forged alliance is about to be tested. For Charon's Ferry is about to give up the secret of its dead. A ship has emerged from the deadly warp point at last. A ship which responds to the challenge of an Orion star ship using ancient human communications codes...then opens fire. The holocaust of interstellar warfare has been ignited anew, in a bloody crusade to free Holy Mother Terra.

©1992 David Weber & Steve White (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Interesting concept, poor execution!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No I would not, Although the general story was interesting, as were some of the Characters, The overall writing was not very good. During the story it moved along and it was passably enjoyable, however that was more due to the narrator than the writing. He did a fantastic job. The writing itself was devoid of any real description. Ships were described by a class, no visual cues as to the shape, design, or function of any of the items, ships, or characters is present. Its all a vague notion to the story, which jumps over time randomly.

Has Crusade turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I enjoy Sci-Fi and Space Operas, but this book left me very disappointed. It has similar characters, and the same idea as most other David Weber novels, a religion based on a lie violently oppressing other groups, one of the members voices concerns and abdandons it for the rationality of modern man, on and on, the same formula as the third part of "Empire from the Ashes", same as the Foundation series, and others of his books. Boring rehash of the same ideology.

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

A wide range of Accents and Voices that help to cover for the unoriginal writing and bland descriptions.

Did Crusade inspire you to do anything?

To be more careful of what books I purchase, to avoid wasting my time. I tried to give it a fair shot but ended up very disappointed.

Crusade

The action is great however the direction in which story line goes from one character to another and one story line the to a completely different character and another story line was VERY confusing. Sometimes I was lost and confused by the sudden different directions. Overall a good story

Epic story!!

Awesome! I have read all of David Weber's books. He is a master story teller.

new enemy but defeat after defeat after defeat....

Would you try another book from David Weber and Steve White and/or Marc Vietor?

yes, the next book is much better. At least it has hope and victories

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

some hope

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

fast forwarded too much of it, it was depressing me extremely. might try again someday

hard to mfollow

hard to follow characters when they change. Names are difficult. to understand due to performers attempt to change the sound. Very poorly done.

good job

the voices and accents were very good and made the listener appreciate the story a lot more

excellent book.

I enjoyed the book 📖 very much it was a very good book 📖 strength honor glory duty and truth

Slow start but good

It was a slow start lots of fluff but hang in there it’s a good listen

Great characters!!

It was a great story, great characters and the reader was great as well!

The plot was very good.

Traditional David Weber

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of David Weber's space sagas, you'll like this one too.
Mr. Weber has a strong tendency to be overly fond of his written words, and the book could use an edit for size.
It was unnecessarily long in order to encompass the tale that he told.
Despite that, I generally enjoyed it and find this universe to be an interesting one.
Pros: action filled war scenes. and a lot of them.
Cons: The pace was somewhat uneven, and several of the characters were less than fully three-dimensional, or at least not fully likable. Two different things.
And yet I still overall enjoyed it. This is not the book I would start his works with, but if you've already read his works this is not a bad continuance.