Danger's Halo

Holly Danger, Book 1

By: Amanda Carlson

Narrated by: Emma Wilder

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

One hundred and fifty-three years in the future, Earth doesn't look much like it used to.

Holly Danger's current assignment, gleaned from a set of foggy instructions and a handful of coin stuffed into a slot, is to pick up a street kid who's about to terminate himself off a cliff. And, as a rule, she doesn't turn down currency. Her job as a salvager keeps her fed and clothed above the norm, which isn't saying much.

The norm in this city is a scrape-by existence in a post-apocalyptic world, where the rain never stops, food is always scarce, and the elite have deserted the ranks in search of something better. Picking up this urchin won't take much time, even if he's located outside city limits. Her craft is fast, her weapons deadly, and her tech has been optimized as well as it can be for a climate clogged with iron dust.

But things take a big turn when she decides to become the boy's guardian instead of hand him over. Outskirts have descended on the city, and their plans don't include playing nice. When her crew is backed against a graphene wall, it's a good thing her Gem is primed and ready to go. It's almost as deadly as she is....

©2017 Amanda Carlson, Inc. (P)2017 Amanda Carlson, Inc.

Takes a while to get into.

Years after the world was nearly destroyed, humanity is still trying to rebuild. A lot of technology was forgot or can't be fixed or replaced, though there are those who try!! Holly is a salvager of sorts, but her current job is to find street kid who’s about to jump off a cliff. She usually doesn't do jobs like this, but money is money. When she finds the boy, for some reason, she finds herself agreeing to look after him for a year. Seems easy, but things aren't as they seem and life for Holly is about to get a lot harder.

I'm a fan of this authors other work, and eagerly dived into this. It's definitely different than her other series and took a little while to actually get into. I know the first books in a series you always have quite a bit of world building to do, but with this one, I just found it a little bogged down with unnecessary descriptions. Plus we never really got a full understanding of what happened to the world. I think I needed to understand what exactly happened, in order for me to truly enjoy the world now.

I really liked Holly. She was kick ass and well able to handle herself. She is smart, sassy and kind. I loved seeing what she was capable of but she was also willing to ask for help when she needed. The other characters were well written and I liked them all.

This was a good start to the series and I'm interested and intrigued enough to continue with the rest of the books. Once I got into it, it was decently paced and held my attention till the end.

Emma Wilder was only ok. I actually don't think she's a good fit for Holly. She didn't have the inflections to really make this work. I felt like she read the story but didn't perform. For a character like Holly, you need someone who will capture her perfectly and Emma Wilder just didn't do it. I wanted a little more.... ooomph from her, a little more excitement etc.

I was voluntarily provided this audiobook for free from the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

Book 1

The story is a little bit slow in the beginning. Once I read past the detailed, descriptive aircraft technology I settled into listening of the audiobook and enjoyed.

A dangerous time and place

I kind of fell into this book backwards. I actually got book 4 first, and now I am backtracking. I enjoyed 4 immensely, but I didn't really have much of an idea of who the characters were supposed to be , after all they were already established and had some character growth by the time I got into the story.

So, now I've finished the first novel, and I am sorry I missed out on the other 2 books. I have always enjoyed apocolyptic movies, games, books, and tv shows; done right and the setting can sell a story. Done poorly, and it doesn't matter how great your characters are the tale will suffer.

Carlson finds her niche in the Danger books. The world is dark and dangerous, the characters are fun to hangout with, and the action is exciting as holding back a rampaging bull with a red towel. As first books in a series goes this clearly set the table for a larger story, and it does so magnificently.

Wilder makes a dark world all the brighter with her vocalizations. She conveys every emotion, and drives home the danger when it looms. I respect her story telling style a great deal, and I always say that a good narrator will elevate a tale. She certainly does so here, their pair is a symbiotic relationship, each help0s the other. One with amazing writing, and the other bringing that writing to life.

This is a fine series for action fans, apocolypse fans, or books with powerful female leads. Just a warning, reading this book will cause you to crave more!

Solid first in series

This was a very solid first book in a series. I really liked that there was none of the usual “info dump” that can come with science fiction and post-apocalyptic novels. Instead, background information was given at appropriate times during the story. No, we didn’t get a full story on what happened to Earth, but I was OK with that and getting details piecemeal felt more natural. The author threw a couple of curve balls into the plot that I was definitely not expecting, so kudos to her for that. It definitely kept me on my toes and added some extra dimension to the story.

Holly is a strong character with a hidden soft spot. While we didn’t learn much about her “family”, the characters have a lot of potential. I hope we get to know them better in upcoming books in the series. The book does NOT end with a cliffhanger, so no need to worry about that, though there is a nice lead-in to what might be happening in future books.

The audiobook was ably narrated by Emma Wilder. She does a good job with various voices. The book is definitely worth the Audible credit, in my opinion.

Amanda's post-apocalyptic sci-fi series debut!

Danger’s Halo heralds the exciting debut of author Amanda Carlson’s new post-apocalyptic science fiction series set one hundred fifty years into the future. I’m a huge fan of Amanda’s and have inhaled everything I’ve ever read by her. As far as I know, this is the first time she’s ever ventured into sci-fi – but, no worries, she clearly has it aced. This series revolves around a smart, strong and capable kickass heroine, Holly Danger, a talented salvager with trust issues in the futuristic world Amanda has created. Holly prefers to work alone, but she has a close-knit team populated by a colorful assortment of characters that provide backup when needed.

The bare bones scenario of the world is that life on planet earth has become a daily hazardous struggle after humanity was nearly destroyed by a meteor strike. Meager remaining resources are dwindling with every passing day. The future looks even bleaker. Power plays are the name of the game and the government that is left has no care for the survivors trying to eke out an existence.

As the story opens, Holly has been hired to track down and return a street kid to a mysterious client. The client has promised to pay with hard-to-come-by coin so this isn’t a job she wants to ignore. She easily finds him, but what should be a quick and easy job, swiftly becomes complicated when she sees herself at that age in him, and, in a spur of the moment decision uncharacteristic of Holly, offers to protect and sustain him for a year instead of turning him over to her client. Of course, this agreement is predicated on the kid’s decision not to end it all by jumping off the cliff he’s currently perched on. Thankfully, an agreement is reached and brave and vulnerable Daze becomes Holly’s responsibility for a year, setting off multiple repercussions - most notably placing Holly and her team squarely in the cross hairs of the powerful and influential client Holly stiffed by not returning Daze to him.

Please find a few of my favorite quotes from Danger’s Halo:

“Does everything you own stink?”
---
“Daze was within a daze.”
---
“Darby, stop fondling my batteries.”

This is not a romance. If you are looking for a romance, look elsewhere… though that may change further into the series as a character is introduced herein who may evolve into that. I hope so, but it’s way too early to tell.

Emma Wilder provides the excellent narration for Danger’s Halo. I’ve never listened to her previously, but I thoroughly enjoyed this audio edition. Her voice is crystal clear and easy to understand from the get-go. Her pacing is spot-on and she exudes the expected emotions. Her character voices seem appropriate for each persona and they are consistent throughout. The result is a polished performance and pure listening pleasure. I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another audio by her based on this experience.

This opening salvo was an intriguing, fast-paced. non-stop adventure teeming with suspense and danger. The story line hooked my attention from the get-go and didn’t let up until the very end, keeping me on the edge of my seat for much of the ride. I really enjoyed this first installment and can’t wait to see where Amanda is going to take these characters and this series next. If you enjoy futuristic adventures with amazing characters, strap yourself into Holly’s craft which she named “Luce” and hang on!

Dark World

The world has fallen apart, but don’t fear because Holly Danger is near! She’s knows how to kick butt!

Must read

If Tris Prior (Divergent) was even a bigger bad ass she would be called Holly Danger. I absolutely enjoyed this book. The plot kept me engaged, and wanting more. The characters were well developed and I’m excited to find out more about their backgrounds in future books. At first was wasn’t thrilled with the narration but once I understood Holly Danger’s character the narration fit perfectly. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading sci-fi and dystopian novels.

Worth the read

I really enjoyed this story. A great dystopian novel with a strong female lead. the narrator did an excellent job and kept me engaged with the story.

Can't wait for the next book!!

I love this book. It's Hunger Games, Divergent, and Gender Games all wrapped in a new package. The way this future setting is described, I felt like I was there. The story is fast paced and exciting! I love the strong, badass female lead. Can't wait for the next Holly Danger novel!!!

I am all about strong female lead characters

Danger's Halo: Holly Danger, Book 1 4 Stars
By: Amanda Carlson Narrated by: Emma Wilder
I love Holly! I am all about strong female lead characters and Holly is the epitome of just that. She’s a futuristic intelligent, technological, independent, confident, bad ass woman, with a heart. The futuristic world is dangerous, and most spend their days just trying to survive, but Holly spends her days scavenging for anything useful to her team, and finds herself accidentally helping others in the process. I love how this trilogy begins. It can also serve as a read alone with no issue, but I really want to read book 2 now. Overall, Danger’s Halo is a huge 4 star book.