Dark and Stars

Serengeti Series, Book 2

By: J. B. Rockwell

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

For 53 years Serengeti drifted, dreaming in the depths of space. Fifty-three years of patient waiting before her Valkyrie Sisters arrive to retrieve her from the dark. A bittersweet homecoming follows, the Fleet Serengeti once knew now in shambles, its admiral, Cerberus, gone missing, leaving Brutus in charge. Brutus who's subsumed the Fleet, ignoring his duty to the Meridian Alliance to pursue a vendetta against the Dark Star Revolution.

The Valkyries have a plan to stop him - depose Brutus and restore the Fleet's purpose - and that plan involves Serengeti. Depends on Serengeti turning her guns against her own.

Because the Fleet can no longer be trusted. With Brutus in charge, it's just Serengeti and her Sisters, and whatever reinforcements they can find.

A top-to-bottom refit restores Serengeti to service, and after a rushed reunion with Henricksen and her surviving crew, she takes off for the stars. For Faraday - a prison station - to stage a jailbreak, and free the hundreds of Meridian Alliance AIs wrongfully imprisoned in its Vault. From there to the Pandoran Cloud and a rendezvous with her Valkyrie Sisters. To retrieve a fleet of rebel ships stashed away inside.

©2016 J. B. Rockwell (P)2017 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"A good military science fiction story.... The character development is good...the author made almost all of the starships seem like humans." (Science Fiction Book Reviews)

A Fun Space Opera

In the first book of the series “Serengeti”, the Valkyrie class space ship Serengeti was almost dead while drifting in space. Her little robots were working hard to keep some vital systems operating while waiting for rescue. In book two of the series, it turns out that Serengeti drifted for 53 years before being rescued. Serengeti is the AI that is the space ship. She returns to discover the fleet in shambles, the Admiral missing and Brutus is in command of what is left of the fleet. Brutus is on a vendetta against the Dark Star Revolution. Serengeti receives a complete refit and is restored to service. She is reunited with Henricksen and crew. They are assigned to free the Meridian Alliance AI’s from a prison.

The book is well written and full of action. Rockwell does an excellent job with the battle scenes. The characters are interesting and likeable. I, of course, like Serengeti best of all along with her three special robots. The pace is fast and the suspense builds continuously. I found the book hard to put down. After reading two books by Rockwell, I just now realized that Rockwell is a woman.

The book is almost fourteen hours long. Elizabeth Wiley does a good job narrating the story. She has narrated all the books in the series so far. Wiley is an actor, voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.

good but not great for me

I liked the story and I really wanted to now how it ended. I had a hard time being pulled in to the story. I was able to put it down several times but picked it back up to see how it ended. All that said I will be getting the next book because of potential

great finnish

a Good yarn. Some of the AI voices a little annoying but that is a minor complaint against the over all story. I will enjoy having the series in my library and intend to revisit it from time to time,

Fantastic performance and great story

This was a great sequel to Serengeti. The story had good pacing, with consistent bits of action throughout the book, lots more action than the first book. I really enjoyed how the story fleshed-out (pun intended) even further the characters of the AI and the robots. Though I have to say that the characters of Hausman and the other trooper (no idea how to spell her name after just hearing it) were a little bit wooden and awkward. One inconsistency that bugged me was in the first half the book she was able to split her consciousness into two parts and have one go on an away mission, in the second half of the book her entire conciousness went on the away mission and she had no consciousness residing in the ship, which was a little convenient for the plot.
The performance was fantastic, with the reader doing several difficult parts such as robots and AIs. As with all good, and professional performances it was easy to know who was speaking based on the accent and tone of voice. Very enjoyable to listen to.

just can't keep a good AI down

Serengeti to the Rescue. Was a really enjoyable read. my favorite character is the adorable little Una.

Great finish

I honestly didn't know if they would be able to finish the whole series out in two books, but serendipitously they did. This book was really good Serengeti and her crew. It was good to see what happened to everyone after they left and also to see how far the whole speed of falling. The narrator did a great job remembering what everyone sounded like and the story itself was well put together. Even though I'm not happy with the whole series is over I am glad that they finish it off this way.

book zero does not seem to tie in.

entertaining but I read book zero first and it did not seem to tie into book one and two.

A great science fiction story

I love how the story unfolds. Elizabeth Wiley is a great narrator and the writing makes it very easy to visualize what's going on. if I had the book version instead I wouldn't be able to put it down and get nothing done hahaha. love this series and I hope there will be more.

AI

So often artificial intelligence is portrayed as a negative, hostile or even invasive entity. However. Rockwell portrays artificial intelligence with warmth, understanding and humor. Serengeti is the AI in command of her Valkyrie class warship. Despite being a warship she is compassionate and humorous with almost a “momma bear” instinct when it comes to protecting and defending her crew. Together with her captain Henrickson they persevere through the challenges and conflicts of protecting the galaxy from harm.
This book is definitely a combination of the series TV Andromeda, Dark Matter and a touch of A Space Odyssey rolled into one.
The narration is well done. Wiley has an uncanny knack for giving each character his or her own voice and personality. Despite its length...almost 14 hours... you will be drawn into the story and won’t want to stop listening.

I'm half way through this book and I can't take it

i dont have the print version so you'll have to forgive me if I spell Una/Oona wrong. I'm going with Una.

I never thought the sequel could be this bad. Yes, the first one was bad, but I saw potential and I had hope. After somewhere around 6 hours of Listening, I can hardly take it. Maybe this list will help explain my frstration:

list of notable things Serengeti, powerful Valkyrie ship AI has done:
- Flied around a bit, I guess
- took over a bunch or war robots, but not really cause they were just taken back without doing anything.

List of things Una, cobbled together maintenance robot with an AI made from two other AIs that weren't particularly special and didn't know what they were doing:
- charms everyone who sees her despite being incredibly annoying
- diffused two tense situations by being oblivious and flapping her legs
- Has hacked through any obstacle they come across that can be hacked
- has defeated a powerful virus that neither Serengeti nor the AI of the most powerful ship in the galaxy could defeat, saving both Serengeti and probably the whole fleet.

Yes, despite being a 'child', our Mary S-Una can do pretty much anythig while remaining chearful, oblivious, and entirely annoying. not that anyone in the book thinks she's annoying. She just serves as a Deus Ex Mach-Una any time it's convenient.

Also, how old is she now? she has to be at least a decade old, and if she started with the mind of a 6-10 year old... well I'm sure the math works out somehow. I get that she's a robot, but JFC. This author obviously thinks she's cute, but she's not. this is a medium without visuals. nothing is cute.

...

okay. all that being said, there are a few good aspects of the book. I like most of the characters for one. A scene with the captain nearly had me tearing up, something the previous book also did, though I forgot to mention it in my reveiw of the last book. Finley was pretty great, too.

------

so, I just finished the book. while I defintely don't recommend it, it got better when Una was no longer in the picture, and with her gone for good, I might actually check out the next book in the. series...

but probably not if I have anything else to listen to first.