Earth Defiant

The Ember War, Book 4

By: Richard Fox

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Betrayed by allies. Beset by new foes. Earth faces its darkest hour since the Xaros invasion.

The Toth come to the solar system with a fleet of warships, and they demand the only tool that can rekindle the human race. It falls on Marine Lieutenant Hale to negotiate a pact that will save the human race at the cost of its soul - or start a war with a race of alien predators.

©2016 Richard Fox (P)2016 Podium Publishing

awesome

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Great action described with the perfect amount of battle scenes, scifi techno-babble, human anguish and a healthy does of humor

Who was your favorite character and why?

Valdar-strong moral core
mark ibarra-cunning and ruthless in service of humanity
Gaul -she is a badass
toth-wonderfully disgusting and evil

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

read with feeling and multiple voices helps listeners better visualize the story

Any additional comments?

I don't agree/understand the anger against the tank grown humans and the author's preoccupation with souls; seems anachronistic. While scifi grappling with whether ai is alive/have souls is not new (data, ceylons) , these Procedurals are created with egg and sperm and are unique individuals

satisfying installment in a great series

A lot of my audible purchases are based on following narrators I like; Luke Daniels is one of my all time favorites. I've stumbled onto more than one new author this way and Richard Fox is the latest great find. His story telling is clean and well thought out, and his characters are engaging and relatable. I've enjoyed alternately cursing and cheering for Mark Ibara. Each novel has had a satisfying conclusion, but the murky background of increasingly complex alien politics and the steadily unfolding mystery of the Xaros' origin and purpose leaves the story plenty of room to grow. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Absolutely awesome!

I’ve encountered many series which could have been half as long and much better but because the authors where greedy they prolonged the series with much boring stuff just to sell extra books or audiobooks.
NOT THIS AUTHOR !
Audiobook 4 and I can’t stop, truly an amazing series, what an excellent imagination Richard Fox the author have?
Where does he get all the ideas?
And on top of it all his writing never stops from keeping you out of suspense !
Not forgetting Luke Daniels perfect narration through every audiobook till now which I see no reason for it to change.

Absolutely full heartedly recommended !

I like the series

MY only complaint is how short each volume is otherwise it's a fun well done storyline.

Yet another great book!

many mysteries that remain to be unraveled. a diverse world with intriguing characters. a substantial plot-subplot matrix. a fun read all around

if anything, it's too short, I want more

loved it, story is fun and entertaining, characters keep evolving and it adds to the series.

A solid Sci-Fi waiting for the big screen

Well detailed and ever evolving story. The only thing you can expect is the unexpected.

Exceptional plot

Fox crafted an amazing plot in this series, leaving the listener wanting more, looking forward to what comes next.

These books just keep getting better

This is another great book, builds on the story, lots of action and twists. Narrator is great once again with a wide range of voices. Looking forward to the next book.

3rd book revive

still captivating no real slow spot evident anticipating the next book
I still recommend this story highly

An excellent rip-roaring contribution to the series!

This book redeems itself somewhat from it’s previous ‘humanity’ (America, as specifically mentioned at least twice) first prequels with a much more reasonable, if somewhat realpolitik example of interstellar politics under pressure and humanity fighting against all odds.

But the books true high points are the battle sequences, which have really evolved from prior novels and kept me gripped in ways the first few books did!

If it has a major negative point, it’s the shit Ibarra pulls without consequence, I understand he’s supposed to be a tortured and broken messiah, driven by the need to do the necessary in the face of the right. But he engages in extremely dubious behaviour, including selfish mind control and sacrificing living pawns to simply clone them - while preventing anyone else from ‘falling’ to that level (with the exception of some creating rather charming clones soliders best described as stupid Warhammer 40k Space Marines, or smart Ogryn, who I hope feature again for their heroism, even if they’re described as ‘biological machines’ without true free will - I hope the signature one develops some). I really, really can’t stand his ‘needs must’ politics being presented so continuously darkly and yet correctly, it doesn’t feel like balance.

Excellent high points go to the Armour - double points because they’re not always the total winners of every conflict, with the Strike Marines pulling more than their own weight.

Double value points to the Eighth Fleet - Go Dragons! The procee situation is well built up, the revelation of the existence of the Eighth and their Admiral’s eventual… well, that would be a spoiler. Let’s just say it wraps up (for now) a bloody pogrom and intolerance with selfless sacrifice and heroism…

… which was what you’re here for? Right?

The speech at Bastion on the end (no thanks to all you guys in the space UN, space America is going to bring the Toth some pure 100% quadrium freedom!) is actually well done, and doesn’t feel at all like my sarcastic retelling, the speech feels very much like a defiant speech from a planet before the Republic Senate in Star Wars after it’s left alone, complete with hordes of hovering shouting ambassadors/senators.

Crystal Space Squids are still enigmatic and utterly undermining their own system out of apparent frustration with it.

Even the Dotok are a little less… one dimensional, the new pilots driving Gaul up the wall are awesome, as are her awful nicknames and the Ma cousins response.

If it wasn’t clear - this book is more of the same, and that’s going to be the essence of these reviews until the end of the Ember Wars. For more well thought out commentary, check out my in-depth review of each book on second listening on Goodreads.

You can’t afford to skip this one, and you shouldn’t - it’s only brought down by a few ‘same old’ niggles for the series.

Even the narrators accents are tolerable! But only because Scotty McScotson or whomever he is isn’t in this book. It’s possible I’m over rating them as a consequence, so I’ve scored it down a little there - I felt it deserved a 4, but Russian and French speaking readers may want to claw their eardrums out still.

Entertaining !

Really enjoyed this one, the author spins quite the yarn, and the narrator is very, creative....Enthusiatically looking forward to the next one 😀

great book

I have listed to all of them they are brilliant I highly recommended great story and there are other books to go with the series 😃

Another brilliant edition to the series

The voice acting is on point again, the story and plot thickens which makes this series a must listen to!

Great continuation of the saga

It is only now, after book 4 that I can ignore the terrible accents trying to be Scottish or Australian. The narration is overall not bad at all and the story, caricature development and speed is excellent. I think if I had to choose book three is the best so far. Hope this helps

Twists and Turns

Really enjoyed this, kept me thinking and intrigued. Very good story lines that dove tail in and out