Earth Strike

By: Ian Douglas

Narrated by: Nick Sullivan

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence.

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary - by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe - along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict - and quite possibly its last.

©2010 William H. Keith, Jr. (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Forget the Characters, Just Bring on the Action!

This seems to be Ian Douglas' new philosophical approach to storytelling in "Earth Strike", which starts a new series in a new fictional universe.

Seriously... The battle starts with the book's opening pages and takes up literally the first half of the book. After that, a short lull as the factions regroup (and we get our only short period of character-building), and then the second battle starts, running all the way till the end.

Does this work? Well, it depends on what you're going for. If you like reading military sci fi simply for the action (or watch movies simply for the mayhem and the explosions) then you will probably dig it. He writes action pretty well. There aren't many new technological ideas involved, rather an amalgamation of different tech and themes common to sci fi. Probably the most stand-out theme is that Douglas has figured out a way to make star fighters important again, giving him the excuse to write a highly "fighter pilot-focused" book. In fact, this book probably has the most starfighter action since the "X-Wing" series, albeit with much more powerful fighters fighting at near-relativistic speeds.

On the other hand, the lack of character development means you don't really engage with any of them that much, and this of course lessens the impact of the fighting itself. If you're hoping for a really deep story, look elsewhere. Furthermore, this imbalance in the time devoted to action vs worldbuilding makes me hesitate to recommend it to military sci fi fans. There are books out there that have the total "package" wrapped much more completely, including, I daresay, the X-Wing series itself.

Overall, this is a light, action-packed story that probably will appeal most to those who are already Ian Douglas fans.

21 of 22 people found this review helpful

It was ok...

Yes, my very lackluster headline reflects my experience with this book. The story is very heavy on the tech elements, and light on character, plot, and story. Douglas and Sullivan do a great job of explaining some very heady physics and military science concepts. These academic concepts seem to take priority over the narrative. It's unlikely I'll give the rest of the series space on my iPod.

15 of 19 people found this review helpful

Good science... No personality

A story that's more about theoretical space combat than the story. Unfortunately even the combat scenes fell short. It's difficult to truly enjoy a good hard sci-fi battle scene when you care nothing for the participants and it sounds like it's being read by a computer.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great story

The story is great, reminds me of classic navel battles of WW2. The narrator however gives too much small detail. Such as: Chapter 6, June 23, 2403, 23:00 hours, cic, usna America , too many useless words. But don't let that stop you. The book is worth it. I also bought book 2.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Extremely disappointed!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not enough character development. After 2.5 hrs of descriptions about the star ships, technology, etc. and no character development (or even dialog!) I still didn't know what the story was about and didn't care.

Has Earth Strike turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

Would you listen to another book narrated by Nick Sullivan?

maybe

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Extreme Disappointment

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the Star Force series and thought this would be similar. But, there was no dialog, no character development, nothing but tech, tech, tech. I don't mind getting up to speed on the technology of the time, but let's also have some people (or aliens) we get to know and care about.

12 of 18 people found this review helpful

HARDCORE SPACE BATTLE.

This series look promesing. Hardcore space war. Fast tempo. If you like spacebattles I recommend this book. I will now download book 2.

8 of 12 people found this review helpful

Great Space Opera

Lots of action, enigmatic aliens, giant FTL ships, Earth hanging in the balance. What's not to love. I hope the next in the series is as good.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful

Great book but it drags a little at the beginning

This looks like the beginning of a great series. The physics, units, and ideas are well thought out. The main characters are intelligent and likable. This book does drag while it sets up the entire series. I listened to this book while doing a lot of driving this last weekend and even though I was tired at times it helped to keep me awake.

Note:
The description of the book is a little bit misleading and is probably better suited for the entire series even though only the rest of the books can verify that.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful

I love this series

You've got to get all of the rest of the books in the series. The military sci fi, the political environment, and the character development was plenty believable. In addition there is a lot of mystery about the protagonist alien species that keeps you guessing throughout the storyline. My only issue is that it currently stops at book 5.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Pretty good sci-fi!

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

I would recommend this book to a friend because the story is quite interesting, keeping to a science fiction setting that is well developed.

What did you like best about this story?

I like the political setting just as much as the technical details which are explained in a way that the listener is able to keep up with.

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

NIck Sullivan is able to bring the book's characters to life by using his voice in a consistent way that allows the listener to easily keep up with the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This is not a book that inspires the urge to listen to the entire thing in a single sitting. Although I was interested in keeping up with the story, it was not too difficult to take a little break every once in a while. That may have something to do with the way I listen to books, though.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful