Eternal Frontier

By: Anthony Melchiorri

Narrated by: Bradford Hastings

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Humanity has avoided interstellar war for centuries.

It was a time of peace, prosperity, and exploration. But when an unexpected attack cripples a scientific vessel, the SRES Argo, it appears that time has come to an end.

Chief Medical Officer Tag Brewer is the ship's only survivor. He is alone in the far reaches of space. To survive, he must restore and protect the downed vessel from its unknown attackers on a planet as deadly as it is mysterious. He vows to do everything in his power to seek justice for his fallen crew.

When Tag uncovers a sinister secret about those who attacked the Argo, he realizes far more is at stake than just his survival. Something more powerful, more technologically advanced, and more ruthless has emerged from the darkest voids of the galaxy. It's up to Tag to survive long enough to warn humanity and stop the dawn of a new war.

©2017 Anthony J. Melchiorri (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Thrilling from beginning to end!

I love sci-fi but I'm not big on a lot of technical facts & I usually skim through all the mechanics but this book really kept me enthralled. I listened to it on Audible & at one point found my whole body increasingly tensed like I was on the ship feeling the g's!
Really loved the main character & the fact that he NEVER gives up even when he does!
The other characters are interesting & add to the story, especially the alien characters, very cool.
While the main character is a guy, there are plenty of strong woman characters as well. In this story it seems that true equality exists.
Can't wait to read the next book!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Writing style bothered me greatly.

Way too many similes. A few is good but too many turns them into the literary equivalent of a cutaway scene. They just kept taking me out of the story and destroying the flow of the narrative.

The plot reads like a decent Star Trek episode. Aliens are humanoids. Ships have FTL travel, artificial gravity, intertial dampeners, and shields that drop in power every time they get hit.* None of the science is explained in detail and orbital mechanics are ignored. (For example, it seems the main character goes from a battle in space to crashing on a planet in a matter of a few minutes, disregarding the time it would take to travel such distances and still be able to survive a landing)

The supporting cast is great, but the main character can be a little too dense. Especially for a medical doctor. (Also, doctor level degrees are not something you just pick up as a back-up/side career.)

And for the love of all Science fiction please stop using the word "vessels" to describe blood vessels in a damn space story where there are ships. It's really confusing.

*Minor Spoiler:


Even the antagonist are *ahem* very Borg-like.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Clichéd. Exciting.

This novel is filled with clichés. At times it seemed like some bad Star Trek fan fiction. And the main character is not very smart – not a problem in itself, not all protagonists need to be brilliant – but this means all his remarkable achievements are due to determination and an absolutely ridiculous amount of dumb luck.

This novel is also exciting – the action is well written, and I always wanted to know what would happen next. This is probably in large part due to the fact that most chapters end on a cliffhanger; a cheap trick to be sure, but it works.

So if you're anything like me, I cannot recommend this book. There are way too many "Oh come on / You have got to be kidding me" moments. But if you prefer action over science, then it might be worth a try.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing space story!

This was an amazing story. I loved the job the narrator did, as well. I hope the audio version of book 2 comes out soon, as I am really looking forward to the next one!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

verbose

there were about for chapters of story in this book. the rest was filler. I am not inclined to read the rest of the series

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Just couldn't get through it. Not worth the read.

What would have made Eternal Frontier better?

A storyline that seems to have a point, and that doesn't involve the "single miracle hero" model.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

This dude just can't even....

This poor guy manages to figure out the worst way to mess up perfectly good situations, or just manages to mess up right when he almost figures stuff out. Also... he is just plain retarded. like... make a synthetic mind, put it in a body, turn it on, it attacked you, so you try talking to it? wtf? why you so surprised that it doesn't stop and continues to attack you... haha it just got hilarious after the ninth or tenth time. He also has the comprehension skills of a child...No, that's insulting children. damn why am I writing this? This book sucks. and im barely to the 20th chapter.

5 of 8 people found this review helpful

Excellent story!

Would you consider the audio edition of Eternal Frontier to be better than the print version?

Yes, it brings the story to life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Eternal Frontier?

The first alien sighting. The author has a really vivid imagination and uses his science background to create some crazy aliens.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Action and science in space!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not a believable story

The phrases employed by the author show that any experience (or even interest, for that matter) with the military, and particularly naval military, is completely lacking. I was only able to survive the first few chapters and then I had to let it go. A LCDR would not even THINK like this character. He thinks of Pirates, but there's no background to support this conclusion, a LCDR would not make the leap necessary - not even a Med Officer. When the internal communication system fails the Hero treats the system like a radio. The errors just continue to compound. The story itelf is so throughly unbelievable that the normally suspended belief necessary to enjoy a Science Fiction story is severly dented in the first few paragraphs but the thrashing never stops. I tried to enjoy this as I do many SF stories (400 titles in my audio library and counting) but my normally tolerant nature was overwhelmed. I don't know how the book-reader was able to do it - a good a job as I heard listening to those first few chapters was not up to the challenge of redeeming a bad story. The Author is probably not a bad sort in-real-life. He should find a SF sub-genre he is more suited to - Military SF is not for him.

Great adventure!

Loved this book! It's definitely a set up to a larger story, but it doesn't cliffhang, however it does leave you wanting more. There's a huge mystery that develops with more questions than answers and screams of some evil plans that need to be stopped.

The characters were all pretty well set up in a way that makes them complex, imperfect characters. I love the fact that this author never fails to present strong females and imperfect heroes. I

The narrator is very good, he adds to the story helping make it an even better adventure!

I'm heading now to get the next in the series, can't wait to see what happens next!

Just OK

I don't think this book will set the world alight, but it jogs along quite nicely at a slow speed. However, this is the first book, so it might pick up. For this reason, I will purchase Book 2.

A constant struggle, good if not deep

The book doesn't rest, one battle to the next without a break and it often seems there is no way out.
Good narrating and chacters aren't too not bad either.
Definitely worth a listen, keeps you interested, not a bad intro to a series.

A ripping yarn

A good traditional space romp. The characters are a bit flat and the story line is very linear. Be prepared for overly grand and slightly out of context analogies. Still, having said all that it's a good listen and very well narrated. I'll give book two a go.

Very immersive

What made the experience of listening to Eternal Frontier the most enjoyable?

The story just grabbed you and pulled you in within a few minutes plenty of action

What was one of the most memorable moments of Eternal Frontier?

The ice gods

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The last battle but even before then I could not stop listening

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No but I was worried for the safety of the main character