Excelsior

By: Jasper T. Scott

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From the USA Today best-selling author of Dark Space. A mission to another world could be our only hope....

The year is AD 2790. With space elevators and giant orbital fleets hovering over Earth, open war looks inevitable, and people are anxious to get away. The lines are drawn, with the Confederacy in the East and the First World Alliance in the West. In hopes of finding a refuge from the looming war, the Alliance is sending Captain Alexander de Leon to explore an Earth-type planet, code-named Wonderland, but at the last minute before launch, a Confederate fleet leaves orbit on a trajectory that threatens both the mission and Alliance sovereignty. The resulting power struggle will determine not only the fate of Alexander's mission but the fate of the entire human race.

©2016 Jasper T. Scott (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Great story, very interesting.

Great story, I have come to enjoy Jasper T Scott. Worst narrator ever. I will not buy another book that James Patrick Cromin narates.

Women are not weaklings

I liked the story, but the narration of the female characters was aggravating. Every sentence ended with a high tone, almost like a question. That ruined it for me.

difficult to listen to

the narrator has a "strained" delivery that I found nearly intolerable. I did finish this because the story. I found it interesting very early on even though it is a bit more soap opera than space opera. I truly hope that by 700 years into the future the term "my baby daddy" is a term only the rarest of historians remember.

Great Book! Interesting and exciting

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

Did not read the printed version

Have you listened to any of James Patrick Cronin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No,

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

YES, imaginative and very well written and structured. and the narrator does well with the different voices of the characters

Any additional comments?

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

A bit flat on the ear

Narrator has difficulty expressing different characters distinctly. Otherwise it's a well done and engaging story

Worth suspending your disbelief

This story is a mixed bag for me. It has a nice arc and satisfying conclusion. It deals with hard topics like what is justified in war and the hard circumstances of chance and how that can lead to exploitation and abuse. It's a very human book.

I did have trouble suspending my disbelief multiple times but recognize there were Compromises to tell a good story. I didn't like that there were two protagonists because both stories felt somewhat incomplete.

Still, a solid story. Thanks

It kept me hooked

There were so many events throughout this book that made me awkwardly cringe. Most situations seemed unresolvable at first but the story played out wonderfully in the end, putting all my cringes to rest. Hence the power of great story telling! Such an incredible plot, and most of all; incredible lessons and morals to be learned from this. Awesome read!

Great Book! Interesting and exciting

so when I bought this book I had no idea it was a space book about war. There is some romance, action, says, intrigue, fighting etc. Although this is the first book I have ever read of this kind I highly enjoyed it. My one problem was I listened to it aloud and the reader would do some characters monotone and almost computerized flat expressionless voices. otherwise he was okay. It almost put me off listening to book completely but I finally got used to it. I did really enjoy the ending of the book.

Affected by Bad Narration

Several of the narrator's voices were exceedingly annoying & possibly tainted my opinion of the story.

Story had an unusual premise, which was unsettling in many respects & made for a surprise twist at the end. Overall, I felt the world outlook was bleak & depressing. I don't know that there was a happy ending, though I think that was supposed to be the intention.

Everything was quickly & neatly wrapped up at the end, without exactly making a whole lot of sense. Certainly didn't seem very realistic or plausible.

I wound up listening to this book a second time, by mistake at 1st. As soon as I realized, I did skip through some areas, but alot of that had to do with not caring to tolerate the odd & disconcerting voices.

The whining supercilious voice of the Ambassador, as well as one used for a main bridge officer, who spoke in slo-mo every single time, grated on my nerves.

The voice for the MC, though not torture to the ears, was incongruent for someone whose 1st language was supposed to be Spanish, ditto for his wife.

The story on the surface of it was a combination of a space war between two major powers, the "Free" (but almost equally oppressive to the non- genetically enhanced) US & Communist China, a space race for control of a possible new colony world & life in a post nuclear war devestated Earth.

How evil & underhanded both sides actually are, or more the point, showing how evil & callous the so called "good guys" actually are, seems to be the theme of this book.

At the end, left me feeling unsatisfied & discomforted. Maybe that was the point, but that result was more the depressing nature of the story & the annoyance with the narration causing that result than any social enlightenment. It didn't feel like there was a succesful ending, nor that any real change was made, nor was there any hope at the end.

It seemed pretty obvious that another book would be following, the MC would be pulled back into it. The wife would not be understanding, the father of the wife's son would be plotting revenge & back to cause trouble, etc. etc. etc.

On a positive note I can say I didn't see the twist at the end coming, so at least there's that, but the MC's reaction upon discovery was just plain stupid & should've ended quite differently than it did. That had a lot to do with my feeling the story was unrealistic & too pat & that there were so many details that just didn't add up.

There was some action, some space battle, ground action, discovery of a new world, spy & political machinations, post apocalyptic survival struggles, mystery & a touch of romantic entanglements- it was a smorgasbord of story elements, but thw whole recipe just didn't make for a tasty pie, IMO.

This one was not a big win for me, though I have enjoyed some of the authors other works, like his Dark Space Universe, for example.

Not awful, but...

The story had a great premise, but was bogged down with side stories that were not that compelling. It was more of a snapshot of a captain’s life, with much less action than promised. The reveal was interesting, but underdeveloped. Meh.