First Command

De: Michael Simon

Narrado por: Ryan Kennard Burke

An alien attack leaves them adrift in space.

Survive, rebuild, and rejoin the war.

Fresh out of the Academy, Ensign Cole Jackson’s first posting to Freedom couldn’t have come at a worse time. All over the Alliance, planets and colonies are suddenly under attack by the vicious Coven Empire.

Freedom and her sister ship, Hood, are ambushed by alien warships, leaving Hood drifting dead in the void.

Cole is ordered to salvage parts from the powerless Hood, but when he arrives on the unpowered hulk, Freedom is called away, marooning him and a group of malcontent techs in deep space.

With the timer on survival ticking down, Cole must find the confidence to take control, whip his tiny crew into shape, bring Hood back to life–repairing communications, propulsion and even weapons.

He's got one chance to transform the derelict ship into a combat-ready vessel. One he can take into battle and alter the course of the war.

Don't miss the start of this science fiction thrill ride about a crew of young soldiers mustering the courage to fight back against both a vicious alien enemy, and the terrifying void of being stranded in space. It's perfect for fans of Daniel Gibbs, J.N. Chaney, and Vaughn Heppner!

©2025 Aethon Books (P)2025 Aethon Audio

Plot is implausible.

The reader’s performance was adequate. He handled the required accents well but I could not get past the fact that he sounded like Clint Eastwood to me. It was distracting. The plot suffers from too many implausible situations. Moreover, the real central character of this novel is Sergay the engineer. None of what the hero accomplishes is possible without the engineer’s accomplishments. In fact the character of the steward is more intriguing than that of the hero. I may read the next one in the series but I won’t rush to do it.

If you like Honor Harrington series read this

good book with decent performance. I was getting tired of the hit and miss of the run of the mill military sci fi with the hero wielding a gun in each hand battling 10 feet tall aliens...

very well done characters

This story rides a very thin line between thrilling and punishing. Explosions and gore that are entertaining and visiral. Yet it's a story that presses you every step of the way.

Nicely Executed Story

Well written simple story. Better than average. A bit linear but still enjoyable. I'll be continuing in this series

A Hard Science what…

First; calling this series hard sci-fi is rather preposterous. It’s something adjacent to, and a few steps down from, Starship Troopers, or The Lost Fleet.

The premise of First Contact is an interesting one, though the author’s inexperience bleeds through the structure of the narrative regularly. I’m interested to see if he succeeds in honing his craft in subsequent books/series.

My recommendation would be - if you’re going to write military sci fi… learn about basic militarisms, chain of command, tactics etc. it was rather painful enduring the clumsy narrative tropes, as it was obvious he was wandering in unfamiliar territory and was just grasping for a plot device.

Repeatedly through the narrative there were scenes that directly conflicted with prior assertions from the author. In one scene describing how fleet weapons were incapable of penetrating alien shields… followed immediately by a series of engagements where Jackson successfully one shot’s opponents.

Character development; surprisingly strong but uneven. Some characters were fleshed out and multi dimensional… others were simply names.

I would probably give First Contact a one star rating, but there is enough potential here to warrant an encouraging pat on the back with well wishing for future books.

Admirable First Comand

Cole is a likable hero embarking on a once in a lifetime adventure. I enjoyed his challenges and how he responded tactically. Sergei was my second favorite character, with the humorous friendship he has keeping engineering in line whilst hell is breaking loose. Ryan Burke has solid vocals for a cast including alien soldiers.
All in all you’re getting what you hope for with a blend of character building and space fighting tactics. I had a lot of fun picturing it and enjoyed the lifelike dialogue.
Thanks for the read! I’m looking forward to book 2!

A bit of a letdown

After listening to Extinction, I’d hoped for more from First Command, but it’s pretty much Young Adult sci-fi. Not a lot of subtlety or deep thinking here.

Military Sci-Fi, Exploding Consoles, and a Rookie

First Command is the kind of book that plants you firmly in the captain's chair of a half-dead starship and says, "Good luck, kid." And while there’s a fair amount of eyerolling required to stay buckled in for the ride, it’s still an enjoyable journey through war-torn space with a cast you can’t help but root for.

Michael Simon’s military sci-fi debut gives us Ensign Cole Jackson—an inexperienced but well-meaning Academy grad who gets tossed into the deep end when his small savage crew gets stranded on a drifting, disabled ship. With only a skeleton crew, Cole has to lead a desperate effort to restore the derelict vessel and rejoin the fight against the aggressive Coven Empire. As a setup, it’s solid. As a plot, it’s fast-paced, cliche-heavy, and just improbable enough to give you whiplash if you think too hard about the logistics—it works. Mostly.

There’s plenty of action, tight pacing, and a well-balanced rotation of POVs that keep the story dynamic. Sure, you’ll have to suspend disbelief for things like starship bridges with exploding control panels (seriously, who’s still designing these death traps?), and a miraculous repair montage that takes a shattered hulk of a ship and turns it combat-ready in just a few days. And yes, enemies keep magically showing up in the same sector over and over, but if you can look past that, there’s something compelling about this underdog story.

It has heart. I got to like the original salvage crew and not to go into too many spoilers, but I felt bad when bad things happened to them (even when it felt a bit too conveniently plotted). Cole’s character arc is satisfying; he’s inexperienced enough to think outside the box and human enough to feel the weight of every choice. He’s the protagonist you want to see succeed, if only because he hasn’t been ground down by military bureaucracy.

Unexpectedly, Simon also does a nice job fleshing out the alien enemies, giving them depth and culture rather than leaving them as faceless villains. It’s not groundbreaking, but it adds a welcome layer of complexity to the conflict.

As for the audiobook, Ryan Kennard Burke delivers a clean, professional performance. His character voices are distinct, his pacing is on point, and his tone matches the narrative. It’s not a performance that will stick with you long after it’s over, but it does the job without distraction. Think of it as steady hands on the helm—not flashy, but precisely what the mission needs.

In short, First Command is a fun, fast listen with some emotional punches and a decent payoff. It’s not perfect, and if you are a stickler for logic and hard sci-fi, you may not like it. But if you like military sci-fi with underdog heroes, some tactical action, and just enough character depth to pull at your heartstrings, this might be worth queuing up next.

Special thanks to Aethon Books for providing this book at my request.

interesting start

l enjoyed listening and reading this book, where we meet Cole who finds himself and a small crew pressed into turning a wreck into a fighting ship again.

really enjoyable read with good charedters

enjoyed this a good bit. it's got most of what a scifi space book needs but the performance and depth of character really help it stand out without a ton of ego from said mc