Heaven's War

By: David S. Goyer, Michael Cassutt

Narrated by: Joe J. Thomas

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

When it first appeared, the astronomers named the asteroid Keanu.

A Near Earth Object, from a distant constellation, it was headed directly toward our sun.

But when we went to meet it, it turned out to be far more than a huge rock hurtling through space...

The two teams of astronauts sent to explore Keanu discovered it is, in fact, a spacecraft, a giant ship with an alien crew. A ship that had headed to Earth with a mission and a message: Help Us. A brave new frontier beckons. But we are about to learn that it comes with a price...

Without warning, the aliens transport small groups of humans from the competing scientific communities of Houston, Texas and Bangalore, India to the vast interior habitats of Keanu. Their first challenge is to survive. Their second; to discover why The Architects - the unknown, unseen aliens controlling the asteroid - brought them there. And soon a third emerges: they must find a way to take control of Keanu.

Because the NEO is moving again - away from Earth. The Architects are headed home...

©2012 Michael Cassutt, David S. Goyer (P)2012 Penguin

Critic Reviews

"A solid and engrossing novel in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.” (George R. R. Martin, number-one New York Times best-selling author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels)

“The sort of work that can hold its own among the genre’s greats; the Clarkes and the Nivens and the Heinleins.” (The Maine Edge)

“Brisk and efficiently engrossing.” (Kirkus Reviews)

A fun story with a few problems

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

I would... with a few disclaimers. It is a fun story if you are more into characters interacting with each other vs. action and/or realism.

Would you be willing to try another book from David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt ? Why or why not?

Probably. The writing was pretty good for the most part.

Have you listened to any of Joe J. Thomas’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No - just from book 1.

Any additional comments?

Well, all-in-all I guess I liked it. I liked it good enough to finish and continue onto the third book. There are some plot elements you just have to say "whatever"... get past those and just enjoy the characters and it's a fun story.

I wasn't all that keen on their "first day" activities. You get abducted and plopped into a huge NEO with no welcoming committee (no guards, no one) what do you do? You decided you need to elect a mayor - day one???? Strange. How about explore the place?? That would have made more sense to me. Then to make it worse, DAY 1 was examined over-and-over again from different characters perspectives. This actually could have been cooler if there was more interesting stuff going on...

Once you get past DAY 1 (almost the 1st half of the book it seemed) then it got much better.

I'm glad it's over

This book is a cross between.. The Pod People in outer space, A Bad Soap Opra, A realy Poor Sci-fi movie and a Bad Dream. The good narration is the only thing that kept me listening.

Catchy...

If you could sum up Heaven's War in three words, what would they be?

Multifaceted
Compelling
Worthwhile

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Initially I thought there were too many characters to follow readily, but in retrospect they all had their place, and had enough depth to allow the listener to care about them and their ultimate resolution.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Joe J. Thomas?

Definitely. Good use of accents, and created enough difference between the various characters to allow clear follow along.

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

I was never sure where this would end up, and didn't have clear foreshadowing

Any additional comments?

Fans of epic sci fi will enjoy this work, as it is somewhat of a pocket epic, with the potential of a sequel always looming. This work took awhile to get started, but I ended up fascinated, and recommend it without hesitation.

Rated "R"

:Love Syfy But not bad language, it ruins the story when the "F" word comes into it.