In Our Stars

The Doomed Earth, Book 1

By: Jack Campbell

Narrated by: Andrea Emmes, Tim Fannon

Lieutenant Selene Genji has one last chance to save Earth in this pulse-pounding science fiction adventure from the author of the New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet series.

Earth, 2180
Genetically engineered with partly alien DNA, Lieutenant Selene Genji is different from ordinary humans. And they hate her for it. Still, she’s spent her life trying to overcome society’s prejudice by serving in Earth’s Unified Fleet.
Genji is stationed on a ship in orbit when humanity’s factional extremism on the planet reaches a boiling point, and she witnesses the utter annihilation of Earth.
When the massive forces unleashed by Earth’s death warp space and time to hurl her forty years into the past, Genji is given a chance to try to change the future and save Earth.

Earth, 2140
Lieutenant Kayl Owen’s ship is on a routine patrol when a piece of spacecraft wreckage appears out of nowhere. To his shock, there is a survivor on board: Selene Genji. Once her strange heritage is discovered, though, it becomes clear that Genji is a problem Earth Guard
command wants to dispose of—quietly. After learning the horrifying truth, Owen helps her escape and joins her mission.

Together, they have a chance to change the fate of an Earth doomed to die in 2180. But altering history could put Genji’s very existence in danger, and Owen wonders if a world without her is one worth saving. …

©2024 John G. Hemry (P)2024 Recorded Books

So much potential but poor dialogue writing

Pros:
-- This book has an extremely intriguing plot line that a lot could be done with.
-- In general, I really like Jack Campbell's writing.

Cons:
-- The dual male/female narration did not mesh. The narrators would alternate chapters but each chapter had male and female characters speaking equal amounts of time, so there was no advantage to having the male narrator read one chapter and then the female narrator read the next. The transition was rather jarring and disconcerting.
-- The dialog between characters seems canned and below average for Jack Campbell.
-- I know this is science fiction, but some scenes seem unbelievable. For instance, running over flat ground with little to no obstacles for 200 yards with a dozen military shooting rifles at you from not very far away, and they can't hit you?!?
-- As others have mentioned, some of the motivations are also hard to believe. A major part of the military wants to kill the main characters on sight, but there doesn't seem to be a believable reason (in my mind) to justify it.

I really wanted this book to be great, as it has so much potential, but it seems like it was written by an unseasoned author, and not the experienced one that I know Jack Campbell to be.

First Contact

I'm not really a fan of cliff hanger endings but other than that it's a good listen. I'm also wondering if this might have been written, or at least started, in John's earlier phase. I thought it sounded like some of the JAG in Space books from earlier.

Bad Reading

The story was not nearly as good as I expected from Jack Campbell and the to reading was worse. The woman reader was the worst but they switched back and forth for no good reason. You had to continually reset your brain after each switch.

Good fit

Narrators are fine, Story’s solid as a product of the time. Looking forward to book two.

New Author/Direction for Pseudonym

This entertaining space adventure/romance book is written under the pseudonym Jack Campbell that has been used in many books by John G. Hembry. However, the writing style and themes in this book are clearly those of a woman author who is much younger than John G. Hembry (born in 1956). I have read/listened to all of his books in the Lost Fleet, Lost Star and Genesis Fleet series where his naval education/career have made the books very enjoyable for me. This book deals more with young person relationships, female-female interaction and romance than any other of the other Jack Campbell books. It is reasonable to suspect that a young female author has taken up the Jack Campbell pseudonym.
The book combines common Sci Fi and Romance tropes to result in an entertaining story.
Sci Fi Tropes: Dystopian future, time travel, snarky AI, extraterrestrial, genetic engineering, interspecies values and humor
Romance Tropes: Forbidden love, star crossed lovers, single bed habitations, awkward marriage proposals, potential accidental pregnancy.

Lieutenants Selene Genji and Kayl Owens are thrown together in an adventure to save Earth from destruction during human civil war driven by Earthling hatred of aliens (human supremacists) 40 years in the future. Genji and Owens undergo personal growth, interdependence, and transformation with their adventure punctuated by moments of suspense and action. The book ends with a cliffhanger, and the story continues in book 2 of the series, Destiny’s Way.