Mako

The Mako Saga, Book 1

By: Ian J. Malone

Narrated by: Andrew Wehrlen

It’s just a game...or is it?

On the heels of his divorce, down-and-out history professor Lee Summerston doesn’t have a lot going for him - a nowhere job at a third-rate college with kids who don’t care about anything except how to slide through class. All of that changes, though, when Lee leads a team of old friends to virtual glory as the first-ever group to beat Mako Assault, a revolutionary new game that has emerged from nowhere to take the Internet by storm.

As a reward for their achievement, the group is flown to meet the game’s mysterious designer and assist in developing the follow-on game Mako 2.0. But what they find when they get there is more than they’d expected...much more. Mako’s intent was never to entertain its players. It was to train them.

An epic sci-fi thrill-ride of action, suspense, laughter, and romance, Mako is the story of five ordinary people who will have to rise to the challenge of extraordinary events, driven only by their faith in each other. If they can’t, the game will become very real to more than just themselves - the Earth itself may ultimately be at stake.

©2009 Ian thomas (P)2013 Sharkflight Media, LLC

Good story poor SF

The story is quite well written with good character development and a decent writing style. The voice-acting is excellent. However, the technical side of things seems fairly poorly thought out. Suspension of disbelief is invoked many more times than necessary in this book, in many places seemingly out of laziness. The space battle scenes seem to lack a sense of the actual size of space, and space battles seem more like naval/air battles. For example, a space ship with wings so it can work in atmosphere as well, which seems to go from zooming around the canyons on a moon or the planet's surface back into orbit in a matter of a few seconds, then sweeping graceful arcs through space. While I confess, this is no worse than some of the SF in Star Wars, it feels a little disappointing on this front. Also, as mentioned by others, the book is steals pretty liberally from The Last Starfighter and Star Wars. As a character study, it's good, and it would probably make a decent summer movie, but don't go in expecting anything vaguely like hard SF.

MAKO - Great story

Where does Mako rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I was happy the way this audio book was created. The characters developed wonderfully and the detail of there backstory made me "know" them. I was so interested in the beginning because it reminded me of some details of my past, and mu friends. I loved this book, and will patiently wait for the next one and more.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lee - Is the closest character that I would think I would have a similar reaction to in this situation

Looking Forward to the Next Book(s)

Mako is an enjoyable book that lays the groundwork for some potentially interesting sequels.

Ian Malone did a very good job at developing his characters and, yes, some of the "science" behind how things operate in space are simplified, this doesn't take away from what he's written.

I enjoyed the journey from being part of a gaming community/family to being a part of an alien society/family. The fact that they're just like us will need to be better explained in future books, but suffice to say it makes the read more accepting.

My one critique was the narrator's awful Scottish accent for Hamish ... seriously? That's why I gave performance a "4".

The Game Is Just the Beginning

I really enjoyed this one. I can see where some reviews bash on this book due to its nautical dialog in space. The author uses phrases and terminology, not to mention physics, that may be accurate for sea and air battle but have no relevance to a space battle. That being said, the usage is consistent throughout the story and makes it easy to understand what is going on in the story. It worked for me and I thought it was a well written story.
Narration was just that... narration. Several different voices and accents made it easy to keep track of everyone but that did not change the fact that this voice was dry and monotone. Acceptable for the story but did not help to draw you into the story.
I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

great listen really draws you in

Would you listen to Mako again? Why?

hell yes great book watching the charters grow into the story makes this a human interest story

Any additional comments?

pls give us the rest of the saga quick im dyeing to find out what happens next hurry up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!