Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space

The Henry Gallant Saga, Book 1

By: H. Peter Alesso

Narrated by: Rich Miller

Follow the career of a young officer in the 22nd-century genetically engineered space navy.

As the last star fighter in squadron 111, Midshipman Henry Gallant is on his way from Jupiter to Mars. With the United Planets' fleet on the verge of annihilation, he can expect no help as he passes through the asteroid belt and threatening aliens. With so much uncertainty about the aliens' capabilities and intentions, analyzing the captured computer equipment in Gallant's possession could prove crucial. The fate of Earth could rest on the abilities of Midshipman Henry Gallant. Unfortunately, it is his abilities that have been much in doubt during his tour of duty.

In an era of genetic engineering, he is the only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. His classmates and superior officers have all expressed their concern that he will not be up to the demands of the space service.

Only bright and attractive junior officer Kelsey Mitchel has shown any sympathy for him. Now as his navigator on the last fighter in squadron 111, her life as well as a good many others, depends on Henry Gallant.

©2013 Harry Peter Alesso (P)2018 Harry Peter Alesso

Exciting New Sci-Fi Series

Henry Gallant is the only non-genetically engineered officer in the fleet. Naturally, the others, all genetically engineered, look down on him as less than. Henry proves them all wrong and shows them that his non-genetically engineered ingenuity is better than theirs.

Good start to a new sci-fi series, and a quick enjoyable listen. The action kept me interested and the narrator was quite good, too. Looking forward to more in the series.

Too much story makes everything rushed

Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space is just too full for its 6 hour running time. It tells the story of a new Midshipman, Gallant, as he joins the fleet, undertakes training, runs the maintenance team, flies missions, discovers Alien secrets, gets embroiled in politics vs military and more and more and more. There is a lot going on here, and it’s too much for the length. And because of this the book flits from one thing to another without letting any of the events have any weight or interest. Things happen, we move on to the next thing. Author H. Peter Alesso either needed to cut a lot of this out, or take the time to actually build the scenes into full events, rather than show just small snippets that don’t really go anywhere. The core of the story here is promising, it’s just not fleshed out well. Hopefully with experience Alesso will get better with time.

The style of the writing left something to be desired too. The space flights and battles were interesting and well told, but much of the stuff between was not. None of the conversations felt real. Almost every single one felt like a chance to do exposition – telling Gallant things he would certainly already know, just so the read would know, or giving us a characters whole life story and background in one go. Who meets someone and in their first conversations spews out their whole life story? The overuse of exposition through conversation was really painful. If the ‘narrator’ provided this, rather than the characters, it would be better, but often it was too much that wasn’t of any point. It’s like Alesso wrote full character bios but then had to put them in, less we think his characters are two dimensional. Just because you have the full character bio, doesn’t mean you have to include it all.

There is also some strange things that made me stop to check when the book was written. It actually calls an event ‘gay’, meaning ‘happy’. Sure that is the meaning of the word traditionally, but it hasn’t been used that way in a fair while and it felt very anachronistic in a futuristic book.

Narration by Rich Miller was reasonable. He was well paced and clear. His voice suits the military book, with it being a gruff, deep voice. What you would expect form a typical drill sergeant. He varied his voice to convey the action and emotions, but not so much for characters. There was some minor variation between characters but not significant. Sometimes it was easy to tell who was speaking, or times it was not.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.

It was ok....

I wanted to love this but I just liked it. There is a lot more story to tell and I think it will get better. I’d continue the story because of those story line possibilities...
Henry has a lot going for him and he is a bit of an enigma being an unaltered human in the age of dna tampering. It’s a clean story and would be good for teens.
I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.

Love a good space opera? You will love this book.

I have read and listened to this series several times. Obviously, I own the series and for me, money well spent.
Rich Miller's narration was excellent he didn't just narrate the story he became the characters. great job.
So yes, full five stars in all categories.

Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space

Henry Gallant has been assigned for two years to a warship out on the reaches near the enemy.He's from Mars and had hoped to be assigned there but because all spots were filled he was sent elsewhere. He is different from all others...he has no genetic manipulation and yet he delivers on his duties. Henry has been made to feel inferior his entire time in the military and on board his duty ship he feels like it hasn't changed. Then he gets his assignments...so so many and his captain says once he's settled in and gotten his new duties under his belt they'd find other things for him to do that would fill in his down time. Then one day he gets a roommate. He is totally surprised especially since it seems the guy seems to want to be his roommate. Then Kelsey takes an interest in him. Or maybe I should say he takes an interest in her. Then the enemy strikes and Henry finds himself and Kelsey in a dangerous situation.
This story may seem to start slow, but like The Hobbit, the adventure starts so subtly that before you know it you are swept away into the future and living a life right by Henry.
Fantastic story and the audio is beyond fantastic!! The narrator is incredible!