Nemesis

By: Ken Lozito

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

They had seven years to prepare. Earth is lost.

Seven years ago the New Earth colony received one final message from Earth...a warning. First a global pandemic, then the emergence of a new species. A war for survival ravaged the Sol system. Now they are coming for the colony.

Many colonists don't believe it, but Connor does. They must prepare. They must fight. But how can they survive something that killed every person back on Earth?

©2017 Ken Lozito (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

OK story, but lacking in military knowledge

The story itself is pretty straightforward, and not bad. The basic plot, while not particularly original, is fine. The characters are pretty well drawn, and distinctive enough to keep the story interesting.

The narrator is good, and while I don't care for the voice he chose for one central character, that's more personal preference than a solid critique. He does quite a few different and distinctive voices, and although his feminine voices are a little weak, I'm going to give him a pass on that, since cross-sex voices are really hard (I certainly can't do them).

My biggest complaint is that the writer doesn't seem to know his material very well, and he makes some choices along the way that will detract from the story if you happen to know anything about the military, or if you have read any naval battle novels written by really good writers.

For example, no soldier who has ever made it past boot camp would call a sergeant, "sir." You don't say, "yes, sir" to a sergeant, you say, "Yes, sergeant." It's a minor point, but little missteps like this go a long way toward making the story feel "authentic."

Another example, he uses army ranks in a naval setting, which is discordant and strange. So instead of Admiral, the leader of the navy is a general. Instead of Commodore, it's a squad leader. Instead of Captain, it's colonel or major. It makes the whole thing feel like you are listening to a book written by someone who couldn't be bothered to google "Navy ranks" before he wrote his book.

Finally, he tells the story exclusively from the perspective of the protagonists, but during the big battle, he keeps them in such a fog of war that you never have a clear picture of what is going on. Did they kill any ships in that engagement? A dozen? A hundred?

And in that big explosion, did you take out any enemy ships?

Big battle scenes are described as not much more than "lots of detonations." The result? No clue.

During the entire battle, most of the time you do not have a clear picture of how many ships you are facing, and even more, how many you have destroyed. So it's not until the very end that you find out any of the details of what happened in the war. And for me, that detracted from the drama and appeal of the story.

Overall, I'm giving it three stars, which in my book is equivalent to a "C" [5 = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, 2 = D, 1 = Fail].

"The book was fine" I said.

"The premise of the book was interesting" I said. "The story it self wasn't to bad" I said. "Character growth was a bit minimalist" I said. "But there was a glaring issue with this book" I said. "Have you guessed the issue yet?" I said.

Fun but silly

A good enough adventure but there is no science in the fiction. Sometimes communication takes a while to get from planet to planet and at other times there is a delay. If these kinds of logic failures bother you, this probably isn't for you. They usually aggravate me. Lozito did enough other things well enough to suit my tastes that I was able to enjoy the story. I would not recommend them. If you need a "last of humanity trying to survive on a new world" story, this might scratch the itch. I was fine with the first 3 books in the series, as I got them on sale, but I won't be continuing.
Narration is good.

Good story and Decent performance.

I enjoyed the story but it wasn't one that I couldn't wait until the next chapter. And the performance was okay but not the best depiction of the female characters buy a male actor.

Conner said. Tobias said.

Lozito should work on his dialogue skills. We know who said what 90% of the time. The other 10% can be iterated in some other way besides he said she said.

Simply Outstanding

While I failed to comment on Genesis, after listening to Ken Lozito’s unexpected personal remarks at the conclusion of Book-7, I decided to go back to the earliest book of the "First Colony Series," still in my possession, to input this brief analysis, which I shall repeat from Book-3 through Book-7. Indeed, I lack the suitable words to convey the extent of my enormous appreciation for each single work of this anthology, for, ever since I finished listening to Genesis, I could not wait to start enjoying the next one. Lastly, I would like to vigorously applaud the author of this magnificent series, and to thank him for having composed them for his devoted audience.

Great Series

I have listen to the first and now the second in the First Colony series and I will be starting on book 3. This is excellent. Thanks Ken The Narrator, Scott Aiello, is fantastic and really enjoyed his work on this title. Thanks Scott for making it a great listen.

Great story

I love colony building along with space opera and interesting characters then throw in intense action and combat and you have a great book. The narrator was perfect for this series. I can't stop reading this series. Highly recommended.

Fun Book

Fun to read typical heros and regulars, a little treachery, wanted to see whats next...

Solid

Another solid performance by Scott Aiello and another solid book in the First Colony Series. Ken Lozito takes you on a journey in such a way that you feel like you are part of the story. Now time for book 3!

You have to listen to it

A great book loved the story great narration 5 stars I highly recommend listening to this book 👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do you even physics bro'? And emotions galore!!

This was a real struggle to get through - a tour de force in frustration and head shaking. The entire book was one long battle - a detailed description of every thought, every movement and every regret Connor Gates has ever had. During the battle they either invent FTL communication or they are close enough to New Earth to communicate with it without any lag. They disregard physics over and over again - or maybe they are just really really lucky that the enemy comes from the direction they expect and that all their assets are on the same side in their orbit around the star. Transport times makes no sense - slow in one direction and fast in the other. It even contains the classical "Jeff Goldblum"-trick from "Independence Day".

During the first book I could forgive the small lapses Connor Gates had into emotional outbursts but not this time. The man imay be a general, but a leader he is not! He is continually led by his emotions instead of facts and moves on hunches and gut feelings, rather than hard data and logic. Time is wasted over and over again, whenever the author has an opportunity to let Connor talk about his feelings. When Connor and his team is running with the enemy right on their tail, he wastes minutes having a long talk with a dying friend (the enemies were kind enough to wait). When they finally get back to their ship he wastes more time complimenting one of his subordinates, eventhough they are in the middle of a battle and he is urgently needed on the bridge. In this sequence alone I counted at least 10 minutes wasted while carrying vital information back from the enemy ship.

Great sci-fi romp

Enjoyed the performance and got this after reading the book. There's a lot going on and Aiello's characterisation holds up well.

Middle book of a trilogy

I can’t lie, I really enjoy this series.
I Where it falls down for me is that it needs the other books to complete the story. I don’t feel a good book should leave you on a cliffhanger, this isn’t a tv series or podcast. Yes, there is some conclusion, but after reading a lot of fantasy novels, bythese feel more like the end of a good chapter than the conclusion of a book. However I guess that if you’re considering buying this book, as the second one, you’re already hunting for answers just be prepared that they aren’t all given here. You’ll need to buy at least another one after this.