Operation Grendel

By: Daniel Schwabauer

Narrated by: Adam Verner

It’s the war story he’s dreamed of. But the battle may cost him his mind.

Military journalist Raymin Dahl thinks he’s finally getting the story of a lifetime. Secret peace talks on a remote tropical moon are about to surrender five colonized worlds - and 600 million civilians - to a ruthless enemy.

But when his commanding officer, Captain Ansell Sterling, is fatally wounded before the negotiations can begin, Dahl can no longer just report on the mission. He’s ordered to complete it. With help from the AI embedded in Sterling’s comms bracelet, Dahl must impersonate his commander - a Marine Corps hero and psychological operations expert.

However, Sterling’s AI may be luring him to surrender more than he realizes. And the mission Corporal Dahl thinks he’s running isn't the only operation underway.

©2021 Daniel Schwabauer (P)2021 Oasis Audio

Military SciFi with a Dark Theme

This is a bit of a departure from what I normally read, but I have to give it serious kudos. It had that final "bite of irony" which is so characteristic of many of the Rod Serling stories I used to read and watch on the Twilight Zone. If I had one complaint, it was with the narrator. While Verner has a pleasant enough voice, he really needs to work on his tempo and pacing. It was essentially the same tempo and pacing throughout the whole story, but he needed to pick up his tempo using more urgency in the parts of action. Still, a good story, and nicely brief and streamlined.

To drug out

To me, the story is too slow, like some was just adding fillers for space.

Wow! Incredible Book!

I didn’t know what to expect from this book. I was pleasantly surprised this book is an incredible read that builds as you go. Lots of twist and turns, and I never saw the end coming.