Perilous Waif

By: E. William Brown

Narrated by: Mare Trevathan

Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

My name is Alice Long, and I've always known I was different.

When I was little I used to climb up to the highest branches of the housetree at night, and watch the starships docking at the orbital stations high above. Forty meters off the ground, watching ships 30,000 kilometers overhead, with senses that could pick out radar pings and comm chatter as easily as the ships themselves. It all seemed perfectly natural at the time.

There were other kids with mods at the orphanage, but nothing like that. I learned fast to downplay my abilities, keep my mouth shut, and try to blend in. Even as a kid I knew not to trust the Matrons. What would they do if they realized the Adjustments that were supposed to make me a meek little herd animal didn't do anything?

Then I messed up and gave myself away.

Now I'm on the run, hoping against hope that the Matrons won't try too hard to find me. Hoping to survive all the awful things that can happen to a girl on her own in space. Kidnappers, slavers, pirates, and yakuza - no matter where I go, trouble always seems to find me.

Good thing I'm not as helpless as I look.

©2017 E. William Brown (P)2017 E. William Brown

THIS was fun!

Alice Long is a 13 year old orphan living on a planet that is strictly against human augmentation. And since Alice has been showing signs of being special, the women running the orphanage want to crack open her skull to find out if she's really human or not.

If not, they'll remove whatever hardware they find, whether or not doing so will kill her.

Alice may be young, but she's not dumb, and with the help of her unique skill set, she decides it's time to make a run for it. Besides, they don't eat meat, and Alice is a predator.

She travels on foot to the nearest spaceport and tries to get hired on a ship bound for space, but she's too young and untrained for most jobs. Fortunately, she makes a friend and gets a job as a cabin girl on a mercenary ship. Bye bye vegetarian diet, hello space!

The whole book moves at a steadily increasing rate of intensity but never loses it's sense of wonder and humor. As Alice develops more and more enhancements, she becomes a more integrated part of the crew, often handlng crisis single handedly. There are times when it becomes obvious that something is about to happen where they'll come in handy, but in such a jolly, joyful way that it made the book more fun. (Brown gave this character all of my deepest secret fantasy abilities that I would want for my female Rambo avatar! Woot!)

Alice grows up quickly, too, when properly nourished, and by the end of the book she's around 16. Looks like she'll continue to grow up with each book in the series. She discovers boys, and kissing, but her unique origins make any relationships problematic.

The long action scene at the end was mind boggling it was so packed! The word that came to mind was kaleidoscopic because so much was happening all at once. It was written with all the subtly -- and information -- of a weapons magazine for mercenaries from the future -- a magazine that lists all the cool stuff you'd ever need or want for a fire fight in space! And it left me wondering how much of those descriptions are actually feasible -- provided you don't live in a human body, that is! Brown appears to have a pretty deep grasp of weaponry and science, but what do I know. I just enjoyed his writing immensely.

The side characters are real, fully fleshed out and just as interesting as Alice. Brown has created a world I'd love to live in, and I'm completely amazed at his talent and originality. Not since Stephen W. Bennett's Koban series has a author so completely won my admiration.

About 3/4th's of the way through the book, I went looking for Brown's website, Facebook page, Amazon page -- just to make sure that, (1) the author was working on a second book, (he is) and 2) to find out if this was book was really written by a guy! He's so good at writing strong women (that aren't bitchy), that I really couldn't tell.

Go Alice, go!

Narrator: Mare Trevathan does a great job, (though at times she struggles a bit with the male characters (at least one sounded much too old), and an inconsistent French accent. But she's definitely got the goods, and will only get better, so I hope she continues with the series. I will be watching for other books read by her beyond this series. She IS the perfect Alice.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: E. William Brown is an author to watch. He's freaking amazing, and this is a great book. If you like sci fi about genetic enhancements, human hardware mods, andro-morphs, and 12 level sentient AIs -- do not miss this one! (Mild sexual situations are discussed, but nothing is explicit, so probably fine for older teens.

Note: Lots of 'people' die, but this is not a gory book and the violence is generally directed at robots. No bad language that I recall.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Amazing.

This audiobook was quite a ride, thinking about it this story reminded me a lot of the movie Treasure Planet (not the plot though or aliens – more of the feel). Treasure Planet that is for mature audiences (there are no explicit sex scenes) which include an interesting take on AI and Genetic engineering, also has a neat implementation on interstellar travel, and the protagonist is just a bit overpowered (I think some would say Mary Sue-like qualities). (No aliens in the book as far as I could tell). This book is fun – action packed, and most of all an interesting perspective on humanities future.

Overall (4.5/5)

The performance was good, but I think the narrator got a bit excitable in places. I noticed this at the beginning, but there were a few instances in which the narrator speeds up when something exciting is happening – the speed is up all right, but it felt like some of the words were not being enunciated correctly or wholly. I usually listen to books at 2x speed but had to lower the speed to 1.7x to cope with the bursts of excitability. The voice of the narrator fits rather well with the story, and production was good. Note – I am not saying that emotion is bad – I am saying that enunciating each word at the same pace and speed of the last is important – having half the sentence end at double the speed of the first half is not good.

Performance (3.5/5)

The story is told from one perspective, Alex. This is quite an adventure story, from escaping a mind control regime, visiting strange new places, criminal organisation(s), treasure ships, chase scenes, blowing stuff up – sometimes with small nukes, and a few learning montages. People in this society are in some ways designed; there is a fascinating exploration of AI development and also Nanotechnology + some genetic engineering. The story explores these technologies – but I would not classify this as hard science fiction. Alex is different – but does that mean she is not human or is it just a next step? While this book has a lot of cool concepts going on and is very imaginative, the author gives a well-paced story, that is the story came first the cool ideas second.

Story (4.5/5)

Having read both the Kindle version and listened to the audiobook – I feel like both are mostly on par with each other.

19 of 21 people found this review helpful

Wow

It is so rare to find a SF writer with an understanding of economics and political systems. I was floored when the author explains the scarcity that still exist in his advanced world that is the basis of its economy. Totally loved that!!! This adds a lot of realism to the story that I don't find in other books. The world built in this book is amazing and I look forward to more.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

loved it

starts off as a girl wanting to get away from an oppressive society and ends with battlesuit combat. touches on mind hacking, biological engineering, ai, lower scale aircraft rights etc . very nice twist to the genre

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

an enjoyable peek at coming of age tomorrow

good work on drifting into a future without falling down all the traps of post humanity.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Love the book a new type of Space story

Both the story and and the narrator combine for an enjoyable listening experience.

I look forward to the next in the series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A book for Young adults, with a little more depth

A book for Young adults, with a little more depth than usual.

The main layout is very basic: Young main person, that don’t fit in. Has a mysterious past. Runs away. Becomes awesome over night and everyone loves her.
The sub story and long term plot, has a little more depth than the normal young adults book. I hope the story will develop and maybe make the hero a little less “perfect and awesome”.

The bad side of the story is that the main character gets a lot of quick fixes and become perfect and gets an easy solution in every situation. The skill system for the hero is based on growing internal “modifications”. This skill system gets over used in this book, and saves to many situations, without any big struggles for the hero.

The story has potential, but I hope for a better and less awesome hero in book two.

12 of 16 people found this review helpful

Awesome!

A uniquely original and exciting sci-fi universe that is extraordinarily well thought out. Eagerly awaiting the next installment from the author.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

eh.

Lots of technical speak mixed with weird sex fantasies. Way too much filler and not enough story.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

I should take off a star but could not because...

The story arc romps along and keeps on pulling you along. Lots of action scenes but none of those overblown Hollywood slap the hero down till he is past dead and then he miraculously gets up and beat up the bad guy stuff. (I always want to punch and author just once one the jaw every time I see or read one for those scenes - trust me it will change your life...)

Anyway a really good yarn of a 'supergirl' that discovers here origins but told very well. Sure it is a hollow ridden theme but this is about the journey...

Now there is a bit too much "thinking" about sex for my taste but then I am not a young girl so what do I know...

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Surprisingly enjoyable. Great narrator.

I ended up loving this book. I think the narrator did a great job. She managed to convey the innocence of a young teenager, yet that moved onto a more mature footing as the main character learnt more of her own history, I guessed where some of that history information was heading, but it still didn't spoil the book.

There was also some superb work by the narrator in making so many different characters come to life.

Don't be put off thinking this is a novel just for youthful people. There's a smattering of some bad language (odd words only) that drags it into the adult sphere. And it's skillfully added language, which is right within context.

I truly hope this combination of author and narrator do future books, hopefully even expanding on this realm.

In summary; a really nice story that was over all too soon. Plus a narrator who has firmly placed herself into my top 5 narrators. I'm only disappointed the UK Audible site doesn't have more of her works in their library for us to buy.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Absolutely Brilliant

Great story, very intricate world, narrator totally sold it can't wait for the next one.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Story yes, Tech no.

Good storyline and a steady pace.
Loved the principle character but would have liked her to have been a year or more older.
I will be ordering the next Audio book.
But will be skipping anymore appendix tech chapters. Boring !!!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Excellent book with excellent narration - 10/10

This was a real surprise find for me. Came up as a kindle recommendation just after I bought another book in an on-going series & I purchased not expecting great things (didn't know the author, but it looked interesting). What I found was an amazingly detailed world/galaxy filled with great characters & it was brought to life by the very talented narrator.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Wish he could write faster

Very different from the Black story arc but easily as good. Very well thought out future science with deep characters. Looking forward to the next one.

The narration is excellent. Very good voice range with dynamism and excitment clearly audible so that you really feel you are their, or wish you were, well done.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

.

Mare has an excellent way of telling the story. All the characters have a defined voice. The story itself seems a little slow to begin but hang in there if you like space fantasy. I found it very easy to listen to and a most enjoyable read.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fantastic Story - Can't wait for book 2

My only real negative is book 2 isn't out yet.

Oh, and if twists are important to you, the big reveal is signposted miles away so don't come for any of that. Just come for a well though out universe and story.

The story unfolds with some great concepts.

I absolutely loved the ideas in this book and the narrator was amazing, well done Mare!

I cannot wait for the next chapter of this story, there were so many things thrown into this with so much thought it was a whole lot of fun. Morphs, AI, interesting FTL, and some nice use of time dilation.

Thw characters are lots of fun and this will be a great coming of age saga I feel, I hope to see more of the same complexity, fun and intrigue.

The slow motion battle analysis was also a cause of great enjoyment, I just wanted more and more with the last battle.

Excellent. I will surely purchase the next installment with eager anticipation.

Good work

excellent!

Great story excellently narrated. Includes many thought provoking ideas about the future of mankind and our societal evolutions.

It has redeeming features, but...

I liked the story, mostly. Elements of it have left me a touch confused, though. In a society that has nano-technology, and space travel: where is the value in gold? There must be trillions of tons of it floating about in asteroids, why would anyone value a raw material such as this? That is never explained to my satisfaction.

Another small gripe is the "Orphan child finds out they are royalty" trope, plus the lengths the author goes through to get from (broadly) ordinary child to supreme killing machine and tactician is slightly tortuous.

Lastly, the narrator has a few word-pronouncing issues, which slightly spoiled my listening experience every now and again.

But, for all that, it's a pretty entertaining romp, and the appendices at the end were almost as interesting as the main story. I'm an Engineer, so your mileage may vary.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful