Prime Guardian: Mission 4

Black Ocean: Astral Prime Series, Book 4

By: J.S. Morin, M. A. Larkin

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Magic and technology don’t mix. Now, the one exception to that rule is up for grabs.

The ancient solution to get magic and tech to coexist lies within an alien structure older than any race in the galaxy. Now, the balance of power threatens to tip. As factions reinforce their fleets for a war to claim the ultimate technological prize, Hiroko finds herself trapped between three races - one of them her own - in a quest where even victory promises disaster.

Down beneath the planet’s surface, Cedric delves into the workings of the mysterious alien technology that works like magic. Discovering the key to the untapped power it possesses may be Astral Prime’s only hope.

Prime Guardian is the fourth book in the Black Ocean: Astral Prime series. It hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning listeners alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.

©2018 J.S. Morin and M.A. Larkin (P)2018 J.S. Morin and M.A. Larkin

Return to form!

This is more like Morin's other work. The story and character development move forward at a much better pace than book 3.

Thrilling End to the Saga!!

In this, the final part of the first series of Astral Prime, things are not looking good for those aboard the Station.
Hiroko is trying to keep together a very fragile peace between the Eyndar, the Zheen and the ARGO Earth Navy.
Hiroko is a complicated character, obviously one of the main characters who is linked to multiple major streams of the story. We have already had significant character development for Hiroko, but we get a lot more in this part, leading to some brilliant storylines, some which get closure for the satisfaction of the reader, but since she is related to the station and its intergalactic relations, some of these storylines are obviously not closed, leaving them open for another series (although not necessarily relating to her of course)
Kane is not only trying to outwit Hiroko still to take the station, but he his also trying to keep on top of the negotiations as well, and certain illicit shop keepers, who may be more than they seem.
The character of Roland Kane is a really fun one, and in this episode, we finally get a lot more background on where he is from, his relationship to certain other people (no spoilers), and it is kind of fascinating watching this storyline play out.
Probably one of the best characters in this series though so far, especially if you like magic, or the entire ‘Wizardry’ aspect of the story, is Calvin Black, a.k.a., Cedric the Brown. Cedric is obviously a wanted mass murderer by the Convocation, as well as other crimes, such as reading ‘The Tome of Bleeding Thoughts’ (This is like the coolest name ever for a book), whereas Calvin is just a nice wizard who has some experience with astral drives. However, at the end of part 3, the stupid Marines did something really dumb, killing the dragon powering the Vaieen facility, making Calvin very unhappy, and you never want to make a Wizard unhappy, especially one who knows the dark language. So Calvin goes and destroys every weapon they had and tells them to leave or else. He has deemed the planet off limits, and has decided to stay with the dragon for now, utterly horrified that it was destroyed like that.
There is a lot of discussion in this last part about Cedric, his abilities, the Convocation, all sorts of wonderful things.
There are some other brilliant sections in this final chapter of the first series, as we get to cover off on some more of the Eyndar and Zheen background, and even better, the Stuunji. Something that is also really rather clever is that the Rucker Syndicate makes an appearance – again linking the original series to this one.
Overall this is a really engaging story, one that you will not put down once you start (I did it in 2 sessions and that was only because of Children issues!). As far as a spin-off series, this is just outstanding, but totally superior in every way.
For fans of Black Ocean – this is an absolute must!!
I can’t really add anything new about the Narration, it has been exceptional for the entire series.
Michael Naramore is one of the best Narrators that Audible has, and continues to provide high quality audiobooks, quite simply, if I see that he has recorded it, that is an automatic reason to look at buying it, based just on the Narration. This is one of those stories where it is better to listen rather than read as Naramore does such an extraordinary Narrating job.