Prototype D

By: Jason D. Morrow

Narrated by: James Foster

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

A hundred years after the world is decimated by nuclear wars, humanity has been reduced to a surviving city of people called Mainlanders. They have food, water, and a wall that separates them from their enemies - the Outlanders.

Branded as savages, the Outlanders have grown in number and their attacks against the city have become more brutal. Increasingly, they threaten to overtake the city, bringing with them the doom and destruction that has plagued mankind for over a century. What the Mainlanders need is a weapon.

Des is the first robot created with a full range of human emotions. His reasoning skills and thought processes will make it so no human will ever have to step foot on the battlefield again. But when Des realizes his true purpose - to help destroy the Outlanders - he suspects that the real enemies might not be the people he was built to destroy, but those who created him.

©2015 Jason D. Morrow (P)2015 Jason D. Morrow

Couldn't put it down...

Prototype D was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much, but boy was I wrong. This is a thoughtful entertaining story that struggles with the age old question of what defines life in a fast paced and exciting story. Balancing the idea of artificial intellegence, emotions and true soul, it delivers thought provoking yet light hearted adventure and characters with complex personalities and motives.

Once I started listening, I couldn't put it down. The relationship between the characters, especially Hazel, DES and ESROY keeps you guessing as the story evolves.

The narrator does a good job of defining the individuals perspectives and motivations.

My only minor criticism is that I found myself wishing I had more information about the history of certain situations. In most cases the background is delivered as the story progresses and is satisfying, however I think the book could have benefitted from developing the back story a little sooner and in more detail in regard to the "outlanders". That being said, it did leave room for several new ideas to develop and I am looking forward to future books from this author to flesh out those remaining histories. I can't wait to listen to another book by Jason D. Morrow.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."


"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Some difficulties connecting, but am a fan of Des

SERIES INFO: This is Book #1 of a series that, according to the author, will have 4 books in total. The ebook of Book #2, Prototype Exodus, was recently released and the audio should be available in April.

I am sad to say that this book never rose above average for me, due to the difficulties I had connecting with the majority of the characters and with the plot. However, I really liked Des and am looking forward to reading his further adventures.

Character comments: Hazel (Des’ inventor) - Her neglect of her father and treatment of Esroy made her hard to like. / Esroy (A.I.) - I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. / Gizmo (the Pollyanna style companion robot) - he would probably drive me nuts if he were mine, but he was fun to read about.

The beginning was great. I loved Des right away and felt like the opening chapter presented his situations clearly and sympathetically. He was the true heart of the story. I also liked his interactions with Hazel’s father. I only cared about the rest of the story in so far as it dealt with him.

The book has some well-written and intense action sequences, for people who like those. The ending resolved the current situation, but leaves many changes to be dealt with.

Note: this book contains no significant swearing and no sexual content, which was much appreciated.

NARRATION: Smooth and nice sounding, no falsetto females / Listened on 1.25 speed (my usual)

FAVORITE PART(S): The opening scene, where Des awakes and immediately begins to demonstrate his humanity, despite being a robot. / Quote: “he had never seen the sun before. He could have scanned the archives embedded in his memory, but having knowledge of the sun and actually experiencing its warmth were two different things.” WARNING: Some intense “fear of heights” scenes

MY RATINGS:
--Enjoyment: AVERAGE
--Re-readability: LOW - but I am planning to read the sequel.
--Narrator Impact: AVERAGE

I received this book free in return for an honest review, courtesy of Audiobook Blast dot com.

Engrossing Story

Story held my interest to the end and the narrator was great, he added to the experience rather than just having to be tolerated.

AI at it's best

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book.The author did a wonderful job at creating the character of Des.The robot is imbued with artificial intelligence and is learning about the world he inhabits.The struggles between Des's creator and her military bosses is portrayed realistically.I would highly recommend this book to any fan of the Sci-Fi genre.The narrator did an excellent job portraying the story.I received an audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Very good book

this book was very good it's a little bit predictable but none the less I really enjoy the story would recommend to anymore.

Action and Thought

An excellent look at the consequences of AI with a great background of corruption and government control.


"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Didn't seem realistic enough

It was hard to hang in there through this story. some characters were difficult to believe. A robot so niave yet so human made it hard to believe it was a robot. It didn't help the female leads voice was hard to differentiate between the robot's. :/ The black and white storyline was too old. Either good or bad. The female lead was too young and seemed impossible as a strong programmer. Weepy and talking about souls. I love sci fi but this was not hard science, nothing explained, just assumed. It just did not add up, to me. Too hard to believe.

Very enjoyable, leaves you wanting more!

Would you listen to Prototype D again? Why?

Yes, It is interesting and flows well

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

read a little faster maybe, left me waiting for the next word sometimes.

Any additional comments?

Written well, believable and well narrated.

Flesh, metal, and souls

Which programming is better? One written at the birth of a child or the one written by scientist in a lab?

Des is a guy born into a robot body who has to deal with the fall out of a cataclysmic war. He makes friends, enemies, and has to decide who he wants to support and who he needs to fight.

Morrow does a great job detailing the world as well as the thoughts if Des. The story gets a bit slow in parts but it does move forward at a decent pace.

Des was my favorite character because even though he had the power to hurt all he wanted to do was help.

Foster does a great job of delivering the narration and sounds very professional. Personally I prefer it when the narrators act out the parts but he does several voices and maintains the personalities of the characters throughout.

If you like sci-fi books that explore what makes us alive versus those that are created artificially then this is a book for you.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Loved this!!!

There seems to be a lot of robot books popping up lately but I'm so glad I started with this one. It. Was. Awesome!!!

Prototype D is about a girl, Hazel, who programmes robots with intelligence and a range of human emotions. Prototype D is one such Robot. It starts with Robot D thrown into a simulation to test his abilities, but the commander of the army isn't happy that Prototype D can feel fear and he wants the programmer to eradicate fear in the robots so that they can kill the outlanders. Hazel doesn't want to do it but doesn't have a choice either, thus Prototype E is born. He is the ultimate weapon but Hazel isn't happy because she learns some astounding news about the outlanders. They aren't how they are portrayed to the mainanders. How can her and Prototype D stop the ultimate robot?

I loved Prototype D, aka Des. He battles with his feelings but with a robot attitude. I absolutely loved seeing the story through his POV as well. We also get to see it through Prototype E POV, which is completely different than Des. Des seems more human but E is all robot.

The plot was fast paced and entertaining. Right from the start we are drawn into book and not let go till the end, even then, you don't want it to end. I really hope we see more from these characters, robots included, soon!!

In all, an engaging and addictive read. The world building was amazing, as was the character development. I need to check out the authors other books!

James Foster is one of my favourite narrators. He has such an amazing range of tones and voices and he always does a flawless performance. His voice is easy to listen to and he always draws me into the story. Listening to him bring the story alive is like watching a movie in your head.

*I received a copy of this for review. This in no way affects my thoughts.*