Reality Check

The Empire's Corps, Book 7

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

None of them wanted to leave Earth. It might have been nightmarish, but it was all they knew.

Gary wanted to concentrate on his exams in hopes of leaving the CityBlock and its bullies far behind. Kailee wanted to become an actress. Darrin merely wanted to live. But when the three teenagers win a competition, they find themselves taking the trip of a lifetime, a voyage to a colony world where they can see how the colonists live.

Meridian is very different from the dark and dismal CityBlock, a place where they can make a new beginning. But it also houses dangers, dangers that their education on Earth didn't even begin to prepare them to face, dangers governed by the cold equations of survival. And when disaster strikes, they find themselves forced to fight for their lives - or die, alone and unloved, thousands of light years from home.

©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2015 Podium Publishing

Back to Earth and out to the rim of the Of the Galaxy!

Back to Earth and out to the rim of the Galaxy! Lots of surprises and new understanding of why the Empire fell!

Overall good book but .........

I like the character developement. Great story line but seemed out of place for this series. Just not in keeping to the same vantage point.

Decent Series Entry

The core of this book is a very good case study of the effects of the fall of civilization from the point of view of common citizens. The adventure involved is well-written, if a bit grimdark. The characters are believable and even though they're not inherently very sympathetic, they're written well enough that they engage the emotions of the reader.

By itself, that would result in a 4-star book.

But the combination of a heavy-handed and one-sided political overlay and an epilogue that spoils much of the impact of the base story (while acting as a cliff-hanger for the next volume in the series) drops this by one star.

Different

Definitely a different pace then other books in the series. What's really concerning though is the education system of the empire is similar to the direction the American education system is going....with the larger concern being over rights and not responsibility. Balance of both rights and responsibility is key.

Ok least favorite of the series so far

And continues to next book, not me favorite by a long shot. Will still finish the series but glad this was not the first book, would not have continued.

It's an okay book.

You have to be willing to look past the Fox News style narrative away the beginning of each chapter. The author seems to write from an ultra right conservative narrative. I'm not sure whether he is a conservative politically and writing from that point of view or if he means for his characters and the narrative of the book to seem to have c9nserb.c ative/libertarian pov.
The constant berating of people gets very old very quick though.

Better than the rest of the series so far

The plot is wildly different from previous entries in the series. This one focuses on three earth-born kids who get put into a survival situation on an underdeveloped colony world. For the most part, nothing about war is brought up much beyond passing comments, and only one passing comment near the beginning mentions previous vooks. In fact, this book occurs roughly parallel to the first book. The most significant difference from previous books would be the fact that all four of the main characters are actually three dimensional and you kinda care about them. However, I found the nerd one kinda stopped getting much development for most of the book, with half his bits repeating themselves.

The biggest drawback for this book is the excessive amount of time spent on discussing rape and sex. Not to mention the fact that all of the female characters seem to be described in great detail over and over, and I found I could barely recall what the males looked like. Not to mention the fact that the author still has an obsession with discussing breasts which is more uncomfortable since it's frequently the lead female character, and she is supposed to be 16. Oh, and SPOILER, she gets raped needlessly at the end... like I actually felt bad for her, but the whole scene was unnecessary and predictable. I actually would have been surprised if it didn't happen when it comes to the author.

Beyond that, the book is actually pretty good but very predictable. Everything I predicted would happen happened. Including one twist near the end that I admit I was happy to be right about, even if it was a bit expected.

The narrator still sucks, though. He basically monotones the whole thing and frequently fails to match the delivery with the tone.

Prescient

Reading this series is almost scary when I compare it to the world today. This book especially resonated with me because of its concentration on the educational system. I am a teacher who retired in her early 40s due to some of the issues touched on in this book. It takes some of the problems our schools face today and imagines where they might go in the future and the effects it will have, not only on the students, but on society itself. Powerful story!

Reality check for Mr. Nuttal... This story sucked

What did you like best about Reality Check? What did you like least?

The narration was up to its usual quality.
The story line didn't impress me. I am use to the characters making a huge difference on a cosmic level, but not this time.

What do you think your next listen will be?

The Empire's Corps, Book 8. Hopefully that one will be a better read than this one.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was good, and there was not much not to like.

Do you think Reality Check needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes it needs a followup book to hopefully wash away the sour taste that it left in my mouth,

Impressive

This book is a bit different than others in the series to date. The story focuses on three teenagers: Gary who wants to finish his examination and get away from some bullies, Kailee wants to be an actress and Darrin just wants to live. The three of them enter a competition and win a trip to Meridian, a colony world. The goal of the trip is to learn about the colonist.

Nuttall provides us with a view of the collapsing Empire’s school system or should I say dysfunctional school system. The three teenagers are ignorant in basic learning but also in common sense. Then disaster strikes, the plane taking them to see the farms crashes and they are forced to fight for their survival. The author provides us with lots of suspense and action along with an inside view of teenagers. Jeffrey Kafer narrates the story.