Requiem of a Nightmare

Fallen Empires, Book 2

By: Jeremy Spires

Narrated by: Garrett Michael Brown

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

The human civil war has ended.

Vandorian and Phelb have united under one flag once more, and peace now rules the human empire. But ancient enemies still exist in the galaxy, and they are unhappy about the new peace. Buoyed by victories against the Gilbaglians, humans boldly assault their new foes while seeking out more knowledge about the mysterious Cetoplin race that appears to have inadvertently created humanity.

But darkness is spreading, even as the light of human compassion spreads, the darkness of wars past threatens to engulf the galaxy once more.

©2019 Jeremy C Spires (P)2019 Jeremy C Spires

Lot of action

I chose to read this book after receiving a free audio copy from the narrator. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

I didn’t read the first book, but it wasn’t necessary. The author gave enough back story that I wasn’t lost at all. I like some sci-fi but there are times that there are so many alien races and odd names to keep up with that it’s too distracting. What’s funny is that there are several alien races in this book, but I was able to keep up with them. The author did a great job! I also like his sense of humor. Although there were times that there was quite a bit of violence, the protagonist often had something snarky to say which lightened the mood.

Garrett Brown, the narrator, also did a great job. He has the perfect voice for narration and even though he’s just starting out, he sounds like a seasoned professional. He has good pacing and he changes his voice just enough for the different characters in the story.

I definitely recommend Requiem of a Nightmare, and I may have to go back and read the first book.

Good action/sci-fi story.

Full disclosure I probably wouldn't have picked this book based on the description, but I had an opportunity to get the audiobook free. I was a little skeptical because it was a sequel and I had not read the first book. This ended up not being an issue. It didn't take too long(within the first hour) to get the lay of the land and by that point the action had started. There was just enough mystery left to make me curious about finding more books in the series.

The dialogue was very funny in parts and left me with some new expressions I hope to find an opportunity to use someday. ;)

I've always been a fan of sci-fi series where the human race isn't dramatically inferior to everyone else. Series like Koban or Alan Dean Foster's The Damned. This book was a fun take on that theme. I sometimes had a hard time believing the main character was as smart as he claimed based on his comments, but I was able to chalk it up to his flippant nature. Definitely a fun listen!

Enjoyed and well done!

I have not listened to a Sci-fi book before.
This very enjoyable listen was a excellent intro.
Garrett Brown is a gifted narrator, his many and varied voices show a true gift to story telling and made this book truly a wonderful listen.
Jeremy Spires congrats on this book! Well done!

Amazing book from an awesome author.

I can't wait to see where the Valentine's go next, and how Desota gets into trouble. The only bad thing is waiting for the next book.

A Fast-Paced Sci-Fi Tale

4.5 out of 5 stars

I dove into this with pretty much no expectations and sometimes that can really make or break a book.  I did not read book one but I thought that Spires did a good job giving some of the backing detail without overdoing it.  I was able to understand just enough that this book made sense to me.

Having not read the first book, I wasn't familiar with any of the characters and once again Spires did just enough to keep me intrigued by them.  I loved that I felt like I was finding out more about them even in the last parts of the book.  It's always interesting to me to still have new personality traits come out in the final stretch of the book.

Requiem of a Nightmare touched on some subjects that, because they were alien races and not humans, would have been a bit too political if it had been only humans.  I enjoyed that Spires was able to weave in some of the "typical" things we think and feel today into this Sci-Fi story.  There was a line about females near the end (I won't mention why it was brought up because it was a total surprise to me) but it talked about how the woman were basically homebodies and took care of all the duties of the house (similar to 20 years ago in the US).

The story itself was fun and fast-paced.  I really enjoyed the character building and the new races that were introduced.  Add in the great narration by Brown (giving different voices to the different characters) I thought that this was a fantastic audiobook.  Brown did a good job giving the main antagonists (the bird-like creatures) a voice that was grating (as described) but not grating enough to annoy me while listening.  The same can be said about the sing-songy voices we meet later.  He did just enough with it to make it additive to the story without ending up annoying me because it was too much.  An overall fantastic job for, what appears to be Brown's second narration.

Overall, a fun sci-fi thriller that had me on the edge of my seat at times.  A book that I enjoyed without knowing really anything about the backstory or the author.

The Universe is getting to be crowded!

In this second round of mayhem and war, Mr. Spires casts his Night Stalkers into a plethora of bloody fights to ensure continued existence of all humanity and some new and unexpected allies. Garrett brings life into the series with his performance and you'll be looking for the next book's release date by closing credits.

What a ride

This book was a great follow up from shockwave. I lobe this univers and the irreverent tone. the voice actor is perfect! keep them coming!!

The thrilling conclusion

With the human civil war finally over, the forces of Humanity United can finally turn thier sights on the greater enemy, the birdlike races of genocidal aliens that had been thier enemy since before we even evolved. But can even a united humanity come out victorious against an enemy millions of years old?