Rika Outcast

Rika's Marauders, Book 1

By: M. D. Cooper

Narrated by: Alison Stinnett

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the age of the Orion War... 

Rika is mech-meat, a cyborg killing machine, created by the Genevian military and cast aside when the war was lost.  

Now she slings cargo on Dekar Station, falling deeper in debt as she struggles to make enough money to keep her cybernetic body functioning. The local gangs would love to have her join their ranks, and the takings would pay her bills, but the only thing Rika hates more than what she's become, is killing for others.  

But morals don't buy repairs and she's at the point of utter desperation when her loan holder cashes in her debt and sells her to the highest bidder.  

When Rika wakes, she's in a warehouse on a planet she's never heard of, and a trio of mercenaries are reassembling her body. Their mission is to kill the world's president, and her mods and abilities are just what they need to get the job done.  

Whether she likes it or not, Rika is in the business of killing once more as she joins the ranks of the Marauders.  

An Aeon 14 series
The events of the Rika's Marauders series occur during the New Canaan time span in The Orion War series. This series may be read at any time after reading Destiny Lost, New Canaan, or Orion Rising.

About M. D. Cooper & Aeon 14
M. D. Cooper is a New York Times best-selling author who has envisioned a rich future for humanity, one where planet-sized megastructures house trillions of humans, but traveling between the stars still takes decades, or even centuries.  

Fans of Alastair Reynolds, Honor Harrington, The Expanse, or Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War will feel right at home in this world.

What is Aeon 14?
The universe of Aeon 14 is based on the premise that advanced, intelligent, starfaring life takes 14 billion years to evolve. In astronomy an aeon is a billion years.

©2017 M. D. Cooper (P)2018 M. D. Cooper

Always Love MD Cooper Stories

I love the stories set in this universe, and hearing how the 'Lost Ship' impacted, as well as, the lasting effect on those it found was great. Many authors don't go back and take advantage of that and leave many wondering, 'But what about...?'

She touched upon Rika's history a bit, and what made her who she is, apart from the mech. A hint of those things that shaped her and gave her the heart to make a difficult decision, even though she believed it would cost her everything. I can't wait to see more of her back story, and see more of who she becomes.

As much as I loved the story, the narrator has issues with pronunciations that kind of make it jarring. One example that come to mind, as it is made often, 'Artillery' has 1 'R', not 2. Kicked me out of the story, trying to figure out what she said. (Ar-til-er-ary vs Art-til-ery).

Great story line

One of my first purchases that I made based on the synopsis. Really enjoyed it!

Loved It.

I really enjoyed hearing Rika given a voice. I think it fits her very well. Looking forward to listening to all the books as they come out. Although towards the end of the book it sounds like a little bit of background noise filters in.

Quite poor narrating

The story is good (maybe not as good as some others by the same author) but the narrator was a bit rubbish. Whenever she spoke as a male character it was comedically bad and she often mispronounced words (“artillerary” being one that sticks in the mind) and got the emphasis of phrases wrong. Could have done with some better quality control.