Rookie Privateer

Privateer Tales, Book 1

By: Jamie McFarlane

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

When you are old enough to finally become an Earth Mars citizen, everything should be perfect. Right? Not for Liam Hoffen. He's stuck on a mining asteroid called Colony 40, helping his father work a claim that is never going to pay out. His best friend, Nick James is set for life in James' Rental business and Liam just discovered that the girl he's known forever thinks he's pretty great and now she's leaving for the Mars Naval Academy.

Liam dreams of sailing the stars. Whenever he gets the chance, he jets into space and floats, wishing to be free of the asteroid that has claimed him. What he doesn't realize is that fate is about to change everything.

Sometimes you have to lose parts of yourself to gain the stars, and Liam discovers that while it isn't easy to literally lose parts of yourself to the pirates who attacked your home, gaining the stars is worth everything.

He and Nick are about to find out what the real world has to offer and they end up meeting exciting people along the way.

©2014, 2015 James A. Greenwood (P)2016 James A. Greenwood

Very Solid Storyline well performed

This is a straight forward coming of age adventure story set in an easily imagined future. It is a cut above the typical sci fi space opera and makes no pretense of being anything other than fun reading. Nothing mystical, no paranormal stuff, no characters that are too anything to be believable.

So what if it is not a candidate for best science fiction book of the year. It's definitely 4+ entertainment. And if it is somewhat predictable (the good guys do win), the characters are not cardboard, the resolution is not preposterous, and it leaves you with that 'feels good' feeling that we all like to have now an then.

Rookie Privateer is a good start to series that can probably support about 5 books to play out the current loose ends. (Book 2 chases down one of those loose ends.) I have listened to it twice and I suspect I will give it another listen somewhere down the line, perhaps to refresh my memory when book 4 appears. No regrets about this purchase.

A Really Good Find

I thought this book sounded good when I bought it, but it was even better than I initially expected. I really can't place my finger on exactly what about the story was so good, but I couldn't stop listening after the first 2 hours...

The book takes place several centuries in the future where there are space colonies all over the solar system, and most of them are mining colonies established by corporations to extract raw materials for Earth and Mars. Liam, the main character, and his two friends live on one of these colonies deep in the asteroid belt. Discontent with his inevitable life as a miner, Liam watches one of his two best friends (and secret crush) prepare herself to leave for the Naval Academy. Just before her departure, pirates attack the mining colony. Desperate to save their friends, family, and home, they hatch a plan to fight back and defeat the pirate attack. After successfully beating them back, and capturing one of their ships in the process, the three are deemed heroes. With his secret crush off to the Naval Academy, Liam and his friend Nick are awarded the captured ship and a privateer's license by the Navy.
I don't want to spoil any of the story beyond this, but lets just say that it gets nothing but better as the two friends set out into the solar system to make a profit... And get revenge for the attack on their home and loved ones...

Narration was pretty good as well. Not excellent, but definitely good enough for a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

You won't be disappointed by this one. It's definitely worth the credit!

Almost well done

The author seems to be very new to the business. The main character is naive to the point of ridiculousness. Major plot points can be seen a mile away and leave you scratching your head.

With that said the main characters are likable and there is some talent here in the authors storytelling abilities. If you want to start a book or two into the series it probably wouldn't hurt and I bet the plots get much better.

I hope so because I am downloading the next book and giving the series a good chance to win me over. Right now there are tons of sci-fi series out there I would recommend but I have read most them at least once so here it goes.

One of the few pleasant Sci Fi surprises on Audibl

This one threw me for a loop - I got it expecting it to be pretty bad based on the cover art, and it turned out to be much better than I ever expected. Worth the credit in my humble opinion.

A good book, but directed at young teen readers.

I was hoping for big things from this book, because I love the genre, and there are currently 8 books in the series, thus giving me a long run. Unfortunately, it was just average. Coming of age book, which I usually love. (Is there anything better than Ender's Game?) But the book is a bit too juvenile for me. I think it may be written for a young teen audience. I will not go beyond book 1.

Loved it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

absolutely. This novel had the feel of one of Heinlein's YA SF novels. It pulls you into the SF elements subtly through the characters, but doesn't overwhelm you w/ excess math, while still being technical enough to feel like its real tech instead of star-trek deflector dishes.

What did you like best about this story?

I like that, dispite the story being told from the 'main character's POV, the secondary characters get their character development, and it feels every bit as awkward and ill planned as any 18-21 yr olds decisions.

Which scene was your favorite?

the MC's repeated attempts to 'talk pirate' and no one gets it.

Any additional comments?

I underfstand the author has more books in this series finished. I sincerely hope they make it to Audible as well, and i really enjoyed the story + narrator combo.

Book 1

Any additional comments?

The book starts with Liam Hoffen engaging in a risky tag game with his two best friends. They are all about to graduate and become official Earth Mars Citizens. Liam thinks his future is set, and feels trapped and angry. Little does he know that his destiny is about to take him in a whole new direction. I was engaged all the time I was listening to the audiobook

An OK Listen - Typical Space Opera

What disappointed you about Rookie Privateer?

The storyline is pretty silly. 17 year old boy wins spaceship and becomes daredevil military pilot in about 2 weeks. Not worth listening to the rest of the series.

What a fun read! I can't wait for the next one!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Rookie Privateer! It had so many fun elements and it was original enough to keep me interested the whole time. I am now extremely bummed that I have to wait for audible to release the next book in the series

The only negative I found was that the supporting characters seemed rather flat. Aside from Liam the main character, the others didn't have much substance. In particular, I found it strange that Liam's best friend, partner and first mate/engineer Nick was like a robot. He hardly speaks, has very little opinion and I really hoped to see him grow. Perhaps he will as the other books in the series are released.

All in all I loved it and you will too!

Good Book! easy read and or listen!

this was a easy read, not too dark. fells like old sci-fi writing, but up to date tech...good book and read!

an old time dpace adventure story

Excelent reac all the timd, the action kept gloeing! Must try the next one in the series.

The new Flash Gordon?

Great series listen to all the audio books so far. reminds me of the old Flash Gordon TV series mixed with firefly and a few others. Characters are fun to follow. looking forward to hearing the next in the series

Great story & well read

This is a great story to read and the audio was well read.

Worth listening to if you are looking for a good space story.

What a universe

I don't know how more people haven't listened to this one, in fact i don't know how i even found it.
The story in the first book is about how to start out from nothing on a outer system mining rock. How a main protagonist get his ship. There a 3 main character the push the plot with the lead being the Captain. There are plenty of developments of how these 3 get in way over there head. I kinda binged a whole through about 5 of the books in a few days, i was hocked on the story.

Easy on the Ear

This is one of those books that is really easy to listen to. It will not set the world alight, but, that said, it is a very enjoyable listen and well worth the credit. I will certainly be following this series.

Narration is good, which always helps to sell any audio book.

Great Starting point for series

What did you like most about Rookie Privateer?

The charathers where deep and varied.
The science is belivable and not explaid endlessly
Nice pace to the story.