Rumors of War

Green Zone War, Book 1

By: Jake Elwood

Narrated by: Johnathan McClain

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Tom Thrush thinks basic officer training is tough - until he joins the frigate Kestrel and finds out what tough really means. The crew resents him. The first officer is actively hostile. As the ship hunts pirates in deep space, Tom struggles to fit in and wonders if things can get any worse. They can.

A devastating attack leaves the ship crippled with half the crew dead or dying. The senior officers are wiped out, leaving a terrified sublieutenant in the last place he wants to be.

In command.

©2018 Jake Elwood (P)2018 Podium Publishing

Enjoyable

Enjoyable, a little slow in beginning, but picks up and grips you to the characters.

Great story !!

Really good story with great character development !! I really enjoyed book one and am looking forward to book two ! Only problem I had was with the narrator’s volume when the main character is thinking . It gets a little low where you need to turn the volume up or miss his “thoughts “. Overall though, it’s a great listen !!!

Excellent second book.

You'll enjoy the book. Excellent story and performance. Glad to see these quality of books in the free catalog. Thanks

decent story but a bit slow

fun interesting story good narration the only problem I had was its a bit slow but overall good read

Mostly backstory but very realistic

One of the more enjoyable part of this novel is the care that was taken in making the whole military indoctrination and training parts, from boot camp, to AIT, to noob half lieutenant (aka butter bar lieutenant) lack of command responsibilities, &c. The MC is also a realistic representation of a young man, forced into command of a frigate space craft on entry into war, who is overwhelmed with fear, uncertainty and doubt and the trials that end up making him a credible commander.

Also, another item I found interesting was the description of warp speed (aka slip space, slipstream space, &c.) Most SciFi explain it in terms of some, almost magical, spaceship device. Here, it was explained as entering into 7th dimensional space being the means in which they are capable to traverse the galaxy at superluminal speed. As one can imagine a wormhole allowing one to travel vast distances by traveling through folded 3D space, being able to do so via 7D space makes sense (in a nonsensical way, of course).

Jake Elwood is a good writer and Johnathan McClain makes even the tedious parts of training very listenable.

I have high hopes for Book 2.

Plenty of Action

SHORT VERSION: Enjoyed this quite a bit. Young man forced into Navy service, boot camp, offcer training, bad 1st assignment as a Jr. Lieutenant, pirates, war begins, 1/2 the crew dies leaving him in charge & onward into his galaxy spanning adventures in Command, rife with problems. action & spaceship battles.

Standard format you say? Yes, BUT something about how this author does it makes it interesting, filled with action, struggles & hardships to overcome or at least live through.
This isn't a happy, glib, swashbuckling adventure (which I also like & usually prefer), but a serious story with compelling characters & plenty of emotion along with the action. Narration is fantastic.


LONGER VERSION:
While it follows a traditional scifi military space opera outline, there's something about the way this author moves the story along that is compelling & had me wanting to know what was going to happen next & rooting for the characters.

I also like that while different parts of the military - officers, non coms, swabbies, marines, engineers, etc. do fit expected potrayals, they aren't done as caricatures, but treated with the respect that they deserve, recognizing the value the different components have towards making the whole function.

The side characters have personalities fleshed out better than their assignations - wise older officer, tough marine, deckhand with a chip on his shoulder, etc. They aren't as one dimensional as many.

I got roped in & while knowing the general format, the details of how the story gets there are exciting & caught my interest. Mr. Elwood's story telling had me able to picture the scenes, sometimes even feel like I was there, standing on the bridge, seeing the action firsthand.

I had a hard time 'putting the book down,' being bummed when I'd finished getting dinner ready because I had to turn the recording off to serve & eat, when all I wanted to do at that moment was to stay on the ship (i.e. keep listening)!

I could probably pick out all the flaws or unbelievable things that would never happen in real life. (Kind of hard to argue though when space travel of this nature & colonization aren't realistic either!) But those things didn't bother me as much.

Maybe it's me feeling extra sensitive that's got me caught up in the emotions of the story & if I were in a better place I'd be much more critical, it's hard to say. Usually a story like this would leave me more depressed, perhaps even putting it down. For some reason, as serious as this book is, I still want to read more.

I can't tell you how realistically imagined the battle scenes are, but I did get swept away in the action, tensing up, agitated, not knowing how it was going to play out. It definitely wasn't glibly done & won.

I also like the MC because he isn't the perfect 'pulls a rabbit out of his hat' & wins the day kind of guy. Nothing comes easy. He's got real demons he's got to fight within himself & has to really struggle to overcome his own inner turmoils (including about his own heritage & culture) & the many & sometimes overwhelming obstacles he's forced to confront.

He isn't black & white in his thinking & understands different perspectives even if he doesn't agree with them. He seems to be a real reluctant hero.

SUMMARY:
Well done space warfare/military (Naval), galaxy spanning sci fi action/ transformation of a boy into a man finding out he's capable of much more than he could even imagine, filled with action, spaceship battles, angst, drama all done in a serious, mostly realistic way with characters that are human.

I thought it was well done & will be starting the next in this series shortly. if it continues as it's begun, this could be a great series.

The Narrator was superb too. She did male & female voices well, made it easy to follow who was speaking & gave much weight & life to the characters, infusing them with appropriate personalities matching with the author's intent, IMO.

Great start to a very promising Space Opera!

Book 1 of a 5 book military sci-fi space Opera. Great start! Our hero is a young guy thrust into a leadership position well before he's ready. Excellent character development so far, and I'm very optimistic about this series. (Note: book 0 is only 39 minutes long and totally unnecessary, although I enjoyed it. If you do read it, I think it's better to be read after book 1, rather than before).

I got all five of these books (plus book 0) at no cost via the Plus Catalog that is part of the Audible Premium Membership!! But that has absolutely nothing to do with my review. I only point it out in the event that your membership also includes the Plus Catalog.

Throughly enjoyed rivioting and thrilling

First of all thank you Jonathan for your narration excellent character articulation each one indistinguishable makes listening to a breeze. I really enjoyed the story of a Naval LT. not wanting to be, but is thrusted in charge by circumstances.

Solid story, well done.

Really well done story, it will draw you in and take you on an adventure. Nothing flashy or outlandish, just a solid story with believable characters behaving like normal people.

Johnathan McClain is, as always, one of the best in the business. After listening to the Noobtown series, I thought it was fun hearing Sue Leta and even a little smidgen of Badgerlore in this book.

Give this book a try.

good

I really enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to hearing the next one!!