SADEs

The Silver Ships

By: S. H. Jucha

Narrated by: Susanna Burney

Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Dangerous forces are at work across galactic space that the Omnians are attempting to stabilize, but their resources are severely strained.

The SADEs, self-aware digital entities, express to Alex Racine and Renée de Guirnon their desire to know the method of their creation. Alex and Renée, the Omnian co-leaders, want to obtain the knowledge for the SADEs, who are humans’ closest allies.

Alex, Renée, and Julien, a friend and a SADE, board the giant city-ship, Freedom, which sails for Méridien, the home world of the far-reaching human colonies of the Confederation. They have a long overdue appointment with House Brixton, the Méridien group responsible for creating the SADEs. However, Shannon Brixton, the House Leader, is expected to zealously guard the secrets of the SADEs’ origination.

While at Méridien, Alex receives an urgent message requesting help in alliance space, where a small group of Omnians and Earthers battle the Colony, a race of insectoids, which is subsuming planets.

To complicate matters, a rogue battleship fleet left the federacy, bypassed the human colonies, and is searching among the alliance worlds for a habitable planet. If an unoccupied world isn’t found, they’re prepared to evict the inhabitants by force.

In the wake of Alex’s exit from Omnia for alliance space, Hector is left in charge of the Omnians’ second fleet. The SADE temporarily carries the mantle of protector of human colonies and allied worlds.

For the Omnians, life and its challenges couldn’t be more precarious, or could they?

©2020 S. H. Jucha (P)2020 S. H. Jucha

Narrator was not for this story

The story was good yet, lacked it's usual punch. I believe because of the lack of proper energy from the narrator. Her voice and intonation was lackluster at best. I was disappointed in her.
Go back to Grover Gardner if possible.

probably my least favorite book

I really disliked the rush introduction of Jess between the 2 books not alot of character building. his disrespectful attitude and "Alex like nature" really put a bad taste in my month. Alex is alot more likeable then his guy. and the fact the story is focused around him and how everyone "looks up to him and projects him" is really dumb to me in a short period, plus quick to anger when simple questions are asked is unbecoming, if the rest of the series is Jess focused I might have to stop listening to them

Species vs “Race”

The writer annoyingly uses the words “alien race” when referring to different species who are in some cases insects, and in most every case are born to worlds other than earth with entirely different DNA or DNA equivalents. They are alien “Species” not aliens “races”. At one point writer compares two Humans who grew up on world of different gravity as “appearing to be of different species.” Come on!?!? Really? It’s lazy writing humans are a species, a planet of sentient insects, crabs, reptiles etc are ALL different “species” this just becomes more annoying books go on.

Unusual timeline and character cohesion at the beginning of the book

Lack of the usual timeline and character cohesion for the first third. I understand that book merges the timelines of the Pyreans into this book, but I spent at least two chapters figuring out that Jess Cinders is the descendant of Jesse Cinders from the Pyreans series.

The new voice actor has a different pronunciation of words then previous actors, but then mid way through the book, the word pronunciation changes to the words that we are used to.

Less enjoyable than the other books in the series.

New Narrator

As our view of the story changes focus, so also we can accept that change is and always will be with us. I've listened to this series many times and only now on my second listen of SADEs. Yes! I'm disappointed in some of the differences in pronunciations of character names. But I evaluated my disappointment and have decided that "Voice" is something provided by the human mind, I can't provide it to Susanna and could not have provided it to Grover. So I moved on. Listened to the story and enjoyed it.
It is so difficult to find positive multicultural fiction that I must honor Scott Jucha for his contributions.
One other small note, within the narration by Susanna my mind formed a vision of some of Orson Scott Card's voices.
Thank You Susanna and thank you Scott.

Bring Back G.G.

I have read the entire Silver Ship collection. I have enjoyed them all, until you changed narrators. Grover Gardner is the only narrator that brings the saga to life. This wasn't broken. Why did you replace your best natator? This is the second Silver Ship book I have returned! Please bring back G.G., please.

Still not sick of this series but...

I’ve been following the Silver Ships series and the Empaths since the start. The seamless blending of the two worked out very well. I’m still enjoying each book this one included, but I feel like it’s starting to meander too much. I have some minor spoilers below this, so only read this if you’ve read everything but this book so far.
SPOILERS
The Colony and how to deal with it seems to be something dull or ill-considered. I don’t really like how they’ve been addressed, and none of the old inventive elbow-grease we’ve seen utilized with other hostile species has been used to interact with them. I expect either a genocide or a genesis, and nothing in between. This makes me sad because conflict resolution and diplomacy is such a huge theme of the series.

Narration terrible

liked story but narrator is terrible going to stop listening to series cannot stand narration since Gardner's stop narrating

Read with little acting depth

There is little drama, suspense, or even emotions in this narration. That is a shame. I find myself wondering if it was not created by a machine, which given the storyline would make total sense.

OMG Bring back Grover Gardner

Having bee completely immersed in the first 14 of the books read by Grove Gardner I was not prepared for the abysmal narration by Susanna Burney. The next in the series "Earthers" is even worse read by Nicole Poole. I see almost all others share my view. I have to finish the series I guess but these last few books need to be re-narrated ASAP.