• Deep Space

  • Star Carrier, Book Four
  • By: Ian Douglas
  • Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
  • Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (718 ratings)

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Deep Space  By  cover art

Deep Space

By: Ian Douglas
Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
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Publisher's summary

The fourth book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence

Humanity had appeared to fend off the Sh'daar assault once and for all, though they never learned why the alien empire was driven to halt Earth's advancement toward technological Singularity.

But in this war of worlds, victory is always elusive. And now a new battle begins.

After 20 years of peace, not one but two fragile truces are unraveling. Alexander Koenig, the former Navy commander whose heroics forced the Sh'daar into submission, has won a second term as President of the United States of North America. But pursuing his mandate - sovereignty from the centuries-old Earth Confederation - becomes a risky proposition due to events taking place on the other side of the galaxy. A Confederation research vessel has been ambushed. Destroyers are descending on a human colony. It seems the Sh'daar have betrayed their treaty, and all nations must stand united - or face certain death.

©2013 William H. Keith, Jr. (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Deep Space

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Somewhat lost the plot there a bit.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

New to the series? No. As a continuation, yes, but with a few caveats. He lost the plot here a bit. Instead of continuing the question between Aliens and Humans, we now spend a whole lot of time on a contrived internal human conflict that really only makes sense if you somehow belief in American Exceptionalism.

Has Deep Space turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not from the genre, but I am questioning if I want to read the next book in the series.

What does Nick Sullivan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think he adds a bit more character to the individuals he portraits. Douglas isn't really all that good in creating characters, they all are pretty two-dimensional.

Was Deep Space worth the listening time?

Still split on it. It was more of what was expected, but at the same time also more disappointing.

Any additional comments?

I wish Douglas would concentrate on the human vs.alien dynamic instead of trying to project human global politics 500 years into the future. The problem for me, as a non-american, is simply that I don't buy American Exceptionalism and his repeated retreat to it is annoying. It was, I admit, always there, but in the past books it was more a bit of a faint echo in the back, with this book though he has gone full tilt.

So yes, he's America and served in the military and that he concentrates on ships that could be considered American is understandable and forgivable. But his portrail of the rest of humanity is less than flattering. If they aren't scheming people who try to destroy the "United States" (thinly veiled as USNA), they are shown as completely militarily incompetent. Funnily enough, it seems, they also all seem to be French. Guess Douglas likes his cheese eating surrender monkeys.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • RD
  • 10-05-15

required to leave a message so here it is

on my past I've listened to many of these books in this series and it was pretty interesting I really wish that you continue here actually skipped passes but the one point hey how this is me using google voice to text just for the hell of it so I can get this review

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent series and book

Excellent story, good narration.
Not unbelievable.
Story is linear and tight. But not rushed. Especially the infighting between countries over an AI,

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Lots of ?????'s

I love this series and I am looking forward to more of it. However this book seems to get lost in itself and in the end nothing great has been accomplished. It basically ends at the same point it begins with no real new information given about the situation.

Also there are several "Sub plots" like Grey's girlfriend that are annoying.

Really you could swap out Gregory for Grey and you would have the last book all over again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I like this series but...

This book is difficult for me to review. I generally enjoy the book but there were parts that was so annoying I had to stop listening for a while. Then there are parts the book almost becomes preachy for no reason. I will continue to read the series.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very repetitive

If you have read the first three novels, and you have, then you know that the author is somewhat repetitive. He re-explains the concepts introduced in previous books, most authors do, He will also sometimes repeat concepts already covered previously in the same book, annoying but not a huge deal. Here he takes this repetitiveness to extremes as many concepts are explained at least twice and several more than that. To some extent he does this in the first three novels but not nearly as much. I suspect he was trying to fill in pages for a story that is somewhat short and obviously laying the groundwork for future novels. I will definitely continue to read the series I just hope the next four books are more like the first three with more story and less repetition.

As far as the narrator I suspect this series would only be half as good without him. He gives perfect inflection and pacing for every scene but is best at action and exploration scenes.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • IH
  • 06-29-19

long winded

constant repetition of previously explained subjects, very boring , prior books were significantly better than this one

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Some of, if not THE best hard sci-fi writing ever

The Star Carrier series is some of the most captivating and scientifically nerdy hard sci-fi stories I've ever read or listened to. It is up there with the best in my opinion.

The story of Deep Space (this fourth book of the series) adds a new layer of depth to the ongoing saga. I won't go into specifics but the new layers add surprises and quality to each scene and to the overall story.

I've obsessively listened through books 1-4 in just a couple of weeks as work allowed. I just downloaded book five while listening to the epilogue and will start listening to it as soon as I post this review.

The cliffhanger epilogue introducing Book 5's story was AWESOME from a purely scientific standpoint. I can't wait to uncover the depths of the story.

The narration is great as well. Representation of the diversity of alien languages and their "english" accents is one of my favorite details in this series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great space epic

Good book must read or listen, the battles are entertaining as well as the xenolinguistics and biology. this guy has a really cool mind. if you like BSG or any other space story, you will live this story. start with book one or you will be lost.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Space is awesome! A lot of repeating though.

I find this series of books very addictive, because they describe space and all the questions the universe represent, so well it all most feels like reading our future.

There is still a lot of repeating of things through out the book which can be annoying. But the storytelling is very good in my opinion. Sure it's convenient that the main characters are so involved and seem to beat all odds. But it makes for a good story.

I love it.!

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