For Every Action

The Quantum Mechanic, Book 1

By: Jason Faris

Narrated by: Judy Rounda

Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Desperate to prove that he has found the unified field theory in the Bible, young mathematics prodigy Jacob Saylor runs away to the Middle East. But when he and his brother venture into the desert they disappear, only to return years later with no memory of where they have been. Jacob's fragmented mind descends into madness and nearly a decade passes before he can find a way to hold onto his sanity. Daily life becomes a struggle and he makes ends meet by working and sleeping in his father's old garage.

Then a group of cybernetic terrorists calling themselves The Embodied attack. Having discarded their humanity for bodies of living technology they serve their masters by secretly manipulating world events, eliminating enemies, and toppling nations. Explosions claim thousands of lives across the country and Jacob watches in horror as his family is lost. But then he sees that his 11-year-old niece has survived - and something inside of him snaps. She's trying to crawl from the wreckage on broken limbs, and he knows that he's the only one who can save her.

What he does next changes the world as he manipulates the very fabric of reality.

Now The Embodied are seeking him and he will have to overcome the horrors of his past if he is to fight for our survival. But the most terrifying demons he must face are his own, and redemption will mean returning to the source of his torment. Time is running out and the only way forward is for him to face the consequences of tampering in God's domain.

Now the world needs this shattered soul to find a way through his pain to fight for humanity. Can he become what we so desperately need...one last and final hero?

©2014 Jason Faris (P)2017 Jason Faris

Hard to follow. Requires undivided attention.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audio book by the author, narrator, or publisher.

I love science-fiction books. I love hard science-fiction too. But this book took it several notches higher and I was totally lost. This reminded me of the first season of Expanse series, where I was in "wtf is happening" mode for almost all of the series and had to go read explainers in fan wiki pages, after every episode. From the first two chapters in this book, I understood that I can't listen to it at my usual 1.5x. So, I dialed back to 1x and started re-listening from the beginning. A few chapters in, and I was still lost. I kept powering through, hoping that some chapter in near future will tie some of the threads. But it kept getting more confusing for me. So I finally had to give up.

I would imagine that reading the book in physical format would be much better since then I can flip back a few pages and reference an earlier scene. Or highlight some scenes with markers and refer to them later. In its current for, the audiobook is not suitable for consumption for readers like me, who can't devote undivided attention to the book for long period of times.

Surprisingly good!

Not run of the mill. Very original story. Well written and well performed. Loved it!

More Enthusiastic Narrator

This is most definitely my new favorite book. especially when the suspense keeps you from doing your job and out of all the King or Koontz ive read, this has painted a better picture with an original story line than any of the others.

A very intelligent story

What made the experience of listening to For Every Action the most enjoyable?

The voice acting is great, the effects are perfect. :)

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jacob, he's very diverse, handles situations pretty interestingly.

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

Different ways to express the characters.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The scene on the bridge near the beginning. I actually stopped jogging and nearly got hit by the guy behind me!

Any additional comments?

Great book overall, stands out in my mind. Would like to read more by Jason Faris.

Loved it!

I really loved this book. It was a little confusing at the beginning because characters you don't know yet are being mentioned and time is skipping around, but I plan to go back and listen to those parts again. I am excited to read the other books in the series now! Some things will make a little more sense if you know something about computers and coding, but you absolutely don't have to.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wow

This was an incredibly inventive and well written book. I have to admit I had to force myself to push on initially, but once engaged I was very much invested in this book. I believe the narrator was not a good match for it and that this made it hard to connect with.

Mr. Faris did the incredible by making an AI entity feel human. There is a point near the end of the story where a sacrifice made by this AI actually brought tears to my eyes.


"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Held my attention

Jason Faris's For Every Action: The Quantum Mechanic, Book 1 is a first rate SCI FI work with extraordinary attention to detail, There was the occasional foray into proselytizing that left me wondering , (the meaning of life??) but all in all it was a satisfying listen and I will look for more works by this author and narrator. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Hard to get started... but worth the effort

This book has issues. But I am finding them hard to describe.
At the start I was completely lost. As in no explanation of what was going on.
Then everything shifted… and I was even more lost.
After this happened several times I started to put pieces together and found that we were jumping around a larger story through interviews and flashbacks. Around the middle of the book things had filled in enough to become a fairly cohesive story that was quite interesting.
This can be a very hard book to listen to and I could not even imagine trying to read it in print. However, once you pick up the story it will draw you in to where you just can’t put it down.
Then the very last line of the story throws you a curve that I did not see coming… not even sure it is important. I guess there will be more to follow.

I have been having issues lately with Audible books. Mostly at chapter breaks the audio cuts out and you at least feel like you have missed something. Sometimes it does it in what seems to be the middle of a sentence so you know you are missing something. This has happened on the last several books I have listened to.

I bring that up because that also happens often in this book but there are places in this story where just that happens but here it is on purpose. At first I thought it was the same old issue but then it came and went and then back again as part of the story and it fit with what was going on and you realize what is happening is supposed to be there.

I thought the author did a good job with this story. At first I was surprised to find a female voice for what I expected to be a mostly male story but this voice worked well and it really was more of a female voiced story anyways.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audio book by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Imaginative and Compelling

This listen has everything! SciFi, tech, religion, war, nano tech, everything! Jacob goes into the desert with his brother and comes out a changed man. He's not sure what happened to him and his brother and he can't process it for a long time. Things begin to come together for him when the Chinese attack in the form of The Emodied, a group of men and women that have been merged with machines. Caught up in the mayhem is Jacob's niece who is maimed beyond belief. Jacob saves her by finally embracing the abilities he went into the desert to confirm in the first place.

Once saved, Jacob's only surviving family member becomes something no one expected and together they are the hope of humanity. My only disappointment is that the other books in this series are not on audio yet. Can't wait until they are out!

The narration by Judy Rounda was incredible. She brought this story to life in a huge way and made a good story even better. There were sound effects at times to make news reports more realistic and her voices were phenomenal.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

A compelling and interesting story!

Any additional comments?

I have only recently started reading/listening to this style of science fiction, and I am now beginning to wonder "what have I been missing all these years?"

The Quantum Mechanic is a great story built around characters that you really have a sense of engagement with and a story line that keeps you wondering where it is taking you.

You do need to pay attention, and I did find myself getting lost from time to time. However, Jason's writing and Judy's narration did bring me back into line.

Judy Rounda does a good job of separating the characters with her voice and her narration style makes it easy to listen to.

Whilst the synopsis talks about Jacob and his struggles, the story moves to focus on his niece who is struggling through a greater trauma.

Jason Faris has written a great story here, and I hope that books two and three offer the same satisfying read/listen.

This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.