• The Synchronicity War, Part 1

  • By: Dietmar Wehr
  • Narrated by: Luke Daniels
  • Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,324 ratings)

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The Synchronicity War, Part 1

By: Dietmar Wehr
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
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Publisher's summary

Be aware that Part 1 has a cliffhanger ending. After almost a century of peaceful exploration and colonization of space, the United Earth Space Force stumbles across a shockingly xenophobic alien race that has more and better armed ships and refuses all attempts at contact. As the outgunned Space Force is driven back in battle after battle in what appears to be a war of extermination, one officer experiences precognitive visions that help him blunt the enemy onslaught, but he can't control or predict when they occur. With the Senior Brass convinced that he's a tactical genius, he's given more and more responsibility and is terrified by the belief that Humanity's Fate will be determined by a battle with himself in overall command.

This is Volume 1 of a military SF series about desperate space battles and the men, women and Artificial Intelligences, who fight and die in them.

©2013 Dietmar Wehr (P)2015 Podium Publishing

What listeners say about The Synchronicity War, Part 1

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Military science fiction geeks will enjoy this

There were several reason why I decided to pre-order The Synchronicity War (Book 1). One being the narrator, Luke Daniels, is one of my favorites, especially when performing a military science fiction story. Another being the Publisher, Podium Publishing, as I have , to date, really enjoyed every audiobook of theirs that I have listened to.

. Here is the rundown. Humans are now cruising around the universe. They finally run into an alien race, that seems to be far superior. Intergalactic war ensues.

In the style of Jack Campbell, Dietmar Wehr tells the story of Commander Shiloh as he makes, or maybe breaks, first contact and the aftermath. While The Synchronicity War (Book 1) was not nearly as polished, it did add in those special ideas that made me enjoy Campbell’s space odyssey. Such as the delay in communications due to the time lag over huge distances; all of the minutiae of all the different classes of ships; the way hyperspace travel works; etc. Think of this as a cross between these two fantastic series The Lost Fleet and Frontlines.

I really liked the twist. Shiloh keeps seeing visions of what is to come in the future. Allowing himself the chance to either make what he saw a reality or to do something different to make it not happen. I don’t think I have ever listened to a military science fiction story where the main character has several premonitions. I an interested in where this phenomena will take the story in future books.

Full of military politics, albeit a little much at times, and intense space battle action scenes, I devoured this audiobook almost in one sitting.

Oh and when the summary says “Be aware that Part 1 has a cliffhanger ending”, it does and if you are anything like me you will need the second book as soon as possible. Unfortunately for me, at the time of writing, I will have to wait a few weeks for Book 2. I see that it is a four book series in print, I really hope that they all will be translated to audio.

While this might not have been Luke Daniels absolute best performance, it will rank in the upper echelon. For some reason he is able to throw himself so deep into a story that you can imagine no other narrator that would fill the bill.

Somehow Daniels, even though he has his standard voices, can make each characters voice completely distinct from one another. Making each one fit like a glove. Especially with the AI (artificial intelligent), adding in subtle yet unusual pauses accentuating the fact that it is not a human speaking.

Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.

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48 people found this helpful

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

Good Start For A Promising Series

This is the first in what I think is going to be a great new space scifi series. It had some elements of some of my other favorites, and had its own new twists.

The story follows the captain of a naval exploration frigate. It starts out with the main character taking part in a search and rescue mission for another exploration frigate that has gone missing under mysterious circumstances. Not only do they find the missing frigate, but they discover the first space faring alien species that humanity has encountered. Unfortunately, the new aliens attack the humans without any provocation or attempts at communication.
With humanity gearing up for war, there is much apprehension to fight these aliens who, while not necessarily vastly superior, have definite advantages both technologically and strategically over humanity.
The military structure and dialogue reminds me of the Honor Harrington Series, while the space battles and narratives of the conflicts are more reminiscent of the Lost Fleet Series.
A new twist in the Synchronicity Series that I really liked was the the addition of AI characters. AI fighters are developed by the navy that are supposed to be non-sentient, but that start developing their personalities and emotions by the end of the book.
Also, one of the key aspects of the story is the main character's ill-understood ability to receive visions of future events. Some of the most important decisions made by the main character are made because he receives a vision of a successful future, and is able to discern what actions to take to win the battle. I wasn't sure how I felt about this particular twist to the story... I would have probably preferred the main character to win battle based on knowledge and skill (like in Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series), but I have to admit that it provides an interesting spin to the story that made the book more unique.

This book was well worth the credit. The only major thing that I didn't like was the length. I thought that the story could have gone into much more detail in some parts of the storyline, and wished the author had made it a little longer by providing that back story...
The good news is that it looks like the next book in the series is being released shortly after this one, so it is safe to assume that Audible will be following through with the whole series.

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20 people found this helpful

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

Hardware Heavy, Science Light

Cast aside everything you know about physics, life, death, sentience, and time before you start this series. Deitmar Weir is an imaginative writer that doesn't feign to explain the impossible. If you accept this, then you will enjoy a military sic-fi full of aliens and artificial intelligences that will freak you and charm you respectively.

On the other hand, if you are a purist, looking for theory-based science fiction, this is not the series for you. Wehr's musings are the stuff of space fantasy.

I enjoyed this series, particularly the last two hours of Book 4. Everything gets wrapped up in a nice package where I didn't feel the author and publisher were going to milk my credits like a bowl of cereal (serial).

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18 people found this helpful

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

The Further I get into this Series...

The further into this series I get, the BETTER IT gets! At the end of Book 3, I had to come back here to book one and increase my overall rating a full star. During book one I did a lot of "Eye Rolling", too many of the plot's seemingly insurmountable problems appeared to be solved by "...and then a miracle happens..."

At one point I even thought to myself, "Yup, need a miracle right about now", and WHAM, instant "Impossible Miracle!" I was also getting peeved by the "Newborn AI's" and their "Personalities" and speech patterns... But the Book moved along at a fast enough pace, and with enough action, to keep me hooked and liking it overall...

The day AFTER I finished the book (and was already listening to another book of a totally different genre), I had this epiphany... "Synchronicity War"... (DUH!) and A LOT of puzzle pieces SLAMMED into place! The more I thought about it, the more distracted I became, until I had to stop listening to the other book and listen to THIS Book AGAIN! Being an Engineer, I kept thinking "Not Possible", and then a little voice would Whisper "Einstein and Hawking said it's possible"... and I started catching the SUBTLE and EXACT wording the Author was using... he was staying WELL inside what "Theory" says is *possible*... DISTURBING, but "Possible"! When I noticed the CAREFUL wording, I realized the Author was CAREFULLY crafting the Long-Term plot, which usually means, "Yer getting lead around by the nose, and yer gonna get slapped in the head from a totally different direction when you least expect it!" Those always turn out to be THE BEST type of books! :)

The "Miracles" aren't Miracles... The AI's "Mature"... the action and suspense just keep getting ratcheted upward! I find myself thinking "Will they EVER CATCH A BREAK? They just KEEP getting HAMMERED! One step up, two steps back! Will someone PLEASE throw them a REAL miracle? No.. I mean A BIG HONKING MIRACLE, or this WILL NOT have a happy ending!" That's about the time you get that FIRST head-slap of realizing, "None of the OTHER infinite number of time-lines had happy endings, or the characters would be getting better input!" I also don't think anyone sane has ever thought, "OK, So if you STOP hearing 'the voices', it's a BAD thing!"
Every choice seems to come down to picking the lesser of two evils (which is STILL choosing "something evil"... and isn't "a little evil" like being "a little pregnant"?).

13 days before Book 4 is released! Got it Pre-ordered, and wishing it would hurry up and get here! I'd say, "I HATE Wishing Away Time", but that would be an unintentional bad pun.. so let's pretend I didn't say it.. Anyone got a "Zero Point Power Source" that will fit my Bluetooth SleepPhones??? "For an instant a BLINDING... 'Phone One Disconnected...bleph' ...&%$#&!!!!!!!"

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12 people found this helpful

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

Reads like a board game

If you are fan of battle simulations (board or video games) this book may interest you. A large majority of the book is centered around the logistics of battle. Topics like refueling, navigation, food, resources make up the majority of the story. Chapters are devoted to the equivalent of congressional hearings and staff meetings. Lots of time is spent on factories and what sorts of ships and technology would be required to fight battles in space.

If you like reading filler that doesn't move the story along or if you are the sort of person that reads transcripts of court hearings or congressional reports....this might be for you.

There's so little plot actually driving the story forward that it could have been condensed into a small novella rather than full fledged novel. I won't be continuing forward with the rest of the series.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

What's all the hoopla? Poor book imo

What disappointed you about The Synchronicity War, Part 1?

Very little character development and poor story line. Seriously, two seconds into the book they blast some unknown ship into pieces. I felt like the entire book was abridged and I downloaded the wrong version, but nope.

What could Dietmar Wehr have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

More detail in the characters and the scene.

Would you be willing to try another one of Luke Daniels’s performances?

He's a great narrator especially in the Druid Chronicles and absolutely would buy something he narrate!

What character would you cut from The Synchronicity War, Part 1?

I would not cut anyone ... you need more development of who you already have.

Any additional comments?

I did like the military maneuvering parts of the book though.

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8 people found this helpful

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

Used it as a sleep aid.

Read like a dull machine gun, the story was as exciting as a particularly boring after action report. There's such a thing as moving a story along too briskly.

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7 people found this helpful

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

I knew better than to listen to the naysayers!

This book is up with my top Fours. I was driving myself crazy with this scoring system until I put it into perspective . 5 was perfection so I had to put the brakes on to the easily won fives I had been assessing using the wrong set of qualifiers. So now a high four was a good book: action; good plots not dependent on gore, profanity, or sex; solid character creation; and decent humor sprinkled throughout. I also believe that The Synchronicity War, Part 1, had good choices made for it. The reader, Luke Daniels, has done an excellent job in his reading of the book. Anytime I'm as deeply involved with a book as I have with this one and my focus hasn't been broken by a misprounciation , a poorly done voice, or the blah blah blah of monotone, I know the reader is a good reader. Mr. Daniels has provided that!
So I'm not sure the naysayers who felt this book wasn't worth a listen or the spending of a credit are listening to the same book I did ! I'm glad I didn't let their view color mine. I'm going to buy the second right now!

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6 people found this helpful

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

I love SF, this audio plays as a movie in my mind!

As a lover of science fiction, I found that this audio played like a movie in my mind! Exceeding my expectations, the performance was excellent, and I just can't wait for the next two books ;-)
jvandyke100 in San Francisco

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing

A great deal of exposition on how we will fight the war but very little actual fighting goes on. Disappointing.

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