Warrior King

Star Legions: The Terran Wars, Book 1

By: Michael G. Thomas

Narrated by: J. Scott Bennett

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

An apocalyptic war looms, and few believe it is a war that can be won. As Terran colonies evacuate, the mighty Laconians stand alone against the merciless Median Empire. They will never surrender, and their new King, Agesilaus, has a scheme that could transform the fortunes of all Terrans.

As leader of the most powerful of the Terran states, he plans the unthinkable. Inspired by the valor and adventures of the infamous Ten Thousand mercenaries, he launches a pre-emptive strike against the Empire. Agesilaus and his twin sister, the warrior princess Kyniska, will lead the attack, and they will not stop until their enemies are brought to their knees.

Little do they know that the God King and his trusted warlords are mustering powerful legions from deep inside the Empire. Soon thousands of Median foot soldiers, hordes of monstrous Taochi warriors, and even large numbers of deadly fighting machines from the Robotic Domains are preparing for war. As the Terrans launch their battle of liberation, the God King puts his own deadly plan into action.

Warrior King is the first book in the Star Legions: The Terran Wars series by Michael G. Thomas, the best-selling author of the Star Crusades series.

©2018 Michael G. Thomas (P)2018 Swordworks

Galactic Spartans

This is an interesting combination of ancient warring cultures and futuristic sci-fi settings with a lot of galactic politics and scenes of battle. The action sequences were entertaining but the point of view keeps changing and I was having a hard time determining which characters were doing which things at times. I know the Greek words were meant to put this into perspective but since I don't speak Greek they were more distracting than useful.

It's meant to be a large sweeping saga but I never cared enough about the characters to want to listen to the next 10 hours worth. Also, I didn't care much for the main protagonist. He's a little too cocksure and arrogant for my taste. Although, I was rooting for the ship captain.

The narrator has a good, clear voice and his narrations were easy to follow. I would have wanted the character voices to be more varied as I was having some trouble with which characters were speaking since a lot of the voices sounded alike.

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

Very Enjoyable... now... book 2?

Really enjoyed this book. medieval knights meets space opera... fun battles and action sequences and the narration/production was done very well. Solid performance. I'll pickup book 2 when it becomes available.

War is Imminent

I enjoyed this first book in the "Star Legions: The Terran Wars" series. There was some creation to the worldbuilding and an introduction to the opposing armies which was necessary to understand what was happening, but once one grasped who the main characters were, the story was exciting. I liked the nod to the Greek stories of old and that those stories were retold in a futuristic context. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. J. Scott Bennett's narration was great, and his performance enhanced the story's entertainment. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

Spartans in Space

If you were to take elements of both real life and cinematic history from the Greek, Spartan, and Roman empires and plunge them into a Star Wars style space opera, then you would understand the bulk of this book. Many of the expected themes throughout this story are futuristic retellings of the empires' mythos from the overwhelming odds and infighting politics of the battle of Theophilus (aka The 300), to the arena style fightings of Gladiator and even some of the elements of the battle of Troy are mixed in. Aside from a skillful mixing of the expected story elements, the new twists of three-dimensional spatial combat as opposed to two-dimensional ocean faring combat, as well as orbital drop invasion forces having more complications than their land-based counterparts give the story more flavor than a standard retelling.

The narrator has a very wide cast of voices that he can display for both male and female parts. The distinctions in his voice become very important in this particular narrative as character dialogue versus narration usually marks the beginning or end of large-scale conflicts.

Unlike cinematic storytelling, where large-scale battles can take place in a matter of minutes, the battles in this narrative are explained over the course of quarter hours all the way to full hours. Therefore if the listener is the kind of person who enjoys the attention to meticulous detail in military conflicts, then this book can be quite enjoyable. On the other hand, if the listener is not a fan of large-scale battles waged from capital ship to capital ship in orbit, to space fighters in more classic aerial combat maneuvers, to dropship invasion forces taking large land-based installations, then the aforementioned character dialogue distinction in the narrator's voice cast becomes much more critical as large portions of the battle descriptions can be left to fade to the background without much consequence. Given that the author has already used several major telling points from previous stories, it will be interesting to see how he develops a further storyline into series.

Great Adventure!

This is an epic sci-fi story. It has magnificent detail, heroic characters and a vivid futuristic world. Fantastic narration puts you right there with them. I highly recommend this book.

Not unique but well executed

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

So, this is nothing super unique in the sci fi genre. There was a little mythology mixed in from the Greek and Persian pantheons, which was a nice addition. The narration is pretty good as well. All in all, though it isn't Earth-shatteringly unique, it is well executed. I would say this is a book that is worth checking out.

Wicked Battles!

“Warrior King” is the first book in the new “Star Legions: The Terran Wars” series written by Michael G. Thomas; available now in audiobook format. This author currently has over thirty books available on Audible (at the time of this review) and most fall into the science fiction genre. The audiobook edition is performed by J. Scott Bennett who is a well-known narrator with nearly 150 audiobook performances covering almost every possible genre imaginable. If I were to take one life lesson away from what I learned in this book, it would be the quote that says, “Be where your enemy is not.”; lightly attributed to quotes from the “Art of War” book by Sun Tzu. If you like your science fictions stores rather large, complex, and expansive, you may want to give this series a try. There are some things that set this book apart from your run of the mill science fiction tale, yet I’m not sure I will be recommending the series to others due to some of the things mentioned below.

The book had so much potential with such a grand premise along with its ability to blend both old and new. There were ships, futuristic weapons, and swords all being used alongside one another throughout the story. We were shown ship-to-ship battles along with some sizable ground-based assaults, and many of these were done well. I thought the blending of mythology and future was a great concept and I wanted more of it in this book. It felt like bits and pieces of Star Wars because of its vast and open worlds, good vs. evil story, and the various factions battling for the win. For me though, the story was too disjointed, meandering, and inconsistent from similar books I have listened too. I wanted to enjoy the book but instead found myself focusing elsewhere and it is easy to get lost if you do not rewind and pick up where you last remembered. I had to do this a few times while listening and I do not recall another book where I needed to rewind the material to pick the story back up.

I did not feel the characters were passionate about their roles and tasks; overall. There were times they were focused but only to get distracted and go in a different direction. They all seemed to operate at the same pace and urgency, at times it was hard to tell characters apart from one another. I wanted more depth and backstory on the main characters and their various people groups. I wanted to truly understand their desires and struggles, which I just did not get a feel for. Give me, the listener, a reason to care or have feelings for the book’s characters. The world and scenes were painted with vivid detail and color, but the characters themselves felt flat and uninteresting. I wanted to care for one side or the other, yet neither were interesting enough to expend such energy upon. I wanted more of the science fiction elements such as the Great Expanse, more technology, and more character development making the book more fun and interesting to listen too.

The audiobook’s narration was done well by J. Scott Bennett. Although the characters were not multi-dimensional the voicing of them was good. Mr. Bennett was able to add inflection and some subtle sound effects making the book feel grander and fuller. There were times the performance seemed a bit flat or monotone, yet this could have been due to the material he was given. The overall audio quality and performance was decent and above average based on other books, I have listened too. I have a few of his other works and I enjoyed them very much.

In summary, the book felt incomplete and unpolished. It was average when placed alongside the many other books found in the genre. Could it have been a great science fiction space opera? I think so, but it feels like it needed to be more cohesive and tighter in the storylines and the characters needed to me much better defined. The audiobook’s performance was solid with only a few slight blemishes, most of those are my own preferences. Being that this is the first in a series, I have to give the author some leeway in my critique. Yet, this is not his first published work and I expected more than what I felt was delivered in the end. I hope the other books in the series are more defined, more interesting, and more action.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
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Sci-Fi, battles and mythology

An interesting first book in the series. It is flowing over with battles, both in space and on the ground; giving you a mix of sci-fi, Greek and Persian battle tactics and mythology. From spider like alien machines to Minotaur’s and futuristic space ships, this story has them all. It did take me a little time to get into the story and work out who was who in the beginning, but the unique voices the narrator used in the audiobook helped with this greatly. The character grew on you as the story progresses and you want them to survive the mess that had become their world. The political intrigue, relationships formed and the fast action battles kept you entertained and the well-chosen narrator made the book more enjoyable.

Spartan Star Wars

What happens when you mix Bronze age history and Space opera? A great time! This book sets the stage for a Persian style invasion of the Terran planets by an alien force. Great characterization and strong action are on display as Mr. Thomas sets us up for quite a few more books. And Can I say that the Narrator is my hero for taking on the names in this book! I have the print version as well and I would never have dared to read it out loud!

Great first in the series

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Very fast paced book. Full of action and intrigue. A wonderful combination of ancient mythology and future sci-fi. Everything from Minotaurs to space ship ships. Loved it!

Narrator was spot on. Lots of characters. His voices were clear and definable.

Very nice job!