• Warship

  • Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Joshua Dalzelle
  • Narrated by: Mark Boyett
  • Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (13,896 ratings)

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Warship  By  cover art

Warship

By: Joshua Dalzelle
Narrated by: Mark Boyett
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Publisher's summary

From Joshua Dalzelle, author of the best-selling Omega Force series, comes an all new vision of humanity's future.

In the 25th century, humans have conquered space. The advent of faster-than-light travel has opened up hundreds of habitable planets for colonization, and humans have exploited the virtually limitless space and resources for hundreds of years with impunity. So complacent have they become with the overabundance that armed conflict is a thing of the past, and their machines of war are obsolete and decrepit. What would happen if they were suddenly threatened by a terrifying new enemy? Would humanity fold and surrender, or would they return to their evolutionary roots and meet force with force?

One ship - and one captain - will soon be faced with this very choice.

©2015 Joshua Dalzelle (P)2015 Podium Publishing

What listeners say about Warship

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    3,214
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    36

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

Good delivery of a very mediocre story

Maybe it's because I'm a long-serving military veteran, but this story and its account of a group of so-called military personal leaves me cold. The relationships, responses and reactions of the crew are at times just plain silly, like when the hero/captain tears his rank off then shreds his shirt in response to losing his first casualty, a technician whose name he didn't know. Really? Like the captain, the characters are one-dimensional and over-wrought: the scheming mutineer, the evil admiral, or the sweet and ever helpful female XO. It takes a lot for me to give up on a book but after two-thirds I just can't be bothered to finish this one. The narrator does a good job, but the material he's working with is mostly simplistic pulp. Very disappointing.

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59 people found this helpful

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

A compelling and satisfying underdog space opera

I was initially drawn to this book because I was looking for other Mark Boyett performances. After listening to every Star Force, Undying Mercenaries, and Troy Rising audiobook with other standalone novels he performed, I feel like I've heard the full spectrum of Boyett's voices a dozen times over. Yet, somehow he still can make me believe that I'm in a completely different universe with a whole different set of characters, all of them with unique nuances. Boyett has definitely become my favorite military scifi/space opera narrator, and with Warship, he once again gives a performance that is nothing less than stellar.

All of the other reviews have pretty much said all there was to be said, and I echo their words. I honestly was a bit hesitant to believe all of the reviews, as I had never seen so much glowing for the first book in a series. I haven't read anything from the Omega Rising series, and this was my first exposure to Joshua Dalzelle. Needless to say, I was very impressed.

At least in Warship, Dalzelle's style was remarkably lucid. I had absolutely no problem following the action, even though I listened to the entirety of the story while working. Though he relied on archetypes for some of the minor characters (e.g. the underachieving and entitled non-com who turns out to be mutinous, and the stubborn-to-a-fault racist admiral), I appreciated the complexity of the main characters who all brought with them various surprises throughout the story.

Captain Wolfe remains relatable while also demonstrating near-superhuman levels of courage in the face of almost certain defeat. And his XO's loyalty and resourcefulness are truly admirable. I could easily imagine myself willfully following the orders of either of these individuals if I were to serve under their command.

The future science and politics are not too far-fetched, though I wonder if the implied time-frame would actually be sufficient for the degree of alleged colonization of other star systems that is presented. As a scientist, I appreciate the realistic interpretations of physics and biology. Though the skittish, unhinged, scatterbrained scientist archetype presented at the end of the book was a little irritating, especially in the face of the cool, collected, and confident engineer character that was introduced right after. However, given all of the other positive aspects in this production, I'll let it slide... this time!

But, seriously, this book is definitely worth it. I really hope they stay with Boyett for the rest of the series.

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59 people found this helpful

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

Rooting for the underdog

Joshua Dalzelle's Warship is the 1st installment in the Black Fleet trilogy. Set in the far future, local space has been conquered and settled. All alone and with plenty of room, humanity has become complacent towards its military / defense posture. At the same time, Earth and its natives get little respect. One old relic with its washed-up "earther" captain are sent on a final routine mission before its decomissioning. Unfortunately, routine is hardly applicable in this case as hostile aliens are encountered. Believing the ship of losers has finally lost it, they receive no assistance and struggle to protect frontier worlds and battle a clearly superior force.

The sci-fi elements include a full array of interstellar FTL capability with some high powered weaponry. The aliens are never actually seen, but hint at biological or organic engineering for their craft along with worm-like tendencies down a gravity well. The appeal of the tale is a captain, crew, and ship that most have given up on, but continue to go above and beyond with unique and creative solutions to novel and never before encountered scenarios.

The narration is well executed; Mark Boyett appears specifically designed for sci-fi military stories. Pace, tone, and mood are well coordinated with the story flow. Although the theme is well worn, this offering is a cut above in terms of quality and satisfaction.

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29 people found this helpful

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

pretty good sci-fi here with a fantastic narrator

Earth is no longer the center of the human universe. With an abundance of resources and a plethora of planets to colonize, the wars of past centuries are exactly where they need to be: in the past. With no violent warring in over a hundred years, the interstellar navies of the loosely aligned human states waste away.

The Blue Jacket was built after the last war and it was built with war in mind. It is lined with large plates and shields, rail guns for close combat and all of the bells and whistles to be a formidable opponent. Jackson Wolfe, the Blue Jacket’s commander and, much like his ship, is a misfit in the new Navy. He is an old Earther rather than a new colonist. And for some strange reason, he is very much disliked by everyone. Must be why he is given a dinosaur of a ship to command.

Wolfe and his crew are rushed out on a seemingly pointless mission: they are to shuttle a politician’s aide to an unspecified location. The Admiral also lets Wolfe know that this will be Blue Jacket’s last mission. When they return, the ship will be salvaged for scrap.

The Blue Jacket comes upon a devastated colony planet. All inhabitants have been wiped out, as are all of the cities and towns. Upon arriving in a new system, they find more devastation, only this time it is accompanied by a large alien ship. The Blue Jacket engages the ship, though the commander realizes it is a futile effort. But the ship doesn’t fight back like he expects. Why? Only time will tell in this cat and mouse/chess match of the space variety.

There are a couple of issues I found with the story. One, the lack of backstory. We have no idea why Wolfe is hated nor how he became Captain. Why would he rise up the ranks if no one liked him? Is it just because he is from Earth? What’s so bad about that? Two, there is too much dialogue. This isn’t generally an issue, but the amount of times I heard “Jackson said” or “Sing said” really got on my nerves. There are ways to go about scenes with a lot dialogue without continually letting the reader/listener know who was speaking. You can also utilize other words than just ‘said’.

Mark Boyet’s narration was great and I’ll definitely be looking for other audiobooks with his name on them. He does a really fine job with gender distinction and voice inflection. Definitely look him up!

Overall, pretty good sci-fi here with a fantastic narrator. Not sure if I will continue on to books 2 (currently out) or 3, but it may just be your cup of tea.

Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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19 people found this helpful

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

Fun Military Sci-Fi Novel

This was the kind of Science Fiction I really like. Military in nature, and interpersonal. It does have one of my least favorite things. The first book of a trilogy without the rest of the trilogy available and thus have to read other books until the trilogy is finished.

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17 people found this helpful

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

A solid space ship combat story

First off, if you're like me and can't stand even the best of stories if the narration isn't good, this is a safe bet. Mark Boyett is very good, giving each character a distinguished and fitting voice that makes it easy to tell who is talking, without being distracting.

The book is your standard space combat archetype, but in the best possible ways. Dalzell crafts a believable world a bit more grounded and approachable than something like Star Trek. FTL comes with rules, costs and tradeoffs. Combat between ships takes place at speed, with logical weapons one could imagine being real some day. Additionally, the writer does well to describe the visuals of these ships instead of leaving you with nothing to go on.

As with most books of this type, its weakness is in the fleshy human stuff. Nothing cringe worthy or distracting, just less BSG style intrigue, complexity and depth than I'd have liked.

Overall, fully worth the read if you enjoyed Old Man's War, The Lost Fleet and the like.

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13 people found this helpful

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

Best space war book I have ever heard.

Great space ship and excellent performance by far. Can't wait to get to the two remaining books

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13 people found this helpful

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

Mediocre wierd story.

Oddly laid out and written. Tries to be like old school military and fails by trying too hard. Captain is a jerk, seriously.

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10 people found this helpful

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

Slow start, unimaginative.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

So far I'm over an hour into a 7 hour listen, and all that has happened is a ship undocks, a new first officer is introduced, and not much more. Characters are flat, unmemorable, and the story has had no interesting science fiction ideas at all. I expect this will end up being one of those combat books now called science fiction by virtue of taking place in space.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Will let you. if I ever hear one.

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8 people found this helpful

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

Excellent story

Looking forward to future follow up additions to this series! Really decent space opera style story. Good characters as well.

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8 people found this helpful