Worldship Praxis

By: JD Lovil

Narrated by: Steve Rausch

Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Existence has a billion faces, each one an universe coexisting with our own.

In one such universe, disaster has struck the Earth. The near collapse of the global political and financial structures came first. The eruption of a super volcano came next, with great damage to the Earth's environment. In the hardship that followed, some sought advantage, or perhaps revenge, in starting a short nuclear war. As if that wasn't enough, then the aliens invaded.

A hard existence will harden some people's resolve. A few problem solvers saw that the survival of mankind depended in getting off of the planet. A group of them took humanity first into orbit, and then on to the stars.

We follow the great Worldship Praxis as it flies silently through the darkness between the stars on its mission. Jack Sadow is the Director, or captain of the ship. Effectively immortal, the nanobots keep him young and strong, ready to face the centuries of the voyage.

Time and lightyears change Humanity. Jack must contend with a changing world within the ship and with alien life outside the ship. Each decision he makes as best he can, and only time and lightyears will determine if he chose well.

©2013 JD Lovil (P)2015 JD Lovil

Great narrator

This book is about Jack Shadow and his crew aboard the Worldship Praxis. They along with thousand of other humans are looking for a new home to colonize.
I liked hearing about the world Jack and the others had built within the ship. The parts about the gray squirrels in the park organizing into their own colony was my favorite. Actually most of the parts I enjoyed involved Fido Jack's miniature dire wolf or the squirrels. I didn't mind the characters but they were one dimensional. I didn't know much about their backgrounds or who they actually were. They spent a lot of time drinking, discussing technology and in hibernation.
This book is very technical and goes into depth about the workings of the ship and nanobots used to keep the humans young and healthy. It's very scientific. I found my mind wandering when Jack and his friends would go on about the mechanics of the ship.
However, my big issue with this book is that nothing really happened. There wasn't any real climax or excitement. I found it boring other than the occasional funny part about the squirrels. I loved the damn squirrels! I mean they even got themselves little suits of armor and had jousts!
The narrator of the book did a great job. He spoke clearly and was entertaining. He kept me engaged throughout the book.

I was gifted a copy of this audiobook by the author. This is an unbiased review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Story with no plot

Any additional comments?

I was offered this book in audio format in exchange for an honest review.

In the 23rd century three enormous spaceships travel transporting thousands of people looking for worlds to colonize. Jack is the captain of one of this ships, the Worldship Praxis.

The books tells the daily life of the Worldship Praxis crew, how they take care of new findings and how they manage any important detail on board. J.D. Lovil uses a rich language and many sci-fi and Physics technicisms, creating the perfect atmosphere for the story. Unfortunately there is no story, nor plot, nor twists here. The bnook spans around 40 years and the only remarkable event is the meeting with another race and how they help to improve the Wordlship Praxis efficiency with their technology. I waited and waited for the conflict of the story, but the complete book is just exposition.

The crew of the Worldship Praxis spends most of the time in hibernation or drinking so much beer and scotch that I do not know how they get anything done.

Jack, the main character, is an arrogant person, but I understand that this could happen after leading his crew for so long.

Something I disliked from the book is how it seems aimed at a quite primitive male public, with expressions like 'punish in a way that is universally female' or 'I was ready to go home, kiss the dog and beat the wife'. I know they are just expressions but I would just expect them in a novel from the 50s, and not in one written in the 21st century describing actions in the 23rd. This was so disappointing.

I liked the hard sci-fi technicisms and the potential the story had, but it missed very important elements of a very basic plot. The characters were two-dimensional and it was difficult to connect with them, especially since men could only think about alcohol and sex and women were just one-dimensional and only a distraction for the men.