Serengeti

By: J. B. Rockwell

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

It was supposed to be an easy job: find the Dark Star Revolution Starships, destroy them, and go home. But a booby-trapped vessel decimates the Meridian Alliance fleet, leaving Serengeti - a Valkyrie class warship with a sentient AI brain - on her own, wrecked and abandoned in an empty expanse of space. On the edge of total failure, Serengeti thinks only of her crew. She herds the survivors into a lifeboat, intending to sling them into space. But the escape pod sticks in her belly, locking the cryogenically frozen crew inside. Then a scavenger ship arrives to pick Serengeti's bones clean. Her engine's dead, her guns long silenced; Serengeti and her last two robots must find a way to fight the scavengers off and save the crew trapped inside her.

©2016 J. B. Rockwell (P)2016 Tantor

Not bad

The story is heart warming. Thought the voice narrating was poor mostly ok i guess. The Author clearly did some poor science research when writing the story though. All in All it wasn't a half bad book though.

It put me to sleep.

I was hoping for a demonstration of AI powers but the last six chapters just kept putting me to z z z z. I was aware that Serengeti was loyal, protective, and made crucial decisions on her own by the first half of the book. After that all that occurred was more passive. Z z z z...

A remarkable read [OK, listen!]

If you could sum up Serengeti in three words, what would they be?

And now for something entirely different...

What did you like best about this story?

The protagonist of this fascinating tale is the ship. Yes, the artificial intelligence that runs the ship is both the narrator and hero... I told you it was different.

Which character – as performed by Elizabeth Wiley – was your favorite?

Serengeti, the ship's mind, is my favorite. She tells her story with thoughtfulness and realism.

Any additional comments?

As I said, this was an entirely different sort of book for me. I came to care deeply for the ship as the book went on. I was sorry to see it end.

Soft SciFi

The characters in the book did not behave in a manner I believe would be consistent with their background. This failure in world building left me perpetually unengaged with the story and watching the clock for how long until the book was over. I am unlikely to purchase the rest of this series.

A fun read Ta Da

This is a different and interesting story. Serengeti is a Valkyrie class Warship with a sentient AI brain. The AI ships are special. Their personality depends on the kind of spaceship they are in. They have complete authority over the captain.

Serengeti belongs to the Meridian Alliance fleet and they are at war with the Dark Star Revolution fleet. The two fleets have a battle and Serengeti is badly damaged and is on the edge of total failure. She was unable to evacuate her human cryogenically frozen crew and send a distress signal. Scavengers board the ship and Serengeti and her two robots must fight them off and save the ship and crew.

Rockwell made the AI and robots very humanized almost too much so. Had the feeling this book was written for young people. I had to suspend belief a few times but overall it was a fun book and a bit different from the usual space operas. The book was well written and the robots were cute. The book dragged a bit in the middle of the book.

Wiley does a good job narrating the book particularly between Serengeti and her robots. Wiley is an actress and an award winning audiobook narrator.

Mary Poppins as a war commander

The first part of this story was written very well and kept me intrigued throughout. Somewhere along the storyline the Warship's AI changed personalities into a mid-century British nanny. Too many references and input from a human thought and limitations. Again, the story was a good one which held me till the end but I gritted my teeth in the second half.
Not sure if I will follow the series if there is one.

interesting conception artificial intelligence

this was a intriguing story the AI did not seem to be as advanced as say something along the culture series but it was enjoyable anyway

wow

just wow. I'm blown away by the story and the characters and the narration. 5 stars indeed.

So good!

So much action and emotion. Unlike AI characters in other books, I actually cared what was going to happen to Serengeti. Also enjoyed the range of depth in the story, from massive space battles down to the intimate struggle to survive.

I haven't loved a book like this in years.

This isn't the story of Space Marines. This isn't a story of human verses aliens. This is a story of a the wreck of Serengeti. A proud and distinguished Valkyrie class warship and her duty to her crew.

Follow Serengeti and her Herculean efforts to save what is left of her crew. Stuck in Cryogenic hibernation. Through power droughts. Invading scavengers and her own slowly devolving physical structure. Nothing will stand in her way of saving her crew. She has her exceptional wits and the hands of two small repair droids fending off entropy and working to save the crew.

The narrator brought Serengeti to life. She was brilliant and I will look into other books she might have narrated. If you like SciFi I highly suggest trying Serengeti for the off beat and generous story the author has weaved for our entertainment.