Sol

By: S. H. Jucha

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sol's warships paid the ultimate price for threatening the Haraken and New Terran worlds. Now, Haraken president Alex Racine and his Méridien partner, Renée de Guirnon, are engaged in a desperate gamble to stop a war between their worlds and United Earth's (UE) massive forces before it starts.

What's Alex's grand plan? He hasn't a clue, but his people believe in him and hope he will find a way to protect them. Alex does have powerful assets: the Haraken space fleet; the genius SADEs, mobile Haraken digital intelligences; and the defected UE scientists, who are providing a wealth of intelligence about their home world.

Arriving at Sol, Alex discovers the perfect opportunity to make his statement to the UE Supreme Tribunal in the form of the aging Idona Station, which has fallen into disrepair as UE militia and rebels battle for control. Alex explains his unorthodox plan when he says, "The UE tribunes will succumb when we overpower them with prosperity."

The Harakens work to meld Idona's militia, stationers, and rebels into the Haraken's view of the world, one based on peace, purpose, and equality. The Tribunal is at odds over the Harakens' interference in their system, forcing the rifts in the UE's political structure to widen into chasms.

In the exciting conclusion to Haraken, the series' previous book, Sol is the story of a clash of cultures and ideals as Earthers struggle to find a way toward a successful new future.

©2016 S. H. Jucha (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Engrossing

The Harakens with President Alex Racine and Renee de Guirnon have arrived in the Sol system in the hopes of preventing a war. They take over the dilapidated Idona space station. They get the rebels and station Militia to work together. The corruption is stopped. Maintenance on the station begins with reasonable fees posted and fast, clean, safe service to ships. They also get the ore processing station open for business. The ships are returning to the station. First come the freighters and the ore haulers, then the passenger ships. Workers are paid and treated fairly and the Idona station becomes self-governing and most of all the economy is surging. The tribune that represents the Judiciary on the Tribunal Council orders an attack against the Harakens. The Harakens defeat the Judicial Naval force. The political battle for the UE widens. Can the Harakens help the citizens of Sol solve their problems and prevent a war with Haraken or a civil war?

The book is well written. The plot twists and turns with lots of action and suspense. There is lots of personal interaction amongst the people as well as with the political leaders. There is subtle humor throughout as well as an upbeat attitude and hope. The book is easy to read and is most enjoyable.

The book is twelve hours long. Grover Gardner does an excellent job narrating the book. Gardner has a voice that is very easy to listen to. Gardner is a multi-award-winning audiobook narrator.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Alex diffuses the march to war

S H Jucha's Sol, the 5th installment in the Silver Ships series finds Alex Racine and his loyal. but eclectic band of brothers and sisters, journeying to Earth in an attempt to head off an eventual war with the UE (United Earth). In true Racine fashion, with no pre-arranged plan, Alex correctly interprets the economic issues that saddle the system and elects to commandeer a space station and show the Earthers how it's done. With expected resistance from the judicial branch of the government, Alex and his crew employ Haraken know-how and some well executed battle scenes to set in motion a long term relationship with Sol on peaceful terms.

The sci-fi elements are in line with prior installments. The Sol system represents a more primitive society. The AIs play a central role as they are gaining confidence in their physical avatars, but the rest of Alex's crew is heavily involved. While the series has continued to deliver, Alex is gradually running out of dire situations in which to dramatically save the day. Some fresh blood might invigorate future submissions.

The narration is exceptionally well done as expected from Grover Gardner. Given the large cast of characters, discrimination is excellent even for both genders. The story flows smoothly making for an easy listen.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Sol - Another Gem of a SF Book from S.H. Jucha

Another winner from Mr. Jucha! One of the best talents Mr. Jucha possesses is the art of being able to summarize the progress of his Silver Ships saga, along with the Haraken peoples at the beginning of each book. This allows readers (or listeners) to start the saga with any book and also to read in any order (although a first-to-last order still brings the maximum enjoyability). Mr. Jucha’s Haraken peoples are a “service to others” collection of several species of citizens, being primarily sprinkled with humans originally from several star systems, aquatic, crab-like creatures, and SADEs (Self Aware Digital Entities), all surrounded by high tech, and plenty of opportunities to leave others in better shape than when they were first encountered. One of the favorite tactics Mr. Jucha uses is that of often taking the plot in the less expected direction and not in an obvious direction - this keeps the listener (or reader) on their toes! Gotta’ run - the next book awaits!

awesome book

a great continuation of the story the fifth book and I hope there's a 6 book come out

I love this series

can't get enough of Alex and the gang. I love science fiction and this is the best and most beautifully written story

great book

this book kept me interested from start to finish. I can't wait to read the next one. id give this book 10 stars if the rating went that high.

excellent series great storyline

I love the storyline as well as the narrator I can't wait for the next book in the series

loved this series!

engaging story and a great narration! highly recommend you read this series! can't wait for the next book

Quite Enjoyable!

I'm looking forward to the next books in the series . Good or high quality entertainment is often hard to find.

Another good story in a fun series

Once again we get a good story with plenty of sci-fi action.We have many of the same characters and a few new ones. I like the author and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

These books are getting tired.

At the start Alex was exciting and challenging but slowly over the books he has become arrogant and pompous and frankly the story has lost its edge.