Space Carrier Avalon

By: Glynn Stewart

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Avalon was the flagship of the Castle Federation in the last war, now 20 years past. The first of the deep space carriers, no other warship in the fleet holds as many honors or has recorded as many kills. No other warship in the fleet is as old. Accepting the inevitable, the Federation Space Navy has decided to refit her and send her on a tour of the frontier, showing the flag to their allies and enemies as a reminder of her glory - and then decommission her for good.

But Avalon has been a backwater posting for 10 years and has problems a mere refit can't fix. The systems along her planned tour have been seeing pirates for the first time in decades, and there are rumblings of Commonwealth scouting ships all along the border. It may be Avalon's final tour, but it looks to be anything but quiet.

©2015 Glynn Stewart (P)2015 Tantor

Could have been 5 star most might consider it so

The story was excellent and engrossing
The characters fully developed and believable. You would probably recognize them in person

The science was fascinating and fun
The scenes were vivid and easy to immerse myself in

The performance was nothing short of superb! The narrator's delivery and voices were a pleasure to hear. The separation of character voices is impeccable. I think he could bring a dictionary to life!

So why only 4 stars? The segues giving date ,time, earth standard meridian time /date statement, the call number of the ship, the ships name the location within the ship and often more nearly every time anyone walked through a door was almost unbearable! If I had been reading instead of listening I would have ignored this litany every time!

I actually began to resent the author after a while for wasting my time and interrupting my train of thought I will listen to other works of his but not if he continues to use the same segue technique.

New CAG Curses Legendary Star Carrier

The story is about a soon to be decommissioned legendary star carrier and the tumultuous event that occur to her as soon as a new Commander, Air Group (CAG) reports for duty. After a too long (1/3+ of book) backstory buildup to size up the primary characters, the carrier enters into its first battle with pirates. Then, within a few weeks it encounters a couple of battles with an opposing fleet. In every battle, the underdog Avalon and its crew wins each battle using boldness, guile and space age legerdemain. Unfortunately, this battling technique is over-done to a point of lightly touching the farcical.

The Good: The writing was and narration were both done well.

The Bad: Too much time is spend on the love relationships between the various characters to the point of being distracting to focus of the novel. Also, the new CAQ ends up going from commander, to XO, to Captain within a timespan of a few weeks. Lastly, there was an overuse of 20th century idioms which gave those sections a cliche-ish feel them.

A good start for a series, but needs improvement

Would you recommend Space Carrier Avalon to your friends? Why or why not?

This is the first time I've listened to a book by Glynn Stewart. I liked the action, the pace, and a few surprises. Having the Date, Time, and location included with every scene change become very tiresome. I was in the military and I understand the purpose. But it took away the enjoyment of the story. The other issue are the sexual encounters. The detail was unnecessary. The story at times sounded a little like soap opera.

Any additional comments?

Overall a good story, I might listen to another Glynn Stewart book depending on the reviews.

slow and very progressive story line.

Please just write good sci-fi stories without putting personal sexual preferences and religious condemnation. TIRED of this!

I wish it was mroe then just OK

Would you try another book from Glynn Stewart and/or Eric Michael Summerer?

I'd listen to the narrator again. The author's writing style is not appealing to draw me into another of his stories.

Would you ever listen to anything by Glynn Stewart again?

The author would have to really improve his writing style. The main issue is that in this book it was written/formatted as if it was prose style script for a movie or TV show rather then an actual novel. Chapters are treated liked Acts in a play with each "Chapter" broken into multiple scenes that are headlined by a location/date/time declaration. This just adds tothe "play" feeling of the book.

What three words best describe Eric Michael Summerer’s performance?

uninspired, overeager, energetic

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Space Carrier Avalon?

I wouldn't have cut a particular scene per se. I would have required the author to smooth out the narration and remove the "scene" header lines (e.g. location/date/time) that break the flow of the narrative and sometimes give information that would have been better palced in the narrative itself.

Any additional comments?

I wanted to like this book. It was a nice change from the info dumps of a Weber novel and it had an interesting premise. The writing style however sucked the life from it for me.

Familiarity with twists

When you consume a lot of scifi, it's inevitable that any new titles end up being defined as "the tech from X", "the characters from Y", and "the story from Z". Space Carrier Avalon however shows that that's not necessarily a bad thing, and in some cases, that sense of familiarity lures you in just far enough that the twists actually do surprise you.

Despite being the first book in the series, the universe seems well established here. The tech is believable, balanced, and seemingly established before the story was written - shaping the latter in certain ways. The characters are also well-developed, and while they are familiar they certainly stand on their own.

What perhaps surprised me the most about the book was that it's essentially a story I've heard a few times before, but polished to the point it feels new. If someone were to give you the premise and the status of the Castle Federation universe at the beginning and end of the book, you would likely assume you knew the parts in between, but you would also likely be wrong.

All in all, I truly recommend this book to those who like military scifi but who feel it should be based in a recognizable and science-based universe.

I get tired of gay crap in everything

The Gay disorder effects less than one percent of the world population. But in scifi lately it's one in twenty or more. This is crap pressed upon us by the writers own desires. The author should of title the work as Gay Girl In Space.

Great Sci Fi!

The overall plot was somewhat predictable but, aren't all great stories like that? Very well narrated. The action was well described. This book lays the foundation for many more. I can't wait!

Thumbs Down

What did you like best about Space Carrier Avalon? What did you like least?

I like space operas, if original and well written, this book was neither.

Has Space Carrier Avalon turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just those written by this author.

Which scene was your favorite?

None, all was just warmed over story lines.

Do you think Space Carrier Avalon needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I didn't bother to finish this one, and would not listen to another book by this author

Any additional comments?

The author goes through great lengths to point out the race of each character, and characterizes anyone of African decent as either, barely meeting regulations, a bully one wasn't good enough there had to be two. A commander with an African name who is easily defeated and made to surrender by a heroic cripple. and in the case of the Terran congress a war mongering senator, obviously black by description, and in the case of the one Native American, (Chief) Walking Stick, is portrayed as blood thirsty Caesar.

This authors state of mind ensures that I will not waste another credit on his insecurities, and boyish fantasies.

Don't waist your time

Reads like a 1950 war movie, only difference is nothing happens. I was surprised as Stewart generally produces 5 star reads that I can't put down...

Good listen to an already great book

having read the book prior, I knew what was coming, having listened I can say it was just as if not more enjoyable to relive the story via audio, give the whole series a read and a listen

Very enjoyable story with good characters

Good story easy to listen to some plot twists and characters you want to know more about.
Well narrated good pace and tone of voice.
The only problem I have is it feels like it starts half way through a longer story.
It is possible this series follows a story I've not listened too this doesn't hurt the story or plot in anyway.
If you like stories like Empire's Corps or Ark Royal by Christopher G. Nuttall you will like this

Nice read

I haven't read this author before. Nice surprise. I will almost certainly read the next book

I could not recommend a better Science Fiction

I could not recommend a better Science Fiction; the performance, the story, the characters. Truly a new age of heroes written beautifully by Glynn Stewart and performed by E M Summerer

An excellent addition to space combat series

I'm a fan of space navy series so it's always good to discover a new one.
Covering both fighter and capital class ships this is a welcome addition to my library and I look forward to continuing the series.

Excellent storyline and narration

A well crafted story with an excellent narrator, Works as a standalone but also as the start of a series.

Great book

Love the book second time I have listened to it great book series I highly recommended listening to this book and the rest of the book series
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

pleasantly surprised

This was my first audio book and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to listen too. I have read all the castle federation books which I really enjoyed, the audio version with its excellent narration felt like it was discovering the books for the first time.

OK

This could have been really good, apart from the irritating dialogue every few minutes telling everyone date, time, location ..... every few minutes!!

Why did the author find it necessary to include this repetitive dialogue which, in my opinion, only served to interrupt the plot every few minutes and irritate the hell out of listeners.

Hence the reason for my rating.

Battlestar Galactica of books

Where does Space Carrier Avalon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high among Scifi books. The reader did a fantastic job with the material. I had never ever heard about the author, but he jumped to number two or three on my top list.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The CAG. Simply put perfect!

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Every scene on the Avalon. Cause the fealing the author managed to create.

Any additional comments?

As the title states this feals like BSG of books. Very gripping story. Allready bought the next two books in the series! A must do.