Star Alliance

Ascension, Book 3

By: Ken Lozito

Narrated by: Jeff Hays

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A daring rescue resulted in one of their own being captured. A soldier desperate to prevent the enslavement of humanity.

Held prisoner by a vicious alien whose race is determined to conquer the galaxy, Zack wakes to find that he is cut off from everything. Zack must figure out a way to escape his captors and a prison full of dangerous aliens to get back to his ship. Did his friends even know he was still alive?

Kaylan commands the Athena, Earth's most advanced spaceship. The crew is far from home and caught in an intergalactic war. The Boxans demand that they leave the star system, Xiiginn warships are hunting them, and the Athena is hopelessly outclassed. Kaylan must choose between leaving Zack to his fate or risking the lives of the crew for the slim chance of rescuing him.

Kladomaor can't let the Humans fall into the hands of the Xiiginns. The Boxans have been at war with the Xiiginns for years and they were losing. The Humans might be the key to their salvation, but only if he can bring them before the High Council and convince them to protect Earth. Their stealth ship is no match for the Xiiginn warships hunting them, and if he can't get the Humans to leave soon they would all be doomed.

Star Alliance is the third book in an action-packed space opera series. The crew of the Athena stands upon a precipice and their next action will affect Earth for generations to come. Will humanity be the next race to be enslaved?

©2016 Ken Lozito (P)2016 Podium Publishing

Star Alliance

Very interesting story line. Ken is a great author. So what happens next? I cannot wait to find out☺

martin sr

I am still intrested in the efforts to make the last effort by the humans to provide a finish alliance.

Here we go.

Like other of Ken Lozito series’s, they start really slow and then about half way through a big kaboom happens and the story gets an unexpected new life which glues you to it.
That’s when it all gets interesting and pure joy.
Here comes the betrayal as a twist ending the third book as an enticement to move on to book four of this series.

Narration by Jeff Hays is perfectly done for each of the characters in this book.

Fully Recommended !!!

Oded Ostfeld.

Loved it!

I put this on straight after the second book and it didn't disappoint. (after reading some reviews about the books not being worth a credit) I honestly have to say 'what' ? Do you guys have any idea what goes into writing something like this, let alone the audio production!

So for a credit, yes this series is well worth spending it on. Don't let the others put you off.

This part of the series has to be by far the best.

Zack wakes up, trapped on another ship and then sent to the Pit. Just by the sheer name of it you know it's not going to be a good thing. The characters are all put through the mill here, in locating Zack and in fighting off the constant chase of their enemy. It will have you on the edge of your seat, in fits waiting for something to go right for a change, and hoping that everyone you're starting to get to love makes it through.

Some of the best moments of the series are in here, from the realisation of the Nershal that not everything is out to kill you, to of course some home truths about the love x 4 that's on going on the Athena.

Excellent narration once again, and great listen. Of course, I'm really excited for the next one, and hope it's not too far off into the distance. I'm tempted to go to amazon and see if it's been published yet, but that just annoys me, as I rarely get time to read.

Thanks guys. One to come back to this one :)

Great listen.

Loving it. Wonderful series. I keep pushing to. Listen rather doing my daily activities.

Want More

I can't believe this trilogy is over. This is the Science Fiction Space Odyssey type books that I long for because it is non-stop action adventure. I can easily recommend this series for all ages even though it has a tiny bit of romance in it. The romance portion isn't graphic and is just enough to make the books realistic. Although the trilogy ended well enough to wrap up the adventure, it does end making you want to follow the crew of the Athena earth ship and the aliens they've encountered to the conclusion of their missions. How does the war between the races end? Who reaches earth first? So many unanswered questions but each book wraps up nicely yet leaves you begging for more.

I especially loved the descriptions of each race's reaction to the other's culture, diversity and looks.I was intrigued with their response to each other individually and collectively as a species. It was realistic enough that I could see myself in both the humans and other species thoughts and responses to the other.

I tore through approximately 22 hours of listening pleasure and searched for more of this adventure. I kept telling myself to have patience, however, I experienced frustration when I tried to find the other series that Ken Lozito has;The Safanarion Order. I thought I could quench my thirst for more of the Alliance series by substituting The Safanarion Order Series in the hopes it might be just as good or a tie in to the other series. However, it isn't available on Audible.

Patience...

Still compelling but ...

The story continued in a fast-paced manner jumping from new revelations to near-death situations as it unfolded. For now, it appears that the love triangle situation seems to have been decided but left unclear as to if it is truly settled.

I found the whole torture sequences a bit outlandish in that after only a few tries, the Xiiginn get angry and give up. Then, based on such few attempts, decide that humans can resist their attempts to get information from them. Either their prior species were weak-willed or they are too temperamental themselves to fully test the extremes of torture.

Then there was the incident where Boxen officer shoots his commanding Admiral officer to prevent him from staying and defending their asteroid station so as to save him and the rest of the admirals soldiers, while shocked, allowed to occur without arresting the lower ranked officer. If this is the way they run their military, is it any wonder the Boxen are losing their battles?

Then there's a hint that Kaylan's ability to perform remote viewing may also give her precognition capabilities. This is where the SciFi aspects of the story veer ever-so-close to the fantasy realm.

With all that said, I still found the story quite entertaining and enthusiastically recommend to anyone who are interested in an exciting series.

Note: Each book is still too short.

Changed my mind, More Please.

I have totally enjoyed this series up to now but this book was a total disappointment.

That's what I posted when I listened to this the day after my 61st birthday. WRONG! I gave it another chance listening to all 3 books one after the other and I changed my mind to a big thumbs-up.

I think when I listen to similar books in between a series I have issues keeping the story straight. Especially when I'm in that getting older depression. So sorry for that first irritable post. After just finishing the entire series together the only flaw I find here is the cliffhanger ending and no idea when we find out what happens next.

Intriguing, loved it A twist on Star Trek Voyager

Zack has to survive an alien prison and constant interrogations. He was never trained for this. His out of the box thinking both helps and hurts him. The love triangle that forms with the crew results in hurt feelings. I can't wait to see the result of this.

They're never getting home

Ken Lozito's Book 3 of the Ascension series, Star Alliance, picks up immediately where book 2 ended with Zack captured by the Xiiginn. Kaylan refuses to give up on Zack, much to the chagrin of the Boxans who believe that discretion (or desertion) is the better part of valor. Meanwhile, Zack and his sidekick alien friend are dealing with heavy interrogation tactics as the Xiiginns are looking to add another alien race to their menagerie collection. As usual Kaylan's instincts are spot on, while the Boxans continue to demonstrate themselves to be clueless and mostly behind the curve.

The sci-fi elements are in line with the first two books. We are privy to a bit more description of the Xiiginn who appear to be galactic bullies trying to obtain useful skills and traits from the any other intelligent race they encounter. Humans (at least some) display the dubious distinction of being able to resist the Xiiginn's natural coercion. Combined with some humans possessing the "Mordoxian" trait seems to place humanity in a unique position within the galactic family. Nothing yet is coming together to suggest some future resolution state.

The narration is well done, although the alien species have a decidedly artificial alien speech pattern.