The Accidental War

A Novel

By: Walter Jon Williams

Narrated by: David Drummond

Blending fast-paced military science fiction and space opera, the first volume in a dynamic trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Praxis, set in the universe of his popular and critically acclaimed Dread Empire’s Fall series—a tale of blood, courage, adventure and battle in which the fate of an empire rests in the hands of a cadre of desperate exiles.

It’s been seven years since the end of the Naxid War. Sidelined for their unorthodox tactics by a rigid, tradition-bound military establishment, Captain Gareth Martinez and Captain the Lady Sula are stewing in exile, frustrated and impatient to exercise the effective and lethal skills they were born to use in fighting the enemy.

Yet after the ramshackle empire left by the Shaa conquerors is shaken by a series of hammer blows that threaten the foundations of the commonwealth, the result is a war that no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to end.

Now, Martinez, Sula, and their confederate Nikki Severin must escape the clutches of their enemies, rally the disorganized elements of the fleet, and somehow restore the fragile peace—or face annihilation at the hands of a vastly superior force.

Surprised their was more

I remember reading the originals back in high school. I was always disappointed their was never more till I read this. It was fantastic made me want to listen to the whole series again.

Try this book out.

Reliving the 2008 financial crisis?

WJ Williams has an entertaining writing style and the narrator did a great job. But this story drags on in the beginning with pedestrian style concerns of everyday life and then a reboot of the 2008 Housing Crisis. The mob scenes attacking “the upper class” smacks of the French Revolution but the wealthy have even fewer weapons and no modern urban flight capability? EVTOL should be a seamless solution with their abundant antimatter energy source. The book gets better toward the end but there’s such a cavalier concern for sentient life when they attack other species.

Very bad narration

Compared to the narrator of the original trilogy this narrator ruins what is a great book. Another reviewer says he sounds like an 80s computer. That is a great analogy. I do not remember the narrator for the first trilogy but his voice draws you in. He didn’t hurry and knew how to narrate irony and humor. Another reviewer said it sounded like AI. THAT is not a compliment to any narrator. I see they changed narrators for book 2. I’ve listened to a preview of his voice. I’m not holding my breath but because I’ve loved the story, I’ll try him out.

Great entry in series, poor narration

This is the first book in a new trilogy. The previous trilogy was narrated by Stephen Rudniki who is fabulous. This narrator isn’t great. He has a very robotic quality to his voice and all the female characters sound the same. However, the story and writing is just as good as the previous books and I can’t wait to finish this new series.

The narrator sounds like AI

The narrator sounded like bad AI. Just need more words to fill this space to hit minimum.