The Daedalus Incident

By: Michael J. Martinez

Narrated by: Kristin Kalbli, Bernard Clark

Mars is supposed to be dead. Bizarre quakes are rumbling over the long-dormant tectonic plates of the planet, disrupting its trillion-dollar mining operations and driving scientists past the edges of theory and reason. However, when rocks shake off their ancient dust and begin to roll seemingly of their own volition carving canals as they converge to form a towering structure amid the ruddy terrain, Lt. Jain and her JSC team realize that their routine geological survey of a Martian cave system is anything but. The only clues they have stem from the emissions of a mysterious blue radiation, and a 300-year-old journal that is writing itself.

Lt. Thomas Weatherby of His Majesty’s Royal Navy is an honest 18th-century man of modest beginnings, doing his part for King and Country aboard the HMS Daedalus, a frigate sailing the high seas between continents and the immense Void between the Known Worlds. With the aid of his fierce captain, a drug-addled alchemist, and a servant girl with a remarkable past, Weatherby must track a great and powerful mystic, who has embarked upon a sinister quest to upset the balance of the planets the consequences of which may reach far beyond the Solar System, threatening the very fabric of space itself.

©2013 Michael J. Martinez (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

fiction sans science

I love steampunk. It gives writers and readers the ability to suspend belief and just enjoy the adventure. That said this writer is trying to bridge the gap between science fiction and steampunk. A worthy goal, but failes completely at the science part of science fiction, forgoes all known extraterrestral science and just makes things up on both sides of the coin. I found the steampunk world in this story compelling, and fun, but was completely aghast at the lack of basic science in the rest of it. Give me a world untethered to reality or give me a world based on at least a basic understanding of reality.

Yanks as Brits? Oh my!

That is the worst Liverpool accent I’ve ever heard. It’s really Edinburgh with a head injury.

Love this! Great study of leadership in crisis.

Would you listen to The Daedalus Incident again? Why?

I would - great storytelling!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the two main characters, and the commanders of on both sides showed great leadership of them.

Which character – as performed by Kristin Kalbli and Bernard Clark – was your favorite?

I loved Finch!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the two stories began to overlap, as you knew they would at some point, it was very exciting - like sit in your driveway because you don't want to stop it exciting!

Tremendous first book in a fantastic series

This is my second time listening to The Daedalus Incident, and it was just as great the second time through!
This book is a phenomenal blend of science-fantasy and a more grounded sci-fi approach. It literally has both being told as independent stories that end up meeting in a really fun and exciting way.
The world that Martinez has built is ridiculously cool, and this book does a wonderful job of launching a trilogy while still telling a complete story that feels satisfying even if you never end up reading the second and third books.
The narrators do an amazing job!

Well Woven Story-lines

Would you listen to The Daedalus Incident again? Why?

Absolutely. The two readers were excellent, the story was solid, and the way Martinez wove the two separate story-lines into a coherent whole was excellent. Plus, there's the possibility of follow-up novels.

What other book might you compare The Daedalus Incident to and why?

I've read a lot of Steampunk (though this doesn't quite fit the mold). I've read quite a bit of bad Naval Fiction, and not a small amount of good. This bridges the two. Imagine a Gaslight/Steampunk world (but based on alchemy, not steam) crossed with a modern detective story ... then spread it across the solar system. It's a melange I really can't compare to anything else.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are a myriad of good scenes in the book. Arguably, I'd have to say the meeting with the Zon (Xon? Zhon?) is one of the best because so rarely does an author do exposition well. It's often necessary to convey information to the reader, but the tendency to just Tell quickly to get back to the story rather than show is always there. I think of David Weber and, to a lesser extent, Ringo and even Niven (but especially Weber) with the occasional Holy Infodump. The revelation on Saturn was well done rather than just twenty-pages (minutes) of exposition.

Any additional comments?

Solid book. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in something genuinely new-feeling.