The Daedalus Incident

By: Michael J. Martinez

Narrated by: Kristin Kalbli, Bernard Clark

Length: 16 hrs

Publisher's summary

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.

I wanted to love this more, but still solid...

I feel bad that I didn't enjoy this book more, since it was a potentially interesting mix of hard near-future SF and spelljammer Georgian sailor/astronauts - even writing that description shows the potential! And it isn't a bad book at all - the story relies on some nice elements of familiar Golden Age science fiction puzzle solving, mixed with more fantastic and swashbuckling adventures. So, there is fun to be had.

Unfortunately, the author can't quite pull off the audacious storyline, mostly, oddly, because of failures of imagination. The overall setting is terrifically good, especially the alternate version of Master and Commander-style swashbuckling among the stars, but Martinez doesn't really do enough with it. Given the initial imagination, one wishes that the author would give us more exotic settings, but instead we get a moderately clever one-to-one translation of the world of the late 18th century to the solar system - Venus as Africa/South America, Mercury as Australia, etc. Similarly, the characters are rather stock, and the worldbuilding just sketchy enough to be distracting (the geopolitics and technology seem remarkably stagnant in the future, for example). This is coupled with clunky descriptions (a mining robot is described as looking like Curiosity rover, a vehicle is described as looking like a 20th century pickup truck, etc.). The overall effect is a book that you wish was written by a bit more capable writer to fully deliver.

The reads are similarly almost good enough. A few accents are flubbed, some readings are a bit off - again, nothing horrific, but you wish for just a bit more.

I certainly don't mind the time I spent with the book, but I kept waiting to get blown away and it didn't happen. In the end, solid enough, but it could have been much more.

A Winner ! Unique Story, Excellent Narration

Fresh, clever and interesting. In the first couple of chapters I thought this simplistic. As it moves forward, however, it picks up speed, becomes more complex and is a great deal of fun.

Someone said it is Master and Commander crossed with a near-future Martian colony -- but that HARDLY describes what goes on here.

I can't say too much without giving it away -- a wonderful first book ! Well worth the listen !!!!

Superb performances by both Ms. Kalbli and Mr. Clark !

Clever and entertaining

What made the experience of listening to The Daedalus Incident the most enjoyable?

You shall experience heavy bouts of cognitive dissonance as you move through this book. Just go with the flow, It will all work out in the end.Try not to read to much about this book ahead of time. Half the fun is trying to resolve the two main narratives.In order to create his fictional world(s), Mr. Martinez has managed to take a square peg and pound it firmly into a round hole. The fact that he seems to have succeeded is praise enough for this reviewer. I enjoyed this book, I hope you will as well.

Have you listened to any of Kristin Kalbli and Bernard Clark ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrators have done a good job with this tale, although Mr. Clark may wish to work on his English dialects a bit.

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.

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!

Great Swashbuckling fun, in outer space

The Daedalus Incident was a very enjoyable read/listen. The voice actors were good and really seemed to bring this story to life. The book itself was a wonderful genre mash up, with an alternate earth that I very much would love to read/listen about more. The characters were interesting and easy to like/hate, and the introduction of actual historical figures was well done. (though Ben Franklins voice was a bit whiny, but I am not sure if that is how he sounded in real life (or was believed to have talked) as I am not a time traveller. The transition between the two time periods was also very smoothly done and I felt the suspense build the entire book, right up to the big climax. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good action adventure, with a heavy dose of Sci-Fi and a splash of historical fiction. I look forward to see what happens to the characters and there respective worlds in future books!

Meh.

Would you try another book from Michael J. Martinez and/or Kristin Kalbli and Bernard Clark ?

I don't think so.

Any additional comments?

“To have one boring narrator may be regarded as a misfortune; to have two looks like carelessness.” This was one of the best-reviewed Science Fiction books of 2013, so when Amazon offered the Whispersync version at a steep discount, I jumped at it. “Whispersync” gives you both the Kindle and audio versions, allowing you to follow along while listening. Both reading and listening teaches you that excellent narrators can improve a lesser book, while lesser narrators can diminish an otherwise excellent story. “The Daedalus Incident” was unusual in having two narrators, and so I looked forward to a true theatrical experience. Instead, it was a dreary sixteen-hour slog. Granted, I’m an outlier: most people like this book and its Audible edition, critics have praised the book itself, and it did get more interesting toward the end… but not interesting enough to justify the time. I’d like my sixteen hours back.

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.

Don't get the wooden ships in space thing...

I review only the books that I have a strong opinion of and this is definitely one of them. This book has a serious cybil complex... at first, it's a credible hard core sci-fi book during the mars pieces of the story, then splits personality to describe seemingly wooden ships flying around the solar system in the 1700's utilizing magic and having ancient cannon battles.

I kept trying to figure the wooden ship pieces and though at first it was a flashback in time, but then it introduced a date in the 1700's with ships flying in space with outer space with "lode stones". I wish the author skipped the fantasy pieces as they simply were not credible in my opinion and I simply could not get past it. The author should have picked a genera and stayed with it...

I returned the book after the first few chapters as I found it simply too confusing. I would not recommend this book for either hard copy sci-fi'ers or fantasy lovers as the author attempts to make both camps happy and fails miserably at both.

This is a fantasy and not sci fi

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I really like science fiction because it makes me think, and I love the innovative and imaginative ways they paint the future.

This book would be for someone who likes it when a science fiction book meets fantasy.

What do you think your next listen will be?

The Rho Agenda

What didn’t you like about Kristin Kalbli and Bernard Clark ’s performance?

The two vastly different story lines keep going back and forth, and it's not until later you can somewhat put together how they both fit together.
Seemed more of a fantasy genre, and I unfortunately veer away from that area. They synopsis leads you to believe its more of a hard sci fi book which it is definitely not.

What character would you cut from The Daedalus Incident?

I'd cut the entire fantasy aspect out which is all the characters from the fantasy universe with it's demon god and all.

Any additional comments?

Sorry to bash this one so badly, but I went in expecting to get more of what the synopsis promised. What I got from this book was some fantasy crap.