The Daedalus Job

Outlaws of Aquilia, Book 1

By: M. D. Cooper

Narrated by: Christian Rummel, Amy Landon

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Jax Bremen is an outlaw...sort of.

Within the L, a tri-star system located inside the Aquilian Nebula, Jax makes a living trading and smuggling whatever goods pay the best. So far, he’s avoided being caught with anything too damning in his ship’s holds, but when he takes a job for Korinth, an infamous arms dealer, all that changes. 

The haul is worth 10 times his ship, and when the contents gets him embroiled in a tug of war between the major political factions of the L, Jax has to keep the criminals he works for from discovering that he’s playing both sides. Hell, he just might have to play all the sides to navigate the tangled web he’s in. 

Every move he makes to get free of the quagmire draws him in deeper until Jax finds himself on the hook to run the hardest job he’s ever undertaken: rob the Daedalus, a military cruiser escorting a convoy through the Maelstrom. 

Sure. Cakewalk, right? 

Grab the explosive first book in a new space opera thrill ride from NYT best-selling author M.D. Cooper. It's perfect for fans of Elizabeth Moon, Ken Lozito, and Craig Alanson.

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

A Crate is a crate?

Jax and his crew our smugglers. While taking a break, he gets drunk and has one of the team pick him up. Meanwhile another shipmate went to the place for a pickup of 3 crates, broke in and just took them without checking in. When Jax gets back to base he realizes that the crew that was to deliver the crates are not happy and are now coming for him and his team. Oh did I mention his engineer/mechanic had taken the ship gun apart and it isn’t working.

Needless to say Jax and his crew get out of that jam, but head right into a few others. What the heck is in those crates and why does everyone want them including two governments’ intelligence agencies. Very well written and action packed, well worth checking out.

I found myself disappointed!

In my search for the next great story, I found that The Daedalus Job left me a bit disappointed... I've always loved a good heist story, and when combined with a Space Opera, this should have been my jam!
That said, I could never quite connect with the characters, and the main protagonist (Jax) was way more talk than action, so if you're and looking for an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter of a story, look somewhere else. Here, you'll just be wishing that Jax would just shut... the... Ef... up.
Christian Rummel was a better narrator in this audiobook than his compatriot Amy Landon, and although Amy's voice is pleasant enough to listen to, I find that her narration of this complex story, with multiple female POV's, to be rather mediocre... it's hard to suss out exactly who's speaking!
Lastly, to top it all off, there isn't any type of conclusion. The tale is just dropped at the proverbial cliff's edge, with no intermediate resolution! Grrrrrr... if I want to find out how it ends, I'll have to get the next book, and I believe that I'll leave that for the more masochistic type of reader, 'cause I'm going in search of a book that's a helluva lot better!

Good Story, some bad narration

Liked the story but parts of it were very hard to follow because of the female narrator. Every character she did sounded the same so I couldn't tell who was speaking each time she started up until the content shed light on who it must be makibg changes from male to female confusing and jarring.

Should've just let the male narrator (think it was Christian Rummel) do the whole book, I hope the next book has only him, he's great & always gives a standup performance no matter how many characters he has to portray or their sex. He makes a story easy & a joy to listen to.

Other than being so unsettled by the poor female narration, it was a fairly fun story. The male lead character starts off as a real jerk, but he grows a little on you as it progresses, though this really seemed like a partial book. It stops abruptly at the middle of the end of a big battle and an oncoming storm, a complete cliff hanger.

Definitely not a standalone book. it requires continuation of probably the next 2 parts to be a complete story if I'm guessing right and I think I am.
I'd be upset if I'd paid a fill credit but I got it for $1.99 with my Kindle Unlimited Subscription plan (a $10/mo fee which only pays off if I can find a lot of these! Sadly, 1.99 audio add ons are becoming scarcer; most are 7.49 now but fortunately this wasn't).

Anyway I wouldn't recommend this as a good deal for a full credit, but at 1.99 it was well worth it, even though I have to buy all 3 to get 1 actual book, in my opinion. Hopefully the author will offer it as a 3 pack collection sometime in the near future, then pick it up for a credit if you don't have Kindle Unlimited to get it the way I did now. ($6 is still cheaper than a credit, even with a gold plan.)
I like this author. This story wasn't as in depth, character development wise as her Aeon series & this seems to be another "world," at least none of these places are ringing a bell. At the end there's mention of a old giant Generational Space Ship, but that's it.

Overall, it's a light "small struggling space smuggler action romp," with some of your typical character types & crew dynamic style relationships, etc. For me stsrted off a little slow and that female narrator really ruined her characters, for me at least, but I'm glad I stuck with it & finished this 1st part. The story overcme the bad narration enough to have me off now to start Part 2.

So good💚

Daedalus Job is an unpredictable fun ride that ran along at a lively pace. Its a curly clever story with fawless narration that I found very enjoyable. I absolutely recommend this sci fi tale. I'll be buying the next books.

Thank you to Aethon Books who provided this book free of charge at my request.

Great start to a series !

I can’t wait to find out what happens next. The narration is top notch I love how we can experience the story from several points of view. The first thing i did when the story was over. Was look for the next book in the series. If you love sci-fi or pirates or just plain action you will love this book.

It was interesting

The book start out OK. The story was good getting interesting towards the end of the book. Would like to know how the story unfolds

Just a little too short

good book I just think it ended to soon and seems like the author tried to turn a single book into two books? I will still purchase the second book, if anything to at least see how the cliffhanger resolves.

Rogues in Space

*Received For Free*

The Daedalus job is a surprisingly well written story about a bunch of loveable rogues trying their best to thwart the authorities, and get paid. All the characters are likeable, and the overall plot is enjoyable, even though it's not the most original story ever told.
Reminded me a bit of the Galaxy Outlaws J.S Morin, but written with a slightly more serious tone (but not that series). Also throw some elements of The Stainless Steel Rat in there.

There are only 2 elements stopping this from being a 5 out of 5

A huge cliffhanger ending - the book stops a bit too mid stride.

The narration may not be for everyone. I personally don't usually go for books with multiple narrators, due to often conflicting styles. I personally enjoyed what Rummel and Landon recorded here, but their interpretations of certain characters seem to change dependent on who is doing the narration

I will however be trying out the sequel, and looking into more of M.D. Coopers work

A dead man has no pride.

The Daedalus Job starts the new Outlaws of Aquilia series with humour, verve, action and well crafted characters full of idiosyncratic quirks and sneaky ideas. It leaps into the reader's consciousness, grabbing hold hard, from the very beginning when the simple seeking courier job goes murderous wrong and barely pauses for breath till the cliff hanger ending. But it is personality and ingenuity rather than grand fighting technique which holds the attention and makes pausing for non essentials like sleep so difficult.

The writing is excellent, the characterisation and conversation enjoyable, the story deathly fun. The main downside is the wait until book two is published because this is an ongoing story. Narration is by two actors, Christian Rummel and Amy Landon and both read with clarity, enthusiasm and good intonation. Each takes a separate chapter which is mainly male or female character dominated, often written in the first person. As Captain Jax Brennon, Mr.Runnel is superb, his full, warm voice really capturing the feel of the smuggler as well as giving appropriate individual voice to all of the other protagonists, male and female alike. With more than one major female characters to deliver, Ms.Landon has a more difficult task and the difference between them is too slight to prevent the initial confusion over who it is that is speaking unless clearly signed by the text. Her attempt to give a viable accent to a crew member, Finn, also fails badly. But in all other regards her performance is excellent and adds greatly to the pleasurable ongoing of the book.

This is a series that I will follow with great anticipation: exciting, quirky and characters who leave a big impression. I loved this easy reading book. Recommended.

It's OK.

Part 1 starts with a battle and lots of gung-ho, making you think "Oh, it's going to be a bit of a shoot-em-up gore fest" but the plot here affects the story from Part 2 onwards; and Part 2 is where the decent story starts. There are good guys, bad guys, battles, double-crossing and everything you could wish for. You do, however, have to pay close attention as it's not always obvious which character is doing the talking. The ending is pretty poor - the plot continues into Book 2 so you're left hanging.

I enjoyed it ... I think.

Impressed

I was shocked at how good this book is I found it funny serious and a delight to listen too

Fantastic Space Opera

A spot on new series from Aethon and Aeon 14 author M.D. Cooper giving a very cold war in space in a special solar system full of larger than life characters and lively comments with accurate information and a great plot.
Took me a bit to get used to the dual narrators but i think they done well and i would enjoy further episodes in this series.

Fantastic setup to an interesting universe

I enjoyed this book, helped by a story that flowed well. Didn't seem too convoluted and up itself for the sake of it. But was nevertheless still complex enough to require some thinking. It's very obviously a series, so I'll forgive the cliffhanger ending. I mean when you buy the book when the book has "Outlaws of Aquilia, Book 1" this kinda tells you that it's going to potentially leave you wanting more. I'm pleased to confirm yes it did leave me wanting more.

Narration was excellent. Well recorded and the editing was good. I listen normally using in ear monitors to exclude outside sound and so you tend to become very aware of any changes in volume and other recording issues. There were none that I picked up. The two Narrators were also a joy to listen to and didn't grate on the ears. I enjoyed the tag team effect between them with seamless swapping between them.

Can't wait for book 2.

The adventures of the Kerrigan ship crew and more

beginning of the book is perfect we meet Kerrigan's ship crew on the job and from the start I like them and interaction between them is great

would love if the story was told only from Kerrigan's crew pov but we got few more perspective which is also good because we found out more about this universe

4.5 stars because of cliffhanger this book look like Part 1 of book

would love to hear prequel story about how crew of the Kerrigan ship got together

Christian Rummel and Amy Landon did a great job narrating this book