The Fringe Series Omnibus: Books 1-5 in the Fringe Series

By: Rachel Aukes

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first five thrilling novels in the Fringe Series are now available in a convenient audiobook bundle!

Featuring galactic conspiracies, epic interstellar missions, and three rebel captains at the front of an interplanetary war, this explosive collection includes the following titles:

1. Fringe Runner
2. Fringe Station
3. Fringe Campaign
4. Fringe War
5. Fringe Legacy

War looms on the horizon.... After the colonization of Mars and Europa, it took us fewer than five generations to reach beyond our solar system and colonize new planets capable of supporting human life. Power struggles have made a galactic war inevitable, and only an old mail runner, a space pirate, and their ragtag crews can prevent it.

©2019 Rachel Aukes (P)2019 Rachel Aukes

Very Enjoyable Series

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

This series plays out much like a television series. There are plots and subplots that are examined, with interconnectivity that takes multiple books to play out. Even then, this omnibus only includes the first five books, and it is obvious that there are several unfinished story arcs at the end of book five.
The books are well written and involve complex plot lines. With six different worlds to visit, each with different histories and effects in its inhabitants, Rachel Aukes did a fine job of explaining them with ample details. The colonies’ desire for independence and the efforts of the two lead worlds to deny them is clearly reminiscent of the US colonial plight, though to an exaggerated level. In that regard it definitely appealed to me.
The performance from James Anderson Foster was strong. He voices many of the characters uniquely, making it clear who was speaking throughout. He performed all aspects well, giving life to the narrative sections as well as to the characters.

6 people found this helpful

Solid Space Opera

This was an epic journey. Given that this is the omnibus, it takes some dedication to get through the whole tale, but it is well worth it. You get thrown into the story without a lot of context but it picks up quickly as you meet the players and you soon realize there is a war coming. There is lots of action and excitement as you would expect for your typical space opera. Only listened to the omnibus, but I think that is the way to go. I think each book stood up on its own, but go straight for the whole thing.

The characters are fantastic, and you get attached to them fairly quickly. There is a lot of character development and it is difficult to pick your favorite, Reyne. The overall story is great, somewhat typical, but the characters really make the story. In a good versus evil story where you have an expected outcome, characters are what make the story. This was exactly that. The characters in my mind, with all their little nuances and history really bring this opera to life. I felt connected to all of them and felt like I was sitting next to them while listening.

This was an epic journey. Given that this is the omnibus, it takes some dedication to get through the whole tale, but it is well worth it. You get thrown into the story without a lot of context but it picks up quickly as you meet the players and you soon realize there is a war coming. There is lots of action and excitement as you would expect for your typical space opera. Only listened to the omnibus, but I think that is the way to go. I think each book stood up on its own, but go straight for the whole thing.

The characters are fantastic, and you get attached to them fairly quickly. There is a lot of character development and it is difficult to pick your favorite, Reyne. The overall story is great, somewhat typical, but the characters really make the story. In a good versus evil story where you have an expected outcome, characters are what make the story. This was exactly that. The characters in my mind, with all their little nuances and history really bring this opera to life. I felt connected to all of them and felt like I was sitting next to them while listening.

I know a lot of people want to compare this to Firefly, but I found that it was more of the oppressed fighting the oppressors with some people in-between. Seemed to me more like many other great stories. Fans of Firefly won’t be disappointed though. I just heard this a different way and really liked the rebellion against the oppressive elite. There is a lot going on, so it is easy to get sidetracked, but stick with it. A very specific plot line that I think is important to hear and think about.

James Foster sold this series. He has a great cadence, and did each character voice perfectly, although I really liked his non-character narration voice the most. His reading voice lulls you into the story and keeps you buckled in. He does have a wide range of voices for the characters which truly brings them all to life. All you need to do is lay back, close your eyes, and let James tell you this story.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

4 people found this helpful

Entertaining Space Opera

The human race has expanded their horizons and now their destiny is tied to six planets far from the Solar System. They are governed by The Collective, but only people from two of the six worlds are considered citizens. The colonists, who live in the other four planets are forced to pay high taxes to the Collective, while people on the main two planets live the good life.

This is the story of an old captain and his crew, who survived the old war, and get the wheels in motion to start a new revolution, perhaps giving a fair chance to the colonists.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, which reminded me a lot of Firefly. I especially liked the political intrigues, the conspiracies, and the newly formed alliances. I think the cast of characters was also quite interesting, each one with their particular baggage.

There are five books in the series, and I enjoyed some more than others. It took me quite some to get into the story, and I think it was mainly due to the lack of descriptions. I think knowing more about the scenes and the characters would have helped me to get hooked more quickly. For instance, we know little about the characters’ appearance. We know that the captain may be old because we read again and again about the pain in his joins, but we only get to know his age in the third book. It is the same with the rest. One of the characters is in a wheelchair, and another one has terrible scars on his face, but we don’t know a lot about how any of the characters should look like. I don’t really need a lot of information, I know readers need to exercise their imagination, but I could have done with a couple of clear characteristics about each character to file them separately in my mind. It happened the same with places, situations, and actions. I think I needed to ‘see’ more clearly how things were and what was happening.

Probably because of this, I felt detached from the characters and events. There were situations of enormous emotion, but for the life of me, I could not feel it. I felt the rhythm a bit slow on occasions. I enjoyed the story, it was entertaining, but I did not find it gripping.

James Anderson Foster’s narration was excellent. This is the second time I have the pleasure of listening to a book narrated by Foster, and he does a wonderful job interpreting the characters and using a compelling tone to keep the listener interested. Subtle variations helped to differentiate characters, and all in all, the narration improved the whole experience.

I would recommend this series to anyone into the genre, and also people nostalgic about Firefly. The worldbuilding was good but the story was not very original. Still a decent read.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

4 people found this helpful

Great series!!

Fantastic story line. I hesitate to try and compare to anything else. Maybe a cross between Star Wars and Firefly??
It has it all. Action, intrigue, love and loss, family and humor. I can’t want for the series to continue!!!

The narrator was perfect! This was my first audiobook with Mr. Foster as narrator but hope it’s not the last.

I received this audiobook free at my request for an unbiased review.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen it was my pleasure..

4 people found this helpful

Awesome Sci-Fi

This series reminded me of Firefly with the Anti-Hero crew. I enjoyed the adventure and the ride it took me on. Added plus it that you get the whole series.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2 people found this helpful

Excellent Science Adventure

I started listening to this five part saga with absolutely no knowledge about the story. However, I had already really enjoyed a bunch of Zombie books previously from Rachel Aukes, so I just went for it!

Well guess what?
Tis a blast from start to finish, with tonnes of twists 'n' turns, terror + tears, terrific trials.... & troubles!

T’was a sad day when the story ended, but perhaps Rachel will bring back the Fringe Series for another round? Certainly hope so!

2 people found this helpful

Compelling sci-fi saga

The Fringe Series Omnibus delivers everything you'd want and expect from a compelling sci-fi saga. A ragtag group of rebel underdogs struggling to survive under the oppressive boot of a superior force. It features a solid cast of well fleshed out characters (both good and bad), solid fast-paced action, and an engaging story. And James Foster does a great job with the narration. Not to mention getting the entire saga bundled together makes it a heck of a deal.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2 people found this helpful

Compelling Saga in one bundle

I really enjoyed these books right from the opening scenes to the ending. This Omnibus makes for a tidy little space operate with all the pieces you want to see - bad good guys, good bad guys, space battles, snarky heros, and some underdogs finding the way to the top. The journey has plenty of ups and downs and side stories to keep all 5 books entertaining and engaging. The worldbuildiing was good, resulting in an universe I would return to if additional books came out.

Now, the obligatory, "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

2 people found this helpful

Firefly meets The Expanse

If you are a fan of either show you will be a fan of this book series. It flows well from one book to the other and finished well. I could hardly believe it was over.

1 person found this helpful

Very good sci-fi story. Hard to put it down

Really enjoyed reading this series. Plenty of action and enough background to make the action understandable. Not a real complex plot or story but it is perfect if you just want to escape with your imagination. Will be looking for more works by this author.

1 person found this helpful

Trouble escalates rapidly

This series initially starts out in a fairly similar fashion to Firefly, you have a motley crew of characters scratching a living on their ship in a universe where a few planets dominate the rest in the aftermath of a war and it remains that way for much of the first book, but then proceeds to escalate quite drastically in the subsequent parts of the series as interplanetary war returns.

While the immediate strength of the book comes from the main crew, there is an extensive cast of characters that grows throughout the subsequent books and they all add greatly to the feel of the overall story, whether they are sympathetic heroes, somewhat dubious anti-heroes or outright villains, they all help to bring these worlds to life.

Another thing that helps to bring these books to life is a strong performance from the narrator, who copes admirably with the extensive cast, giving the main ones distinctive enough tones to avoid confusing the listener and enhancing the story overall.

Overall, this was an enjoyable collection that worked really well, the level of escalation was a bold move as they could have readily got a series out of the firefly stage of book one if they had been so inclined.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

4 people found this helpful

First class interstellar romp

My first audible book and what a tour de force. Rachel Aukes' Fringe series is a sweeping adventure across planetary systems. Heroes, heroines and villains abound. An age old tale of colonists versus their oppressors. We meet sympathetic and unsympathetic characters in a beautifully crafted storyline. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

great books

loved the book series I highly recommended listening to all of the books five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So close to awesome!

I was very kindly given this series free of charge by the author at my request.

Now I am an avid reader and listener of books and listen to everything from Jeffery Archer to Stephen King. My main genres however are science fiction and Fantasy.

When I started listening to this I was so excited it felt like a more serious (non magic) galaxy outlaws book and I had high hopes. The premises and overall story was good no actually it was great, the basis for the characters was all set up and then well it just fell short.

I didn’t feel any depth or true connection with the characters and it seemed as though the story skipped forward a lot, I think that the story should of focused on one or two characters and given us more detail, more depth or should of focused more on the world building.

In summary it was a good book but I felt it had the potential for so much more.

The narrator was very good and will look out for more of their work.

pretty good listen

not bad the man did. very good accents . the story was quite good as well

Not a bad collection of stories

There are a lot of things to like about the fringe collection, by Rachel Aukes. She has put together an excellent story of colonization, spaceships and ragtag crews saving the day. At times this collection was a page turner, the stories left me intrigued as to what would happen next. I will be looking out for more of her work. I'd be happy to recommend this to anyone interested in the genre.

James Anderson Forster did a pretty good job of placing me at the scene, and immersing me in the world.

A copy of this audiobook was provided in exchange for an honest review.