The Last Praetorian

By: Mike Smith

Narrated by: David Benjamin Bliss

Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Commander Jonathan Radec is a man desperately trying to escape from the mistakes of his past. Now the owner of Vanguard Shipping, his primary concerns are trying to keep his ships flying and his crew alive. However, the shadowy Syndicate organization has set their sights on the commander and his business, having sent a beautiful assassin to kill him. To make matters worse, she's become the target of his infatuation, much to the dismay of his ex-girlfriend. Recently elevated to president of the Confederation, she's still very much in love with him and capable of making his life a living hell.

Surrounded by a galaxy beginning to tear itself apart, with enemies on all sides, he's now also unwillingly tasked with trying to save the Confederation - for which he has little regard. Jon has little going in his favor, except a crew consisting of the elite of the old Imperial Navy, all of whom would fight to the death for him, and a past that possibly makes him one of the most dangerous men alive.

©2013 Mike Smith (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Mr. Bliss' performance is the saving grace for TLP

Had David Benjamin Bliss not done such a great job of making this very predictable story engaging, I would have stopped listening within the first few hours. The story is totally devoid of originality, though that alone would not have turned me off. It also, has so many clichés and inconsistencies, not to mention the glaring changes in personality the main character displays throughout the story, makes it difficult to listen until the end. It was only DBB's characterizations that got me through. Also, all the characters in the book seemed to be of the European variety and only humanoid (not to mention being very male oriented, there is a grand total of three female characters, four if you count the second-in-command's wife who is, although referred to on several occasions, never seen). Now, I am not advocating for alien species or all female navy contingents, it's just that I am not sure how this can happen in such a vast empire. Somewhere there must be many more women and people of color. And I doubt that they would be completely like us. I also take issue with Commander Jonathan Radec’s (the main protagonist) superhuman status. I mean really, he can't out smart everyone and win every battle, it gets boring after a while. And OMG, if you mention one more time that Radec is tall, blond, handsome, strong cheekbones, an amazing physical appearance, and on top of that dressed in his crisp white navy uniform, I think I will scream. He is (literally) the White Knight of the story, ok, we got it Mr. Disney. The story, as a whole, is predictable, but that won’t stop me from listening to the next two in the series, I just hope that the author (Mike Smith) ups his game.

porn in Space

good performance, but the story is not. I want to know about the protagonist not how he makes love...

enjoyable start

l have enjoyed listening to the first book of this series, and look forward to listening to the remaining books.

A bit juvenile

I have a bit of a problem writing this review because I can not decide if it is the writing that that I find to be a bit juvenile or the main character himself. The story involves an ex-naval officer who used to be the head of a special Imperial detachment, but who is now the CEO of a space station, and his fight against various adversaries out to either kill him or take over his business. There is potential in there for a decent story, but few of the characters in this story seem either real or even plausible. In particular the main character is so racked with guilt over his supposed failures that he is unable to live a normal life and have a normal relationship with others, and it is hard to be sympathetic with his inability to move on. Instead he insists on continuing to hurt those who love him and does not even seem to understand how juvenile his actions are.

I might well have given up half way through the book except I kept reading, hoping to find how one of the protagonists ended up surviving explosive decompression, but other than the explanation that he was "indestructible" I learned nothing. The only bright spot in the book is the narration, which is excellent. The book contains a preview of the next book in the series but I have not bothered to listen to it. I keep asking myself if I want to spend the 30 minutes or so listening to more of this book.

Bad ROMCOM meets bad sci-fi

I had a difficult time finishing this book, but had a long drive so struggled through. I think the author was going for a romantic comedy set in space, but bother the romance of the story was all that we engaging. I'll not get any of the other books as I don't care how the story continues.

Nice !

I get a little frustrated when things go un-said. This book is full of it, but the clever way the author weaves around spelling it out creates just enough tention to read on and not throw the kindle across the room. haha

Last Praetorian review

After listening to Mike Smith’s “The Last Praetorian “ he and narrator David Benjamin Bliss are a new favorite team, for me. This is a great book that draws you in and doesn’t let you go.

Good but too much sexuality

Entertaining story. talented narrator. But god, the amount of horny bullshit in this book is like it was written by a particularly talented high school kid. Characters are constantly staring at each other's asses. God, we get it, his eyes linger on her smooth skin and blah blah blah

An Enjoyable, Uncomplicated SciFi Listen

If you could sum up The Last Praetorian in three words, what would they be?

Well-paced
Uncomplicated
Engaging

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Last Praetorian?

The bar scene

What about David Benjamin Bliss’s performance did you like?

His voice is clear and easy to understand. Not monotone but also not overly pushed with character inflections.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was emotionally engaging and kept my interest but it did not drive me to cry. I'm quite certain I laughed a few times.

excellent

Very enjoyable. Easy for me to relate to the characters. Unique in a very comfortable way.

Pretty poor

Predictable story written perhaps for a teen audience.

Not really worth the candle I’m afraid

Entertaining but very cheesy

The Bad:

Too much smut for a book of this sort. I'd gladly exchange smut for science world building content
Too cheesy: boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets princess, blah, blah, blah
Too stereo-typed: I guess the cold war is back on, all Russian sounding people are evil
No diversity: There are only white people in the future

The Good:

The narrator is solid and does a very large range of accents very well indeed. He's very easy to listen to, I wish he'd read game of thrones books, then I would purchase them

The writing is not terrible, it's good enough to be entertaining but not good enough to have made any impact on the reader/listener. It was entertaining enough for me to get the next book. I don't feel that author has added anything to the genre.

Since I listened to Steven Moss's "Fear the Sky" I am yet to listen to another Scifi book that comes close in terms of writing and story quality. I wait impatiently for "Fear the Survivors"