The Stars That Beckon

StarPath, Book 1

By: Kevin J. Simington

Narrated by: Kevin J. Simington

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

A dying world. A desperate mission. An unlikely hero.

In the normal course of events, Zac Perryman was destined to live an unremarkable life and die without leaving more than the faintest ripple in the ocean of humanity’s existence. But the normal course of events was about to be rudely interrupted. As he slept past his alarm on a warm February morning, events were conspiring to derail his ordinary life and sweep him up into a tsunami of cosmic proportions.

Zac becomes part of ragged band of desperate survivors who flee from a dying Earth in search of a new home. Leaving behind a planet that has been decimated by global catastrophe, they set course for a distant star system on board mankind’s only surviving starship. But the universe plays a cruel joke on them. Awakening from cryogenic stasis, they discover that they have not only travelled through space, but through time as well. Now facing even deadlier threats from a strange world, their battle for survival is only just beginning. An exciting, intelligent, fast-paced adventure that spans the galaxy.

If you enjoyed the movies The Martian, Ad Astra, Passengers, Supernova, or Interstellar, you will love this book! Similarly, if you enjoyed the books Children of Time, Winter World, The Enceladus Mission, or any of the classic space-exploration stories by sci-fi masters such as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C Clarke, then this is the book for you!

©2019 Kevin J Simington (P)2020 Kevin J Simington

Great book, hope to listen to the whole series

A terrific story! Well written with believable characters, unique plot with twists and enough hard "syfi stuff" to keep it interesting. Highly recommended! Really hope the whole series comes out on Audible.

Author as narrator is never a good idea.

This will be a very unpopular opinion, based on all the good reviews for this book. But I choose audiobooks because I like to multitask while I lose myself in the story read by a very good narrator. I only have about six narrators I am truly loyal to, but every once in a while I will try someone new just to see if they stick. The premise of the story sounded great, and the reviews were stellar so I didn’t hesitate to use a credit for this book, but in hindsight I should have listened to the sample. I couldn’t get into the story due to the narrator who is also the author. Don’t get me wrong, I love Aussies. They are some of the most pleasant people on the planet. So it has nothing to do with where he is from, but listening to him just sounds like a Taika Waititi spoof, like there’s going to be something humorous occurring. For instance, early on when bad things are happening on the lunar base, everyone is cracking jokes, being sarcastic or otherwise acting somewhat normal as though they are not all about to die, at least in the inflection of the narrator. He should have read them as tense, terrorized, or at least have an extreme sense of urgency. Honestly, I think my issue simply has to do with how the author read the book. He’s not a voice actor. Anyway, I didn’t finish it. Perhaps I’ll pick it up in paperback form someday because the story sounds promising, but since I enjoy audiobooks, the author reading his own work doesn’t work for me on this one.

I did like the book

However didn’t like the anti American Texan bs that went on for a bit just over the top he could t just be some far guy

I also didn’t like the foreshadowing no need for it you don’t need to tell us something bad is going to happen

Other than that great story

Unique Narration

I enjoyed the authors narration. His inflections are different and are a bit entertaining in themselves.
The story is pretty good and kept me entertained. The wrap up was very quick; basically final but left room for a continuation.
Not a bad effort.