Torrent

Rust & Relics, Book 1

By: Lindsay Buroker

Narrated by: Nola Zandry

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

When Delia chose to major in archaeology, she imagined herself as the female Indiana Jones of the Southwest. She didn't imagine herself crawling through abandoned mine shafts, scrounging for rusty pickaxes and gold pans to sell on auction sites, but Indiana Jones didn't have to make student loan payments.

Scouring the mountains of Arizona with Simon, her best friend and computer geek extraordinaire, Delia dreams of turning their scavenging enterprise into a legitimate business. More, she longs to earn the respect of peers who shun her for turning into a treasure hunter. What she doesn't dream of is stumbling across a decapitated body in an old mine near Prescott.

Something dangerous has come to the mountains, and two Harley-riding strangers are the only ones who seem to have a clue. They speak a language Delia has never heard and carry mysterious artifacts she's never seen. Investigating these strangers might lead her to discoveries that change the face of archaeology forever.... Or it might lead her and her best friend into a deadly monster's lair.

©2013 Lindsay Buroker (P)2015 Lindsay Buroker

Archeologist/Scavengers, Techie, Aliens, Tennis Pro and Monster.

This was a fun urban fantasy read, or should I say rural fantasy as it takes place mostly in and around Prescott, Arizona. I always take note of the audiobooks I could listen to in the car with my husband and/or teenagers without embarrassment. This is a good one. Lots of action, great characters and smart and funny dialogue, but no bad language or sex scenes (although there are hints of possibility). I am definitely interested in reading or listening to this author's other works.

Very very good.

Female Indiana Jones, history, mystery, 1000 sifi references, action, could not stop listening. Very good.

Finding a New Author

I am a big fan of urban fantasy, but this book pushed all my buttons. Articulate, knowledgeable, educational, with archeology, aliens and strong characters, it was just fun. Now if Ms. Buroker can just toss in a little romance it would be perfect. Cannot wait for the next one.

Started out fine.

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

Maybe if you have more patience this book is for you. Became too difficult to finish. Stopped listening with 1 hour left.

What was most disappointing about Lindsay Buroker’s story?

It got a bit challenging for me as the plot developed. Became too much a combination of genres for me. I was afraid if I kept going there would be a dragon thrown in there. Only if there was a Star Trek episode to relate it to.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I think she did a fair job reading the story, three main voices were distinctive enough.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I enjoyed some of the Star Trek references but I think that was a bit overdone for my personal taste in that it became a distraction rather than an enhancement. This might've impacted my review.

Any additional comments?

I am sure others will enjoy this author and perhaps I would too but not without a personal recommendation of a different series. I wrote this review mostly to prevent Audible from recommending more of this type of book for me as that is what lead me to the purchase. So it is not a critique of the author as I have not written nor published a book and I hate when people trash authors. Just think this story isn't for me.

Highly entertaining story!

Great adventure story, kept my interest throughout! Humorous characters and unusual plot. Enjoyed the references to Star Trek and other fantasy shows.

Great banter

Different story line. Love the great friendship banter. I'll defiantly be getting the second book if there is one.

I've been waiting for this.

Great sense of humor, fun characters, and a storyline that straddles the line between my favorite genres of fiction: Sci-Fi and Contemporary Fantasy. It's a most read for fans of both genres

Surprisingly satisfied

After the constant Sci Fi space opera/military books I've craved until I can't find any that interest me right now, I decided to try this author on a whim. I used to read much more paranormal, fantasy and romance until the last couple years and now I'm back to my childhood favorite, science fiction like they used to write it....Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, etc. Picked this second mini-series yesterday when I couldn't get into any Sci Fi I looked at and color me pleasantly surprised. I couldn't sleep and finished it in a day feeling nicely satisfied.

Perhaps it's me, where I'm at in a true reading glut, but I would recommend this author to those who enjoy light fantasy in the older style (no romance, YA angst, vampires, werewolves, etc.) I believe this is worth the credit. Don't expect the feeling of reading your first Tolkien, Patricia Briggs, or Charlaine Harris book. Those were all 5 stars first books in my rating scheme. Just a pleasant listen to a well written fantasy for a break.

FYI, the narrator wasn't horrible IMO but didn't really bring anything to the reading.

Buroker, yes! Torrent, maybe?

This book was like trying to strike a match and just not getting enough friction out of the premise to fire me up.

Torrent, a contemporary fantasy, is set in the Southwest with low-budget relic seekers who cross paths with aliens. The trio of human protagonists include an archaeologist willing to accept crummy pay so long as she can work in the field, for herself. A tech whiz guy geek. A childhood friend of the archaeologist, who became a world-class athlete, lost her career path due to an injury, and hooks up with the archaeology for employment. Enter non-humans and super gizmos. All sounded good to me, but the execution left me rolling my eyes and reluctantly pitching this in my dnf folder.

Your mileage may vary. This fantasy path might spark to a flame for you at first contact. In fact, I hope so. I couldn't join the team with these characters, despite being a fan of Buroker, urban fantasy, high fantasy, high sci-fi space operas, contemporary sci-fi. I'm not picky. Buroker is great. Emperor's Edge was my first taste of her work. Liked the first book. Tried the first book in the Dragon's Blood series, and absolutely loved it: a less stodgy high fantasy realm, with a talking sword, industrial nations at war, and impossible magic from the past drifting in, book by book. The series has concluded. I'd enjoy a new series with a similar mix of elements.

In this case, with Torrent, it's just an awkward disconnect, where I'm telling the book, "it's not you, not me."

Listen at 1.25x speed

I had a really hard time getting into this for the first half. It was slow going and the narrator made it even slower. Around 4 hours in I switched the speed to 1.25x and that helped a great deal but it still wasn't holding my interest that well. Around 5 or 6 hours in, the story picked up and I'd rate the last half 4 stars. I'd give the first half and the narration 3 stars, so an overall of 3.5 stars. I've listened to other things by this author and so far this is the lowest rank I've given her books. Try some of her other stuff. This is ok but the others are really good.

Very good story

This is a very good story and I enjoyed all the geeky references to popular fiction, when finished I downloaded book 2 hopefully it will just as exciting

Lindsey Buroker does it again

Hooked on Emperors Edge now hooked on Rust and Relics!. Cant wait for the next book!

great story, humour and action.

A really good story with great action. Aliens, muder mystery and plenty of humerous one liners. The narrator was great although I Definately heard a little Marge Simpson in one of the characters. I'm just about to hop onto the next adventure.