Velocity Weapon

By: Megan E. O'Keefe

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in Velocity Weapon, the first book in this epic space opera by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe.

Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. 

However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost. The star system is dead. Ada Prime and its rival Icarion have wiped each other from the universe.

Now, separated by time and space, Sanda and Biran must fight to put things right.

©2019 Megan E. O'Keefe (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Meticulously plotted, edge-of-your-seat space opera with a soul; a highly promising science-fiction debut." (Kirkus)

"Velocity Weapon is fast-paced, twisty, edge-of-your-seat fun. Space opera fans are in for a massive treat!" (Marina J. Lostetter, author of Noumenon)

"Velocity Weapon is a roller-coaster ride of pure delight. Furious action sequences, funny dialog, and touching family interactions all wrapped up in a plot that will keep you guessing every step of the way. This is one of the best science fiction novels of 2019." (K. B. Wagers, author of the Indranan War Trilogy)

Romance Novel with a Science Fiction Setting

I think this is the first Audible book I have ever exchanged.

The potential of the story is great, but the execution.....mmm....not so much. Really good premise, great chance to "world build". A cool non-human character. So, a lot of the science requires magic, but there are some great plot twists, especially after slogging thru the first parts of the story, but....

The story continues over several years time, but the characters don't seem to grow and mature, like, at all. OK, at the beginning they are thrown into a new situation and they're a bit immature and emotional, that's realistic, but given the fairly responsible positions they are in, they are so emotionally fragile as to struggle with their roles and they never seem to get better at it, or get a handle on things. If the rest of their society is similarly afflicted, it's a wonder they have survived.

One of the characters is a gunnery sergeant, in command of her own ship. When I think of gunny sergeant, I think of Bobby Draper (one of the other viewers said this story had shades of The Expanse, but they must have read a different set of books from my favorite series). The sergeant in this story is so flummoxed by another male character that I thought I had stumbled into another book, which would have to be a romance novel by the way the prose is written. Do I have a problem with romance in science fiction? No, I'm inspired by the love story between Jim and Naomi in the aforementioned book. Call me inflexible but the mix of flowery, overwrought emotional descriptions just seems jarring against the rest of the story.

I don't want add a spoiler, so I'm making something up as illustrative:

"He sat by himself in the crew mess, a melancholy descending on him. Looking at his fork, he realized that it had four tines, just like the fork his sister used to use. His gut clenched tightly and he fought to breath. He wondered if he was going to pass out. Suddenly, a warm hand rested on his shoulder. He recognized her as the one with the particularly nice ass, based on the scent of her perfume. He snapped out of it as she asked if he was OK. She bent down to take his temperature........".

It was too much. I couldn't finish the book.

Frustrating

Imaginative space opera dragged down by odd chapter structure, mostly unlikable protagonists and questionable character interaction. Warning : Not a single major plot line is resolved.

uninspired

uninspired. just going through the motions. no spark or interesting ideas. tried to give it a chance.

Solid start to a new Space Opera

I went into this book knowing next to nothing about the story and was pleasantly surprised with the twists throughout. Like all good Space Operas, the story you think is developing in the first half of the book is nothing like where the story goes in the end. I'm excited to read the next offering. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

The narration was good, but it wasn't a noteworthy performance. It was my first novel with Joe Jameson narrating, and I'd get more books my him, but wouldn't seek out his books.

INCREDIBLE!

By far one of the best books I ever heard! I'm rereading now in anticipation of the sequel just released! So amazingly creative and different than anything else I've ever heard!
This is one of the books by which you can calibrate your ratings of all others! And this includes the narrator as well! Absolutely perfect! His character voices have always remained in my memory. Simply outstanding!

Jon Snow in space!

A good book with an interesting and active storyline. The narrator did a good job with voice characters, however as a game of thrones watcher, I found one main character’s voice to sound just like kit harrington’s Jon Snow. It actually lent earnestness to his character, so it actually appealed to me.

Don't read after a super Hard Sci-fi.

Look. I'm going to apologize for this review. I'm coming off of the Expanse books reading this and I am certain it's why I am rating this so low. read it after a Fantasy book, or a Star Wars book. not after something that is super hard Sci-fi like the Expanse. I'm nitpicking all the dumb stuff about how space doesn't work that way.

Story wise I am giving up 2/3 into the book. I just can't make it this last stretch. I Kinda hate most of the characters and I'm not sure why I should care about the politics.

The world building is pretty good (aside from the less than accurate sci-fi). I did enjoy it. I actually learned more from the street rats than the politician POV.

As for the narrator, he did very well. I think I would have preferred a female/male duo but I can't really complain about Joe Jameson.

I'm planning to circle back to this in a year and give it another go once I don't have James S. A. Corey tainting my pallet.

Could not finish this story

I never could get into this book. No character development confusing times line jumps.

Thrilling and surprising. Phenomenal narration.

Really enjoyed this book and can't wait for book 2 of The Protectorate. The story and world building was fantastic. Very excited to see where this series goes.

The narration was perfect. The narrator has fully realized, distinctive voices for each character and captures the emotion and urgency of the text really well.

Story Assumes I Already Know its Universe

I couldn’t follow the story, didn’t know the characters, and the world building is non-existent. I love action, but I need to care about characters and understand the universe that the story takes place in. This jumps straight in with no background. It felt like a “Witcher” book with much less in the way of backstory.