Zeroboxer

By: Fonda Lee

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A rising star in the weightless combat sport of zeroboxing, Carr "the Raptor" Luka dreams of winning the championship title. Recognizing his talent, the Zero Gravity Fighting Association assigns Risha, an ambitious and beautiful Martian colonist, to be his brandhelm - a personal marketing strategist. It isn't long before she's made Carr into a popular celebrity and stolen his heart along the way. As his fame grows, Carr becomes an inspirational hero on Earth, a once-great planet that's fallen into the shadow of its more prosperous colonies. But when Carr discovers a far-reaching criminal scheme, he becomes the keeper of a devastating secret. Not only will his choices put everything he cares about in jeopardy but they may also spill the violence from the sports arena into the solar system.

©2016 Fonda Lee (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Skyboat Media, Inc.

Nice things happen to a nice boy

I honestly don't know why readers are so passionate about this book. It's not a story, it's just a list of nice things happening to a nice boy.

Everything goes right for this kid. He is a good boy with no major flaws. Everyone around him is basically nice. He wins all the time. A beautiful girl falls in his lap and the relationship is effortless. His career trajectory resembles the Mount Washington Cog Railway. The author keeps setting up possible tension, then immediately deflating it by letting him win again. I stopped caring as soon as I saw there were no consequences.

The world is interestingly built, and there's some stage-setting for some really good drama. The protagonist could have experienced seriously earthshaking internal conflict requiring massive personal growth and change.

But he doesn't.

Not to give too much away, but at one point a couple hours in, he learns a fact that threatens to undermine his entire self-identity and everything that's most important to him. And his response to this is... to pretend it didn't happen, and go back to business as usual.

I'm not kidding. He seriously just decides not to think about it and gets back to the boxing ring. That's realistic, sure, but it's not a good story!

I only made it about 2/3 through, then started skipping ahead, looking for any kind of tension or plot development. Eventually I found some near the end but by that point, I didn't care. I felt certain the author wouldn't let anything really bad happen to her golden boy.

It's possible that I'm not the right reader for a sports story. Maybe there's an entire bandwidth of story data being transmitted, and I don't have the receptors for it? I don't know. But I suspect even huge fans of sports stories expect to see at least a LITTLE conflict, to have at least a LITTLE doubt that everything will work out the way the main character wants.

Harlequin romance goes to the moon

Or “Rocky’s Space Adventure”
It had been a while since I listened to a sci-fi book. This was definitely more in the romance genre.
Wordy. Predictable plot line and ending. Or if you like the romance books you’ll probably like this one.

Highly Entertaining

A friend recommended this book to me. It's sci-fi, it's fighting, what's not to like? However, when I saw that it was considered young adult reading I was skeptical. I was a little surprised by the narrator's voice and delivery but in the end I realize how perfect it was. The story is relatively simple, but it is quite engaging putting you in the mind of a fighter as he moves both inside and outside the ring.

I really loved that the author didn't spell things out for the reader and we are free to fill in the gaps. The world building was solid and the action was great but not sensationalized. I found myself wondering again and again where the story could or would go next, and the author never let me down.

Rocky in Space

A good book. Not great or anything but good. Good enough for me to listen to the other Vonda Lee book on my que. Also I am so done with Stefen Rodniki

At least the reader was good

It seems like Lee tried to write a feel good, underdog sports story, but wanted to add a little drama. Unfortunately, that drama raged out of control and she wrote her main character into a corner that there was no way to escape from, so she decided to try a deus ex machina that didn't actually solve anything. All the main characters are screwed and the human race is headed to a interplanetary civil war that will end in genocide.

Awesome

The book was made very well and it had a lot of action and it was amazing

Grudging respect

Like the Martians attitude towards Luca, I have grudging respect for this book. My main beef was that I thought the characterization of female characters and ensuing romance was bland and simplistic. I feel disappointed when female authors write overly simplistic female characters, even if they aren’t the MC. That aside, the accounts of zero gravity boxing were AWESOME! I was engrossed in the description of training and how the opponents play a gruesome game of chess via physical prowess, mental grit and sheer fighting ability. For anime fans out there, it was like the intensity of Hajime No Ippo (Makanouchi). It was that good and that much of an homage to the sport. Very very nice!

Great fight scenes

Loved the detailed description. The pace was good, well-written, and the action scenes made you feel like you were in the fight.

Great action and perfect sci fi twists

I personally found this book to be a great little story about a young fighter put up against multiple sets of odds. I see some reviews saying the book was either boring or unrealistic, look, I feel like the character did what he could given the circumstances. He's scared, but he also has to focus on his fights.

The first real twist is handled in a manner you'd expect from sci fi, rather than a more conventional route. The action is great and not too technical. These are men fighting and grappling in zero-g. I can both visualize it and understand what's happening.

I felt invested in this character, and by the end I was seriously cheering for him. The ending is also a respectful ending, left open to the reader.

I will look for more by Fonda Lee, I really enjoyed her story.

Now for the voice: This is yet another amazing performance by Stefan Rudnicki. I'm an unabashed fanboy at this point and I don't care. He's a talent in this field for a reason. Stefan does amazing with this character, and the rest of the telling. If you only pick books because of him, check this one out, add it to your library and you won't be disappointed.

FIGHTING STORY

Great for people who like boxing, and a light love story to boot. I enjoyed it very much.

Not my cuppa BUT…

Not my normal read and almost didn’t continue past the first chapter. But an easy read which leaves you with a good feel at the end.

Pot boiler

This is a derivative tale with a sci-fi setting and there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing fantastic either, but it’s short enough not to outstay it’s welcome,

Narration was good.