The Fossil 2

Secrets of Mars, Book 2

By: Joshua T. Calvert

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

For years, Filio Amorosa has had one goal, and only one goal: getting back to Mars.

All that matters is finding out what happened on her mission there, and why she can’t remember any of it. But when she finally discovers the truth, it blows her whole world apart.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer have a new mission: Travel from the Human Foundation’s secret underground base to New York to uncover what the enemy is plotting. Can they find a way forward for humanity in the midst of this clash of otherworldly forces?

©2021 Joshua T. Calvert (P)2021 Podium Audio

Sci-Fi writing at it's best

I listen to lots of sci-fi. It's my favourite. Naturally, as with any interest in life, it gets boring as you wade through books from authors all trying to be different yet annoyingly ending up with the same basic stories only with different character names and different locations. This author, however has a wildly deep level of human understanding which is then applied to the craft of writing, expressed as sci-fi. This episode in the 3 episode series is damn good. The epilogue where Hortat speaks is such wonderful writing, it really just makes me love what this author has tried to convey and stands as a tall poppy in a sea of short flowers vying for your sci-fi reader attention. I loved this.

A surprising story

A great second installment one where we get to understand the Builders better as well as a twist one doesn’t usually see in an Action Fiction story.

Better than book 1

Loved this second part. I had to go back sometimes to remember what that section was about. Not a but deal, def recommend

Too long

Vol 1&2 could have been condensed. Won’t read 3. Near end became simply a platform for the author on climate change, politics, etc. especially the epilogue. While hope of new tech might unite the world, humans remained manipulative and driven by power.

It moved along well

I thought was good. Kept me waiting to listen. I thought that it was well done.

Not great but ok

It is a good story but I like to listen to books to get away from politics. Not in this book . The author decided to drag them into the story. I guess he needed to fill pages with something .

You shouldn’t write science fiction if you don’t understand science

The bases of the story is good but the author does not understand technology and science so a lot of the technical talk does not make any sense. It definitely detracts from the story.

A fun ride.

It’s a fun story, predictable at points, but an enjoyable sci-fi experience overall. I’m looking forward to the conclusion.

Disappointing Sequel

This is the second book in The Fossil” series. The story about an unsuccessful Mars mission and how it ties to earth’s ancient builder civilization continues.

I had been looking forward to this second book in the “The Fossil” series based on the first book; however, I did not enjoy it as much as the first book for many reasons.

First, the plot which had been so well paced in the first book seemed to lurch around, sometimes grinding to a stop, only to then suddenly rush forward. In addition, the backstory behind the feud between the last remaining “builders” gets somewhat convoluted and unbelievable.

Secondly, I found the main characters, whom I had enjoyed so much in the first book, did not seem to be as tightly written and lost their direction a bit. One character, for example, becomes a jumble of mixed motivations and repetitive dialogue, to the point of me hoping for her demise. Even the narration gets a bit confusing as accents and tones sometimes suddenly shifted, which confusing me about which character was actually speaking for a moment and taking me out of the story.

Finally, the book seems to end prematurely, with far too many plot points handled in précis form in the prologue instead of being properly managed in the main story. In addition, also in the prologue, there is an ancient builder speech about everyone cooperating together for the good of all that is really hard to listen to and seems really out of place as written.

Overall I really struggled listening to this book and will not continue on to Fossil 3. This is my stop.

it could be better if:

the author should have kept his politics to himself. a reader wants to be taken away from reality. we have too much dismal reality in this life. why should the author bring us back into the real world when we wish to escape it for awhile?