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  • Duel in the Dark

  • Blood on the Stars, Book 1
  • By: Jay Allan
  • Narrated by: Luke Daniels
  • Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (238 ratings)
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Duel in the Dark cover art

Duel in the Dark

By: Jay Allan
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
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Summary

A new adventure by the author of the best-selling Crimson Worlds and Far Stars series.

The Confederation has fought three wars against the forces of the totalitarian Union. Three generations of its warriors have gone off to war, held the line against the larger, more powerful enemy. Now the fourth conflict is imminent, and the Confederation's navy is on alert, positioned behind the frontier, waiting for the attack it knows is coming.

The battleship Dauntless has spent the past 10 months patrolling the border, deployed far forward of the main fleet, a forlorn hope, an advance guard positioned to give the warning of invasion. But no attack has come. Her crew is exhausted, and the aging battleship needs maintenance. With the fleet mobilized and the forward bases overloaded beyond capacity, she is sent clear across the Confederation, to a planet along the quiet and peaceful far frontier. Her crew is looking forward to a rest, and Dauntless herself is scheduled for a long-overdue maintenance session.

But the quiet frontier isn't what it seems, and when a distress call is received from one of the mining colonies on the edge of Confederation space, it falls to Captain Tyler Barron to take Dauntless forward, to find out what is happening, and to put a stop to it.

Barron and his crew have their ship - and each other - but they can expect no other help. Suspicion is strong that Union deceit is at play, that the attack is some sort of diversion intended to draw Confederation forces from the disputed border. The orders are clear. No ships will be transferred from the prospective battle line. Stopping whatever is happening on the rim is Barron's responsibility and his alone.

Barron is the grandson of the Confederation's great hero, the father of the modern navy. His family name has always carried privilege with it - and crushing responsibility. And now he must prove that he has inherited more from his famous grandfather than name and privilege. He must face the enemy and win the victory before the Confederation is caught between two enemies and destroyed.

©2016 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Duel in the Dark

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Brilliant

Great story brilliant all the way through could not stop listening looking forward to the next book great

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    5 out of 5 stars
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first in series

After reading the first 6 books in the series I was not expecting a lot from the audio book. The Audio book was a bit slow to start and the readers characterisation of the different voices for each characters was strange at first but I soon got used this and was soon engrossed in the story and thoroughly enjoyed the audio book.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Great Start

I inadvertently listened to book 2 before book 1 which doesn’t help.

However, this is a very good start to a promising series with lots of action, both on the ground and in space. You really feel sympathy for the Alliance’s space captain at the end.

Narration could have been better. I found Luke Daniels seemed to over-emphasize some characters, and the voice of Tyler Barron was a case in point. Having listened to Book 2 first, I found Tyler Barron’s character was certainly improved by the voice of Mark Boyett.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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enjoyed

good book could go bit more in-depth in parts but I liked it in all tho some parts bit predictable and stolen off star trek lol good read tho

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2 people found this helpful

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Great listen for scfi fans

I read a lot of people complaining about the horrendous accents, I for one didn't find it bad at all then again I'm used to over the top voice acting as a fan of warhammer 40k.

all in all if you are in to scfi and military it's a great book.

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a professional performance

all round good solid writing felt like the author has done this before.
narrators accents were a bit out there but at least he didn't fall asleep like some do

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Super Space opera

I really enjoyed this one. The story is tense, action packed and emotional. I liked that both sides are treated the same. Both are given backstories, feelings and not just stereotypes. My only complaint would be that a bit of editing would have tightened the story up a bit, Luke Daniels does an excellent job with the narration given the characters and story depth. I will definitely be reading more of these.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Worth a listen

I enjoyed the story but found some of the scenes to wordy to descriptive. It ended up distracting from what was actually happening. But I have bought the next book and await the confrontation with the next foe.
Ps - bad Irish accent

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Epic space battle. Loved it.

This is such a great story,a cat and mouse battle between two massive battleships. With no reinforcements for either just the ingenuity of the captain's and crews. Fans of Jack Campbell will love it.
It's the first in a long series so I'm looking forward to the others.

I thought the narrator Luke Daniels did a great job but there's a new narrator for the rest of the series.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Better SiFi difficult to find.

This was a refreshing SiFi story, a great start to the series, I did find this a little over descriptive of personnel in the story, later it soon got going. Perhaps a little more technical would be nice. But that could be me. Totally looking forward to later books in this series. The narrator is brilliant, well done thank you.

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4 people found this helpful