Nice worldbuilding

First off, I found it strange that they chose a male narrator for a female character. He did a great job, don't get me wrong, but it would have been a lot better to have a female narrator.

I loved the worldbuilding. The way credits, social standing, and technology all work was done nicely and I didn't find it to be dumped much at all. It was interesting and lent a nice flavor to the plot. I loved how Alma was made captain at a young age, which led to some fun conflicts. She did an excellent job and is a strong character.

I did not love how so much of the book was about how everyone wanted Alma to settle down and have babies. It's an important part of the plot, I get it, but it didn't need to be drilled in so many times. We didn't even get to the Mars Incident until later in the book (like the last third for fourth maybe?) and we would have gotten there faster if we hadn't had to discuss why Alma was choosing her career over babies every other chapter.

The Incident brought up some interesting questions, and Alma definitely had some suspicions about the darker side of her society that I wanted to know about. But nothing was really explored because we were busy discussing babies. The action sequences seemed to be awfully short. Admittedly I listen to books while working, so I can't give them my undivided attention, but almost every battle I had to rewind because I'd missed it or couldn't believe it was over already.

I don't regret reading the book, and I did finish it, but I'm not sure I'm willing to try the second book that must surely be coming.

2 people found this helpful

Interesting World Building but Falls Short

The world building in this story is fascinating. Imagine a future where humanity has decided that personal technology is bad for you and can lead to Tech Flu, a world where your social interactions are tracked and evaluated, and a place where introverts are seen as broken and not interacting with your fellow humans can have some serious consequences.

This is the world of Captain Alma, commander of the military space cruiser Indianapolis. And poor Alma is an introvert. The only place she is truly happy is flying a space ship, or better, commanding one.

And this is the best part of this story, one that made it worth listening to the end.

But the problem I am having is that this isn't a complete story. The incident alluded to in the title should be the inciting incident for Alma's journey. And yet, it comes far too late in the book and the repercussions are resolved far too quickly and far too neatly.

Curtis is setting this up as the beginning of a series. But I really feel that this is only half a book and whatever the next book offers is probably the rest of this story.

Pirhalla was wonderful as the narrator. I was never taken out of the story, even though he is voicing a female protagonist. Although, I think he had too much Star Trek on his mind when he decided what accents to give Alma's crew. There must be a rule somewhere that says engineers have to have Scottish accents.

I was given a promotional copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

1 person found this helpful

A Dark Kind of Star Trek

There’s no doubt that the author is a fan of the old Star Trek as there is a familiar theme here with a truly diverse crew from all over Earth aboard the ship. However, that’s where the similarities end. The Joint Confederacy unlike the Federation is anything but trustworthy. And where humans in Star Trek are respected in this book they are struggling to get themselves around the solar system while other species have enough technology to get themselves across the galaxy.

The story is set on an Earth without social media, news, etc. All of humanity is neatly divided up into guilds which one chooses as a young adult and then is trained and works and lives in that guild forever. The population is capped at 12 billion and having children is controlled. Social credits are earned and spent. Technology is pretty much banned unless you work it the military like the lead character, Alma Johnson. However, everyone thinks she has tech flu from using technology.
As a woman, I liked Alma Johnson’s character a lot. I could relate to her not always wanting to do what others wanted of her or what society wanted of her.

This is a clever new world set out and I hope the author continues with more stories. However, as I have mentioned before with other books there was nothing but world-building and then suddenly the book really picked up and was over.

The narration was well done with all the different accents by John Pirhalla.

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who likes space opera with a strong female lead or soft science fiction as there was a lot to dig into on how this society with little technology is set up.

Philosophical Sci-fi

This book is great. A very philosophical science fiction story. I can’t wait for the next book in the series

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I really liked it.
First of all, the narrator captured all the characters well. Some one told me they were put off by the male reading a female MC, but he did such a good job, that I didn't mind. He captured the innate irony of the story and the characters were distinct and animated as he read them.
The story was fun. I LOVED the worldbuilding. The characters were true to their convictions and low tech world was a place that I'd never seem before. The humorous jibes at today's technological society had me chuckling and smiling. I teased my spouse that he has tech flu! Hilarious! The MC was endearing and handled expertly. This story made me want to read more.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done!!!

Great star, stands alone too

Despite the obvious (but brief) lead in to a sequel, this complete novel has an ending and satisfies its own plot lines.

A strong female character facing real life choices meshes well with the action-packed plot line. Conspiracies abound in this world, but they don’t overtake the plot. The potential for subtle driving forces is there, but they aren’t a focal point that is pivotal to the plot or the characters.

The narrator was well paced and well suited to the main character.

Liked it. Will likely read the next one!

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for a review.

Life without Tech

Such a unusual take on a future world without tech. Life would definitely be a shock for most.
I enjoyed the narrator immensely. Smooth and clear.
The MC was someone i just could not connect to. But the overall story was intriguing.
This audio was given to me free and I voluntarily gave this review.

I recommend to this book to everyone

It was a exceptional book it showed ignorance of so many people the character in the story were very different and some the and I thought that is what made it so great I got this audiobook from audiobook boom and the narrator did a good job thx to the autor