Category: Audiobook

Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Thriller20 Comments

Dark Horse Cover

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Audiobook – 15 February 2022)

Series: Orphan X – Book Seven

Length: 454 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the top spy thriller authors in the world today, Gregg Hurwitz, returns with the latest book in his exciting and captivating Orphan X series, Dark Horse.

Over the last few years, I have been having an absolute blast checking out the epic Orphan X series by Hurwitz, which has featured some amazing and extremely fun reads.  The series started back in 2016 with Orphan X, which introduced the former government assassin turned vigilante known as Orphan X.  Since then, the Orphan X series has expanded to seven great books, each of which pushed the protagonist against some dangerous and ruthless foes.  I have deeply enjoyed the last few books, including Out of the Dark, which set Orphan X against the corrupt President of the United States; Into the Fire, which was one of the top audiobooks of 2020; and Prodigal Son, a fantastic and exciting dive into the world of advanced military technology.  All these novels have been really good and I was quite excited to see what Hurwitz had planned for his latest book, Dark Horse.

After barely surviving a deadly explosion in his sanctuary, Evan Smoak, the former government assassin known as Orphan X, has returned to his mostly usual life.  Once again taking up his persona as the elite vigilante, the Nowhere Man, Evan attempts to balance his dangerous activities with the unusual romantic and familial bonds he has formed.  However, his latest case will push him like none before as he finds himself thrust into a deadly and conflict between two notorious criminal organisations.

Aragon Urrea is a lifelong criminal who has established himself in south Texas as a major underworld figure.  Operating a subtle and profitable undercover drug smuggling operation, Aragon has set himself as the patron of his local area, supplying employment, help and justice to those who need it, while ensuring the love and loyalty of everyone surrounding him.  However, despite all his power and influence, Aragon has one weak spot, his teenage daughter, Anjelina, who is kidnapped by one of the most vicious and notorious drug cartels.  Now held captive in the cartel’s impregnable stronghold, Aragon has no way to rescue her, and in desperation he turns to a man even more dangerous than him, the Nowhere Man.

Despite his misgivings about working for a drug kingpin, Evan soon finds himself drawn to Aragon’s side to save Anjelina, and discovers his new client is an honourable man worthy of his help.  Forced to contend with dangerous murderers, drug dealers and psychopaths, Evan starts his attempt to infiltrate the cartel’s ranks and enter their fortress.  However, what he discovers inside the fortress will change the entire mission and force Evan to attempt an impossible rescue.  But can even the Nowhere Man defeat an entire drug cartel by himself, or has this legendary spy finally met his match?

This was another great novel from Hurwitz that combines an intense and action-soaked story with deep character moments and powerful self-examinations, all of which comes together into one heck of a novel.  I had a brilliant time with Dark Horse, and it was an awesome continuation of the Orphan X series.

Dark Horse has an excellent narrative that I found to be extremely captivating and fun, especially as it pits the protagonist against a brutal drug cartel.  The story has an interesting start, introducing the client and his kidnapped daughter, before resetting the story towards Evan and showing how he survived the cliff-hanger conclusion of the last novel.  From there, Evan is slowly drawn into Aragon Urrea’s life as the drug lord convinces him to save his daughter, which eventually leads to the Nowhere Man attempting to infiltrate the rival cartel.  This leads to some impressive and dark scenes as Evan draws the attention of the cartel and starts to gain the trust of their deranged leader.  This central part of the book is very powerful, especially as the protagonist finds out several complications to his plans and witnesses the true evil of his target.  At the same time, Evan is dealing with multiple personal problems, as issues with his friends, family and love interest all impact upon his mind, resulting in a richer narrative.  This all leads up to the epic and destructive final major sequence where Orphan X is unleashed and takes out his opponents in some very clever and brutal ways.  The book ends on a satisfying conclusion which touches on many of the brilliant character moments built up throughout the novel, while certain hints at the events of future novels will ensure that you come back for me.

I love how Hurwitz told the cool story in Dark Horse.  Like the rest of the novels in the series, Dark Horse can be read as a bit of a standalone read, although Orphan X fans will really enjoy seeing the continuation of certain storylines, especially those raised in the last couple of books.  Readers are in for the suspense, intense and highly detailed action, and intriguing dives into the complex character that have been such a distinctive feature of this series, and I loved how they improved the cool new story Hurwitz came up with.  The scenes set down in Mexico are particularly dark, and I found myself inevitable drawn to the over-the-top depictions of cartel country and the dangerous people living there.  I also need to highlight a particularly gruesome scene inside a drug house in San Bernardino, which will leave you shocked and reeling, especially with Hurwitz’s descriptive writing.  There was a very interesting focus on ethics, morality and personal emotion throughout Dark Horse, with two very different drug organisations shown.  Evan’s attempts to decide whether the person he is trying to help is a good person become a key part of the story, and I enjoyed the captivating comparisons between the protagonist and the various people he interacts with throughout the novel.  I do think that Hurwitz could have perhaps sacrificed a little of this philosophical introspection and replaced it with some more action or suspense in a few of the slower parts of the novel, but overall this was an impressive and highly enjoyable read.

Hurwitz has once again loaded his novel with some complex and intriguing characters who add a substantial amount to the story.  The most prominent of these is main protagonist Evan Smoak, the titular Orphan X.  Evan is a particularly complicated figure who Hurwitz has been carefully building over the entire series.  Raised since childhood to be an assassin, Evan lacks many of the appropriate social skills people are supposed to have.  This, combined with his intense OCD and lack of emotional awareness, ensures he has difficulties adjusting to everyday life now that he is mostly retired from his assassin work.  His many issues cause multiple strains on his relationships in Dark Horse and it is very compelling to see him continue to adapt and improve as a person.  Evan also experiences many revelations in this novel, especially when it comes to the complex people and families he encounters.  Seeing people who strive to be good like him while also supporting evil or illegal actions really impacts him, and it proves to be very intriguing to see him attempt comprehend what sort of person he is and the people he is dealing with.

In addition to Evan, Dark Horse contains an interesting collection of supporting character who round out the story and ensure that the main character’s life is even more complex and meaningful.  Dark Horse makes use of a good combination of recurring characters from the previous novel and several new figures, including several over-the-top and menacing antagonists.  A large amount of focus is placed on new character, Aragon Urrea, who in many ways is a similar figure to Evan, as he is a genuinely good person, but he does bad things to achieve his goals.  There is also the character of Anjelina, who finds herself as a secondary point-of-view character in parts of Dark Horse.  A young, scared teenager, Anjelina makes some dangerous decisions in this novel and Hurwitz throws in some great surprises about her actual motivations and mindset.  I also really enjoyed seeing more of some of the recurring characters from the previous novels.  Evan’s main love interest, Mia, goes through some dark moments in this book, which adds to the emotional weight on the protagonist’s shoulders.  It was also cool to see more of Joey and Peter, Evan’s substitute children, whose interactions with the protagonist go to show how unprepared and damaged he truly is.  Throw in the residence of Evan’s building, who have some entertaining and frustrating interactions with Evan, and you have a fantastic cast for this novel that proves to be extremely fascinating to follow.

While I did receive a physical copy of this novel, I ended up listening to the audiobook version of Dark Horse, which was a fun and enjoyable experience.  Dark Horse’s audiobook has a run time of just over 15 hours, and proves to be easy enough to power through, especially when you get caught up in the cool story.  I loved having this cool action-packed story read to me, and I found it helped me to really envision the great fight scenes, as well as context with the multitude of compelling characters.  This great audiobook also features the impressive voice work of Scott Brick, a veteran narrator of thriller audiobooks, including the previous Orphan X books, as well as entries in the Cotton Malone series by Steve Berry (The Malta Exchange, The Warsaw Protocol and The Kaiser’s Web).  Brick has an excellent voice that really lends itself to the spy thriller genre.  I felt that he perfectly captured many of the great characters in this novel, and he ensured that their full range of emotions and reactions were on full display.  This amazing voice work helped to turn the Dark Horse audiobook into a real treat, and I am very glad that I decided to enjoy it in this format.

With the awesome and impressive Dark Horse, Gregg Hurwitz presents an excellent continuation to his outstanding Orphan X series.  Containing an epic story filled with cool action, entertaining sequences and impressive characters, Dark Horse is a captivating and addictive read that is really worth checking out.

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Warhammer 40,000: Day of Ascension by Adrian Tchaikovsky

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer32 Comments

Day of Ascension Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 29 January 2022)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 5 hours and 38 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Legendary science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky has arrived in the Warhammer 40,000 universe with the awesome and clever novel, Day of Ascension, a deadly and wildly entertaining read that sets two brilliant factions against each other.

2022 has so far proven to be an amazing year for Warhammer fiction, with several impressive novels already released, including Steel Tread by Andy Clark and The Twice-Dead King: Reign by Nate Crowley.  However, the Warhammer 40,000 novel I have been most excited for is Day of Ascension, an awesome and unique read written by acclaimed author Adrian Tchaikovsky.  Tchaikovsky has been wowing science fiction and fantasy audiences for years, producing several impressive novels across various genres.  Not only has he written some fantastic standalone novels but he also produced highly regarded series, such as the Shadows of the Apt and Children of Time books.  I have really liked the sound of his cool novels, but I had not had a chance to read any of them yet.  Once I saw that Tchaikovsky was contributing to the extended Warhammer 40,000 universe, I knew that this would be the year I finally read something from him.  Day of Ascension is Tchaikovsky first full novel in the Warhammer universe (he previously wrote the short story Raised in Darkness), and I was deeply impressed by the brilliant and captivating story he came up with.

On the forge world of Morod, the life and soul of every human belongs to the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Imperial machine cult who provide the armies of mankind with their weaponry and war machines.  However, while the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus live in comfort and prosperity, constantly delving into the secrets of the machine, the common people of Morod have been worn down by millennia of servitude, exploitation and conscription, doomed to either die young in the mines and foundries or be turned into mindless mechanical soldiers.  In their grief and anger, the civilians of Morod have turned to a new faith that offers salvation from the harsh rule of the Mechanicus, although that devotion comes with a dark price.

In the hierarchy of Morod’s Adeptus Mechanicus, Genetor Gammat Triskellian is considered a joke due to his focus on improving the flesh rather than replacing it with machinery.  Constantly overlooked by his superiors and given the most menial of tasks, Triskellian looks to find a way to advance his research and end the corruption he sees holding the order back.  When he uncovers a particularly interesting genetic strain in the populace of Morod, he thinks it could be the answer to all his prayers, one that could enhance his science and revolutionise the advancements of his order.

Digging further, he finds evidence of an unusual and twisted religious congregation operating throughout the planet, preaching rebellion and the destruction of the tech-priests, while awaiting the return of long-gone angels who will turn the planet into a paradise.  Seeking to use this congregation to his own advantage, Triskellian captures young, idealistic infiltrator Davien to find out more about her mutated family.  But as his plans begin to come into effect, Triskellian is about to discover that not everyone is meant to rule, and that the forces he seeks to control are far more dangerous and hungrier than he could possibly know.

What an epic and impressive read!  Tchaikovsky has dived into this franchise with great relish, producing an exceptional and powerful piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that is not only exciting and action packed, but also extremely thought provoking as the author examines some of this universe’s most complex and intriguing factions.

I had a lot of fun with the incredible story contained within Day of Ascension, as Tchaikovsky takes the reader on an intense and dark journey.  The main premise of this book is a fun one: what if an ambitious Imperial tech-priest attempts to utilise the deadly power of a Genestealer Cult for his own machinations?  The answer: absolute chaos as an entire world implodes in the fires of revolution, destruction and religious zeal.  This was a great story that Tchaikovsky sets up brilliantly in the early stages, quickly introducing the corrupt world of Morod, the choking hierarchy of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the malignant underlying Genestealer Cult attempting to manipulate events from the shadows.  After this great introduction, the remaining story happens at a very fast pace, especially as this overall novel is fairly short (193 pages, or just over five and a half hours on audiobook).  The political and scientific intrigue of point-of-view character Triskellian runs straight into the revolutionary aspirations of the Genestealer Cult’s Davien with the expected destructive results.  I loved the brilliant clash of styles that occur between these two groups, and all the betrayal, manipulation and alien influences melds perfectly with the non-stop action and revolution.  This quickly leads up to a destructive and powerful conclusion that I deeply enjoyed and will leave you reeling in multiple ways.  There were some absolutely amazing twists towards the end, and I loved the resultant terrifying consequences to the wider universe which were really cool and deliciously ironic.  Tchaikovsky ends everything on a captivating and dark note which will leave readers extremely satisfied after getting engrossed in the impressive story.  This is an epic narrative that drags you right into the very heart of the worst parts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

I really must commend Tchaikovsky’s first dive into the Warhammer 40,000 universe as the author has a noticeable appreciation for this franchise and canon.  I loved how he expertly focused the story on two particularly sinister factions within this universe, while also making excellent use of an Imperial Forge World as the main setting of this book.  The two main factions of this novel are the tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus and an undercover Genestealer Cult, the dangerous human/alien hybrids who act as infiltrators and forerunners of the Tyranids.  Tchaikovsky ensures that the reader gets an exceptional and detailed look at both factions, and you are soon immersed in their lore, politics, and motivations, which is just so fascinating.  There are so many cool things about this, from the unique interactions of the cybernetic tech-priests and the mechanical soldiers to the slow infiltration and incorporation of the Genestealers who spark revolution throughout the planet.  However, the best thing about this is the way in which Tchaikovsky’s expertly showcases one of the most inescapable facts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe: there are no actual good guys here; just self-serving fanatics with their own terrible agendas formed from a universe constantly at war.  This is so brilliantly highlighted in the fact that halfway through the book you find yourself on the side of the alien infiltrators, who are taking advantage of the terrible conditions on Morod to spark a revolution.  However, no matter how beneficial and beatific they may appear, preaching about angels and the better days ahead, there is still an amazing sinister edge to them, especially if you know what horrors they are actually referring to.  I loved how brilliantly these two unique and corrupt Warhammer factions are played off each other, and it proves to be an excellent background to this awesome novel.

Like most Warhammer tie-in novels, Day of Ascension is probably best enjoyed by those fans of the franchise, especially as Tchaikovsky looks at some obscure and unique parts of the canon.  While maybe a little too-lore heavy to serve as the best introduction to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, I felt that this is an easy enough book for new fans to get into, especially if they are established science fiction fans.  Tchaikovsky ensures that the various story elements feature the right amount of detail and I the various factions are introduced extremely well especially to new readers.  I do feel that readers who don’t quite understand what the Genestealers and their Tyranid masters are might not get the true horror of this book and its conclusion, and I personally enjoyed the novel more because I knew what the true nature of the Genestealer’s plans were.  However, new readers probably will get the full benefit of this as it is made pretty clear from the context.  As such, I would probably recommend this to both established Warhammer fans and general science fiction readers, especially if they have enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s writings in the past, and I know a lot of people with have a great deal of fun with this.

I deeply enjoyed the cool and over-the-top characters featured throughout Day of Ascension, especially the main two characters, Triskellian and Davien, who act as the point-of-view characters for the novel.  Both are fantastic figures who are fully enveloped in the massive machines of their organisations, whether they like it or not, and who spend much of the book trying to battle what they see as their oppressors.  As such they form a brilliant tandem of opposing views, which perfectly shapes the morally grey nature of the narrative and makes it very unclear which one of these inherently terrible people you should be rooting for.  I particularly liked the character of Triskellian as the author envisions him as a thoroughly underappreciated middle management figure who is ignored and ridiculed by his superiors who fail to understand his work.  This constant mistreatment causes Triskellian to snap in this novel and he starts doing some darker deeds to gain what he believes is rightfully his.  I loved seeing this brilliantly portrayed figure, who will be clearly understood by anyone whose worked under an idiot boss, slowly slip off the deep end and attempt to use an evil alien cult to fulfil his objectives.  This character has some amazing moments, and it was so much fun seeing him try to manipulate events around him, only to be surprised that nothing goes to plan.  I also found his focus on genetics and biology to be quite fascinating, especially for a tech-priest, and his obsession with alterations on the flesh ended up having some intriguing parallels with the objectives of the Genestealer cult.

Davien, on the other hand, is an oppressed member of Morod’s population who acts as an infiltrator and spy for the Genestealer Cult she is a part of.  Frustrated by the slow pace of the promised revolution and the eventual appearance of their “saviours”, Davien has some outstanding scenes throughout Day of Ascension as she tries to save her loved ones from the machinations of the tech-priests.  Her rise in status and closeness to the powers that guide her family occur at the exact same time that she starts to have doubts about her organisations purpose, and the subsequent internal battle is extremely powerful and captivating, especially if you know just how right she is to be worried about the future.  Davien goes through a lot of growth, and it is fascinating to see what happens during her character arc, especially when it comes to her interactions with Triskellian and the influences of the beings guiding the cult.  Day of Ascension also has several great supporting characters who get their moments to shine throughout the book.  While most of them are a bit over-the-top in their appearance and personality, they prove to be very entertaining and I loved the outrageous and mechanically deformed highly ranked tech-priests who so badly enrage the protagonists.  There is a particularly good twist surrounding one of the minor support characters that I thought was extremely brilliant, especially as there is some subtle set up for it earlier on, and it results in an outstanding ending for the entire book.  An overall excellent cast of characters make this shorter Warhammer novel really shine.

Just like most of the Warhammer novels I have had the pleasure of reading, I chose to check out Day of Ascension in its audiobook format, which was an impressive and enjoyable experience.  As I mentioned above, this audiobook has a very short runtime and you can quickly power through it, especially once you get stuck into the intriguing and clever story.  I deeply enjoyed how this format enhanced this great narrative, and it was a lot of fun to hear all the chaos and destruction being read to you.  I must commend the narrator of Day of Ascension, actor Harry Myers, who did an exceptional job here.  I loved Myers’ great voice, which at times strongly reminded me of Stephen Fry, which is a definite plus.  Myers really dives into the various characters here, and I loved the brilliant edges he gives to them, especially the main character Triskellian.  You can really sense Triskellian’s frustration, ambition and internal outrage as the events of the novel proceeds, and this helps you to get into the mind of this entertaining figure.  An extremely cool way to enjoy Day of Ascension, I would strongly recommend this format to anyone interesting in checking out this great Warhammer 40,000 novel.

With this clever and exciting novel, Adrian Tchaikovsky has a brilliant debut in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Day of Ascension is an epic and intriguing novel that takes a fascinating look at two exceptional factions from the Warhammer canon and brings them together in a dark and entertaining battle of wills and manipulation.  Containing a tight, addictive story, some great characters, and a deep examination on some of the best parts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Day of Ascension is an outstanding read.  I really hope that Tchaikovsky writes more Warhammer fiction in the future as he absolutely killed it here.

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Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel9 Comments

Star Wars - The Fallen Star

Publisher: Del Rey/Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 4 January 2022)

Series: Star Wars – The High Republic

Length: 13 hours and 31 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The awesome new focus of Star Wars fiction, the intriguing High Republic range, continues to shine brightly with the latest epic adult novel, The Fallen Star, a dark and impressive entry by the extremely talented Claudia Gray.

Ever since its start at the beginning of 2020, the High Republic multimedia project has presented some unique Star Wars stories that I have deeply enjoyed.  Set in the golden age of the Republic and the Jedi, hundreds of years before the films, The High Republic focuses on a different generation of Jedi facing off against the murderous raiders known as the Nihil.  This series has so far produced some excellent gems across various forms of media, including novels, comics, audio dramas and other cool entries written by some of the best authors of Star Wars fiction.

While there is an interesting spread of fiction in The High Republic, the key storylines are generally contained in the main adult novels such as The Fallen Star, and the previous novels, Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, which introduced the High Republic era and the Nihil, and The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott, which saw the Nihil launch a bold attack at the very heart of the Republic.  Other cool entries, such as the young adult novels Into the Dark and Out of the Shadows, and the audio drama Tempest Runner, added to this tapestry, and it has resulted in a fantastic and compelling overarching narrative and setting.  As such, I have been very excited to see where this franchise goes next, especially as The Fallen Star acts as one of the finales to the current phase of High Republic fiction.  Written by Claudia Gray, who previously authored the incredible Master & Apprentice (one of my favourite Star Wars novels), this was an epic book with a fantastic adventure story.

Following the brutal Nihil attack on the Republic Fair, the entire galaxy is hunting for the Nihil, determined to destroy them and their mysterious leader, the Eye, once and for all.  However, the Republic and the Jedi are unaware that the true Eye of the Nihil is the fearsome Marchion Ro, who plans to devastate the Jedi and the Republic headquarters, Starlight Beacon.  A massive space station out in the Outer Rim, Starlight Beacon was intended to bring light and cooperation to the most remote areas of the galaxy.  Staffed by some of the most powerful Jedi, Starlight Beacon stands a symbol of hope and determination, but that is about to change.  Determined to make the Jedi and the Republic pay, Ro sends his cohorts on a deadly mission to destroy Starlight Beacon from the inside, causing a massive explosive that rips through the station, causing chaos and destruction, as Starlight Beacon loses all power.

Determined to save the station and its inhabitants no matter what, the Jedi try to restart the station before it is too late.  However, something else is aboard Starlight Beacon, something ancient, unseen and bearing an insatiable hunger that drives it to hunt and feast on Jedi.  With their abilities to connect with the Force disrupted by the foul beasts stalking them, the Jedi will need the help of everyone on the station, including weird pilots, annoying droids and rogue Nihil, to save the people around them.  But even their combined abilities might not be enough to save Starlight Beacon from its imminent destruction, nor from monsters capable of turning even the most skilled Jedi into dust.

The Fallen Star was an incredible book from Claudia Gray that does an excellent job of continuing the impressive High Republic storylines.  Gray has come up with a very unique Star Wars tale that sees some of this era’s best characters trapped in an impossible and dangerous situation.  Loaded with a ton of action, some major plot moments, interesting storyline continuation and a ton of character development, this was an excellent novel that proves very easy to get drawn into.

Honestly the best way to describe The Fallen Star’s story is as a nautical disaster story, like Titanic or The Poseidon Adventure, in space.  This novel begins with the initial stages of the disaster as a small team of Nihil saboteurs infiltrate Starlight Beacon and systematically take out the station.  These early parts of the novel have a great sense of tension, as the reader is forced to watch the Nihil continue to succeed while the Jedi remain oblivious.  The story starts to pick up as the Nihil plan goes into effect, not only because of the explosion that knocks Starlight Beacon out of orbit, but because several unseen creatures immediately start to attack the Jedi in brutal mind-bending ways while also disrupting their connection to the Force.  The true disaster narrative takes over from here as the characters attempt to survive the destruction while also trying to save the station.  Gray really dives into character psychology here, as the Jedi are forced to overcome their guilt and the building fear of the creatures attacking, while the other characters try to determine whether to focus on self-preservation or helping those around them.  The last two-thirds of the book is purely devoted to the attempts to survive the station’s slow destruction, and Gray really does not let up the plot intensity.  Every time the protagonists seem to make some progress or success they are immediately hit with obstacles or tragedy that seek to overwhelm them.  This leads to some impressive and confronting moments throughout the book, and you honestly will be surprised and shocked by some of the deaths or twists that occur.  While there are one or two fake-outs designed to ramp up the feels, you will come away from this book being extremely moved and a little emotionally drained.

This was a very well put together novel; it has an amazing flow to it, and once the various disasters start up, the pace and stakes of the novel just keep jumping higher and higher.  The use of multiple character perspectives helps to tell a massive and impressive story, and you really get the full sense of how deadly and disastrous the events of the book are.  I loved how well Gray layered tension and grief into the non-stop action of the plot, and you are honestly left reeling or yelling at the book, wishing to help the characters you have become extremely attached to.  Gray also is also very skilled at detailing some fun and compelling action and disaster sequences, which works extremely well to showcase all the chaos and destruction occurring around.  I did find that there were a few plot gaps here and there throughout the novel, most likely because the full extent of this event will be featured in other High Republic media, such as the main comic series, although this didn’t impact the story too dramatically.  Overall, thanks to its powerful moments, character growth and great action, and you have an outstanding narrative that hits all the right notes at the right time.

In addition to its excellent narrative, The Fallen Star is also a great new entry in the High Republic sub-series.  Gray does an impressive job of continuing the events from the previous pieces of High Republic fiction, and aspects from most of the preceding novels are strongly featured here.  I deeply enjoyed seeing the return of several great characters and the continuation of some interesting story arcs, and Gray brings them together to create an outstanding Star Wars story.  Like most of the High Republic series, The Fallen Star is probably best read by fans of the expanded literary universe, especially as much of the build-up for this period was in the prior novels.  While I would recommend at least reading The Light of the Jedi and The Rising Storm first, people with a basic knowledge of Star Wars should be able to follow what is happening here, as Gray does a good job of recapping key events.  While there are a few good reveals here, there is still an aura of mystery around other parts of the book, particularly the character of Marchion Ro and the real motivations of the Nihil.  An epic conclusion to this phase of the High Republic novels, I will be interested to see if any other reveals or revelations occur in the connected comics.

Star Wars - The Fallen Star Cover 3

To support her fantastic narrative, Gray makes use of an excellent collection of great characters, and I loved the mixture of protagonists and antagonists that she chose.  Not only are the protagonists of the previous adult High Republic books heavily featured, but Gray also makes strong use of characters from young adult novels like Into the Dark and Out of the Shadows.  This amazing blend of character perspectives really helped to craft a unique and interesting book, and it was great to see the different protagonists react to the situation.  Readers should be aware that Gray has gone on a bit of a killing spree here, and several fan favourite characters may not survive.  These deaths really help to ratchet up the tension and emotional weight of this novel, and you will really be left reeling.  While I might question the wisdom of killing off as many characters as they did, especially as the High Republic has a greater need of recognisable characters than other Star Wars novels, I think they all worked in the context of the plot and served the overall narrative extremely well.

The most prominent characters of The Fallen Star are the Jedi protagonists of Light of the Jedi and The Rising Storm.  These Jedi go through some big moments in The Fallen Star, especially as they face disaster and failure on a scale they have rarely seen before.  Gray works in some very interesting changes in the various Jedi’s characterisation because of the unseen monsters let loose on the station who disrupt the Jedi’s connection to the Force, which messes with their heads.  As a result, for most of the book the Jedi are scared, uncertain and irritable, which is a fun and clever change of pace that I felt added to the high-stakes disaster narrative extremely well.  The most prominent of these characters include Stellan Gios, Bell Zettifar, Elzar Mann, who have had some excellent character arcs in the previous novels, and it was great to see them again.

The first of these is Elzar Mann, who has been a standout figure due to his battles with his emotions, his romantic feelings towards fellow Jedi Avar Kriss, and his inadvertent connection to the Dark Side of the Force.  Following this dark moment, Mann has gone into a deep meditation retreat with a unique spiritual guide, who is teaching him to have a different perspective on life.  As a result, when Mann returns to Starlight Beacon just before the first attack, he has mostly cut himself off from the Force.  While this impacts his ability and mentality as a Jedi, his lack of a Force connection ensures that he is one of the only Jedi not incapacitated by the monsters roaming the station, which forces him take on more responsibility during the crisis.  I liked seeing this side of Mann, and it was great to watch him attempt to step up and protect his more responsible friends.  Unfortunately, Mann also experiences some big losses and failures in this novel which really strike him hard.  The final few chapters of The Fallen Star have some major moments for this character, and there was some brilliant development occurring here.  Gray did an incredible job expanding on one of the best and most complex High Republic protagonists here, and I loved Mann’s story in this book.

I also deeply enjoyed the story arc that surrounded apprentice Bell Zettifar.  Bell has gone through a lot in the last two books, especially as his master was killed before him in The Rising Storm.  This has led to some excellent and dark moments for Bell, and Gray does a wonderful job continuing them here as Bell struggles for most of this book, dealing with intense doubt and a sense of failure that gets enhanced by the influence of the strange creatures stalking the station.  I enjoyed seeing Bell slowly regain his confidence as he finds himself in the middle of another crisis and it led to some great and heartfelt moments, even as Bell suffered even more personal tragedies.

I must also highlight the continued story of Stellan Gios, the Jedi Master and rising star of the Order who was such a fantastic figure in The Rising Storm.  Stellan starts this book off as the new Marshal of Starlight Beacon, but he is still impacted by the doubts and trauma of the last Nihil attack at the Republic Fair.  Thanks to this and the influence of the Nihil’s monsters, Stellan shows a very different side to his character in The Fallen Star, being more petty, angry, and dispirited.  This is such a substantial change to what we have previously seen out of Stellan that it really hammers home just how dangerous the Nihil monsters are.  Watching Stellan battle with his emotions is pretty intense, and it proved to be exceptional to see him slowly overcome everything that is happening to him.  Gray writes an amazing couple of moments for Stellan in this book, and you end up with an impressive appreciation of this character by the end of this awesome book.

Aside from these main three figures, The Fallen Star also features an interesting array of supporting Jedi characters.  This includes the friendliest and fluffiest Jedi of all-time, the Wookie Burryaga, who everyone loves due to his kind nature and innate connection to the Force.  Burryaga forms a moving friendship with Bell, and he is easily one of the best supporting characters in the entire novel.  I also liked the reappearance of the Jedi Wayseeker, Orla Jareni, a semi-rogue Jedi who offers her own insights into the Force.  I will say I was surprised that there was barely any Ava Kriss in this novel.  Kriss, who is frequently touted as the main protagonist of the High Republic, has barely appeared in any of the novels since The Light of the Jedi, being more of a feature in the comics.  I feel that she leaves a noticeable absence in the novel, especially as the other character seem to reference how awesome she is in every second sentence.  Still, I think it worked without her, although I hope they use her more in the future.

Aside from the Jedi characters, Gray also makes exceptional use of an interesting collection of other characters trapped aboard the station who offer a great alternate viewpoint to the various Jedi.  What is interesting is that most of these characters are creations of Gray’s who first appeared in her last High Republic book, Into the Dark.  This includes the crew of the Vessel, a unique and unusual ship that transports Mann and Orla Jareni to Starlight Beacon and then gets trapped there.  The Vessel is crewed by a very entertaining trio of characters who balance each other out nicely.  This includes owner Affie Hollow, who plays straight woman to her unusual crew, and is a great central adventurer and emotional base for much of the book.  However, Affie is very much overshadowed by the rest of the crew, including captain Leox Gyasi, who is essentially a space hippy.  Leox is a wildly entertaining figure, with his Zen mindset, pacifistic tendencies, unique way of talking, and outrageous sense of humour, and you will quickly fall in love with him as the book progresses, especially in the few scenes where he gets serious.

The most solid member of the Vessel’s crew is Geode, a Vintian who ends up being the heart and soul of not only the Vessel but all of Gray’s High Republic novels.  Geode is essentially a sentient rock who never talks, rarely moves, and for most of his first appearance in Into the Dark, you were half convinced was some sort of elaborate prank and was really just a rock.  However, Geode ends up being a remarkable figure, capable of great feats of ingenuity and courage, while also being a social genius and a massive flirt.  I cannot emphasise how hilarious it is to see all the outrageous things that the other characters attribute to this silent, giant rock, especially as he just sits there for the entire book.  However, the other characters can apparently all see the “facial” expressions he gives off, and he is apparently quite an emotional and thoughtful character, who ends up being the solution to several problems.  Honestly, having a motionless rock as a major supporting character should not work, but it really does in The Fallen Star, and I loved every second that was spent on him.  I enjoyed seeing all these characters return, and I hope that Gray brings them back in the future, although I do worry the Geode joke might eventually becomes too overused.

Former Nihil members Nan and Chancey Yarrow perfectly rounded out the main cast aboard Starlight Beacon.  Both have had some interesting appearances in the young adult books, and it was great to see them here.  Nan is another character created by Gray and is a young and zealous Nihil member, while Chancey is a brilliant scientist working for the Nihil while also promoting her own agenda.  After leaving the Nihil and starting their own partnership, Nan and Chancey get captured by the Jedi and are being questioned about Starlight Beacon when events kick off.  Freed by the Nihil infiltrators, they spend most of the book on the fence about where their loyalties lie as they try to find their own way to escape.  This results in a fantastic and compelling alternate viewpoint to the book, and I loved seeing these two morally grey characters interact with the more selfless protagonists.  Gray comes up with a great dynamic between Nan and Chancey, which is semi mother-daughter in nature, and there are some interesting moments as Nan struggles to overcome her loyalty to the Nihil.  Their storyline comes to a very interesting and powerful end, and I will be deeply intrigued to see what happens to them next.

I want to make a final mention about the antagonists of The Fallen Star, especially as there is a rather unusual dynamic with this book.  This because, in many ways, the main villain of the story isn’t the Nihil, but is instead time, despair, impossible choices, panic, and human nature.  To a degree, these basic, uncontrollable elements end up causing more damage, and the impossible battle against them results in much of the book’s most dramatic and powerful moments.  There are a few proper villains in this book, such as series antagonist Marchion Ro.  Despite only being in it for a short while, Marchion cuts a distinctive and menacing figure in The Fallen Star, especially as he instigates the next stage of his master plan.  There are some interesting developments around Marchion here, and although they are probably saving any major revelations for his upcoming comic limited series, I felt that he continues to shine as the main villain of The High Republic.  The rest of the Nihil aren’t shown as much in this book, although I did enjoy the examination of the fear and hatred associated with them, especially after all the pain and suffering they caused.  I was very intrigued by the mysterious Nihil controlled monsters that infest Starlight Beacon and mess with the Jedi.  Despite the fact you never see them, they are incredibly intimidating, effortlessly defeating the Jedi and sending them on some dangerous head-trips.  I cannot wait to find out more about them in the future, especially as they are bound to explore their history more, and it should lead to interesting discoveries.  Overall, The Fallen Star had an exceptional group of characters and their intense, compelling and entertaining story arcs really elevated this around exciting novel.

I will come as very little surprise to anyone familiar with this blog that I chose to check out The Fallen Star audiobook.  I have so much love for Star Wars audiobooks, and this ended up being a very good example of how fantastic this format could be as it combines impressive narration with clever sound effect and epic music.  With a run time of 13 and a half hours, this is a somewhat shorter Star Wars audiobook.  I had a wonderful time getting through the story in this format, and I found that the compelling narrative became even more intense when read to me.  This is particularly true in such a trauma and action laden book like The Fallen Star, with the awesome medium of the audiobook helping to enhance the danger and despair of the situation.  The use of sound effects and music was once again superb, and I loved how hearing the distinctive sound of blasters, lightsabers and other pieces of Star Wars technology, helped to bring me into the story and enhance the events being described.  I also cannot overemphasise how awesome it is to hear the incredible and iconic Star Wars music during this plot as well.  Whenever the music is played, especially during some of the more dramatic or action-packed sequences, it really enhances the impact of the moment, drawing the listener in and ensuring that they are perfectly entrapped by the events occurring.

You can’t talk about this audiobook without mentioning the epic voice work of the narrator Marc Thompson.  At this point in his career, Thompson is essentially Star Wars royalty, as he has narrated so many amazing Star Wars audiobooks over the years.  He is easily one of my favourite audiobook narrators and I loved his work on previous audiobooks like Thrawn, Chaos Rising, Greater Good, Lesser Evil, Scoundrels, Dark Disciple and more.  He once again does a great job on The Fallen Star, bringing all the characters to life and moving the story along at a swift pace.  I loved the consistency in voices from all the previous High Republic books he narrated, and he also did a great job voicing characters from other books he hasn’t worked on.  All the characters have very distinctive and fitting voices, which included some very distinctive accents, which helped to highlight the characters and what they did.  I also loved the sheer emotional range that Thompson was able to fit into these great characters, ensuring that all the intense emotions were on full display.  It was pretty intense hearing all the character’s despair, anger and grief as everything they knew and loved was burned around them, and it makes for some incredible sequences.  This was easily the best way to enjoy this cool Star Wars novel, and I would strongly recommend The Fallen Star audiobook to anyone interested in checking this book out.

Overall, Star Wars: The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray is an excellent read that I would strongly recommend.  Featuring a clever, action packed, and emotionally rich, character driven story, The Fallen Star brilliantly continues the outstanding High Republic series, and you will love the dark places this story goes. I deeply enjoyed this cool book and I cannot wait to see what happens in this brilliant sub-series next.  Long live the High Republic!

Star Wars - The Fallen Star Cover 2

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The Twice-Dead King: Reign by Nate Crowley

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer17 Comments

The Twice-Dead King - Reign Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 15 January 2022)

Series: The Twice-Dead King – Book Two

Length: 12 hours and 3 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The fate of Oltyx and his necron dynasty is revealed in Reign, the epic and impressive second entry in The Twice-Dead King series of Warhammer 40,000 novels by Nate Crowley.

Last year I was lucky enough to listen to the fantastic and compelling Warhammer 40,000 novel, The Twice-Dead King: Ruin, which followed an exiled necron prince, Oltyx, one of the heirs to the Ithakas Dynasty.  After defending a barren rock in the far reaches of space for centuries, the immortal, metal-coated Oltyx soon encounters a grave threat of an invading alien fleet and is forced to break his exile and head back to his dynasty’s capital planet.  However, he soon discovers that his father, the king, and his court have been infected by a terrible madness and he must find a way to claim power and unite the remnants of his people before it is too late.  I had an outstanding time with Ruin and I was extremely excited when the planned second half of the series, Reign, came out a couple of weeks ago.

Reign takes place directly after the events of Ruin and sees Oltyx, now king of the Ithakas necrons, attempting to find a way to preserve his people after his capital planet was destroyed by the massed forces of the human Imperium.  With the remnants of his people crammed aboard his fleet, Oltyx searches for a safe planet to claim as their new home.  However, the forces of the Imperium are relentless in their mission to destroy all Xenos, and Oltyx’s fleet soon finds itself under pursuit from their massive crusade fleet.  At the same time, Oltyx is forced to deal with the vicious politics of the necron court, with the bickering and scheming nobles hoping to gain power at his expense.

However, the further the necrons run, the more apparent it becomes that the humans will never leave them alone.  Spurred on by his most loyal advisors, Oltyx embarks on a risky plan to find an ancient planet, said to be ruled over by a deadly king and his hordes.  Making use of long-lost technology, Oltyx and his people undertake a deadly trip towards their goal.  However, a far greater threat soon emerges in the very heart of his ship.  The flayer curse that has long infected his people and which drove Oltyx’s father mad has returned, and soon thousands are infected.  Forced to take drastic actions to save his people, Oltyx soon learns the full weight of responsibility and loneliness that all kings must bear.  But this king has a dark secret that will threaten the entire Ithakas Dynasty.  Can Oltyx control the dark urges that reside deep within his soul or will a new twice-dead king rise to reign over the Ithakas necrons?

Reign is an epic and exciting sequel to the first The Twice-Dead King novel, and I had a brilliant time getting through this compelling and fantastic novel.  This book has an excellent story that dives deep into the Warhammer 40,000 lore to explore one of the more mysterious races in the canon while focusing on a conflicted and damaged protagonist.

This latest The Twice-Dead King book had an intense and impressive narrative that I found myself incredibly drawn to.  Reign directly follows on from Ruin and continues several great storylines and character arcs established in the first book.  The book opens with the necrons on the run after the destruction of their crown world by the Imperium, and the recently crowned Oltyx desperately trying to produce a solution while also being assailed by doubts and regrets of his new position.  It really does not take long for the action to kick off, with the Imperium continuing their chase while Oltyx is assailed from within his own ship by treachery, dissention and doubt.  What follows is an intense chase storyline as the necron fleet tries to outrun their pursuers as Oltyx leads them to potential sanctuaries.  This eventually finds the necron travelling through a featureless void for the last half of the book, where they encounter greater internal problems as the terrifying flayer curse rears its head throughout the ships.  This results in some incredibly scary and powerful scenes that dives deeps into the protagonists’ insecurities and fears as he starts a brutal reign over his people.  All this leads up to epic conclusion, which not only features a brilliant fight scene between necrons and Space Marines, but then takes the protagonist on a deep journey to the heart of his enemies and himself.  There are some clever and powerful moments throughout the entire book, and I loved how several inclusions or continued throwaway lines really paid off.  I enjoyed how this book ended and Crowley leaves the narrative open for a follow-up, as there are a few questions left unanswered that I would really like to find out about.

Crowley has a great writing style that I felt really enhanced the intriguing and captivating Warhammer story contained within Reign.  The book’s narrative is well paced, with the plot jumping perfectly between great action sequences, touching character moments and freaky near-horror spots.  The author really lays in the detail during these scenes and the reader is swiftly drawn into the elaborate world of the necron, from the outrageous characters to the massive ships and artifacts.  This level of detail really brought the powerful narrative to life, and I was impressed with how epic and cool it made the various action sequences appear.  I particularly loved one elaborate fight sequence that saw the protagonist and his guards face off against the very best of the Angels Encarmine, including a full Death Company and a Chaplain.  This led to a destructive and intriguing duel, featuring some interesting similarities and a great clash of martial styles.  Reign is primarily a book for the dedicated Warhammer fan, especially as it focuses on an obscure race from deep within the lore.  You also really need to read the preceding book, Ruin, first, as all the key storylines follow through from there.  Some readers could probably get away with only reading the second book, especially as Crowley provide some detailed refreshing context and explanation, but I would strongly suggest going from the start to get the full experience of this fun and addictive read.

I deeply enjoyed how much Warhammer 40,000 lore that Reign features, especially as it dives into the heart of one of the most interesting factions, the necrons.  The necrons, ancient aliens with an ancient Egyptian motif who were made immortal by being encased in metal, are a fascinating race who are somewhat underutilised in Warhammer extended fiction.  However, throughout The Twice-Dead King novels, Crowley has done a wonderful job of examining everything important about the necrons and he soon expands your view of this mysterious and long-dead race, turning them into a very captivating and personable group.  Crowley really dives into the lore of the necrons, focusing on everything, such as their history, their emotions, technology, philosophies, physiology, strengths and their weaknesses.  There is a great focus on the many mental conditions impacting them thanks to their transition from flesh to metal, including the flayer curse which drives them insane and forces them to cut off the skin of their opponents and attempt to eat their flesh, despite their inability to consume anything.  The author brings each of these conditions to life, especially in Reign, and watching the various necron characters attempt to overcome the curses coming for them and impacting their friends is deeply fascinating and powerful.

I really enjoyed the intense sense of tragedy and decline that Crowley installs in the various necron characters, and you swiftly start rooting for them, despite the universe usually portraying humans as protagonists.  There are some major necron moments in this novel, and I loved the range of interesting characters, desolate settings and powerful technology that Crowley cleverly features.  You also must love seeing the rest of the universe through the necron’s ancient and somewhat arrogant eyes, as it makes for some amusing insights.  It was particularly fun to see their opinions about the human fleet coming after them, including the Space Marines of the Angels Encarmine, and their constant disbelief at their crudity and apparent success is a fun part of the book.  The Angels Encarmine are actually an interesting mirror to the necrons, as the Space Marines have also attempted to become better by enhancing their weak initial flesh.  The Angels Encarmine, a successor chapter of the Blood Angels, also share a similar bloodlust, insanity and desire for killing that the necron flayed ones have, and their appearance during the Black Rage is very similar to necrons suffering from flayers curse.  I deeply enjoyed this excellent and captivating examination of this part of the Warhammer 40,000 canon and Crowley has a brilliant understanding of this complex universe.

I also really enjoyed seeing the continued journey of the main character and sole point-of-view character, Oltyx, who is now the king of his dynasty.  Oltyx is a great, damaged character who went through substantial growth in the last novel as he attempted to become a worthy prince and regain his honour, only to discover that his father, the king, had gone insane with the flayer curse, which forced Oltyx to kill him.  Reeling from this and the death of his brother by the humans, Oltyx takes control as the new king and instantly finds himself overcome with responsibility as external and internal threats threaten to overwhelm him.  It is extremely captivating to watch Oltyx attempt to deal with the various dangers and concerns of a king, especially as he is wracked with guilt over his many mistakes and riven with indecision over the best course from his people.  Thanks to his own internal suffering, insidious visions from the past and his own brush with the flayer curse, Oltyx makes some terrible decisions throughout Reign, and his slow descent towards tyranny and insanity is brilliantly portrayed.  The subsequent and intriguing evolution of his character is set up extremely well, and it results in some major changes for Oltyx.  I really hope that Crowley will continue the story of Oltyx in the future as there is still a lot of development and story to follow there.

Like most Warhammer novels I have checked out, I chose to enjoy Reign in its audiobook format, which ended up being a great decision.  Having the complex and detail laden story read to me really helped to cement all the key detail of Reign in my head, and it really helped to paint an incredible picture of the various settings, events and battles.  It also was a pretty quick way to enjoy this great book, as, with a runtime of around 12 hours, most fans can power through Reign in no time at all.  I must highlight the impressive narration from Richard Reed, who also lent his voice to the first book in the series.  Reed has a brilliant voice that does an excellent job bringing all the ancient, proud and inhuman necron characters to life.  I loved the magnificent and powerful tones he gave to the main character and point of view character Oltyx, and the entire rest of the cast are given extremely cool and fitting voices that highlight their distinctive and mechanised personalities.  Reed ensures that the various mental diseases and age-related degradations that the necron characters are suffering really comes through in his voicing of them, and the occasional stutter or lengthy pause between words helps to highlight just how decrepit some of the ancient necrons is an excellent touch.  This was a brilliant and addictive way to enjoy this second The Twice-Dead King novel, and I would strongly recommend Reign’s audiobook to all Warhammer fans.

Nate Crowley continues to shine as a brilliant and talented author of Warhammer fiction, as his latest book, The Twice-Dead King: Reign, was such an awesome read.  Continuing the great narrative set up in Ruin, Reign was an amazing sequel that continued to dive down into the troubled mind of its cursed, necron protagonist.  I loved the amazing and captivating story that followed, especially as it showed the necron in all their bloody glory and revealed just how complex they can be.  A must read for all fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction; Reign is an outstanding book that I just could not get enough of.

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Warhammer 40,000: Steel Tread by Andy Clark

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer33 Comments

Steel Tread Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 5 January 2022)

Series: Astra Militarum – Book One

Length: 9 hours and 50 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to dive back into the brutal chaos of the far future of the exceptional Warhammer 40,000 universe with the powerful and intense Steel Tread, a fantastic tank novel by Andy Clark.

At this point in its existence, the Warhammer 40,000 canon has advanced far from just a tabletop game and has turned into quite the complex extended universe that features a range of interesting factions, species and unique narratives.  From fantastic stories about crusading genetic Space Marines (check out my review for Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker), to unique underworld stories about warring gangs (Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty and Fire Made Flesh), and narratives about ancient metal aliens (The Twice-Dead King: Ruin), this franchise has it all.  However, to my mind some of the best Warhammer 40,000 books are compelling war stories that pit ordinary human soldiers against the very worst monsters in this distinctive universe.  Examples of this include the awesome Gaunt’s Ghosts series by Dan Abnett, (check out my review for First and Only), which is pretty damn awesome.  As such I was very excited to check out the new novel from talented Warhammer author Andy Clark, Steel Tread, which looked to follow a group of tank soldiers in the worst of situations.

Following the fall of Cadia, war reigns across the universe as the forces of Chaos push further and further into Imperial space.  There are many battles occurring in this new warzone, but none are more desperate or destructive than those on the world of Croatoas, where the armies of the Astra Militarum, better known as the Imperial Guard, face off against twisted forces serving the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.

Following a devastating campaign, veteran tank gunner Hadeya Etsul is reassigned and consolidated into a Cadian regiment and placed in command of the ancient Leman Russ Demolisher tank, Steel Tread.  Already haunted by the events that destroyed her last tank and crew, Etsul is forced to adapt to her new command whilst immediately getting thrust into the midst of a new offensive.  However, rather than the well-run team she is used to, Etsul finds herself leading a dysfunctional and aggrieved crew who don’t believe she has earned the right to be either their commander or a member of a Cadian regiment.

As the campaign takes a turn for the worst, the crew of Steel Tread will need to find a way to work together if they are to survive.  The enemy has unleashed vast and terrible horrors against the Imperial forces, from dark sorcery to mutated machines, and only the very best crew will have a chance to hold out and fight back.  Can Etsul gain the respect of her crew in time, or will Steel Tread be yet another victim of the unrelenting forces of Chaos?

Wow, that was awesome!  I knew that I was going to have an amazing time reading Steel Tread, especially as it had a great synopsis, but I was unprepared for just how enjoyable it was.  Clark, who has previously written several Warhammer 40,000 novels, including his Imperial Knights books (which he makes certain homages to here), did a fantastic job with this latest novel, producing a grim and powerful tank novel that proves near impossible to stop reading.

Steel Tread has a powerful and action-packed narrative that sees a dysfunctional tank crew thrust into the middle of a hellish warzone (literally hellish) and forced to come together to face their foes.  Clark does a great job of setting the scene for this novel, introducing the conflict, the main characters, and the Chaos based antagonists, in quick succession and ensuring all the key aspects of the book are well established.  The first part of the narrative is mostly dedicated to setting up the crew dynamics and exposing the major personal conflicts that arise when a new commander appears.  This dysfunctional crew mentality continues as the characters are thrust into their first conflicts, before a major battle occurs that separates them from the rest of their command.  Surrounded by all manner of foes, including magical zombies and a terrifying giant war machine (a corrupted Imperial Knight), the crew are forced to come together, especially after overcoming some losses and major personal conflicts.  This all leads up to the big finale, in which the crew are once again thrust into a do-or-die battle and must overcome immense odds with little hopes of success.  This finale really pays off, as the readers are on the edge of their seats during the entire conclusive sequence and beyond as they wait to see what happens to the crew they’ve come to know and love.  This novel is brilliantly paced out and constantly in motion, ensuring that there are no slow spots to stumble across as they move from one excellent sequence to the next.  I loved the great combination of intense action and character moments, which results in a powerful and impressively thrilling read.

I deeply enjoyed the exquisite writing style that Clark utilised for this great novel, especially as it was written in the style of a tank based military thriller.  Clark is an amazingly detailed writer and he perfectly captures the claustrophobia of a classic tank movie.  It was brilliant to watch the six main characters crammed together inside Steel Tread as they face all manner of hell, often by themselves.  You really get a feel for all the stress, rage and fear that the characters are feeling, especially during the amazing action sequences.  All the battle scenes are written extremely well, and the author ensured that you are placed right in the middle of the action.  I really loved all the epic fights, and I really must highlight the scary and insane enemies they faced, including cultists, zombies and that awesome Chaos Knight.  I deeply appreciated the work that Clark put into describing that Chaos Knight into a fearsome and freaky war machine, especially its spider-like walking style, and it easily stole every scene it was in.  This impressive writing style really helped to enhance an already amazing story and I loved how the author was able to tell such a brutal and complex war story.

This proved to be an exceptional entry in the Warhammer 40,000 canon, and I deeply enjoyed the way in which Clark was able to transplant his impressive tank story into this universe.  While there are a few references to events in Warhammer history that set the scene for the plot, this ended up being one of those tie-in novels that can easily be read by people unfamiliar with the franchise.  Anyone who loves a good science fiction war novel can have a lot of fun with Steel Tread, although there is also a lot that Warhammer fans will really appreciate.  I loved all the references to the fall of Cadia featured throughout the book, especially as the characters are part of a Cadian regiment.  Clark spends a lot of time examining the psyche of a typical Cadian soldier, and there is an interesting focus on members of other regiments being consolidated into the usually insular and elite Cadians.  As such, you get some great insights into the different Imperial Guard regiments, including their unique traditions, and it was fascinating to see several characters, including the main protagonists, try and find acceptance with her new Cadian colleagues and subordinates.  This book does feature a ton of awesome Imperial Guard and Chaos troops, and it was great to see Steel Tread caught in the middle of it, especially as Clark does a great job of describing how the various units move and fight.  I also really loved seeing this story unfold from the common soldier’s perspective, and it was very insightful to see the tank crew when confronted by Chaos sorcery, corruption, mutations and other insanities, especially as half the time they don’t really know what they are.  Clark has produced a great tie-in to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and this is honestly an excellent first novel for any reader interested in exploring this massive franchise.

Another feature of Steel Tread that I enjoyed was the amazing array of characters featured within.  Clark has come up with an interesting and diverse central group of protagonists for the book, with the primary six being the crew members of Steel Tread.  I had a lot of fun with these great characters, and I liked the interesting mix of personalities and backstories.  The author has hit on a few military stereotypes here as you have a new and untrusted officer, a grouchy sergeant, a religious zealot driver, a strong and mostly silent loader with a mysterious past, a young rookie eager to prove himself and a rebellious former street thug turned soldier who constantly tests the new commander.  While some of these character types seem a tad familiar, there is a reason that they work in a military fiction novel such as Steel Tread, as these diverse personalities play off each other extremely well.  There is the requisite hardship and clashes you would typically expect from this sort of crew, but they soon develop into a strong team, especially once their new commander finally gains their trust and respect.  Clark does a great job of setting all six of these main characters up and it was great to see them slowly come together through their joint experiences.  Most of the narration is done by central character Etsul, who is still dealing with the aftermath of her last devastating mission and must overcome her memories and doubts to lead the team.  This intense and compelling narration is perfectly complemented by the second narrator, the young rookie Garret Verro, who offers a slightly more hopeful counterpoint to the rest of the characters in the novel.  I really liked seeing this great group of characters come together and you really come to care for the whole crew by the end of the book.

Aside from the central six characters, there are a few other interesting figures that Clark features throughout the novel.  The main one of these is probably Steel Tread itself, as the author works to give the tank its own personality (which is helped by the fact that machines in the Warhammer 40,000 universe have their own souls, known as machine-spirits).  The old but still deadly tank (an Agamemnor-pattern Leman Russ Demolisher), really feels like a member of the crew, especially with how the other characters interact with it, and you end up feeing just as attached to the tank as you do to its human passengers.  Another great character was Lieutenant Horathio Aswold, a fellow tank commander who is consolidated into the Cadian regiment at the same time as Etsul.  Aswold is a fun and slightly eccentric character who bonds with Etsul over being the newest members of their Cadian regiment.  Aswold proved to be a fun counterpoint to Etsul, and I liked how he was a great soundboard for her concerns and doubts, especially when it comes to their new regiment.  The rest of the Imperial characters in this book are only really featured briefly, and due to most of the action occurring inside the tight confines of Steel Tread, there aren’t a lot of extended interactions between the main cast and supporting characters.  I think this smaller cast worked extremely well in the context of a tank-based novel, and it allowed the readers to get to know the main characters.  The fact that the reader never really sees the main antagonist of the novel was an interesting choice from Clark, but it honestly didn’t detract from how awesome the story was.  While it might have been cool to see a powerful traitor Space Marine attack the tank, I think that keeping him away from the protagonists and letting them face only opposing soldiers, machines and monsters helped to emphasise the fact that the characters were only a small part of a much larger war.  I hope we see more of Steel Tread and its crew in the future.

I ended up listening to the audiobook version of Steel Tread, which came in at just under 10 hours, which I ended up listening to in a few short days once I got caught up in the impressive narrative.  I felt that the audiobook format was an excellent way to enjoy this book, especially as the amazing narration really highlighted all the impressive action scenes.  The intensity, complexity and brutality of the various combat sequences is really emphasised in this format and I was engrossed in all the elaborate firefights.  Thanks to this great translation of Clark’s detailed writing style, I found myself practically seeing every shot as the book was read out, and it really helped bring me into the narrative.  I need to highlight the fantastic narration of Remmie Milner, who moved the book along at a quick and enjoyable pace.  Milner had an excellent voice for this thrilling science fiction novel and I loved the great voices she provided to each of the characters.  Not only did these amazing voices really help the reader to appreciate the emotions and thoughts of the protagonists but they highlighted the cultural differences that existed amongst the multiple Imperial Guard regiments, with the newcomers having different accents to the established Cadians.  This excellent voice work was also enhanced in a few places by some clever sound effects, such as the enhancement given when a radio was being utilised by a character.  This great voice work and design elements of the audiobook really helped to bring me into the story and I had a brilliant time listening to it.  Easily the best way to enjoy Steel Tread, this audiobook format comes highly recommended.

Overall, Steel Tread by Andy Clark was an exceptional and impressive Warhammer 40,000 tie-in novel that takes the reader on a wild and compelling ride with a great group of characters.  I loved the brilliant combination of the Warhammer universe with a brutal and grim tank-based military story.  Filled with all the awesome action any science fiction fan could want, Steel Tread was an extremely thrilling and very fun novel that is really worth checking out.  One of the best and most enjoyable Warhammer novels I have had the pleasure of reading.

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Star Wars: The High Republic: Tempest Runner written by Cavan Scott and performed by a full cast

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel6 Comments

Star Wars - Tempest Runner Cover

Publisher: Random House Audio (Audio Drama – 31 August 2021)

Series: Star Wars – The High Republic

Script: Cavan Scott

Cast: Jessica Almasy, Dan Bittner, Orlagh Cassidy, Sullivan Jones, January LaVoy, Kathleen McInerney, Tara Sands, Vikas Adam, Jonathan Davis, Neil Hellegers, Saskia Maarleveld, Soneela Nankani, Marc Thompson and Shannon Tyo

Length: 6 hours and 5 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The epic High Republic era of Star Wars fiction continues in Tempest Runner, the brilliant and captivating full-cast audio drama written by impressive author Cavan Scott.

Ever since its beginnings in early 2021, I have been having a lot of fun with the cool new focus of the Star Wars extended universe known as The High Republic.  Set hundreds of years before the Skywalker Saga, The High Republic has featured several impressive novels, comics and other media releases that tell a grim story of destruction and strife in the golden age of the Republic and the Jedi.  One of more interesting pieces of this fiction from late 2021 was this fantastic full-cast audio drama, Tempest Runner, which focused on one of this era’s best villains, the Nihil Tempest Runner, Lourna Dee.  This awesome audio drama was authored by the exceedingly talented Cavan Scott, who not only wrote my favourite High Republic book so far, The Rising Storm, but also a great previous Star Wars audio drama, Dooku: Jedi Lost.

Synopsis:

The Nihil storm has raged through the galaxy, leaving chaos and grief in its wake. Few of its raiders are as vicious as the Tempest Runner Lourna Dee. She stays one step ahead of the Jedi Order at the helm of a vessel named after one of the deadliest monsters in the galaxy: the Lourna Dee. But no one can outrun the defenders of the High Republic forever.

After the defeat of her crew, Lourna falls into the hands of the Jedi – but not before she hides her identity, becoming just another Nihil convict. Her captors fail to understand the beast they have cornered. Just like every fool she’s ever buried, their first mistake was keeping her alive.

Lourna is determined to make underestimating her their last.

Locked onto a Republic correctional ship, she’s dragged across the galaxy to repair the very damage she and her fellow Tempest Runners inflicted on it. But as Lourna plans her glorious escape, she makes alliances that grow dangerously close to friendships. Outside the Nihil – separated from her infamous ship, her terrifying arsenal, and her feared name – Lourna must carve her own path. But will it lead to redemption? Or will she emerge as a deadlier threat than ever before?

Tempest Runner ended up being an entertaining and captivating piece of Star Wars fiction.  Featuring another excellent story from Scott that not only dives into the past of great character Lourna Dee but continues the story set up in several of the past High Republic novels.  Perfectly told using a full cast of narrators, this was an outstanding audio drama that I had a wonderful time listening to.

It was clear that Scott was on quite a roll last year when it came to fantastic storytelling.  Tempest Runner is set after the events of The Rising Storm and continues several interesting storylines from this novel, as well as other pieces of High Republic fiction such as Light of the Jedi and Out of the Shadows.  Starting off with Lourna’s capture by the Jedi, the story shows her successfully hide her identity and get imprisoned aboard a Republic prison ship doing hard labour as punishment.  Trapped with some of the worst criminals in the galaxy, as well as former Nihil members who utilise her identity for her own good, Lourna is forced to survive while also coming to terms with who she is, what drives her and what she wants from the future, especially when she connects with one of the prison guards.  However, an enemy from her past has found out where she is and is determined to kill her no matter what.  This leads to several intense and brutal confrontations as Lourna is forced to once again bring out her inner monster to save herself and defeat her opponents, while also setting her path for future endeavours in the High Republic universe.

Tempest Runner’s narrative ended up being pretty intense, and I loved the cool and intriguing plot, especially as there are several fun twists and reveals, including that great one towards the end.  While this is a mostly self-contained piece of Star Wars fiction, there are multiple intriguing connections to other High Republic novels and comics.  I particularly loved how several of the best villains from the main two novels were used here, and it also sets up Lourna’s storyline for the next book in the series.  Scott employs an interesting and roundabout way of telling Tempest Runner’s story, utilising a series of flashbacks and interludes to continue the main plot which occasionally helps compensate for the lack of descriptive words that is characteristic of the audio drama format.  I really need to highlight the book’s great opening section in which the capture of the protagonist is recounted in compelling detail to the novel’s main antagonist, with the storyteller and his audience providing questions and commentary during the dramatisation of the events being discussed to provide context.  The storyline has a great blend of elements, and I loved the fantastic prison story, the intrigue of the Nihil, the fantastic revenge plot surrounding the antagonist, as well as the massive amount of character development that occurs around the main character.

Scott really went out of his way to explore the character of Lourna Dee in Tempest Runner.  Despite being one of the most distinctive and entertaining villains in the High Republic canon, very little was known about Lourna Dee before now, except that she is an unassailable badass who is even capable of hanging with a Jedi in a fight.  Tempest Runner, however, dives deep into the heart of this cool character, and I liked the complex and intriguing development and history around her.  Most of the story is dedicated to the modern Lourna, who, after being captured, attempts to turn over a new leaf in the prison system to survive.  This provides some interesting insights into her mind and motivations, especially as she is not as mindless a killer as some of the previous books would lead you to believe.  Instead, she is quite a complex and tragic figure, something that is made clear when you see the various flashbacks to her past that Scott comes up with.  These flashbacks tell a captivating tale of betrayal and heartbreak, showcasing what led an innocent girl to a life of hardship and crime.  This backstory is extremely fascinating, with some powerful moments of love, loss, and revenge.  In addition, the story also dives into how she became a member of the Nihil and rose in its ranks.  This interesting background weaved into the main plot extremely well, and I think that Scott showcased the character’s past perfectly, ensuring that it explains her current mentality and motivations.  I am deeply happy that we finally got to see this character’s backstory, and it really did not disappoint.

While most of Tempest Runner’s focus was on Lourna Dee, a couple of other characters really stood out to me.  This included Tasia, the former Nihil member who blackmails Lourna to help her survive in prison.  Tasia is a fun secondary antagonist, and it was very entertaining to see her try and make a power play on Lourna once she was no longer in control.  I also loved seeing more of Pan Eyta, a former Nihil Tempest Runner who was betrayed by Lourna in The Rising Storm.  Pan, who is dying thanks Lourna, goes on a big revenge mission here and ends up being the major antagonist of this novel.  I personally thought this was an amazing conclusion to his compelling character arc established in the previous novels and it was great to see him and Lourna have several aggressive and deeply personal confrontations throughout Tempest Runner.  I also enjoyed seeing a young version of High Republic arch-antagonist Marchion Ro, before he took control of the Nihil, as well as a glimpse of his often-discussed father Asgar Ro.  Several other supporting characters in this novel were also pretty fun, and I had a great time seeing some of their storylines unfold.

While I had to highlight Tempest Runner’s cool narrative and great characters, you can’t talk about this amazing piece of Star Wars fiction without mentioning the awesome audio drama format.  I have a lot of love for Star Wars audiobooks and audio dramas (such as Doctor Aphra), and this was a particularly good one.  The team behind this epic audio drama did an amazing job of combining Scott’s great story with a team of brilliant voice actors, as well as the typical Star Wars sound effects and music.  With a run time of just over six hours, this is a very easy audio drama to quickly power through, and I think I managed it in just over a day myself.  While some people unfamiliar with the format might have some issues regarding the full reliance on descriptive dialogue and sound effects rather than expositional text to describe action, I thought that Tempest Runner was adapted extremely well and I had an absolute blast getting through it.

I must highlight the exceptional cast of voice actors that were featured in this awesome audio drama, as the team behind it pulled together a great group of narrators, including several actors well known for their work bringing Star Wars audiobooks to life.  The most prominent actor in this group is probably Jessica Almasy, who voiced main character Lourna Dee.  Almasy brings a great deal of complexity to the role and I loved the semi-French accent she utilised throughout Tempest Runner, which was reminiscent of how Twi’lek characters speak in shows like Star Wars: Rebels.  I thought that Almasy did a brilliant job of highlighting Lourna’s true feelings and personality in this audio drama, and it was great to see her transform the character in several intense, emotional scenes.  This was some brilliant voice work and it was an amazing highlight of this exceptional production.

I also deeply appreciated the great work that the other actors contributed to Tempest Runner and its characters.  While there were a few new narrators here whose work I enjoyed, the ones that impressed me the most were established narrators from other Star Wars audiobooks.  This includes January LaVoy, who voiced the character of Tasia, providing her with some much-needed depth and spite.  LaVoy, who I loved in works such as Star Wars: Victory’s Price (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing, was just great here and I really appreciated the characterisation her voice added to Tasia.  Marc Thompson, who has previously narrated all the main High Republic novels, as well as the Thrawn Ascendancy books (Chaos Rising, Greater Good and Lesser Evil), was another standout narrator, especially as he voiced three characters, including antagonists Pan Eyta and Marchion Ro.  Having this cool continuation from Light of the Jedi and The Rising Storm for these great villains helped me enjoy their appearances in Tempest Runner a lot more, especially as Thompson has come up with some extremely sinister and fitting voices for them.  I also had a lot of fun with Jonathan Davis (who previously narrated Master & Apprentice, Lords of the Sith and Maul: Lockdown), who voiced two characters here.  I particularly enjoyed his work on the mysterious Asgar Ro, and the calm and wise tone he utilises for him (which is reminiscent of another major Star Wars character), works perfectly to give him some great depth.  An overall exceptional collection of narrators, I had an amazing time listening to this audio drama.

With a great cast, a brilliant story and a great focus on an incredible central character, Tempest Runner was an outstanding addition to the High Republic range of Star Wars fiction.  The always impressive Cavan Scott came up with an awesome narrative for Tempest Runner and I loved learning more about fun character Lourna Dee.  A must-listen for all fans of The High Republic, you really won’t regret checking out Tempest Runner.

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Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Science Fiction5 Comments

Leviathan Falls Cover

Publisher: Orbit/Recorded Books (Audiobook – 30 November 2021)

Series: The Expanse – Book Nine

Length: 19 hours and 40 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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For my last review of 2021 I check out the epic and highly anticipated final book in the iconic The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Falls.

For the last ten years the science fiction genre has been dominated by the impressive and captivating The Expanse series.  Written by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, The Expanse series consists of nine awesome novels that navigate the troubles and wars of future humans in both our solar system, and other systems accessed by ancient alien technology.  This has been a pretty amazing series which has moved from wars between Earth, Mars and the Belt, to intergalactic travel and battles between galactic empires and interdimensional aliens.  I have been really enjoying this series lately, and the last two novels, Persepolis Rising and Tiamat’s Wrath were extremely fun, especially as they utilised the conquering Laconian Empire, which forced the protagonists to form a rebel movement known as the underground.

The plot of Leviathan Falls starts a few months after the events of Tiamat’s Wrath, which saw the underground destroy Laconia’s shipyards and free James Holden, captain of the Rocinante, and Teresa Duarte, the daughter of the Laconian high consul.  Now the Rocinante flies throughout the various settled systems attempting to keep the underground alive and bring down the faltering Laconian Empire.  At the same time, unnatural and destructive alien forces, disturbed by the intergalactic technology used to traverse space, are reaching into our universe and attempting to exterminate all human life.

The best hope for humanity may lie in the hands of the Laconian high consul, Winston Duarte, whose alien enhancements have given him unnatural insight into the universe.  However, Winston Duarte is currently missing, having vanished from his room as he attempts to unleash his ambitious master plan.  To find him, the Laconians unleash their ultimate hunter, Colonel Aliana Tanaka, who focuses on the Rocinante, determined to use Teresa as bait.  At the same time, Dr Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to uncover the secrets of the ancient aliens whose technology has allowed humanity to expand throughout the universe.  But her progress is dependent on the lives of the mysterious half-alien children in her care, whose ability to connect with the past could save the future.

As the situation in the universe becomes even more desperate, the crew of Rocinante are once again thrust into the midst of the battle for humanity’s survival.  Entering a desperate alliance and faced with near certain extinction, the Rocinante and their allies embark on a final battle for the future.  However, not only are they facing the malevolent forces from outside their universe, but also the radical and altered Winston Duarte, whose plan to save the species comes with an impossible price.  Can Holden and his crew stop him before it is too late, or is the final chapter in humanity’s story?

Leviathan Falls was another intense and impressive science fiction read from Corey, who brings this epic series to an end in a big way.  This ninth and final Expanse novel had a captivating and intense narrative filled with amazing and realistic science fiction elements, complex characters, and a fitting and heartbreaking conclusion that wraps everything up extremely well.  This ended up being a fantastic novel and I was glad I had a chance to see how everything finished up.

There is a great narrative for this book that takes the reader on a powerful and compelling ride as the authors seek to wrap everything up.  Leviathan Falls continues several of the storylines set up in the previous novels, especially Tiamat’s Wrath, and takes them towards their inevitable conclusion.  Told through multiple characters, including several minor figures, this is a slow-burn narrative that methodically sets up the various storylines and explores them to their full extent.  The story gets quite complex in places as the protagonists attempt to survive not only the various battles between the Laconians and the underground but also the malevolent entities attempting to take them down from another universe.  The first half of the story focuses on a cat-and-mouse battle between the protagonists on the Rocinante and the Laconian Colonel Tanaka, while there are some interesting examinations of Elvi’s attempts to understand the threat facing humanity.  These storylines lead up to a big event that sets up the intense and exciting second half of the novel and forces the previously disparate characters to come together and face the major threat.  This results in a massive, extended sequence that forces several characters to make some major decisions, and a moving conclusion that is both devastating and a fitting ending to the franchise.

The team behind The Expanse have a really unique writing style that I think fits the epic scope of their series.  Using an intense amount of description, as well as some colourful analogies, the authors paint a brilliant picture of the events occurring around them that perfectly encapsulates the insanities and complexities of the situation.  The Expanse series is known for its realistic approach to science fiction, and this continues through in Leviathan Falls as the reader gets a real sense of the awesome nature of space flight through the various characters’ eyes.  While some of the science fiction elements are obviously invented solely for the narrative, most of the human technology in this book appears to be quite realistic and well thought out.  I also love the cool take on space travel, communication and fights, with many of the events in space taking hours or days to complete due to distance and light delays.  This is particularly impressive during the battle sequences which rely more on calculations and manoeuvres than fast-paced firepower, and it really added to the intensity of multiple scenes throughout the book.

While I enjoyed the narrative and the way that the authors told the story, Leviathan Falls did drag a little in places.  I honestly think they could have streamlined this into a better novel by taking out, say, 50 to 100 pages, and I personally would have cut all the chapters told from the perspective of Kit Kamal, which have no major impact on the overall story.  I also think that the authors went a tad overboard in places trying to make some of the elements and experiences seem a little cleverer than they needed to be, such as certain long-winded interludes.  While I understand that this is their writing style and it usually works, I felt that it made parts of the book a little unwieldy and unnecessarily complex.  Being the grand finale, it was also a very inaccessible novel for new readers, especially as so much of the plot relies on knowledge of some of the preceding books, particularly Persepolis Rising and Tiamat’s Wrath.  However, the rest of Leviathan Falls story more than compensates for some of the above issues, and this still ended up being an excellent and compelling read.

Fans of this series will no doubt appreciate some of the excellent world building that took place in Leviathan Falls.  The author introduces some interesting and compelling expansions of various elements of lore and technology within this universe, especially when it comes to the two ancient alien races who the protagonists have been encountering throughout the series.  It was rather fascinating to see how certain elements were utilised throughout the plot, and they ended up enhancing the narrative extremely well.  I loved all the use of alien technology, especially as there are some great call-backs to the previous books and the weird molecules and artefacts the protagonists previously encountered.  There was also a good wrap up with the universe that I really appreciated, and it think it ends everything on a compelling and interesting note.

Leviathan Falls features an impressive cast of complex characters, and the multiple perspectives are used to great effect throughout the book to craft a massive and elaborate narrative.  I liked the cool range of characters in this book, especially as it primarily focuses on the well-established cast from the previous novels, as well as one great new antagonist.  The vast array of perspectives proves to be a lot of fun to explore, although I do question the necessity of one or two overutilised point-of-view characters.  I also appreciated some of the development that occurred around the recurring cast of the series.  This included a tangible sense of weariness that multiple characters experienced, especially the series’ long-running protagonists, which helped to reflect how they have aged and evolved over the years, especially in the face of so much adversity.  There are also a couple of interesting inclusions that I quite enjoyed, including one excellent character whose return will come as a pleasant surprise to fans of The Expanse.

There are several extremely awesome characters that I really must highlight in this book, including protagonist James Holden, the captain of the Rocinante and main character of the series.  Holden has gone through a lot throughout The Expanse novels, and it shows in Leviathan Falls.  The character is clearly dealing with some PTSD following his extended imprisonment in the prior novel, and there are some compelling and intense trauma storylines around him.  Holden has a particularly major moment in this novel, and it ended up being an interesting and moving novel for this great central character.  Aside from Holden, you also must love the work put into the surviving crew members of the Rocinante, Naomi Nagata, Amos Burton and Alex Kamal, each of whom have their own interesting storylines and serve as great point-of-view characters.  I particularly enjoyed the increased focus on Naomi now that she’s the head of the underground, and it was still fascinating to see her as a confident and capable leader.  Amos’s storyline was also rather interesting, especially after he died and was resurrected by alien technology in the previous novel.  This gives him some unique perspectives throughout the book, although there were only so many times you can hear about the “unnatural pauses” he now has.

In addition to the Rocinante crew members, several other exceptional characters also really stood out to me.  I continued to enjoy the inclusion of Elvi Okoye, the brilliant scientist who was drafted into the Laconian military force as the leading expert on alien technology.  Elvi offers most of the scientific insight into the events occurring in the novel, and it was interesting to see her experiences as she attempts to understand the ancient alien technology and discover a solution to the mysterious attacks plaguing the various human systems.  I also really appreciated Colonel Aliana Tanaka, a Laconian soldier who is sent to track down the missing Winston Duarte by hounding the Rocinante and trying to take back Teresa Duarte.  Despite being a new character, Tanaka has one of the best arcs in the entire novel, as she is forced to contend with not only the boldness of the protagonists but also her own instabilities and issues.  While she initially appears to be a mostly rage filled attack-dog, the author soon expands on her character and backstory turning her into a very complex and somewhat sympathetic figure.  This is particularly true after a major event results in an unwelcome intrusion in her mind, and her inability to cope makes her even wilder and angrier.  These brilliant characters really helped to enhance Leviathan Fall’s plot and it was an absolute pleasure to see all the great character driven story arcs come to an end.

While I did receive a physical copy of Leviathan Falls, I ended up listening to the audiobook version to fit this book into my reading schedule.  This was a pretty good audiobook, and I had a fantastic time getting through it.  Leviathan Falls has a decent run time of just under 20 hours, which did take me a while to get through, especially in some of the spots where my engagement slipped a little.  Despite the length, this was a fantastic audiobook adaptation and I appreciated the impressive narration from Jefferson Mays, who has previously lent his voice to all the previous The Expanse novels.  Mays’ voice seems to fit the massive and epic format of the series extremely well and I found myself appreciating and following some of the heavy scientific elements, battle sequences and intriguing analogies a bit better with his work.  He also provides some excellent voices to the various characters featured in the series which fit their various personalities and helped to showcase their emotions.  I had an awesome time listening to this latest audiobook and it is an impressive way to check this novel out.

After nine epic novels, The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey finally comes to end with the fantastic Leviathan Falls.  This final book does an excellent job of tying together the various story threads from the previous novels and giving this impressive series the outstanding conclusion it deserves.  Filled with complex characters, a powerful and rich science fiction setting, and an intriguing central storyline, Leviathan Falls was an awesome read.  An amazing and cool conclusive episode, Leviathan Falls is really worth checking out and I loved its compelling and exciting story.

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Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Audiobooks of 2021

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, List90 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics.  The official topic for this list was Books I Hope Santa Brings, and, while this did sound like a fun topic, I instead decided to continue my annual end of year wrap up of some of the best books of 2021.  In previous weeks I highlighted some of the best debuts of 2021, as well as the best pre-2021 novels I read in the last year, but this week I am going to look at something near and dear to my heart, the best audiobooks of 2021.

Readers of my blog only need to check out my extensive audiobook category to know that I have a lot of love for the audiobook format.  In my opinion, the audiobook is often the best way to experience a good book, and in many cases, this format makes a book a lot more enjoyable for me.  As a result, I listened to quite a few audiobooks this year, and while several of them are books that had been released before 2021 and featured in my Throwback Thursday posts, a large majority of them were released this year. There were some truly outstanding and impressive audiobooks released this year, and I already know that I am going to have an extremely hard time coming up with the final version of this list. 

For this list I have only included audiobooks released in 2021 that I have listened to and completed, so I am excluding a few audiobooks that were probably pretty awesome, but which I didn’t have a chance to listen to.  Despite this, I still ended up with a long list of extremely good audiobooks, all of which were extremely worthy of appearing on this post.  To help cut this down, I too into account a range of consideration, including quality of the original novel, skill of the narrator, production value, pacing and other factors, including any featured music or sound effects.  Looking at all this I was eventually able to cut the list down to the absolute best 10 audiobooks (as well as an extended honourable mentions section).  I had to make some very hard decisions here, and I ended up losing several extremely good audiobooks from this list.  Still I think it really represents the best audiobooks I enjoyed this year, and there are some amazing productions down below.  So let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Mind Bullet, written by Jeremy Robinson and narrated by R. C. Bray

Mind Bullet 2

Jeremy Robinson’s brilliant talent for writing incredibly entertaining novels once again combined perfectly with the fantastic narration of R. C. Bray (who gets a few mentions in this article) to produce an excellent and impressive audiobook production.

 

Relentless, written by Mark Greaney and narrated by Jay Snyder

Relentless by Mark Greaney Cover

A clever and intense spy thriller from the master Mark Greaney that is extremely well adapted by veteran narrator Jay Snyder.

 

The Man Who Died Twice, written by Richard Osman and narrated by Lesley Manville

The Man Who Died Twice Cover

After his sensational first novel/audiobook, The Thursday Murder Club, blew everyone away last year, comedian Richard Osman continued his cool series with The Man Who Died Twice.  This second book featured another brilliant audiobook adaption narrated by the talented and perfectly cast Lesley Manville, which is really worth checking out.

 

Colonyside, written by Michael Mammay and narrated by R. C. Bray

Colonyside Cover

Following on from Planetside and Spaceside, Michael Mammay produced another exceptional science fiction thriller with Colonyside, which was massively enhanced by R. C. Bray, whose voice works incredibly well for the gruff, military characters.

Top Ten Tuesday:

Relentless, written by Jonathan Maberry and narrated by Ray Porter

Relentless Cover

There was no way that the latest epic Joe Ledger audiobook by Jonathan Maberry, Relentless, was not going to make this list, especially as it once again features the fantastic narration of Ray Porter.  Relentless is the sequel to Rage (one of the best books and audiobooks of 2019), and contains an impressive story about Mayberry’s iconic protagonist, Joe Ledger, going on a revenge rampage.  Porter, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, once again expertly inhabited the main characters of this book, ensuring that listeners get a real sense of Ledger’s pain and torment.  An incredible production that perfectly brings this novel to life.

 

The Wisdom of Crowds, written by Joe Abercrombie and narrated by Steven Pacey

The Wisdom of Crowds Cover

Joe Abercrombie’s outstanding dark fantasy Age of Madness trilogy came to an incredible end this year with the captivating and moving The Wisdom of Crowds.  Containing a brilliant story and some wonderfully dark and complex characters The Wisdom of Crowds is a terrific read that did a fantastic job wrapping up the stories started in A Little Hatred and The Trouble With Peace (one of the best books and audiobooks of 2020).  The excellent Steven Pacey’s amazing voice helped to turn this into an excellent and compelling production, and I cannot wait to grab Abercrombie’s next book in this format.

 

Star Wars: Victory’s Price, written by Alexander Freed and narrated by January LaVoy

Star Wars - Victory's Price Cover

After enjoying physical copies of the first two novels in Alexander Freed’s Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy, Alphabet Squadron and Shadow Fall, I checked out the third novel, Victory’s Price, on audiobook and was absolutely blown away by it.  The Victory’s Price audiobook was just exquisite, combining a perfect and dramatic narrative with amazing Star Wars sound effects, music, and the exceptional voice work of January LaVoy.  This resulted in such an amazing audiobook, especially with the iconic Star Wars score working to enhance some of the more intense scenes.

 

The Bone Ship’s Wake, written by R. J. Barker and narrated by Jude Owusu

The Bone Ship's Wake Cover

Another great trilogy that ended this year was The Tide Child trilogy by R. J. Barker (previously consisting of The Bone Ships and Call of the Bone Ships), which finished with the impressive The Bone Ship’s Wake.  Containing an exceptionally moving narrative, The Bone Ship’s Wake was an incredible book that takes the readers on a wild emotional ride.  I really enjoyed the audiobook adaption of this cool book.  The Bone Ship’s Wake was voiced by the talented Jude Owusu, who expertly brought the compelling characters and brutal nautical setting to life through his narration.  The Bone Ship’s Wake was an incredible audiobook that will really drag listeners into this brilliant series.

 

The Dark, written by Jeremey Robinson and narrated by R. C. Bray

The Dark Cover

Earlier this year I listened to my first Jeremey Robinson novels, The Dark, something that I am extremely thankful I did.  The Dark was a clever and entertaining novel that followed a group of characters as they attempted to survive an invasion from hell.  I have a lot of love for this book, not only because of the great story, but because the exceptionally talented R. C. Bray narrated the audiobook.  Bray does a beautiful job with this book, expertly narrating the crazy story and enhancing all of Robinson’s unique humour and over-the-top characters, with his great voice work.  A fast-paced and brutal novel, The Dark audiobook was a lot of fun, and Bray will ensure you stick to this bonkers story right to the end.

 

The Pariah, written by Anthony Ryan and narrated by Steven Brand

The Pariah Cover

Leading fantasy author Anthony Ryan produced an excellent brand new fantasy series this year that started with The Pariah.  The Pariah followed a complex and interesting protagonist as he tells the reader the story of his life through a chronical narrative.  Not only is this a great story, but the audiobook is narrated by the excellent Steven Brand, who perfectly portrays this central figure and ensures that the reader really gets to grips with Ryan’s powerful and detailed story.

 

Cytonic, written by Brandon Sanderson and narrated by Sophie Aldred

Cytonic Cover

After wowing us with Skyward and Starlight, one of the best authors in the world today, Brandon Sanderson, dropped the third entry in his epic Skyward young adult science fiction series, Cytonic.  Cytonic is another captivating read that takes its unique characters to an incredibly weird setting and pits them against impossible odds.  Narrator Sophie Aldred is just great here, especially when it comes to portraying the novel’s unpredictable point-of-view protagonist or highlighting the many awesome fighter combat sequences.  Cytonic was a brilliant addition to the series and I am extremely glad that I checked it out on audiobook.

 

The Shadow of the Gods, written by John Gwynne and narrated by Colin Mace

The Shadow of the Gods Cover

Acclaimed author John Gwynne produced a brand new fantasy novel this year with the much-loved The Shadow of the Gods.  Split into three separate storylines that followed some great characters as they traversed a dark fantasy world, each narrative thread was greatly enhanced by the excellent narration from Colin Mace.  Not only does Mace perfectly portray all three amazing point-of-view characters, but his impressive voice really brings you into the Norse-inspired fantasy world the story was set in.  This was such an amazing audiobook production and I would greatly recommend this format to anyone interested in reading this outstanding fantasy novel.

 

The Two-Faced Queen, written by Nick Martell and narrated by Joe Jameson

The Two-Faced Queen Cover

Last year, Nick Martell produced one of the best debuts of the year with The Kingdom of Liars, a truly awesome and exceptional read.  Martell followed this debut up in a big way with the sequel, The Two-Faced Queen that featured an exceptional narrative, loaded with an unbelievable number of twists and reveals.  The Two-Faced Queen was one of the best books of the year, and I had an incredible time listening to it on audiobook thanks to the talented Joe Jameson.  Jameson, who has been narrating some awesome novels lately (such as the Warhammer 40,000 book, Fire Made Flesh) did a great job of enhancing this fantastic novel, and I loved the cool voice and personality he gave to the central character.  Jameson’s brilliant narration also helped me follow the many, many complex elements of this novel, and this was a great way to enjoy this impressive novel.

 

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, written by Timothy Zahn and narrated by Marc Thompson

Star Wars - Thrawn Ascendancy - Lesser Evil Cover

The final audiobook on this list is another Star Wars novel.  This time it is the final entry in the Thrawn Ascendancy series by Timothy Zahn, Lesser Evil.  Following on from Chaos Rising and Greater Good, Lesser Evil was a brilliant and powerful novel that perfectly wrapped up a great trilogy.  Like Victory’s Price, Lesser Evil made exceptional use of the iconic Star Wars music and sound effects, but it also features the notable talents of narrator Marc Thompson.  Thompson does a great job coming up with cool voices for the various characters of Lesser Evil, especially its protagonist and villain, which helps to tell the book’s amazing narrative.  That, combined with the production values of a Star Wars novel adaptation, helped to turn this into a compelling and enjoyable audiobook that was just amazing.

 

 

Well that is the end of this latest Top Ten list, and as you can see, I have been lucky enough to listen to some awesome audiobooks this year.  All the above audiobooks are extremely good and I would highly recommend each of them in their audiobook format.  There is still a little time for me to listen to a few more great audiobooks this year, and I cannot wait to see how they all turn out.  Let me know what your favourite audiobooks of 2021 were in the comments below, and I will have to try and check them out as well.

Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Young Adult10 Comments

Cytonic Cover

Publisher: Gollancz (Audiobook – 23 November 2021)

Series: Skyward – Book Three

Length: 14 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

One of the best authors of fantasy and science fiction in the world today continues his incredible and brilliant Skyward young adult science fiction series, with the third epic instalment, Cytonic.

This was another incredible book from the amazingly talented Brandon Sanderson, who I would say is one of the top authors in the world today.  Debuting back in 2005, Sanderson has written many brilliant and complex fantasy and science fiction novels and was personally selected to finish off Robert Jordan’s iconic The Wheel of Time series.  Sanderson has since written a great collection of books, most of which have been part of his interconnected Cosmere universe.  This includes his groundbreaking The Stormlight Archive series, which started in 2010 with The Way of Kings, as well as his bestselling Mistborn series.  While the extremely prolific Sanderson is constantly adding to his Cosmere novels, he has also been working on several other series, such as his Skyward books.

The Skyward series are an excellent young adult science fiction series that follows the character of Spensa Nightshade, a misfit who rose to become a fighter pilot to defend her planet from alien invaders.  Made up of Skyward and Starsight, this great series has proven to be truly fantastic, and these first two novels were amongst the best books of 2018 and 2019 respectfully.  The first book detailed Spensa’s training as a pilot, which saw her save her planet and discover that her people were intentionally trapped on their planet in a penal colony.  The second book, Starsight, followed Spensa as she infiltrated the alien capital in disguise to discover what the aliens wanted, and what plans they had for her planet.  However, after being betrayed, Spensa learns that the Superiority government want to use the mysterious interdimensional beings known as the Delvers as weapons against the humans.  This third book in the series, Cytonic, follows on immediately after the events of Starsight and continues Spensa’s adventure, showing what happened to her after she dove into a Superiority interdimensional portal at the end of the second book.  Sanderson also released several novellas around the same time as Cytonic, including Sunreach, Redawn and Evershore, which add context to the universe and focus on some of the side characters from the previous novels.

Following her dive into the mysterious portal in the middle of Starsight to escape the Superiority, Defiant Defence Force pilot and amateur spy, Spensa Nightshade, finds herself in all manner of trouble when she arrives in the realm known as the Nowhere.  The Nowhere is a unnatural and chaotic dimension outside our universe that hosts the Delvers, destructive creatures that are being manipulated by the Superiority into destroying humanity, especially the psychically empowered beings known as Cytonics, such as herself.

Determined to find out more about both the Delvers and her own Cytonic abilities, Spensa remains in the Nowhere to find the clues that will uncover the history behind her own power and that of her enemies.  However, the Nowhere is a weird and mysterious place, made up of floating fragments of multiple planets and filled with all manner of creatures, alien pirates and Superiority forces.  Worse, the very nature of the Nowhere slowly changes the people within it, draining their memories and making them forget everything important to them.

Alone except for her unhinged ship AI, M-Bot, and a forgetful intergalactic explorer, Spensa begins her quest.  As Spensa hunts down fragments from the past, she soon finds herself under attack from the Delvers, who are desperate to destroy her and the threat she poses to their entire race.  With mysterious monsters, dangerous physics and hostile aliens closing in on her, Spensa is thrust into the great adventure she always wanted.  However, the closer she gets to the truth about herself and the delvers, the more she begins to realise just how high the cost of knowledge and power can be.

This was an exceptional and addictive read from Sanderson, who once again takes the reader on a complex and powerful ride.  Cytonic was an excellent continuation of the unique story started in Skyward and then expanded on in Starsight, and I love the powerful journey contained in this novel.  Featuring a brilliant combination of a clever narrative, a unique new setting and some amazingly entertaining characters, this was an exceptional read that gets a full five-star rating from me.

I deeply enjoyed this incredible narrative, especially as it continues the cool plot from the previous two novels.  One of the best things about this series is the amazing amount of variance in storylines, with the first book reading like a flight academy story (teenage Top Gun), while the second book was an espionage book set in the heart of alien territory.  This third book turned out to be a wild and epic adventure novel, which places the protagonist in a unique and dangerous new setting and requires her to complete a great quest to save her friends and escape.  This great change of tone really made for a compelling read, and I loved the inventive pivots featured in this book.

Cytonic starts right after the events of Starsight, quickly resolving the cliffhanger from the second book, while also placing Spensa immediately in danger yet again.  Once the new main character, Chet, is introduced, Cytonic’s story quickly sets the protagonist on her mission, travelling to one location after another to learn the past of the universe and her enemies.  There are some brilliant sequences set throughout this part of the book, as Spensa gets to grips with the strange new dimension she has found herself in, while also enjoying the cool adventure she is having.  Around halfway through the book, several key new characters are introduced, as Spensa is forced to join an alien pirate gang to advance any further into the Nowhere.  What follows are some brilliant character moments as Spensa starts to find her place in this dimension, while also worrying about her friends back home.  After some intense and exciting space fighter fights, Spensa and her companions eventually get towards the end run of the book, learning everything they came to while trying to escape the Delvers.  The final major sequence of the book is loaded up with an intense amount of action, drama and major twists, as everything you think you know is changed around, and some big events occur that will rock you right in the feels.  This was a brilliant and extremely fast-paced narrative, with the protagonists never sitting still for long as they encounter danger and adversity around every corner.  Despite the intense pace, Sanderson also works a lot of character development and emotional encounters throughout the book, and you get an extremely well-balanced story that is very easy to get addicted to.

I deeply enjoyed Sanderson’s excellent writing style which helped to make Cytonic particularly accessible and fun to read.  Told exclusively from the perspective of Spensa, the reader gets a detailed and upfront examination of all the events occurring in front of her in addition to her own hilarious observations and reactions.  I find that the Skyward novels have a very different tone from some of Sanderson’s other works, and I appreciate the cool and perfect combination of intense science fiction elements, with compelling character development, impressive action sequences and outrageous and exciting humour that was featured in Cytonic.  The various fighter combat sequences are particularly good, and while they aren’t as plentiful as some of the other Skyward novels, there are still some exciting and elaborately written scenes that pit Spensa against other pilots or entities in high-stakes combat.  I will say that Cytonic does, at times, seem like a bridging novel in the series, setting up events for the big finale and sidelining several supporting characters.  However, I still really liked this great read, and I had an amazing amount of fun with its clever adventure framing.

Before starting Cytonic I was a little worried about how easy it was going to be for me to follow, especially as it had been nearly two years since I read Starsight, and I might have forgotten a lot of detail.  I was also concerned because I did not have a chance to read any of the novellas that Sanderson released around Cytonic, which some readers claimed were vital to the plot.  I personally felt that I was able to read this book without a refresher as Sanderson ensured that certain key details were summarised within the text extremely well, and I was swiftly able to remember anything that might have slipped my mind.  I also found that my enjoyment didn’t suffer from having not read any of the novellas, mainly because it was such a Spensa focused story.  The novellas detailed events that occurred back on Detritus and the Superiority during Spensa’s absence, and they only have minor impacts on the plot.  As such, readers can manage without them, although I think I will read them soon to find out what else has been happening in the wider universe.  One of the other things that I really appreciated about Cytonic is that it is extremely appealing to a wide range of readers.  While it is marketed as a young adult novel to teenagers, I honestly think that readers of most age ranges can really enjoy this book.  Older readers will deeply appreciate the complex characters and intriguing science fiction elements, while younger fans will love the cool action and hilarious humour.  Combined, this makes for an awesome read that I would strongly recommend to anyone interested in a great science fiction read.

I really must rave about the fantastic setting and universe building contained within Cytonic.  Sanderson really went all out expanding the Skyward universe in this latest novel, and the reader gets a ton of information as key elements from the previous novels are finally explained in full, such as Cytonics and the Delvers.  While readers may occasionally feel overwhelmed by all the new inclusions and background information that Sanderson shoved into this novel, I personally found it really fascinating and I appreciated having several questions answered.  There are some great scientific and character elements built into who and what Cytonics, Delvers, and the Nowhere are, and I think they were woven into the exciting plot extremely well.  Established elements from the previous two novels are also reintroduced expertly throughout Cytonic, and it was great to get some updates on the history, disputes and characters that were such a cool feature of the first two novels.  I particularly loved the fun reimagining of key parts of human culture that have been warped by years of retellings and misunderstandings.  Spensa’s love of stories ensures that several of these are featured throughout Cytonic, and it was always amusing to hear distorted version of well-known movies and books, such as Spensa’s epic and hilarious retelling of The Lion King.

I also need to gush about the incredible new setting of the Nowhere, which serves as the primary location for the entire narrative.  The Nowhere is a weird and haunting dimension outside of real space that is filled with all manner of wonder and danger.  Revolving around a faux-star containing Delvers, the rest of the Nowhere contains a ton of floating fragments of land and soil, containing all manner of elements from the planets they originated from.  This makes for a brilliant and shifting landscape which was really fun to explore and even more cool to fly over.  However, the real brilliance of this setting lies in the impact it has on the characters’ minds.  People stuck in the Nowhere, which includes pirates, miners, outcasts and anyone the Superiority wants to get rid of, are slowly having their memories, personality and sense of time sucked away by the weird space, with only certain figments of reality slowing the process down.  This naturally has some substantial impacts on the plot and the characters, with Spensa constantly trying to hold on to what is important to her.  This exceptionally clever and inventive setting is a great backdrop to this amazing narrative, and it was extremely cool to see Spensa and her friends try to navigate and overcome the various elements of the Nowhere.  Sanderson is a true master of creating unique and captivating universes, and I cannot wait to see what happens in this one next.

There is no way that you cannot talk about one of Sanderson’s novels without highlighting the many exceptional and complex characters featured within.  Cytonic, and the Skyward series in general, is a perfect example of this, as the readers are treated to a range of unique and entertaining protagonists, each of whom add an incredible amount to the overall story.  Due to the events of the plot, there is a much more limited range of characters in this novel, although the three main characters more than make up for it with their bold personalities and captivating backstories.

The most prominent of theses is point-of-view character and main protagonist Spensa Nightshade.  Spensa is a great character who has gone through an amazing amount during the trilogy, transforming to loner weirdo child who was reviled as the daughter of a traitor, to a heroic pilot, then to a daring spy.  In this third book, she becomes a wilderness adventurer on a quest to save her people, which plays perfectly to her personality, which has been warped by her youth of listening to wild stories.  As such, Spensa has a great time in this book, and it is deeply entertaining to see her adventure around and become a space pirate.  While there are a lot of fun moments with Spensa, Sanderson also takes the time to once again dive into her personality, showing how much she has grown since the start of the first book, as well as the unique relationships she has formed.  Spensa is faced with some hard choices in this book as she attempts to return home, and there is an impressive examination of her damaged psyche, especially surrounding all the responsibilities that have been thrust upon her.  This makes for a complex and compelling portrayal in this novel, and while you may laugh at Spensa’s antics you know that there is a lot going on within her head.  There are some interesting developments around Spensa in this book, particularly when it comes to her Cytonic powers, and it will be fascinating to see how she further develops in the next novel.

I also deeply enjoyed the character of M-Bot, the silly and distracted artificial intelligence who Spensa discovered in a crashed ship in the first book.  After being disassembled by the Superiority in Starsight, M-Bot now flies around in a tiny cleaning drone and finds himself going through some big changes.  In particular, he has gained full sapiency in this book, and he immediately goes on an emotional bender, trying to understand the complex feelings he is now experiencing, while also dealing with his sense of betrayal after Spensa abandoned him in the previous book.  This dive into sentience adds some really entertaining layers to M-Bot in Cytonic, and he is even more amusing and charming than before, which I didn’t think was possible.  Readers will swiftly fall in love with M-Bot again, and it was so much fun following him around, especially as he continues to develop his unique friendship with Spensa.  M-Bot has some amazing moments and ridiculous dialogue in this book, and you will not be prepared for everything that occurs with him.

The other major character of this book is new protagonist Chet Starfinder, a human Cytonic explorer who lives in the Nowhere and decides to help Spensa achieve her goals and escape back to her universe.  Chet is an eccentric being who combines aspects of all the famous literary explorers into his personality, thanks to his love of stories and his inability to remember life outside of the Nowhere.  Readers will enjoy getting to know Chet, and it was fascinating to see the cool dynamic that grows between him and Spensa as they take on a fun partnership to traverse the Nowhere.  Sanderson opens some big questions surrounding who Chet is at the start of Cytonic, and it was a lot of fun finding out who exactly he was and what his motivations for helping Spensa are.  I deeply enjoyed Chet’s unique and compelling storyline and he proved to be a brilliant addition to the novel.

Aside from these main three characters, Cytonic also features an interesting supporting cast.  Most of these characters are new, with characters from the preceding novels barely featured here (they appear in the accompanying novellas).  These new characters are the trapped inhabitants of the Nowhere who find Spensa and become part of her journey.  These include the Broadsiders, an alien pirate band who Spensa joins and swiftly grows close to thanks to their inclusive nature and love of great pilots.  It was fascinating to see Spensa, who has had to fight for inclusion her entire life, gain some more friends, even though she knows she can’t stay with them.  There are some great figures amongst this bunch, and I loved some of the unique alien features they had.  Sanderson reintroduced one of the best characters from the Starsight in the book, who proves to be quite an entertaining and lovable inclusion, even if they are experiencing some memory issues.  Some of the main series antagonists have minor appearances in this book, plotting from afar and setting some evil plans in motion.  While it would have been interesting to see more about them, especially as they were only introduced in the prior novel, I think keeping them mostly apart from Spensa worked in the context of the unique plot that Sanderson was trying to develop.  I also deeply enjoyed the strange creatures known as the Delvers.  The Delvers are dangerous and powerful interdimensional beings who exist on a whole other form of reality and consciousness.  Sanderson does a fantastic job exploring what exactly these beings are, and you get a real sense of their dangerous emotions and outlook on life.  I really appreciated the author’s clever use of these seemingly less than humourous monsters as the antagonists of this book, and it proved to be a welcome addition to the plot.  Every character in this book is extremely awesome, and readers will have an exceptional time exploring their complex personalities as the plot unfolds.

While I did receive a physical copy of this book, I chose to enjoy the audiobook version of Cytonic instead to fit it into my reading schedule.  This proved to be an extremely wise decision as the audiobook was a fantastic way to check Cytonic out, something I had previously found when listening to Skyward.  There are actually two versions of the Cytonic audiobook available, but I chose to listen to the Sophie Aldred version, as she was the narrator who I listened to previously.  This version of Cytonic had a run time of just under 14 and a half hours, making it a relatively quick audiobook to get through, especially once I got incredibly hooked on the story.  I really enjoyed listening to Cytonic and I found that the audiobook version helped my appreciation of both the new setting of the Nowhere and the various cool space fighter sequences featured throughout.  Aldred is an outstanding narrator, and I had an exceptional time with the various voices she featured throughout Cytonic.  She hits the character of Spensa perfectly, fully capturing her daring and adventurous personality, and enhancing all her many quirks.  I also loved the cool voice she used for M-Bot, including the fun accent, which fully showed of his computer origin, as well as the many unusual behavioural quirks that have developed within him.  This great narration deeply enhanced this already cool novel and I had a wonderful time listening to this incredible audiobook.

With the third entry in the epic Skyward series, Cytonic, acclaimed author Brandon Sanderson continues to shine as one of the absolute best modern fantasy and science fiction writers out there.  Cytonic is another captivating and impressive young adult science fiction read that perfectly continues the outstanding narrative from the previously Skyward novels.  Featuring some incredible characters, an intense and moving narrative, and a bold and inventive new setting, Cytonic is an exceptionally awesome read that you will get addicted to.  I had a fantastic time with this novel and I cannot wait to see how Sanderson wraps up this series in the future.

Cytonic Cover 2

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Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel15 Comments

Star Wars - Thrawn Ascendancy - Lesser Evil Cover

Publisher: Del Rey/Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 16 November 2021)

Series: Thrawn Ascendancy – Book Three

Length: 23 hours and 13 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

The undisputed master of Star Wars extended fiction, Timothy Zahn, returns with final book in the Thrawn Ascendancy series, Lesser Evil, which brings this excellent prequel trilogy to a fantastic and dramatic end.

Out of all the awesome authors who have contributed to the Star Wars extended universe over the years, few are more talented or highly regarded than Timothy Zahn.  Zahn, who is one of the key architects of the original extended universe (now rebranded as Star Wars Legends), is probably best known for his original trilogy of Star Wars novels, which started with Heir to the Empire.  Heir to the Empire served as the introduction of several major extended universe characters, such as Mara Jade; however, his most iconic creation is probably the legendary character of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is an intriguing and complex figure considered the greatest tactician in the entire Star Wars canon.  Serving as a major figure in the Imperial Navy, Thrawn was the brilliant antagonist of Heir to the Empire and other major Star Wars Legends novels.  The subsequent popularity of Thrawn saw him eventually introduced into the Disney canon in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, as well as a future live-action appearance.  This also resulted in Zahn being contracted to write six new Thrawn-centric novels.  The Thrawn trilogy (made up of Thrawn, Alliances and Treason), detailed Thrawn’s introduction, rise and career in Imperial Navy and filled in some of the gaps of the show.  Zahn followed this up with the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, which served as a prequel to the original trilogy.

The Thrawn Ascendancy series is set during the Clone Wars period and takes place in the Chaos, the unexplored area of space outside of the main galaxy of the Star Wars series, and focuses on Thrawn’s species, the Chiss.  As such, the series is primarily set in and around the Chiss Ascendancy and focuses on several threats to the Ascendancy that Thrawn attempts to overcome.  This series has so far consisted of Chaos Rising and Greater Good, both of which were extremely cool, filled with detailed battles, fun new characters, and some intense political machinations.  Now this brilliant trilogy comes to an end, with a final chapter telling the full story of Thrawn’s greatest victory and lowest moment.

For thousands of years, the legendary Chiss Ascendancy has been one of the greatest powers within the Chaos, keeping its people safe from the alien races who seek to conquer or destroy them.  Confident in its own power and determined not to interfere in the lives of its neighbours, the Chiss maintain their borders through the Expansionary Defence Fleet.  However, in recent months, the Ascendancy has found itself under attack from a dangerous and manipulative force that seeks to utterly destroy the Chiss.  After defeating a potential external invader and weathering an attempt to drag some of the Ascendancy’s powerful families into conflict, the threat to the Chiss appears to be over.  However, these were merely a precursor to a much more sophisticated and dangerous attack by a new alien race, known as the Grysk.  Led by the dangerous and manipulative Jixtus, the Grysk seek to unleash a deadly, multi-pronged assault against the Chiss to rip the ascendancy apart inside and out.

As Jixtus traverses the planets of the Ascendancy, manipulating the great Chiss families towards civil war, his powerful fleet lies just outside its borders, waiting to attack.  With the Chiss getting closer and closer to a devastating internal and external conflict, the fate of the Ascendancy lies in the hands of Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo (Thrawn), the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet’s most brilliant and unconventional commander.  Having defeated the previous attacks on the Ascendancy, Thrawn is the only person that fully understands the oncoming danger and he is determined to stop Jixtus and permanently end the threat he represents.  However, Thrawn has long worn out the patience of the ruling families, and he now finds himself hamstrung by politics and personal grievances.  To save his people, Thrawn will be forced to break all the rules he has sworn to uphold.  But just how far will Thrawn go to defeat his enemy, and what consequences will his actions have on himself and the future of the Chiss Ascendancy?

Lesser Evil was another brilliant and exceptional read from Zahn that did an amazing job of wrapping the complex Thrawn Ascendancy series to an end.  Containing some awesome and unique Star Wars elements, Lesser Evil fills in all the gaps between this trilogy and the sequel Thrawn trilogy, and I think it ended up being one of Zahn’s strongest recent novels.

This novel contains an amazing narrative that brings together all the elaborate and compelling storylines from the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels and provides a satisfying and fantastic conclusion to the trilogy.  The novel starts off right after the events of Greater Good, with several characters dealing with the aftermath of the near civil war and Thrawn’s latest unofficial mission.  The story quickly introduces the book’s antagonist, the master manipulator Jixtus, as he starts his grand plan to destroy the entire Chiss Ascendancy.  This brings out an impressive amount of intrigue, infighting and dissent, which forces many of the protagonists to attempt to slow it down.  At the same time, Thrawn engages in his own mission to try and identify the enemy’s master plan, which reintroduces several key storylines and settings from the previous novels and helps tie them into the plot of this book.  Zahn also throws in a series of flashback interludes that dive into key parts of Thrawn’s past and give some context to his current mindset and plans.  This all leads up to the big conclusion in which the great adversaries, Thrawn and Jixtus, finally meet in battle.  Lesser Evil proves to be a particularly exciting and intriguing read, and I loved the brilliant combination of world building, political intrigue, character development and fantastic battle sequences.  I had a lot of fun with this story, and it was one of the strongest in the entire Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy.

I really enjoyed how Zahn told this final entry in the series.  The great use of multiple character perspectives not only allows for a richer story that examines all angles of the conflict but it also presents several impressive character driven storylines that were wonderful to follow.  In addition, Zahn once again lays onto the universe building by expanding the reader’s knowledge of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and their domain outside of the main galaxy of the Star Wars universe.  This universe building excellently comes into play as the novel progresses, especially as the antagonist’s plan relies on manipulating the politics and history of the various ruling families.  I really appreciated this cool extended look into this intriguing setting, especially as it ties into some of Zahn’s prior work.  Due to the extensive and elaborate Star Wars lore contained within Lesser Evil, this book is probably best read by experienced fans of the franchise who will appreciate all the inclusions.  It is also highly recommended that readers check out the first two novels in this trilogy first, as the storylines of Lesser Evil are very strongly tied into them.

Lesser Evil contains some intriguing connections to the wider Star Wars universe and canon that long-term fans of the franchise will deeply appreciate.  These connections mainly revolve around Thrawn’s prior appearances and fills in many gaps that were left open from the Thrawn trilogy.  This includes the full reason why the original series began with Thrawn banished from his people and left stranded on an alien planet.  It has been pretty clear since the first Thrawn Ascendancy novel that this entire trilogy has been leading up to this moment, and Zahn did not disappoint, including a moving and complex reason for the banishment that played perfectly into the character’s personality and the events of the previous novels.  Zahn also layers in a ton of intriguing connections to his Star Wars Legends novels that fans will deeply enjoy.  For example, parts of Lesser Evil are deeply connected to Zhan’s previous novel, the now non-canon Outbound Flight, which also focused on a younger Thrawn.  Parts of Outbound Flight’s story and setting have been adapted into the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, such as some elements of Chiss culture and some supporting characters, and it was interesting to see Zahn retrofit his previous works for the new canon.  In addition, key flashbacks within Lesser Evil take place in a version of Outbound Flight’s narrative, and while I did think this was cool, Zahn did not include a lot of context, so readers unfamiliar with his prior book may be left a little confused.  Still, this was a clever homage to the author’s prior works, and I appreciated Zahn’s fascinating references to his now defunct novels.

One of the strongest things about Lesser Evil was the great array of characters featured throughout.  There is a very strong cast in this final book, with most of the key characters having been established in the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels or re-introduced from some of Zahn’s Star Wars Legends novels.  All the major characters featured in Lesser Evil have some amazing story arcs and Zahn spends a lot of time fleshing out their personalities, motivations, and histories, which deeply enhances this brilliant narrative.

The most prominent of these characters is Thrawn himself, who has an epic showing in Lesser Evil after being somewhat underutilised in Greater Good. Lesser Evil proves to be a defining novel for Thrawn, especially as he encounters his true enemy, the Grysk, for the first time.  The reader is also given insights into certain previously unseen relationships that Thrawn had, namely with his adopted brother, Thrass.  It also finally reveals the reasons why he was banished from the Chiss and marooned on the deserted alien planet by the start of Thrawn.  I deeply enjoyed the cool character arc surrounding Thrawn in this book, and Zahn does a great job once again highlighting his unique personality and motivations.  Despite being a little less sinister in literary form than in Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn has a harsh edge here, and the reader gets some great insights into his constant motivation of protecting the Chiss Ascendancy.  Throughout the course of the book, it becomes deeply apparent that Thrawn will risk everything to achieve his goal, and I loved how heartless Thrawn can become when dealing with his enemies.  This motivation and background go a long way to exploring Thrawn’s actions while serving the Empire, and fans of this fantastic character will deeply appreciate this compelling story arc.  Zahn also answers several intriguing questions about Thrawn’s past in this book, and it proved incredibly fascinating to see this great character expanded even further.

I must once again highlight the great way in which Zahn displays his central protagonist.  As with his previous appearances in Zahn’s novels, Thrawn is one of the few characters whose perspective is not shown; instead all his actions and interactions are viewed through the eyes of his friends, allies, and even a couple of enemies.  I have always felt that this was a very clever technique from Zahn as it helps to highlight just how mysterious and distinctly complex his protagonist is.  Readers are only given glimpses into his brilliance, and it allows for increased suspense and surprise throughout the novel as the reader often has no idea what Thrawn is thinking or how he plans to get out of a certain situation.  The use of other observers also really helps to highlight the tactical ploys Thrawn employs, especially as he usually is forced to explain his insights, strategies, and the entire scope of his plans to the less tactically gifted people he is working with.  These elaborate explanations, coupled with the observations of the relevant side character, ensures that the readers get a much more detailed picture of Thrawn’s observations and subsequent tactics.  I have often compared this to how Watson amps up the deductive ability of Sherlock Holmes by having Sherlock explain everything to him, and the result is pretty much the same here.  I deeply enjoyed this fantastic use of perspective and I love everything that Zahn did with his iconic protagonist throughout Lesser Evil, and indeed the entire Thrawn Ascendancy series.

If Thrawn was Sherlock Holmes, then I would say that antagonist Jixtus was the Professor Moriarty of the Thrawn Ascendancy series.  A member of the mysterious Grysk species, Jixtus has been a shadowy figure throughout the proceeding novels, influencing events from the shadows and sending out proxies to fight Thrawn and the Chiss.  This comes to an end in Lesser Evil as Jixtus takes a personal hand in attacking the Chiss Ascendancy.  Jixtus proves to be an excellent and brilliant counterpoint to Thrawn and it is fascinating to see the battle of minds between them, especially as both have alternate strengths.  While Thrawn is tactically brilliant, Jixtus is better at personal manipulation and politics, something Thrawn struggles with.  As such, there is a real battle of styles here in Lesser Evil and the result is pretty brilliant.  I also really appreciated how you also never see any part of the book told from Jixtus’ perspective, ensuring that he is just as mysterious and ethereal as Thrawn.  I loved how Zahn portrays Jixtus in this novel; he comes across as an incredibly dangerous and malevolent being, even though you never see his face.

The other new character I wanted to focus on in this book was Thrass (Mitth’ras’safis), Thrawn’s friend and fellow member of the Mitth family.  Thrass is an interesting character, initially introduced in the previous canon as Thrawn’s brother.  There have only been hints of him in the Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and this final book finally features in him to a degree, showing him in a series of flashback interludes set in Thrawn’s past.  Thrass is shown to be a Mitth politician who finds himself befriending and then partnering with Thrawn through a series of adventures.  The two complement each other extremely well, with Thrass serving as a bridge for the more unconventional Thrawn, while also supporting him with his political knowledge.  Thrass’s scenes proved to be a great inclusion to the novel and I felt the author did a great job re-introducing the character, even if only for flashback sequences.  I really appreciated the author’s examination about how this friendship, and later brotherhood, was vital to Thrawn’s growth and current abilities, and I particularly enjoyed the examination about how Thrass helped develop Thrawn’s flair for the dramatic.  Fans of Zahn’s Legend’s work will deeply enjoy the new appearance of this established character in Lesser Evil, and I think it was an interesting and fun choice from the author, that ended up working incredibly well.

I must also highlight how Zahn featured the other recurring characters from the Thrawn Ascendancy series.  Pretty much all the major characters from the previous two novels are featured strongly in Lesser Evil, and there are some remarkably good storylines set around them.  Thrawn’s crew aboard the Springhawk get a decent amount of focus throughout this book, particularly Samakro, Thalias and Che’ri, and each of their storylines are nicely concluded.  In addition, I loved the continued use of Ziinda, another Senior Captain, who, after barely averting a civil war in the previous book, finds herself subsequently vilified and forced into a new family.  Ziinda proves to be a vital part of the plot, and it was great to see how much she had developed since the previous novel, especially as Zahn starts her on the path to becoming as determined as Thrawn.  Zahn also makes great use of Roscu, a former member of the Expansionary Defence Fleet who had issues with Thrawn in Chaos Rising. Roscu is initially set up as a secondary antagonist, especially as her mistrust of Thrawn, his friends, and all the rival families, drives her to do some stupid things.  However, Zahn slowly turns her into a surprisingly sympathetic character as the novel progresses and you end up really rooting for her.  I also loved Qilori, a supposedly neutral Pathfinder with a grudge against Thrawn; and Thurfian, the Mitth Patriarch who views Thrawn and his actions as a threat to his family and the Chiss as a whole.  These two serve as interesting secondary antagonists to the story, and it was great to see their outraged reaction to Thrawn’s actions, as well as their own attempts to end him.  These characters, and many more, added so much to this book, and I loved seeing all their arcs conclude with the trilogy.

I cannot talk about a Zahn Star Wars novel without highlighting the amazing and exciting space battles featured within.  No one does a space battle in Star Wars fiction better than Zahn, who devotes an impressive amount of time and detail into making them as impressive, thrilling, and tactically awesome as possible.  The reader gets a detailed mental impression of the space engagements that occur, and you can practically feel every shot, roll, or manoeuvre.  Lesser Evil was a particularly good example of this, featuring several great battle scenes, including one massive and action-packed confrontation towards the end.  Each sequence was beautifully rendered and perfectly portrayed, with the reader getting the full sense of everything that happened.  Throw in the distinctive technology of the Chiss, as well as the tactical abilities of Thrawn, and you have some of the most unique and brilliant battles in all of Star Wars fiction, especially as there is a great focus on larger cruisers and battleships, rather than smaller fighter craft.  I deeply enjoyed every battle sequence in this book, and fans of fights in space are in for a real treat here.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up checking out the audiobook version of Lesser Evil, rather than reading a psychical copy.  I cannot overemphasise just how amazing the Star Wars audiobooks are, thanks to their usual amazing combinations of impressive voice acting, clever sound effects and moving Star Wars music.  Lesser Evil is a great example of this, and I had a wonderful time getting through this brilliant audiobook, even with its extensive 23+ hours run time (it would rank 17th on the current version of My Longest Audiobook I Have Ever Listened To list).  I must once again highlight the cool sound effects that were utilised throughout the audiobook to great effect.  These effects, most of which have been taken from Star Wars films and animated shows, add so much depth and power to the audiobook’s scenes, building up a strong atmosphere around the words.  Sounds like blaster fire or roaring engines really help to bring the listeners into the centre of the book’s climatic scenes, while even smaller scenes get a boost thanks to having crowd noises or computer sounds lightly running in the background.  The audiobook also makes good use of the iconic Star Wars score in various parts.  While not featured as heavily as other Star Wars audiobooks, in several places the amazing orchestral music from the films is utilised to give some major scenes a dramatic punch.  This is particularly true in some of the battle sequences, and the listeners are treated to some of the more exciting or moving tunes, which makes the battles or major moments feel bigger and more important.

In addition to this great use of sound effects and epic Star Wars music, Lesser Evil’s audiobook also benefited immensely from the narration of Marc Thompson.  Thompson is an amazing narrator (one of my personal favourites), who has contributed his voice to a huge range of Star Wars novels, including all of Zahn’s previous Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and other audiobooks such as Scoundrels, Light of the Jedi, The Rising Storm, Dark Disciple and more.  Thompson has such a great range for Star Wars fiction, and he can produce some amazing and fitting voices for the various characters featured within.  Most of these voices are continuations of the ones used in the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and I enjoyed the consistency from the previous two books.  I must also really highlight Thompson’s epic Thrawn voice, that perfectly captures the character’s essence, and which is incredibly close to Lars Mikkelsen’s voice from Star Wars: Rebels.  I also loved the voice that Thompson assigned to Jixtus, and the dark and sinister tones perfectly fit this awesome villain.  Thompson also cleverly modulated his voice for certain alien races to capture the unique characteristics Zahn assigned to them in his writing.  You really get a sense about how alien and strange these creatures are, which helped bring me into the zone.  This was another exceptional Star Wars audiobook, and this is easily the best way to enjoy this clever and impressive novel.

With the brilliant and captivating Lesser Evil, the legendary Timothy Zahn brings his awesome Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy to an end in a big way.  Loaded up with excellent universe building, an outstanding story, some excellent characters and some truly impressive space battles, Lesser Evil is probably the best entries in the entire Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy.  I loved how Zahn brought the trilogy’s various storylines together in this final novel, providing an exciting and captivating conclusion that perfectly leads into the original Thrawn trilogy.  Thanks to all of this and more, Lesser Evil gets a full five stars from me and comes extremely highly recommended, especially in its audiobook format.  I have had an incredible time reading the various Thrawn novels over the last few years and I really hope that Timothy Zahn continues to explore his iconic protagonist in the future, especially once Thrawn gets his long overdue live action debut.

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