Prelude to Extinction
Xenophobia Series, Book 1
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Prelude to Extinction
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Davis
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By:
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Andreas Karpf
About this listen
When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.
Warm sunlight shone on his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long-abandoned structures that lay nearby.
Evidence points to a massacre; the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers.
Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option - but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they can’t even begin to understand.
©2019 Andreas Karpf (P)2020 Podium AudioCritic Reviews
"Fans of hard science fiction will particularly enjoy this thought-out, well-paced tale of a small crew's unintentional close encounter." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Readers eager to immerse themselves...and have the SF check out will find this mission irresistible." (Booklife by Publisher's Weekly)
"Best sci-fi I've read in a long time!" (Steven Moore, author)
What listeners say about Prelude to Extinction
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ryan
- 19-10-2020
Hard Sci-fi
The Good: Wow! This book being written by a scientist leads to the physics, explanations and elements ending up super convincing and believable.
The main characters being scientists is a bit of a nice change from being hard core military hero’s. Although not weak it added an element of exploration and wonder to the universe not just run and gun.
There are twists and surprises which are nice. The explanation of Time... woh that blew my mind... The story is solid and I can’t wait for the next one to see where it goes!
The Bad: The characters are to put it nicely ...boring. Maybe it was the way it was read (but hats off to the narrator for even tackling this book!)
The narrator was a bit stilted in some parts and the dialogue didn’t really flow too well. The voices were just different enough to be distinguished. It may be an idiomatic thing, but his pronunciation on some words was very different to what I’m used to. Some of the dialogue was like the narrator was trying to hide that he was reading the book out loud.
Some of the raised voices were read in a hushed angry tone. It was as if he just couldn’t bring himself to really connect with the characters. But still a better job than I could have done.
The Ugly: Audio quality near the end got a bit weird... there was an slight echo/feedback or something that post editing missed I think. It was annoying, but it didn’t completely ruin it.
The conversations could be cut in half and the book wouldn’t miss out on anything. Oh my word. Arguments go on and on and on... the arguments are pointless sometimes and the argument once settled gets raised again like 2 seconds later.
I get it human nature and whatever, but heck it’s almost like the author was being paid per word cause he put some filler in there for sure! Spend that time on developing characters and universes, not flogging a dead horse.
The winy argumentative characters almost make you want them to not make it.
Anyways read/listen and make your mind up. I’m still keen for the next one!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Phil Endley
- 17-01-2021
Great Plot, Dreadful Characters
This is a gripping plot that is spoiled by terribly-written characters. There is a lot of ‘he shouted’ and little reflection. The female characters seldom get beyond one dimension. Does the author really think anyone would select such an incompatible and angry leadership team for a spaceship? Oh well.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- David Maher
- 18-08-2021
fairly ordinary
The narrator seems to think he is a tough guy. The story is average. the novel has"filler" bits like, " come and look at this", "what is it"? "come here and see".
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