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3.0 AVERAGE
3.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's a fun read following up from HG Wells and tying a load of famous people into an alternative history timeline where humanity has used the Martian technology to advance rapidly and launch a retaliatory mission against Mars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, War
Review originally published at: http://www.lomeraniel.com/audiobookreviews/book-review-war-worlds-retaliation-mark-gardner-john-j-rust/
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Samuel E. Hoke III. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
In 1898 the Martian tripods arrive to Earth destroying everything they find. Luckily after some time common bacteria kills them all, but human will never forget the wave of destruction by the Martians. Twenty six years later, mankind is ready to retaliate, using the technology left behind by the Martians during the invasion.
I read 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells (I can't help it but that makes me think of Warehouse 13) ages ago, I remember I liked it but it felt a bit outdated. Somehow I had a similar feeling with this one too. I had lots of troubles to connect to the characters and I struggled to keep my attention to follow the story. The Martians were referred by almost everybody as 'squids', and the lack of depth in Humans and Martians made this book a bit difficult for me.
There are real characters in this story, like Hitler, or Charles de Gaulle. I found it somehow weird for them to be included in a science-fiction story, since I think we can all agree that using that advanced technology to fly to Mars in 1924 seems a bit far fetched.
I think the narration was part of the reason why I did not enjoy the book. Samuel E. Hoke III has a raspy voice and I found his narration quite monotone and with pauses in weird places. He did not make differences for the characters, which made the book a bit difficult to follow at times. He used different accents, but for the rest, the character's tones and styles sounded the same.About the audio production, the voice sounded very processed, like Hoke tried to remove some noise floor, even though there was still a bit of noise present on the final product.
I think it was an interesting concept, but its execution was not something I enjoyed. Maybe with a different narration the book could have shone a bit more.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Samuel E. Hoke III. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
In 1898 the Martian tripods arrive to Earth destroying everything they find. Luckily after some time common bacteria kills them all, but human will never forget the wave of destruction by the Martians. Twenty six years later, mankind is ready to retaliate, using the technology left behind by the Martians during the invasion.
I read 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells (I can't help it but that makes me think of Warehouse 13) ages ago, I remember I liked it but it felt a bit outdated. Somehow I had a similar feeling with this one too. I had lots of troubles to connect to the characters and I struggled to keep my attention to follow the story. The Martians were referred by almost everybody as 'squids', and the lack of depth in Humans and Martians made this book a bit difficult for me.
There are real characters in this story, like Hitler, or Charles de Gaulle. I found it somehow weird for them to be included in a science-fiction story, since I think we can all agree that using that advanced technology to fly to Mars in 1924 seems a bit far fetched.
I think the narration was part of the reason why I did not enjoy the book. Samuel E. Hoke III has a raspy voice and I found his narration quite monotone and with pauses in weird places. He did not make differences for the characters, which made the book a bit difficult to follow at times. He used different accents, but for the rest, the character's tones and styles sounded the same.About the audio production, the voice sounded very processed, like Hoke tried to remove some noise floor, even though there was still a bit of noise present on the final product.
I think it was an interesting concept, but its execution was not something I enjoyed. Maybe with a different narration the book could have shone a bit more.
Building a suitable defense against an alien invasion takes time. Twenty-six years after the Martians invaded Earth, the Earth is ready to take the fight to the Martians in War of the Worlds: Retaliation by Mark Gardner and John J. Rust.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
In the aftermath of the Martian's invasion in 1898, the people of Earth were able to use the technology of a Martian tripod left on Earth to build new devices to defend against another possible attack from the Martians. Working together, the world's military forces have been able to learn from the previous attack and the technology the Martians possess and adapt better techniques to prevent another Martian invasion. With an optimal opportunity of getting to Mars approaching, the forces of Earth, led by men such as Rommel, Patton, de Gaulle, and Zhukov, head for Mars to proactively remove the Martian threat; but the plan that the Martians have under way might just threaten humanity's survival.
Incorporating historical figures, this imaginative narrative creates an alternate history for Earth through its envisioning of mankind's unified technological progress after the initial Martian invasion presented in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. It was intriguing to get the Martian's perspective of events but as a whole there wasn't a lot of character development taking place for either humans or Martians; instead there was a heavy focus on the strategy and details of the battles, which while well thought out and folding in advances in the way that science fiction stories are written and perceived by readers, it made it difficult to become completely invested in the story.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
In the aftermath of the Martian's invasion in 1898, the people of Earth were able to use the technology of a Martian tripod left on Earth to build new devices to defend against another possible attack from the Martians. Working together, the world's military forces have been able to learn from the previous attack and the technology the Martians possess and adapt better techniques to prevent another Martian invasion. With an optimal opportunity of getting to Mars approaching, the forces of Earth, led by men such as Rommel, Patton, de Gaulle, and Zhukov, head for Mars to proactively remove the Martian threat; but the plan that the Martians have under way might just threaten humanity's survival.
Incorporating historical figures, this imaginative narrative creates an alternate history for Earth through its envisioning of mankind's unified technological progress after the initial Martian invasion presented in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. It was intriguing to get the Martian's perspective of events but as a whole there wasn't a lot of character development taking place for either humans or Martians; instead there was a heavy focus on the strategy and details of the battles, which while well thought out and folding in advances in the way that science fiction stories are written and perceived by readers, it made it difficult to become completely invested in the story.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This review appeared first on Sci-Fi & Scary.
War of the Worlds: Retaliation is a sequel to the original War of the Worlds novel by H.G. Wells. According to the Kickstarter page, it was originally posted as a short story by John J. Rust on a fanfiction site and things spiraled out from there. It's written in a familiar alternate-history format where one will recognize familiar names and faces, such as that of General Patton. The authors appear to have done at least some basic homework to add realism to their story, such as their nod to Patton's believing in reincarnation. And, given that this is set only a few decades after the Martian invasion, the world isn't quite as incredibly advanced as it could have been with that particular starting point. Hydrogen cell cars, a basic version of the internet, etc.
And apparently a compass that somehow works on a planet with no magnetic field. ( Yes, I will fixate on one line early in the book. I can't help it. It made me go "Wait, what?" )
One of the things that I thought they did very well with this novel was the fact that they didn't pretend that the invasion brought all earthlings together into this blissful state of cooperation and unity. Yes, humans work together, but even early on in the novel it's clear that the world hasn't been participating in one gigantic campfire sit since the Martians attacked. This continues through to the very end where we see some scenes from after the big battle finishes. War of the Worlds: Retaliation is perhaps one of the most realistic looks at humanity in the years after an alien attack that I've ever read.
I listened to War of the Worlds: Retaliation as an audio book and Samuel E. Hoke III did a solid job with the narration. His voice is very low and gravely, so I worried at first that I'd have trouble telling some of the characters apart. Luckily he's a decent hand with accents and was able to vary his pitch just enough that I didn't have too many problems. He kept me fairly engaged with the story, and his voice tolerated an increase to 1.50x speed without much distortion.
However, while War of the Worlds: Retaliation did have a lot going for it, it just didn't do it for me. I was never really able to lose myself completely in the story. I found myself disappointed that the Martians from had been graduated from opaque alien horrors to something that felt a step or two up (in a good way) from the Mars Attacks! Martians. As it always seems, when we humanize something that was completely alien, pardon the pun, or terrifying, that fear scales back dramatically.
Overall, it was a good listen, just not a great one for me. Still, it was fun to play in the "What-if" sandbox for a while, and I applaud Gardner and Rust for their imagination and work in bringing War of the Worlds: Retaliation to life.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this audio book from Audio Book Boom for review consideration.
War of the Worlds: Retaliation is a sequel to the original War of the Worlds novel by H.G. Wells. According to the Kickstarter page, it was originally posted as a short story by John J. Rust on a fanfiction site and things spiraled out from there. It's written in a familiar alternate-history format where one will recognize familiar names and faces, such as that of General Patton. The authors appear to have done at least some basic homework to add realism to their story, such as their nod to Patton's believing in reincarnation. And, given that this is set only a few decades after the Martian invasion, the world isn't quite as incredibly advanced as it could have been with that particular starting point. Hydrogen cell cars, a basic version of the internet, etc.
And apparently a compass that somehow works on a planet with no magnetic field. ( Yes, I will fixate on one line early in the book. I can't help it. It made me go "Wait, what?" )
One of the things that I thought they did very well with this novel was the fact that they didn't pretend that the invasion brought all earthlings together into this blissful state of cooperation and unity. Yes, humans work together, but even early on in the novel it's clear that the world hasn't been participating in one gigantic campfire sit since the Martians attacked. This continues through to the very end where we see some scenes from after the big battle finishes. War of the Worlds: Retaliation is perhaps one of the most realistic looks at humanity in the years after an alien attack that I've ever read.
I listened to War of the Worlds: Retaliation as an audio book and Samuel E. Hoke III did a solid job with the narration. His voice is very low and gravely, so I worried at first that I'd have trouble telling some of the characters apart. Luckily he's a decent hand with accents and was able to vary his pitch just enough that I didn't have too many problems. He kept me fairly engaged with the story, and his voice tolerated an increase to 1.50x speed without much distortion.
However, while War of the Worlds: Retaliation did have a lot going for it, it just didn't do it for me. I was never really able to lose myself completely in the story. I found myself disappointed that the Martians from had been graduated from opaque alien horrors to something that felt a step or two up (in a good way) from the Mars Attacks! Martians. As it always seems, when we humanize something that was completely alien, pardon the pun, or terrifying, that fear scales back dramatically.
Overall, it was a good listen, just not a great one for me. Still, it was fun to play in the "What-if" sandbox for a while, and I applaud Gardner and Rust for their imagination and work in bringing War of the Worlds: Retaliation to life.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this audio book from Audio Book Boom for review consideration.