Repetitive dialogue and fixation on brothels.

Any additional comments?

This is the first book I've ever read by Raymond L. Well. The story had an interesting premise. Earth invaded by aliens and a small portion of Earth's fleet is stationed at its single interstellar colony. If I had to compare it to another book, it would probably be John Ringo's book "Live free or Die". I really enjoyed that book by John Ringo and was really expecting to like this book as well.

There are two things that really bothered me about this book. The first is that the invading aliens want to take humans and sell them into slavery in back in their worlds and specifically to sell women into sexual slavery. I know that generally an author mentions this type of stuff to show just how evil the aliens are but for 75% of the book, every conversation between aliens ends with them expounding on how they can't wait to either sell these human women to the brothels or to go to the brothels themselves to (well you get the idea). Even when our human main character returns to his family from visiting an alien planet, when they ask him about the wonders he saw there, the conversation devolves into him explaining the differences between brothels and pleasure houses that these human women would be sold too. By the time I reached the half way point, I had lost count of how many times this was brought up. There is really a strange fixation on sexual slavery in this book.

The second issue I had was repetitive dialogue. In one scene, the admiral is mentioning to the captain that the invading aliens cultural reminds him of the Pirates of the Barbary Coast on earth. In the next scene the admiral is speaking with the governor and again uses the Barbary Coast analogy. Then in the next chapter, the captain walks up to the admiral and ask him "Doesn't these aliens remind you of the Pirates of the Barbary Coast?", then going on to explain the history of those pirates. I don't know if you would consider this sloppy dialogue or if this is how you force feed an idea to the reader but I found it to be very annoying. This is just one example of repetitive dialogue and the story is filled with other instances of this occurring.

As for narration. I will say that I personally believe that Liam Owen is an acquired taste. Not that he is bad at all, just different. When I first heard a book by him, I didn't care for his narration but now that I have listened to at least 4 other books he has read, I like his narration. Also in previous Sci-fi books that Liam has narrated, they did this weird voice modulation whenever he narrated an alien. Thankfully in this book didn't do that I really got to hear the wide variety of voices he has in his repertoire. In fact I was surprised that he is able to even do passible accents in his narration.

So to sum it up, if they had removed the sexual slavery or even toned it down and fixed the dialogue, I would have really like this book. The story ends at a good point and there is definitely room for sequels. As to whether I will be reading any of those if they come out, probably not.

16 people found this helpful

great book

I really enjoyed the book The narrator was great the storyline was great and I kept it running until it was done

2 people found this helpful

Just didn't like it

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I prefer it when there is some logic to the story. Yes, you have to accept a basic premis: Hyper drive, warp speed, worm holes, something to explain faster than light speed travel. But after that the story should follow logic and and at least some laws of physics.
You can't put a ship in orbit "over New York City", it doesn't work that way. You can't maintain position in an orbit 20 kilometers "below" another object.

I supposed if you don't care about logic it might be tolerable.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I haven't decided

How could the performance have been better?

I didn't like the narrator, and combined with the poor dialog it was just cringe worthy in many places.

The author seemed intent on compressing the time frame the story took place in. Interstellar travel takes only a couple of days. A space station can be disassembled in less than a week. An fleet of warships can be gathered up and sent to Earth in less than two weeks. Really? Why couldn't this take months, or even years?

Apparently three weeks is enough to train a human slave everything they would need to serve an alien master, which would include enough language to communicate, customs, food preferences, etc.

And really, with all the people on Earth to choose from, they want middle aged people for the slave market?

Like another reviewer said, very repetitive dialog. There isn't anything else of interest to tell the reader other than the pleasure houses and slave markets?

Earth knew nothing about any other life force in the galaxy until they were invaded. Within two weeks, they know all about the invaders, the systems they trade with, the mercenaries, etc.

When the aliens arrive there is an issue of not speaking the language. Within two weeks everyone seems to be speaking a common language.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. The premise is good, it could have been a much better story.

Any additional comments?

I have purchased over 200 audio books, and this is the first one that I just didn't like and gave a poor review to.

9 people found this helpful

An excellent new series

I always enjoy Galactic Empire wars and Slaver wars but this series has an even more interesting premise. I very much enjoyed the book and look forward to the next!

Keep the audiobooks of Slaver Wars, Galactic Empire and this series coming and you have yourself a loyal fan!

5 people found this helpful

quite a ride as always

What did you love best about The Star Cross?

the idea behind it was great. i love all the other books from this author and this one didn't disappointted me.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Star Cross?

the planet where you can buy anything lol :)

What about Liam Owen’s performance did you like?

it gives substance to the characters

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

oh yes no doubt

Any additional comments?

please continue this great series

4 people found this helpful

Horrible don’t waste your money

I don’t like to leave negative book reviews but I have to with this one,I forced my way through about half the book hoping it would get better but it doesn’t. I am not sure which is worse the juvenile writing or the awful narration but that combination along with an underlying tone of climate change and gun control did me in I will never buy another book from this author.

Great book!

Good character dev, clean enough for young teen to read /listen to. I enjoy the narrator also.

I cannot get past the first 40 minutes...

I keep trying to listen to this book. it was not cheap and I hate to waste money. But the voice acting is SO lacking on this. I feel like a sportscaster is reading me the book to me. I am thinking of asking for my money back on this one and will just read the book rather than the audio book. :-(

Not for me.

Tried the first 10 minute of the audio book. Performer has a somewhat whiny voice that grates. The writing is juvenile. The dialog less than genuine. A pass for me.

Is this Thomas the Tank Engine

The story sounded like an episode of Thomas the tank engine or something else off PBS. If you can get past the writing style, the story is not that bad.