Annoying and predictable and endlessly repetitive

Oh, and comedy language, even when being run through a translator that has absolutely no need to reproduce the original sounds. Earlier on she seemed to be trying harder and I wish there was a way to edit all the clicks out, I didn't like them on vinyl records and I don't see why I'd want to hear them in an audio book. Khoisan languages in Africa use tongue clicks, it's not that unheard of. Just a novelty.

The main problems are with the writing style. Repeating that a species are squid like aliens, or tentacled aliens, two or three times is OK. Getting to the end of the book and still referring to them this way is atrocious. Same with the other species, how many times do I need to hear that these particular people are centaur like but with more teeth? And this species is blue furred. Yes, you have said that twenty times already. Oh, tentacled aliens? Perhaps you thought I had forgotten and needed to be reminded that they aren't actually earth born squids.

Hillary Huber's flat delivery didn't help, smooth and flat. No failures to pronounce relatively common words. No hesitation, easy to understand, a much better reader than me. But, oh my sweet lord, that attempt at an English accent! That was supposed to be English? Did you run that by any actual British people before you decided to use that? Have you ever been to Britain or talked to British people? That's the sort of joke accent that Americans who have never really interacted with Brits use. Or Americans trying to start a fight in a British pub. Please, don't try that on a Brit face to face, unless it's a joke?

The story... magical technology dreamed up just in time and immediately developed to a stage where it is competitive with the rest of the galaxy. Look at early gas engines and current car engines and ask yourself how likely that is. If you have an inertialess drive you can't then use the intertia as a weapon. Inertia doesn't really exist, it's a way of explaining force and acceleration to non-technical people. You can quantify the moment of inertia of an object, but that doesn't mean you have measured its inertia. So having decided you can impart instant acceleration with almost no force you can't ten use the force of deceleration, and the energy liberated thereby as a weapon. Fire an inertialess weapon at a glass window and it would just stop.

The story was then boring and predictable, the good and bad people become apparent and, given that our heroin is not a monster the eventual outcome is just a matter of waiting.

Some people may be offended that many of the lead characters are female and some of the lead men are gay and the alien males are too stupid to reach high rank. Whatever, there are too many books where the men are the only people doing anything worthwhile and the women are waiting at home to be rescued or defended. Live with it.

I won't be buying the second book, on the other hand I won't be asking for my money back.

24 people found this helpful

Absolutely Magnificent

I tend to like most space science fiction, but this book was in a class all it's own. Not only was it excellent, I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction. There is action, adventure, space exploration, space battles, and everything fans of similar series like Honor Harrington and Lost Fleet will love.

The story begins with the presentation of new military technology to an Admiral of the United Earth Space Force. Privately funded research has developed advanced new military technology including new engines, armor, and missiles. The new prototype ship is immediately purchased by Space Force and it's Captain, Annette Bond, recommissioned. Formally a navy Captain, Bond was unjustly driven out by her peers for doing the right thing in a bad situation. However, all of Earth may come to depend on Bond when an alien fleet arrives in nearby Earth space. After demanding the immediate surrender of all military forces and subjugation of all Earth governments, the Space Force fleet (lacking the new upgrades) is destroyed with little effort by their invaders. When it is apparent that Earth will not prevail, Bond is given orders to leave the battle and flee Earth.
Her mission: Become a privateer, disrupt and capture alien shipping, collect intelligence, and return valuable technology and information to the secret resistance network on earth.
Along the way, Bond manages to defeat other pirates, recruit experienced and knowledgeable alien personnel to her crew, capture wildly valuable cargos, upgrade the systems on their ship, incorporate new technologies, make new allies, explore surrounding space, collect valuable intelligence, and even come to understand Earth's new overlords... And their far more dangerous enemies.

I found it difficult to press the pause button, even for short periods, while listening to this book. The writing was good, the story and plot were excellent, and the narration was top-notch.

5 stars all around for this must-read science fiction adventure!

17 people found this helpful

Social Justice in space.

The story is solid and the characters and tech are well presented, but the Mary Sue ship commander and the ever present quips about colonialism or equality are too much.

14 people found this helpful

Enjoyed the story!

A good story, plenty of action. The author stole shamelessly from the Honor Harrington series. the main character, a woman, ends up with an eye patch and gives the order, lets be about it. LOL but also very unlike that series . The characters have their own personalities and the twist of plot at the end is unique. look forward to the next book in the series

13 people found this helpful

Kudos to Glynn Stewart on this work!

What made the experience of listening to The Terran Privateer the most enjoyable?

The book was extremely well balanced between plot line, characterizations, science fiction and military action.

What other book might you compare The Terran Privateer to and why?

Honor Harrington sans the unnecessary dialog.

What about Hillary Huber’s performance did you like?

Very well suited to the tone and texture of the story

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wont attempt a spelling of Anne's alien friends name, however she and her race seemed more human than humans, and humans picked up on that.

Any additional comments?

I want more!

11 people found this helpful

Great Story Well Read

This is one of the best military scifi novels in the past few years. It's a great listen too. The characters are complex, the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, and the ending is satisfying. This is why I listen to Audible--to find these occasional gems and enjoy the heck out them. Buy it. You will not be disappointed.

10 people found this helpful

disappointed

the story would have been much more enjoyable without the promotion of alternative life styles

10 people found this helpful

Week sci-fi cliché mashup, robotic narration

Narration is really bad. It starts off ok but after a while Hillary Hubert sounds robotic and flat...
About half way in and the story didn't grab me at all; IMHO the characters are unlikable, there are no innovative ideas, plot is predictable and flat filled with verbose.
I’ve been with audible for 6 and a half years and so the problem could be that after listening to many eloquently performed great books and a number some masterpieces a book like this just doesn’t cut it for me. I am not sure why the rating on this is so high across the board but I’ve listened to far far better books that were rated much lower. Well Audible says I can return any title for whatever reason and that’s exactly what I will do with this one.

9 people found this helpful

Great Fun!

I really enjoyed the journey! I look forward to more from this author in this genre. From bloody to Duchy? This book most definitely covered a lot of territory!

8 people found this helpful

Outstanding!

Looking forward to the next one! A fantastic beginning to a great space opera, keep them coming!

8 people found this helpful