I chose audio instead of print because I didn’t want to “waste” a print read on a book that in my opinion I was not reading in its proper order! This gave me a chance to see if I would like the series well enough to justify taking the time to do it properly in print. I listened to this book because it was selected as the January science fiction pick in Goodreads’ SFFBC group, and I wanted to join in.

When I do, I’ll go in publication order which is my preferred tactic in a situation like this. If I’d read it in print, I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed it enough to round up to 4, or possibly I would have given it all 4 stars to begin with. I’m rating this at 3.5 stars, but rounding down to 3 on Goodreads. It told a complete story, but with a definite “what will happen next?” question mark at the end. This is the first book in a prequel trilogy. The story focuses on two main characters, and I liked both of them. I was several hours into the audio before I really felt like I understood the setting and had solid mental images to go with the different terms.ĭespite my audio difficulties, I was interested in the setting and the story and I was never bored while listening. It’s far, far easier for me to understand and retain that type of thing in print. There are a lot of different races and clans and character names and unfamiliar terms. I thought this was an interesting setting, but more challenging to grasp in audio than it would have been in print. Meanwhile, the unexpected appearance of an alien flying ship causes a more immediate change. Some members of this race have started developing new abilities, and this threatens to upset the balance by bringing change. The story focuses on the race that is similar to humans, but with telepathic abilities.

These races don’t understand each other very well and maintain an uneasy peace by avoiding change. The story is set on an alien planet inhabited by three very different races. She didn’t do anything that particularly stood out to me, but that’s usually a good thing in my book! There were several characters and she distinguished them well, and there wasn’t anything about her narration that bugged me. This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday.

Survival by Julie E. Czerneda