The Ascendant Stars cover art

The Ascendant Stars

Humanity's Fire, Book 3

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The Ascendant Stars

By: Michael Cobley
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

Battle-ready factions converge above Darien, all with the same objective. The goal is control over this newly discovered planet and access to the powerful weapons at its heart. Despotic Hegemony forces dominate much of known space and they want this world too, but Darien's inhabitants will fight for their future.

However, key players in this conflict aren't fully in control. Hostile AIs have infiltrated key minds and have an agenda, requiring nothing less than the destruction or subversion of all organic life. And they are near to unleashing their cohorts, a host of twisted machine intelligences caged beneath Darien.

Fighting to contain them are Darien's hidden guardians, and their ancient ally the Construct, on a millennia-long mission to protect sentient species. As the war reaches its peak, the AI army is roaring to the surface, to freedom and an orgy of destruction. Darien is first in line in a machine vs. human war - for life or the sterile dusts of space.

©2011 Michael Cobley (P)2011 Audible Ltd Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Heartfelt War

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All stars
Most relevant  
took time to get into this book, after a while i found myself interested and enjoyed the listen.... unfortunately in my opinion the final part was a disappointment..... hence only a 3 rating.

ok, but could do better :)

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a great raed from start to end very well narated indeed and looking forward to future stories

brilliant conclusion to the series.

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Well Michael Cobley certainly can paint a vast and and vibrant universe! The story moves through the levels of hyperspace, huge digital zones and across planets and alien societies. The characters are a little too either 'goodies' or 'baddies' but they're pretty well written and the plot is rich enough to keep them on their toes. The narrator David Thorpe does a magnificent job of handling the accents and voices of every character and his tone is spot on - I'll certainly be getting more of his works. The whole trilogy reminds me of Babylon 5, and would probably be more suited to a younger reader than me (as I've had my scifi innocence worn away over the years by the likes of Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Neal Asher) but overall a very enjoyable 19 hours of intergalactic escapism in their company - thank you.

Whew ...

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Excellent trilogy. mutliple threads, and David Thorpe brings the different characters to life well.

Ascendant Stars

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This was an awesome conclusion to the Humanity's Fire Trilogy! Epic Space Battles, Political Intrigue, Brilliantly inventive locations that let the imagination run riot and a good tying up of loose ends! Fantastic!

The narration by David Thorpe was excellent and added to the whole experience. I'd recommend the whole series!

Best thing I've listened to in a long time!

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Once again a story picked up via a recommendation by Audible has lead me to a story and an author I'd probably never have picked up (whilst a Sci-Fi fan my life is too busy to keep a finger on the pulse). I have to say that David Thorpe is an even better narrator than Michael Page who so excellently read Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.

By the third book the story is so multi-layered and there are so many characters that you really need to pay attention - on several occasions I had to rewind way, particularly when listening in the car and distracted by that dratted traffic! Don't let this put you off - simply start with book 1 of Humanity's Fire - Seeds of Earth and enter an entirely enjoyable world.

A fantastic conclusion to a brilliant trilogy

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The last part of this trilogy really does bring this multi-layered story to an excellent end. You do have to pay attention sometimes to keep track of the different threads, but it is definitely worth it. The narration is extremely good, far better than most books, however some poor editing does drag it down in parts.

Excellent, but let down by some poor editing.

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