Excellent classic space opera.

If you could sum up Warship in three words, what would they be?

Couldn't put-it down.

What did you like best about this story?

Wel honed characters, good build up to the plot, exciting rollacoaster to the last page.

Have you listened to any of Mark Boyett’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Another Mark Boyett master-class! - how does he do it (I imagine it's a hell of a lot of work).

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

'Against insuperable odds'
'Die hard in space on steroids'

Any additional comments?

Extremely well written, very nicely paced, intelligent treatment of the 'first contact' scenario in the 2400. I am a classic SF and hard SF fan and I loved this book - I only hope that Joshua is working hard on the second of the series.

17 people found this helpful

Finally a good space adventure book!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would recommend this audiobook to friends and family. The storyline was well written from start to finish. The characters were well defined in both the author writing of them and the narrators portrayal, that it really brought this story to life.

What other book might you compare Warship to, and why?

Man of war series.

Which character – as performed by Mark Boyett – was your favourite?

There was no favourite character that was performed by Mark Boyett because I like them all. It shows how great the narrator is when each character is defined by their different pitch and accents to a degree that you forget that all those voices are spoken by one person!

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This is a Warship!

Any additional comments?

I hope Audiobooks decides to make the other books into audio. It be a shame to just leave it at Warship! The fact I liked this book so much I bought the next book but in kindle format.

10 people found this helpful

Loved it :)

Catching up on a few owed reviews... Well after the fact I've finished all three books. (sorry)

But, it's a good thing. I was caught up in the enjoyment of the world that Joshua created, and I can't tell you how that felt after listening to a few books that didn't quite hit the mark.

I really enjoyed Mark as a narrator, he's defo in my league of go to narrators now. (especially if Sci Fi is his genre) he had great tone and impressions for both male and female characters. Each was unique enough that I didn't need the tags to know who was talking and that says it all to me. Wolf was a great Captain to follow into the belly of the beast, just when you think he's done the worst thing ever, it proved to be the right thing and he pulled most of the men on his crew out the crap. I was thoroughly hooked, and no sooner had this one finished, I was onto the next.

Kudos to both narrator and writer, it was a very flawless book and series. Thank you so much for the entertainment, and thanks to my friends who sent me your way.

4 people found this helpful

hmmmm

not bad, something just stopped me from liking this book. characters were a little wooden maybe

4 people found this helpful

More please!

An Excellent story with good characters, plot and a new take on old issues. Mark Boyett's performance is great and perfectly blends into the story. I can't wait for book 2.

7 people found this helpful

Superbly Crafted

For a long time now I had seen the Black Fleet trilogy books being included
in the recommendations list you see on the Audible page for books you've
read or are interested in and not opted to try one. Not for any particular
reason did I ignore this series of books other than the fact I had yet to
exhaust books from authors I knew I liked. However, the time finally came
when I pondered what to read next and after some review reading It looked as
though this trilogy of books would be just the sort of thing I was looking
for.

I think I tend to feel that choosing a book from a new author can be a bit
of a gamble but on the other hand, if the reviews look good, the story is of
interest and as importantly, the narrator is good then you've little to lose
and a lot to gain. The very fact that Mark Boyett was narrating this series
was a massive bonus to me as I've read many books narrated by him and find
him to be a superb exponent of the written word with competent delivery and
a range of voices and accents to bring any story to life. So, the only thing
remaining to wonder about was the author and his work. I'd read nothing up
to this point by Joshua Dalzelle but the brief audio sample alone had me
hooked so I purchased this title and was so glad I did!

In only a short few minutes of listening I could tell this was an excellent
author and one naturally skilled in the art of story telling. Right from the
start, Warship, had my interest and continued to hold it throughout the
entire book. The story is well crafted and the plot pacing is perfect. What
struck me about how this story and the future it is set in was just how
plausible most of the technology used was. Dalzelle carefully struck the
right balance of giving us background on the vessels, politics and
technology of the time without going into so much detail as to venture into
the territory of bombarding the reader with the unnecessary clutter of
techno-babble. Just the right degree of detail was given to explain what we
needed to understand and provide a consistent backbone to the plot.

What also impressed me with Dalzelle's story was the understanding he
appears to have of how things work in a parallel to what I can only conclude
is either a deeper than usual understanding of naval technology and
procedures or a direct experience of this himself. He cites examples of how
a modern naval sonar operator might track a target, classify it and even
identify the specific vessel within a class and this only added to the
plausibility of the story as it seems to me that it is only logical to
extend current technologies and procedures forward into effectively what
would become a space going navy so I think Dalzelle has this aspect
incorporated perfectly into his vision of the future.

Dalzelle has penned a lead character, Captain Jackson Wolf, in a realistic
manner complete with his own issues including a drink problem and who is
running
a ship that is old and obsolete. This is refreshing and reassuring at the
same time as it is often too easy to write almost perfect lead characters.
Jackson faces the sorts of internal politics, prejudice and day to day
running issues you might expect of any naval officer and perhaps even a bit
worse than most in fact. it's the very adversity he has faced his entire
career that has given him the strength of character to show courage in the
face of the unknown enemy despite the best efforts of some of the top brass
that want to shoot his career down in flames at the first opportunity. It's
the dirty realism of his predicament that makes his character both appealing
and interesting. His ship is falling apart, some of his crew hate him and
now he faces Earth's most dangerous alien threat and this sets the stage for
what is a great story. I noted some interesting nods to Star Trek I think in
the form of the adoption of the term "Warp drive" in the vernacular of the
time despite the official term of "T-drive" and the fact that Wolf's vessel
registry is TCS-701 .. make it 1701 and we all know where that famous
registry comes from. This though is more or less where any connection to
Trek ends so there's no need to fret that Warship is going to be some sort
of Trek copy.


The other thing I noted with Dalzelle's character portrayal was that unlike
some authors who contrive an end point or set piece by having their key
characters do or not do something of obvious importance, in Warship we find
that Jackson Wolf does exactly the things that I might do in his situation.
I found myself thinking "what I would do next only to read on and find that
this was indeed the path the characters went.

The story itself is interesting and although follows the fairly well trodden
path of new alien threat scenario, Dalzelle deals with his version of this
in a way that is not boring, predictable or overly derivative. Most ideas
are not original these days but it's how an author puts their mark on such
stories that sets them apart from others.

I found Warship thoroughly enjoyable and read it in three days as I was
unable to put it down. I will be getting the other two books in the series
and will now consider Joshua Dalzelle one of my list of favourite science
fiction writers. Who might I compare Dalzelle with? Well, I'd say a cross of
the military science fiction expert that is B.V Larson and the great
character and epic story teller James S.A Corey and his fantastic Expanse
series of books.

Good story and well written. I've read quite a bit of science fiction and
this is an excellent book. Not too heavy and very accessible.

6 people found this helpful

How to Have Fun in Space!

This was just what the doctor ordered! A good, old fashioned sci-fi romp which was refreshingly clear of trying to be super-original, dystopian, cyberpunk or too deep and meaningful. Just a captain and his destroyer trying to keep his crew alive and beat the nasties. This is simply a roller-coaster ride of a story which happens to be within the sci-fi genre. It’s like Jack Reacher in charge of several thousand tons of military hardware out in space with slightly less predictable opposition! I loved the idea of a human race drifting into almost total complacency after hundreds of years without any wars being given an incredible alarm call.

If you’re after the kind of book where you just want a good sci-fi military action thriller and even when at the end it does pull off a quite ridiculous twist you want to stand up and salute the Star Fleet flag anyway then this is the book for you. Mark Boyett’s excellent narration will take you on quite a journey. If you’re searching for a latter day Heinlein or someone to rival William Gibson for provoking the grey matter then your cyber-enhanced prosthetic nostrils have not served you well in leading you here.

Excellent start to a good fun series with plenty of clever action, excitement and decent characters. I’ll be back for the rest of this one at some stage, make no mistake!

7 people found this helpful

Great little mil space story

My first book I have listened to on audible that was free as part of the sub. My expectations were pretty low because of this, but this book totally proved me wrong.

As is so important with audiobooks the narration is spot on, a quality performance. The story is fast paced and actually, even then relatively short size of the book all work to its advantage.

Well worth your time.

1 person found this helpful

ANOTHER sci-fi book written just for men, great!

I feel somewhat torn about reviewing a book I abandoned in the middle of chapter two but here we are.

With the main character named Jackson Wolf I pretty quickly felt that this book was probably no more than some white American dude’s fantasy, but I thought I’d give it the benefit of the doubt and kept listening.

When introduced to his new 2nd in command our intrepid hero can’t help but notice his new female colleague’s “impressive rack….. of medals pinned above her breast.”

Ok, cool, so just another sci-fi book written by a man for men. I’m going to hazard a guess that old Jackson Wolf is handsome (but doesn’t know it) and witty and smart and has impressive tactical and military capabilities, and against all the odds and despite the racist(/planet-ist?) discrimination he faces he’ll overcome the difficulties he’s faced with and save the day and get in Lt Impressive Rack’s pants. Thanks for the free sample Audible, I’ll skip the creepy descriptions of women and wait for the next instalment of The Expanse!

1 person found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable space romp

Really enjoyed a good romp through space. Nicely paced, good action. Looking forward to more.

1 person found this helpful