Prelude to Extinction

Xenophobia Series, Book 1

By: Andreas Karpf

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.

Warm sunlight shone on his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long-abandoned structures that lay nearby.

Evidence points to a massacre; the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers.

Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option - but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they can’t even begin to understand.

©2019 Andreas Karpf (P)2020 Podium Audio

Critic reviews

"Fans of hard science fiction will particularly enjoy this thought-out, well-paced tale of a small crew's unintentional close encounter." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Readers eager to immerse themselves...and have the SF check out will find this mission irresistible." (Booklife by Publisher's Weekly)

"Best sci-fi I've read in a long time!" (Steven Moore, author)

wow what a great book

this is in my top ten for sure! aliens, space travel, future tech. yeah like the perfect syfi book.

engrossing

This book got off to a slow start and I did not think I was going to like it. However I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. The characters developed and the pace sped up. By the end, I was really glad to find out more books were coming.

Sequel Is Complete!

The sequel to "Prelude to Extinction" is titled "Latent Flaw," and will be released on 09 August 2022!

Settle down John Davis…

For those who love the science in their space exploration sci-fi, try not to be put off by the shouting and overacting by the narrator J Davis. I usually love his work, but was constantly brought out of the character dialogue by actual shouting and annoying accents. Tbf he had to work with a so-called “best of the best” who acted like petty little children chucking constant tantrums. Dom is the worst character I’ve ever heard, beyond love to hate to just plain nails-on-chalkboard gritting of teeth. Also, it’s pronounced “short liv-d” not short “live-d” - after a few it gets annoying.


If you’re listening while you travel or work out then it might not be so bad, but then it’s not the kind of story where you want to miss anything.
You be the judge, worth a go for the fresh ideas and def worth the slow burn buildup if you’re into the science behind space travel and detailed first encounters. I might prefer the printed novel, but YMMV

Stick with it

This has a really slow start. The really interesting stuff happens more than halfway through, but you need the background to appreciate it once you get there. There IS payoff, so stick with it. Other reviewers are right about recycled dialogue and a plateau in character development, but it's overall a good story with an interesting take on alien life. I think the writer will grow as he publishes more and gets this kind of feedback. Oh, and I really don't understand why the narrator mispronounced "short-lived" more than once. Otherwise, a decent performance. Someone needs to listen to books before they're released to catch these things.