Amaranthe I: Rise

Amaranthe Collections, Book 1

By: G. S. Jennsen

Narrated by: Pyper Down

Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection: Over 45 Hours of Epic Sci-Fi Adventure

Includes the entire first trilogy in the Amaranthe series (Starshine, Vertigo, Transcendence)

Aurora Rising is an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, of the thrill of discovery, and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible.

When faced with its greatest challenge, will humanity rise to triumph or fall to ruin?

Starshine

Space is vast and untamed, and it holds many secrets. Now two individuals from opposite ends of settled space are on a collision course with the darkest of those secrets, even as the world threatens to explode around them.

Alexis Solovy is Earth Alliance royalty, her father a fallen war hero. and her mother a military leader. She seeks only the freedom of space and has made a fortune as a freelance scout by reading the patterns in the chaos to discover the hidden wonders of the stars. But a chance encounter with a mysterious spy thrusts Alex into the middle of an interstellar war and a sinister conspiracy.

Vertigo

Where do you run when there is no escape? Where do you turn when the enemy within is as dangerous as the enemy unknown?

Transcendence

What does it mean to be human? What if the price of saving humanity is giving up your own?

The lines blur between man and machine, ally and enemy, and soldier and civilian. In a final stand against a powerful ancient foe intent on eradicating it from the universe, humanity comes face to face with its destiny.

©2015 G. S. Jennsen (P)2022 G. S. Jennsen

Fantastic characters and an epic space opera

let's get this out of the way - I would of chosen a different narrator. I can only imagine how good this would of been with a full cast.

That said, this is my personal favorite space opera series of all time, and yes, I've read The Expanse and the rest of the big name ones. Details and characters stick with me in a way that even Holden and Draper don't always manage. Character development is by far the strongest aspect of this work, and the philosophical questions are more relevant than ever.

Adventure, romance, and the most interesting answer to the Drake equation I've ever encountered. I highly recommend this series to all space opera fans, especially if you're the type to enjoy r/HFY on reddit.

Didn't hold my interest

I like hard SF, but this story struck me as being unnecessarily packed with technobabble. The narration felt stilted and lacking emotion; a friend suggested it might be narrated by an AI.

Ugh, I had to return it

The story is not great, but the narration made me return the book. The narrator would add weird pauses and emphasis on words as if she was sounding them out? It just made me want to turn it off.

Narration ruined it, had to return it.

Normally, I can get past a poor narrators, however, this was a game changer. I thought at first it was an odd intro that was computer generated, but no it was the narrator. Monotone, little difference between characters. I couldn't figure out what was happening or follow along. The story seemed good, but I just could not follow the narrator, just awful. I had to return it. Sorry to the author.

D