The Second Ship

The Rho Agenda, Book 1

By: Richard Phillips

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

In 1948, an alien starship crash-landed in the New Mexico desert and brought with it the key to mankind’s future. Code-named the Rho Project, the landing was shrouded in secrecy, and only the highest-ranking US government and military personnel knew it existed. Until now.

The US president is preparing to unveil one of the nation’s greatest secrets when three students stumble across the wreckage of a second ship outside of Los Alamos. With a single touch, the alien technology the government has spent untold resources trying to unlock is uploaded into the minds of three teenagers — teenagers who now know the frightening truth about the Rho Project.The battle for humanity has begun.

©2012 Richard Phillips (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

A fairly smart story with a few stupid additions

Overall, this is a story with an intriguing premise, many deep and realistic characters, intelligent obstacles and clever solutions... even the pseudoscience is plausible. The writing is far from the best I've seen; I wasn't hanging on every word or falling in love with the characters like with the truly magnificent books, but it was decent all the way through without any serious annoyances.

My first impulse is to give this a solid 4/5 and recommend it to friends. However I've removed one star, and will be hesitant to talk about this book with others, on account of the author's decision to include several chapters describing in great detail the activities of a brutal serial rapist and one of his victims. Activities which, I might add, turned out to be utterly and completely irrelevant to the plot of the story or the lives of any of the major characters.

A quick skim of other reviews indicates that the sequels contain more and worse. I don't think that the story value is sufficient to convince me to endure that, so despite my curiosity as to what comes next I will not be purchasing the other books in the series, or anything else by this author.

Surprisingly good

After 1st getting into the book with it revolving around adolescents, I was initially a little skeptical. However the story developed quite nicely with many twists and turns. I am just about finished with this Book 1 and I am looking forward to Book 2. Actually this is a great book and story. One well worth reading or listening to.

Wonderful Story Teller

Would you consider the audio edition of The Second Ship to be better than the print version?

Yes

What did you like best about this story?

The way the story teller made you feel as if you were there.

Which scene was your favorite?

All were good

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really

Any additional comments?

None

Clean and fun teen novel

As with much of the genre it was a clean book meant for teens but that adults can enjoy. A fun scifi premise, decently developed main characters, and some excitement made it a solid read that made me want to read the whole trilogy.

The Second Ship Review

Good book. Can't predict what is going to happen. A lot happens. Keeps your attention.