Hammond's Hardcases

The Complete Series

By: Jack Colrain

Narrated by: Andrew Tell

Mozari Arrival

They brought death and destruction to Earth. Now it’s time to return the favor.

The massive Mozari spaceship struck without warning. In an instant, major cities were leveled. Millions were wiped from the face of the Earth. The horrifying message to those remaining - your training starts now.

Pods scattered across the globe are filled with strange alien wares, and scientists of all backgrounds must come together to harness the advanced technology in a race to discover its secrets before the one year deadline. And before their experiments with the exo suits kill another soldier.

Few possess the rare antibodies needed to control the Mozari armor. But Daniel West soon discovers he’s one of the civilians selected to be fitted and trained to use the suit.

Instead of following in his family’s footsteps, he joins the military and is assigned to a team on a mission to the Mozari ship. But when tragedy strikes his team, he must take command of a mission into enemy territory that promises nothing less than certain death.

What they discover on the ship changes everything.

Trojan Colony

The ends justify the means - except when humanity’s survival is on the line.

Earth’s landscape lies scorched by weapons fired after the most recent round of alien attacks. The technology the Mozari left behind has advanced scientific understanding at breakneck speeds, giving humanity the chance to fight back against their Gresian foes.

Space-worthy vessels and all-new weaponry are pumped out of orbiting factories, boarded by the brightest minds to begin colonizing new planets. But humanity is still vulnerable.

Lieutenant Daniel West understands this, which is why his recruits are the most highly trained the military puts out, regardless of the physical and mental demand it takes to make them that way. Any soldier in the newly created Special Warfare Task Force must plan and prepare for every possible scenario.

After all, the return of the Gresians isn’t just inevitable. It’s imminent.

Now assigned to the United Earth Ship Shenzhen, Daniel is chosen to command a platoon to protect a team of elite colonists traveling to LTT-8270. But it isn’t until their arrival that the true mission becomes evident, and Daniel discovers an even more horrifying truth.

A truth that demands too high a cost for humanity’s future.

Gateway War

This mission might be their last.

Humanity can’t win. Lieutenant Daniel West and his soldiers will never overcome the crushing odds of a direct assault against superior alien forces. Every simulation test they’ve run ends the same way - in death. But they have no other choice. The only option is to destroy the Gresians forever or face Earth being overrun by alien forces.

Forever.

Good thing Daniel has no problem eradicating an enemy that shows no mercy. He won’t risk standing by and allowing the Gresians to enslave those he loves. So, when orders come down, he’s ready to take the war straight to the enemy’s home turf.

But the Gresian’s planetary defense systems destroy half their platoon before they can even land on the alien world, and when a counterattack is launched against Earth, the support ships are forced to pull back from Gresian space - leaving the team stranded, with orders to finish the mission. By any means necessary.

In the end, there’ll be only one way to give his team a slim chance at survival and restore hope for humanity’s future.

But it will require Daniel to make the toughest choice of all.

©2019 Relay Publishing (P)2020 Relay Publishing

SCFI Buffs

If you a lover of good or better SCIFI you need to get this series in the beginning a bit slow but when the action starts and it never stops. I am happy this series all together due to never had to wonder if the books would match from end to the beginning of another book and the transition was very smooth and as an listener you never felt lost.
What would happen if an alien species you thought arrived and bomb cities with asteroids and send messages like unite and train and a count down clock to what you do not know. Then this same alien ships start protect the planet when other ships appear and start bombing cities. Now that sound confusing and it does as the story goes forward you start learning about the first alien species and then second alien species and why they are enemies. The how stupid mankind is and as they try to take over the first alien ship and start trying to demand, take over from an AI who is over 2500 years and impose their demands on the AI who tries to worn them and is ignored or used in ways that will caused a major war which mankind can not win.
The author does an awesome job in telling the story with descriptions of the characters and with the ability to bring battles alive and make the listener feel the pain of death, abandonment, betrayal and love.
I can say the author got the narrator he has to bring the above thoughts alive and has the ability to paint a perfect picture of the story, characters, ship and off world planets.

I was prepared to be mad at Marko Kloos, but….

At times I got tired of the constant fighting and fleeing, and I could pretty much tell, partly at least, how the story was going to end. That being said, Marko did have a couple of surprises up his sleeve, one good and one bad.

I could empathize with Daniel as he struggled with questions of ethics. I’m really not sure if I would have made the same decisions in his place.

Would be better with a different narrator

I enjoyed the storyline, but the narration was very irritating at times. The reading was clipped, like the narrator has to pause after every 5 words.

A Solid Space Marine, Action-Oriented Series.

Hammond's Hardcases by Jack Colrain is your standard military sci-fi brain candy. I read the complete series omnibus, so this review includes all three books. Overall, the series isn't exceptional, but it'll be solid entertainment if you are into the military/space marine sci-fi genre and like lots of well-written action. It's certainly worth giving the series a try now that it's a 3-for-1 omnibus deal on Audible and Kindle (and free on KU).

Like most omnibus editions, I didn't feel like all three books earned the same rating or could be reviewed together. Thus, there may be some spoilers in the review below as I focus on the highs and lows of each book included in the trilogy omnibus. You've been warned.

The first book (Mozari Arrival) was my favorite of the series. There was a focus on character development, lots of mystery involving the Mozari, and new and exciting technology. I found the plot intriguing, and the book really kept my attention. I'm a fan of the character and relationship development in a series, and it was balanced with action sequences, so I really enjoyed it.

However, I was immediately turned off to the second book (Trojan Colony) when its ridiculous premise became clear. Here's a minor spoiler: The target world for a new earth colony was discovered to be right in the middle of humanity's worst and far superior enemy's territory. And the military, civilian government, and colonists all just say, "Oh well, we are already halfway there. Let's just do this thing anyway." Once you get over the absurd way the plot was set up, the rest of the book was pretty enjoyable. Lots of gold ol' shoot em' up action, cliche military vs. civilian headbutting, and just in the nick of time rescues.

The last book (Gateway War) just felt like a series of explosions, space battles, and ground-pounding space marine engagements. Again, the earth's civilian and military leadership is still packed with morons whose poor decisions set up the action-packed plot. The book's last half degrades into a non-stop action-packed slugfest. It wasn't really my thing, and getting through it was a bit grinding, but I can certainly see the appeal it may have for many readers and fans of action-based sci-fi.

Overall, I found the first book excellent and the following books just okay. Had there been more plausible plot devices and a bit more even pacing in the later books (between plot and character development and action), I would have enjoyed them much more. But I think some of this may just be my tastes in books. All-in-all, it was good enough that I'd give other Jack Colrain books a shot as well, particularly if I was in the mood for something fast-paced and action-oriented.

I also listened to some of this series on the audiobook edition from Audible in addition to the kindle book. Like the Hammond's Hardcases series, Andrew Tell's performance is good, but not without its flaws. The narration kept me interested, the tone projected the proper emotions, and the pacing matched well with the action in most of the series. However, Tell pauses a lot, which makes the cadence of the reading a bit uneven. It annoyed me initially, but I became used to it as the series went on. There are also many secondary characters throughout the series, and I feel like the narrator exhausted his range trying to come up with unique voices for each. Occasionally it was difficult to tell who was talking by their voice alone (particularly with female characters, who sounded very similar).

Special thanks to Jack Colrain, who provided me with these books at my request.

A satisfying trilogy

Although the first book isn’t really set in space, it does begin with aliens! There were plot twists, characters to love and hate — and who grew and evolved with the plot. The twists were — well twistier— than usual in sci fi, which I loved. And, not everyone survives, bringing both emotion and drama to the plot.

The narrator is a great fit and helps bring it all to life.

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for a review.

ugh

I just couldn't get into it. started out boring ...bright side different voices well done but couldn't finish the first book, let alone the whole pack. I'm just picky I guess..

Space Sci-Fi fun!

I had a great time listening to this collection!
The space sci-fi was great. I thought it could have expanded some even more and I'm on the lookout for some of the peripheral storylines as separate books or series.

Narrated well and was very pleasant to listen to.

Aliens attack Earth, we are not ready.

I prefer hostile aliens personally, new tech gizmos are fun too, this has both. I also love publisher packs so I can binge listen without having to wait for the next book. the characters are likable, the story has a decent pace, and the plot keeps you interested. I liked it, I did also receive this book for free, and have left my honest review without obligation.

Painful, very painful man

Too much Deus ex Machina. Unrealistic characters whose skill development more closely mirrored a Dungeons & Dragons game than the months of training that would realistically be required. Unnecessarily dramatic romantic scenes. The lieutenant consistently made stupid tactical decisions in spite of good information.

The narrator's pauses and breaks fell in unnatural positions giving the presentation a disjuncted feeling. This also set my teeth on edge on edge making it painful to listen to And difficult to get immersed.

couldn't get into it.

I just couldn't get into it. the story is VERY slow and the narrator not to my taste.