Toy Starship

By: M.R. Forbes

Narrated by: Daniel Wisniewski

Evan Marshall was a decorated Marine until a deadly mistake ended his career. Now he drifts between dead-end jobs and cheap motels, running from a guilt he can’t escape. When his estranged sister dies, Evan heads home carrying more regret than hope, uncertain whether anything of his old life can still be salvaged.

A garage sale find. A cheap gift for the nephew who hates him. That’s all the toy starship was supposed to be. Instead, the simple peace offering opens the door to something far more unbelievable, extraordinary, and dangerous than he ever imagined.

Because the starship isn’t a toy at all.

The discovery carries Evan beyond Earth and into a sprawling galaxy of distant worlds, ancient powers, and unfolding conflicts. But his initial wonder quickly gives way to desperate survival when he learns he’s not the only one who knows about the ship. They’ve been searching for it for a long, long time, and there’s nothing they won’t do to get it from him.

They say you can never go home again.

They were right.

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Unique take on, presumably, a space opera series?

The MC is hard to like, even taking into account his PTSD from an accidental friendly fire death he was responsible for. He let this incident turn into severe, self-absorbed depression to the point where he ignored even his stage 4 cancer sister until it was too late. The author even intentionally presses the point, seemingly, meant to impress upon the listener how much of a loser he had been. After finding an alien Toy Starship artifact and uncovering some of its otherworldly features, he finds out he is being hunted by a number of alien races out to ruthlessly take the artifact for their own warfare purposes.

The author ended up holding back much of the backstory as to the origin and explanation as to why the starship is so special. Additionally, the MC somehow learns how to decipher the starship runes within days by, essentially, pushing buttons to see what happens.

In the end, there was too little context provided and the cliff-hanger ending made the book very unsatisfying, leaving me doubtful if the follow-on book will be worth it.

Daniel Wisniewski's performance, however, was excellent.

A Marine and A Starship

Evan, a Marine in Afghanistan, sent in to help fellow Marines, and clear out a building.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He leaped sideways, avoided being killed, and killed the person he thought was the enemy. Identified as a fellow marine in his unit.

Devastated, he resigned. Worked at different jobs. Did not stay in contact with his friends. Didn't stay in touch with his family. Then learned his sister passed away.

Had a gunfight at his sisters funeral.

He was on the run. And that is the start of an exceptional book. It will keep you engrossed.

Not just for adolescents or men..

Gonna binge read, so going for Book 2 right now..As a female retiree, whose family members fought in asymmetric wars, and who were aware of the heartache of friendly fire incidents, I loved watching this warfighter’s gradual emergence from a dark place to expand his horizons and upskill to fight dangerous enemies using unfamiliar weapons. It could have been heavy, but the effigy made it a book that is a great way to encourage self-guided learning!

Suspend your belief and enjoy

Great fun. Don't overthink the one man Rambo.
Is a fun listen and narrator killed it.

not just a toy story

really interesting! loved the story. good mix of fun and fight! getting invested in the main character! can't wait for book two.