Confluence

By: S. K. Dunstall

Narrated by: Brian Hutchison

From the national best-selling author of Alliance, linesman Ean Lambert finds himself caught in a dangerous fight for political power.

The lines. Mysterious yet familiar: the key to controlling every ship in the galaxy. Once they were thought of as tools, but since linesman Ean Lambert discovered strange new lines in an alien vessel, they have become so much more - symbols of a power too great to ignore.

©2016 S.K. Dunstall (P)2016 Recorded Books

Third in Lindsman Series

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Delightful story. Listen to first two before this one. Great listen.

Which character – as performed by Brian Hutchison – was your favorite?

Ean. Love spending time in his head. Nice place to be.

Any additional comments?

This is a lovely series. Hate for it to end. Always waitin go next book.

More!!!!!

Can't wait!!! One of my favorite series! Very original and interesting. Check it out!

Don't end....

Didn't want it to end. I did not want to leave this world is been traveling through for the books. Hopefully, the sisters will be writing a second trilogy and we can spend more time with Ean and crew

Kept me up for two nights -but sorry when ended.

The Emperor of Lancia, Michelle’s father, is putting pressure on her to strengthen the position of Lancia over the New Alliance. Trying to force compliance, Emperor Yu has announced the betrothal of Michelle to further his own goals. His manipulations are cause for consternation to Michelle and Abram who are trying to maintain the fragile balance in the New Alliance. Yu has also told Ean’s usual bodyguard, (and the Emperor’s niece), Radko, that she must marry a high-ranking official chosen by Yu. The goal there is to allow the official to meet and have access to Ean.

Michelle’s new security officer determines it will be best to get Radko away from the fleet for a time. She assigns Radko a team and sends them on an undercover assignment to a hostile planet. Radko comes face to face with a previous attacker and the tensions ratchet up as she uncovers secrets. But will she get the chance to get the news back to her commander?

Meanwhile Ean is continuing to train new linesmen, even single linesmen who have previously been rejected by the line cartels. Ean is juggling the Confluence and other ships who are seeking to select their own crew if they aren’t assigned crew soon. The fleet has unwelcome Lancastrian visitors who are being a bit too pushy. Ean manages to block the theft of one of the ships but steps up the possibility of war by the ship movements. Then he has to protect his linesmen and protection team from another unexpected attack.

I thoroughly enjoyed the action, political intrigue and humor. I like the relationship between Ean and the lines although Ean sometimes loses focus on the human side of his world. There are a couple of slow building romances which add a nice touch. It is fine with me that there is no foul language and no sexual content. Although there is violence and death, it is not gory and graphic.

This is the third in the series – I strongly hope it won’t be the last. This series has wonderful world building, good plots with action and likable primary characters – even some of the testier ones. There were new characters introduced in this book and I hope they will appear in future installments. I was a little sorry that the two linesmen characters who played a part in book 2 were barely mentioned in this book. I highly recommend the series and suggest you read them in order for best enjoyment.

Audio Notes: Brian Hutchison does a great job with the character voices and the intensities and nuances. I turned this on every chance I could, eager to hear more. This was great listening enjoyment for me.

As always it's been entertaining

Although I enjoy this series the number of characters is slightly overwheming, add in the number of ships, worlds and politics and its a challenge to keep track of it all. Still, I enjoy the central character interaction, namely Ean and Radeck (sp?). I really look forward to the next installment...and there had better be one! Definitely a series I recommend.

As for the narrator, he does a good job distinguishing character voices, and that's saying something with the number of characters he has to cover.

The speed of this particular installment was just right. There was plenty of action but it was balanced with moments of rest and lighthearted banter. Some stories I've read/listened to don't know how to provide the right amount and can leave you worn-out, not so here.

Give this series a try, you wont regret it!

So good, listened the third time through series!

Really enjoyable! Hope the next installment is available soon! Worlds, Alliance (s), politics, wit, romance.

Begging for MORE

How do I describe this book? The concept is original, the characters are amazing, the whole story is captivating. I can't say enough, except that I need more, I am officially begging for more. If you haven't gotten this series yet, what are you waiting for?

Great SciFi Trilogy!!

On par with Herbert’s Dune trilogy and Asimov’s Foundation trilogy!! Imaginative human and machine interface!

Good pacing overall, but...

I enjoyed this book, but was often frustrated by Ian's whiny attitude on so many occasions. I am glad we reached a steady state in the story to build on, but my goodness, I'd like to see more progress in the overall story.

Another five star book in a unique series.

This series is absolutely brilliant and unique making it stand out in a genre being overrun with limited or duplicative imaginings of late...i love it's originality and character development, this series technology is a potent reminder that any tech advanced enough seems like magick and our cast of characters learning and not having a full understanding of it is well incorporated into the plot, so much so that all three books so far have been filled with discovery and kept my eyes and imagination glued to it.