Mercs

Crimson Worlds Successors, Book 1

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Earth has been a scarred ruin for three decades, its scattered people struggling to survive amid the poisoned and radioactive wreckage of the final war between its despotic superpowers. While the people of Earth struggle to survive, out on the frontier, on a thousand worlds, mankind thrives and grows, building new civilizations and looking boldly to the future. But man has never been able to live in peace, and even Earth's sad fate has failed to slow the call to war. Most of the colonies lack the industry and economic power to sustain their own armies and navies, and they look to the mercenaries of the Great Companies for aid in time of war. These futuristic condottiere contract themselves to the highest bidder, and the mightiest strike fear into the hearts of all who oppose them.

Darius Cain is the leader of the Black Eagles, the most renowned of all the companies. A military genius, he has led his undefeated warriors from victory to victory. The Eagles command the highest rates of any of the companies, and leaders bankrupt worlds to pay their price. But amid the ruins of Earth and on planets all across occupied space there are signs of a greater darkness, a force working in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike, to launch a final war to reduce all mankind to slavery. As Cain slowly uncovers the truth, he must forge an alliance among old enemies, the other companies his men have fought for years...and the twin brother he hasn't seen in a decade. The Crimson Worlds are about to explode into a war that may be mankind's last.

©2015 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Love Darius Cain...

OK, I can see where some people didn't like this. Darius Cain and his Black Eagles was kind of brutal but he didn't kill as many civilians as some would. He didn't rape and plunder either. He was at war with the military. So, yeah I liked this book and am moving on to the next one.

Barely an ounce of romance and the F-bomb was used 27 times.

As for the narration: Awesome!!! Mark Boyett does such a great job on the voices and his emotions when he reads. Loved his voice for Cain.

The next generation of the Crimson Worlds

Any additional comments?

Another great book by J Allan. This book is the continuation of the fall, which is the last book of the Crimson world series. The story takes place 17 and 33 years after the fall and centers on the legendary general Eric Cain's two sons who have both risen to power but on opposite sides of politics and public opinion. Darius Cain is the leader of the mercenary army called the Black Eagles who contract their services out to the rich across the human colony worlds, resolving conflicts with extreme prejudice. Elias Cain is the leader of the planetary police enforcement agency. Elias enforces governmental planetary law with a strict blind justice approach. The two estranged brothers both face an unknown enemy that threatens both of their livelihoods and the existence of mankind. A great start to a new series.

Outstanding! One of Jay Allan’s Best

Just what I’ve come to expect from Jay Allan: another gripping military sci-fi novel! A case of sibling rivalry could possibly spell doom for the human race, and a Marine mother’s iron will and undying love will be sorely tested. And who is out to destroy the Black Eagles?!

And Mark Boyett does his usual outstanding job of narrating this story!

Should have read this before Galaxy's Edge

Please let me preface this by saying that the book is not bad. The story just feels to have the mechanics of a cheap dime novel. The momentum of the story is a little slow in the beginning but it does get better. The soldier interactions are a bit off. Doesn't really feel like a well-oiled military machine. And the profanity is thrown in haphazardly. of course some of this could just be the wrong narrator for the story. His voice and his character inflections just didn't seem right. I'm possibly spoiled by too many Marc Thompson projects. Of course I'm thrown off by the fact that the author had to blatantly state that the main character is Mars personified. A bit of a lofty claim to start a novel off on. the author however does spend a good amount of time building the plot which does get moving by the end of the book. I will be purchasing the second novel.

Great author

I like a good blow them up space marine story any day. The story line was good and action in the beginning was great. THEN!!! Batman came on the scene. Yep that's who two of the narrated characters sounded like to me. The low muffled sound of batman's voice. Became a little irritating there but wanted to hear the story. Why did the mother sound like Katherine Hepburn??? Really!!!
Overall beside some things I didn't like it was an excellent story.

Wow

I was on the edge of my seat while listening to this. Mark did an excellent job narrating. I got the feeling that this story would have been a much more of an enriching experience if I'd read The Crimson world series. I best get on that. Can't wait to delve into this series.

A good story and it keeps you coming back for more

Good story a little hard to follow but when you get the idea the story line becomes like a item you can't quite put down.

1st and 2nd chapter nearly made me return the book

While I understand there's a need to build back story for a series the 1st and 2nd chapter were was so slow and so boring I almost returned this book.

If the author used the term "in occupied space" or bragged about how the black eagles were the deadliest and most proficient mercenaries one more time I thought I was going to vomit.

Many times the author repeated information it seems for no good reason except maybe word count. Plot was predictable as were the characters.
Plot jumped around so much I got lost and had to back it up.

The exchange between brothers in the conference room was utter rubbish. Nobody let's someone Blather on through a 3 minute diatribe only to turn around and spew one back. Nobody talks like that. It reminded me of two poly sci students who got trapped in a debate club meeting. "Your 2 minutes are up, your opponent now has 2 min" I was so happy to have Mom come in and shut them the hell up.

You don't have to tell me they are speaking angrily every other paragraph, a good Narrator (and Rick Partlow is that and then some) will handle that FOR you.

Battle sceens were not fleshed out well, I couldn't begin to get into the fight since they only superficially describe most scenes.

Truly hope later books are better or this series is not long for my want list.

Boring, Boring, BORRRRRIIIING

As much as I really like other books in the Crimson World series, I really did not like this one too much. Both of Eric Caine's boys are mean and narcissistic. I disliked both characters so much, I had a hard time really getting into the book. Also, while there is some action in the book, it didn't captivate and draw me in like some of the author's other books did. The narrator did a good job but, overall, I found this book to be very boring and not at all captivating.

Not a complete story

This book is all set up for the rest of the series. Even in that regard the book is all about hints and innuendo. The author’s way of creating suspense is to withhold information.

Sadly, the book also has poor pacing. Mostly slow and dragging, rushing through action to create a sense of drama. Add to this a somewhat limited writing style, where characters literally say the same this to each other back to back in a conversation. For example: “If I recall correctly.” And “Old friend” are used by two characters in consecutive sentences by two characters in a single conversation. There are many other instances of language choice that is less than optimal or distracting. I blame the editor for this. These items are something an editor that actually read the book would easily have caught.

Finally, the author tells the reader instead of showing them. For example Caine is the greatest general ever. We get told this over and over again. (In fact if we took out half of these references we could probably fit in some story that advances the plot so we would actually have a beginning, middle, and end.). However, in the actual action scenes we are shown pretty standard tactics. Apparently, what makes him great is that he hires good people below him and lets them do their job. That’s actually great, but it does not support the statements the author uses to describe his character.

These are individual examples, but the issues can he found throughout the book. I take away that this is a new writer who is self publishing on kindle, and I fully support that. There is a lot of promise here. I recommend: getting a good editor to work on story, plot and actual writing, not just grammar and structure. Secondly, write a complete story instead of planning to write 3-7 books from the beginning. Finally, read a bit more in the genre and take nites on things you like, so you can replicate best practices in your own writing.

I will not be continuing the series.