The Lost Signal

Slaves of Zisaida, Book 1

By: J.S. Fernandez Morales

Narrated by: Aaron Parker

An ancient threat returns to conquer humanity. They ruled the planet once and they will do it again. Humans can't fight this war - not without help.

For years, Dr. Ethan Fawkes has been communicating with a mysterious scientist using an encoded signal, and together, they designed the first spaceship meant for war. But when the government orders Ethan to dismantle it, his collaborator reveals a terrible secret. An army of powerful aliens is about to invade Earth, and humans must rush to prepare a defense or risk losing their freedom forever.

The future looks bleak and it's about to get worse.

Fiona has no memories of her origins, but somehow, she shares half her DNA with the invaders. For this, she lives a life of scorn and shame amongst humans. When the enemy arrives to enslave her village, will she help the humans who hate her or join the aliens who welcome her? The key to victory lies in the depths of her obscure past. Can she remember her true heritage before it's too late?

The Lost Signal is the first book in the Slaves of Zisaida trilogy: A riveting Science Fantasy saga about our galaxy's war for survival against an intergalactic threat. If you enjoyed Stargate, The Atlantis Gene, and Battlestar Galactica, get on this thrill ride. Come for the Space Force, stay for the aliens.

©2020 Jennifer Sarai Fernandez Morales (P)2020 Jennifer Sarai Fernandez Morales

Perhaps You've Chatted With An Alien

This book is in two different point of views. People are increasingly suspicious of the United States due to its treatment of the Japanese people. One point if view is a ragtag group called the Okinawa Six. Most of them are in the USA Space Force and it turns out that one of them (unbeknownst to him) has been chatting with an extraterrestrial via am encrypted signal. That extraterrestrial came to Earth to warn and help us of the impending war that is to come. Now it's up to them to save Earth.

I liked the way the author tied in the second POV. This book was well written and performed well by the narrator. There were very minor instances (2 if I remember correctly) where the volume changed slightly and I heard some background noise maybe a chair or maybe just an audio artifact. Nevertheless, it wasn't too distracting and didn't really interfere with the overall flow of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it sets itself up for a sequel. I'll definitely like to see where this story develops, it was a fun listen.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Solid Sci-Fi

In this sci-fi thriller, we see two different plotlines converge. The first is that of a group of military personnel who are trying to prepare Earth for an oncoming alien invasion. The other point of view is that of a little girl who is half human and half alien. When the aliens finally do invade, she finds herself at a crossroads of which side to defend.

This was a good, suspenseful book. Plenty of action and suspense to keep me sucked in. Characterization was done pretty well, especially with Fiona. The worldbuilding was also done particularly well.

Narration was okay for the most part though there were some background noises and other audio issues.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Needs better narration

The narration is really bad. The falsetto on female and child characters is cringe-worthy. Even with good narration, the dialog would have been clunky and unrealistic. All the characters, and the narrator, have the same voice. I couldn't get invested in the plot or any of the characters.

Interesting, lots going on

This book was very interesting. It is from alien perspective mostly. You do become attached to the characters by the end of the book. There’s a lot going on it in. A lot of perspectives bouncing back and forth. There are tones of “racism” as the main character is an alien human hybrid and thus doesn’t “belong” to either group and are accepted by them but also not.
I would rate this 6/10. I think it’s worth a listen if you are into alien stories and battles with adversity.

An intriguing tale of intertwining timelines

In the future we have the Okinawa Six, a ragtag group of veterans leftover from a war between Japan and America. In the distant past, we have Fiona, a survivor in her own right. But she’s more than that, too. She’s a special orphan girl struggling to come to terms with her own existence.

The narrative weaved by the author flows between the two timelines with ease, using words to paint a unique and vivid picture for each point of view. And though elements cross over, they are most definitely unique tales with unique styles—one a slow burn centered around military-political intrigue and the other a gripping and gruesome tale of survival.

This book is enthralling and refreshing at times, and at others becomes bogged down in exposition. For reference, my personal taste lies more towards more dialogue than narrative, unless we’re talking about an action sequence. Unfortunately, this book really struggles when it comes to the former. The conversations can be clunky, and the characters often accept explanations without question, almost as if everyone in this universe has never come across a lie before.

The book suffers from subpar narration. It was fairly obvious this narrator didn’t have many finished hours under his belt. The pacing left a lot to be desired and some of the voices used for the females (lookin’ at you Anabelle) sounded like nails on a chalkboard. There were several production issues, but overall the audio quality was decent. I'm sure he'll get better with practice.

The only other gripe I had with the story was the military-political aspect. As others have mentioned, you sometimes find yourself rolling your eyes even though you know it’s coming. Luckily, the story is interesting enough that they continue all the way around and leave you looking forward to the next part.

Keen to listen to th3 next.

This is the first book i have read/listened to by this author. The plot is between two storylines that eventually we learn the connection. One is a group of military people that are reunited to help an alien and a scientist prepare to defend Earth from an ancient race of aliens that are returning to reconquer the humans. The other is a young girl who is half alien and half human. Unaware of where she comes from, she’s been accepted by a human family if not the village. When the aliens come to enslave her village she is stuck in the middle. Each tangent was well written and I enjoyed how they eventually converged.

This is the first book I have listened to by this narrator ( Aaron Parker ). I think he did okay reading this book, but he more reads than performs the book. He gave most characters an identifiable voice, but his choice for the child was awkward to listen to. His expression was not always appropriate for the dialogue. Regardless, it was still an okay listen.

There are no explicit sex scenes, or excessive violence. There was the occasional swearing. There were editing issues with repeated sentences.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Sci-Fi with an Interesting Premise

Overall, this was a pretty good story. It features two converging plotlines, and each featured some interesting characters, a good bit of action, and a lot of world-building. At times, it felt a bit flooded with exposition, and I would have preferred less of the characters explaining to other characters what was going on. Some of the characters also felt a bit flat, but the plot moved fast enough that that didn't bother me too much.

As for the narration, I couldn't stand it. Not only were there a few times the audio skipped or had background noise, the voices lacked any variation. Women's voices especially were hard to listen to, and children were even worse.

I would give the second book a try if I could either get it in print or if there was a new narrator.

I was given this free copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Couldn't listen any longer!

The premise of this story sounds promising. I actually downloaded the book on my Kindle, but decided to check and see if Audible had it. I listened for no more than 10 minutes, enough to hear the narrator attempt to do the voices of several characters. It was awful! one character is supposed to be slightly drunk and I couldn't understand anything the narrator said. His attempt at the strong female characters voice was ridiculous and the high falsetto he used for a child was laughable. I'm going back to read the book on my Kindle. My ears can't take any more!!

A newbie sci-fi writer scores a hit!

As sci-fi’s go, this is a definite 5 star listen. It’s exciting, with details that mesh into place. There’s two points of view that keep you on your toes. I had no problem following the action because I often have two or three books going at a time.
The writer is very proficient—yay! So it’s professionally constructed, with all the story elements in place.
Let this be your next sci-fi adventure.