Vortex Stingray

The Guardian Covenant, Book 2

By: Kevin Ikenberry

Narrated by: James R. Cheatham

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Go big or go home!

After the cataclysm known as The Last Stand, humanity fled to the stars. Earth has now been lost to the Gimfa, giant alien creatures bent on destruction and chaos. The benevolent Galactic Alliance gave humanity a colony world—Lewa—to call our own, but they have given humanity one condition: our Guardians must remain unarmed as they aren’t allowed to join the elite Alliance Corps military force.

Still, the Guardians remain, and it takes outstanding pilots to operate them. After a childhood tragedy, though, Zaniah Mott no longer wants to follow in her famous ancestor’s footsteps and fight the Gimfa. Enjoying a quiet life on the beaches of Lewa, she’s as far removed from the Guardian Covenant as possible… until the Gimfa arrive there.

Even after fifty years of progress, though, the Guardians are still outmatched and ungainly in the face of the aliens, but scientist Duncan Black believes he’s found an answer to the Guardian’s problems. He just needs the right pilot for his customized creation, Vortex Stingray, and he’s sure that Zaniah is the one. With Zaniah in the cockpit, Vortex Stingray joins the other Guardians in the defense of Lewa, but is she setting humanity on the path to membership in the Galactic Alliance, or will she see humanity eliminated by the Gimfa for all time?

©2023 Kevin Ikenberry (P)2023 Kevin Ikenberry

Earth 0 - GMFA 1

50 years after the fall, the remnant of the Human race is among the stars. Earth is but a memory. What was once a proud people of 9 billion souls is reduced to a meager 1 million or so. New allies have hidden away the Earthlings in relative safety as they reconstruct their society and lick their wounds. Everyone knows the respite is only temporary though. The GMFA are relentless and eventually will find their pray again. It's only a matter of time.

To that end, the Humans and their allies have been pushing forward the Guardian program with all possible speed. Great strides have been made and even more stumbles where the Earthlings try to prove their worth to the alliance. When the GMFA do finally find appear, they are met with inexperienced young Guardian pilots with boat loads of arrogance and little else. Is this a repeat of Earth?

Enter the Stingray. This prototype mech is a revolution of engineering and AI. Could this be the key to turning the tide against the marauding aliens?

Action aplenty and continued military jargon at it's best, all delivered in a satisfying way by the narrator.

Turmoil in the first half, but then awesome!

Book 2 - Takes place 50 years after the first book and we (humans) are a second class citizen in a galactic alliance with our guardians - Although they're not allowed to be armed for reasons unknown, we make due! - The start of the book was alright but has too much melodrama and self pity in the main character until later on in when they finally decide to stop beating around the bush and agrees to be the pilot they were always meant to be, then the book ramps up and gets real good!

Decent story and a good pace of action and plot development, I would've preferred the story have less whining from the main character, but that is a personal take.

Story wise - not as good as book 1, but still an awesome read
Action wise - If you have a vivid imagination, it's a lot like if the movie "Pacific Rim" happen on another planet and we had alien allies.

Not bad

Book was not bad but not great as to that it wasn’t a waste of money and it helped past the time

Concentrated storyline

It was easier to follow than book 1. The characters backgrounds were clearer and flowed into the story better. Can't wait for book 3!