D D Godley

My original Refuge Planet audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

The Earth is just one planet in the millions that occupy the galaxy. It is special in that it supports life, not just Terran life, but other forms as well, even alien ones. Unknown to Earthlings, the protection of the planet and its life-sustaining capacity are far more important than the humans who would call it their own.

The story switches back and forth between first contact in 1947 and the alien return in 2020. We learn slowly the purpose and possible fate of humanity as the story unfolds. The earlier time is when the military is trying to make sense of a captured spacecraft and the one alien survivor. The later is about the mysterious disappearance of two teens, literally vanishing into a cloud of smoke. The mystery deepens as strange crystalline tree-like structures appear all over the world. Their purpose is unknown. Some claim it is the beginning of the Rapture, others a war on humanity and still others, just an unknown natural phenomenon.

There are so many new and interesting ideas and reasons to like the story, unfortunately, the action is slowed with lengthy descriptions of unimportant minutia. The story is seemingly just getting warmed up when it abruptly ends in preparation for its sequel.

The audio is performed by Nik Magill who does a generally good job. He has a pleasant voice and is easy to listen too. The characters are clearly defined. It is subtle, but there is a kind of jaunty tone to his voice lightening the story. It may or may not be appropriate to the story, there is not enough of the plot to know how things turn out to say for sure.

This is clearly book one in a series. It does say part one of two after-all. It is under four hours long, so this seems unnecessary to split it into two parts, but that is what the author decided. It is somewhat unfair to judge only half the story, but that is what is currently available. In which case, it is difficult to recommend at this point.

There are many interesting elements and ideas. Perhaps it is better suited as a young adult novel as the main characters are teens and their inept parents.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.… (mehr)