The “Seafort Saga” on Audiobook (Audible)

I started listening to book one (Midshipman’s Hope) in November 2024 and finished with book seven (Children of Hope) at the end of September 2025.  These are long books, between eighteen and twenty-four hours.  Vikas Adam narrated five books, Jed Drummond one, and Josh Hurley also just one.  Truth be told, they all had flaws that irritated me. Adam had several grating pronunciations that Hurley also used.  All mispronounced words; Drummond had the fewest.

The “Seafort Saga” is one of my favorite novel series, but I have to admit that it was extremely painful to listen to at times.  You just want to slap the characters for being prideful or for adhering to the very strict moral code that the space Naval Service adheres to.

Even though it would lengthen them even more, I would love to hear at least the first three redone as “full cast” audios with multiple voices.  There were times that the narrators just weren’t up to the varied voices and book five (Voices of Hope) that deals with ‘transpops’ (think New Yorkers with a degraded slang speech) almost gave me a headache at times to listen to.

I have mixed feelings about this set. I acquired each book over time with months of getting Audible deals, so it didn’t cost me a lot, but I wish it could be done by a better studio.

JT with David Feintuch 1998

Meeting David Feintuch at BucConeer (56th WorldCon and my first) in 1998 was an amazing afternoon that cemented my love of SF fandom. I just wish the audiobooks left him a better legacy.

 

The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (2025)

This is the seventh book in Scalzi’s most well-known series that started with Old Man’s War.  You don’t have to have read from the beginning to read this book, but you will miss out on some of the context.  (Plus, the other six books are worth it.) Last I heard, there will be a Netflix series based on OMW coming out sometime…it may have been delayed.

If you’ve never read a John Scalzi book before, you will either like his style or not.  Almost everything he’s written in the last few years is in a very conversational style, and there is a high “snark” quotient in many of those conversations.  I find his work to be a very ‘easy’ read in that they can be read quickly.  This is not to say he skimps on character or world-building if it’s necessary.  I found myself very interested in the character named “Ran” who is of the Obin race in this book.

Scalzi took a lot of time off of writing in the OMW universe. I respect that he wanted a good story to tell before coming back to it, and I think he told it.  I hope we’re not done completely with the cast of characters he’s created.

 

Framed in Death by J.D. Robb (2025)

I put this on hold at just the right time, so I was one of the first few library readers to devour this book.  This is the umpty-zillionth in the “in Death” series written by Nora Roberts under her pen name J.D. Robb.  My standard advice is, if you are new to the series, don’t start here. Go back to Naked in Death and see if you like that one. If you do, you’ll be OK with the standard two sex scenes in every book, and the bracketing of every case with death/investigation/takedown/interrogation-confession, all centering around Eve Dallas, Lt. NYPSD and her life partner Roarke (dreamy billionaire/former thief).

What makes this series fun to read (and I’ve read all of them) are the now-large cast of supporting characters that experience growth, and fun details of the universe that Robb has fleshed out over time.  As one example, there is almost no Coca-Cola in this universe, but in this book it actually gets mentioned.  I noticed!

Robb releases this book series on a twice-a-year schedule. (Even with a formula, how does she do it? There are some decent deep facts that make it into each book.) I need to go put a reminder in to place the next hold in January for a February release.