Sojourn

The Silver Ships, Book 13

By: S. H. Jucha

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Artifice, the great enemy, has been defeated. The sister SADEs, Omnian sentient digital entities, are free from their boxes. Most humans are unaware that the sisters have duplicated themselves many more times than suspected. They now constitute a sizable, powerful group, calling themselves the Sisterhood.

The elimination of Artifice’s rule should be a time of relief and recovery for Alex Racine’s Omnian fleet and for the Toralians, whose home world was Artifice’s lair. Instead, it’s a chaotic period.

Visitors appear, sailing the distinct, black-hulled Toralian battleships. Five colonial governors wish to witness the recovery of the ancient home world. President Sargut welcomes them, but Alex is suspicious about the governors’ motives. In a face-to-face meeting, it becomes clear that the governors have a dark, ulterior purpose.

With the release of the federacy from Artifice’s reign, word reaches the Omnians that races are embracing their newfound freedom. Some enjoy peace, some desire expansion, and some yearn for revenge.

The races’ latter choices mean danger for the Toralians and Alex’s fleet. Powerful battleship fleets are either sailing for the Toralian home world to exact reprisals, or they’re seeking new territory. Every encounter presents a challenge for the Omnian fleet.

Some fleets have crossed the federacy’s boundary and are headed toward humankind’s worlds. Alex and the Omnians face a difficult choice. They must choose whether to defend the Toralian home world, which is forming a nascent society, or chase the fleets that are headed toward their planets.

©2019 Scott H. Jucha (P)2019

Solid Silver Ships story

I've been with this series from the beginning and like the way this book took its time an fleshed out the characters a bit more than previous books. If you remind yourself how "Alex" started in book one it is kind of a stretch to accept his swagger towards the end of this book, but I then flipped through the previous titles and remember how much his character has gone through.

Some very interesting topics introduced in this book and it is nice to have a 15 hour listen to 'mentally chew' on. I did find myself going back a few chapters when I had lost my way - that is a complement as if I wasn't engaged I would let it just slip by.

I look forward to the next book and this narrator.

Character development…

Most fascinating is JH Jucha’s ability to distinguish between each character diction, vocabulary, and the narrator’s ability to bring out the vastness of each. The same voice having so many different distinct layers, personas. Cadence, pitch, tenor, meter…… Even when the story line has a flat spot the voice actors performance carries the arc more than enough to “sail” through it’

Continues to keep me entertained

This instalment still manages to touch on my different emotions. Humour, sadness, frustration, forgiveness and others.

Engaging

This is one of my favorite series. I am so glad I discovered S. H. Jucha. This is book number 13 of the series. I felt that Jucha was using this installment to bring loose ends together and unite the system that was ruled by Artifice before heading home.

The book is well written and suspenseful with the discovery of a fleet on the way to their home world. It is great to visit Alex Racine and friends. My favorites are still the SADA’s. I can hardly wait for the next issue to come out.

The book is fifteen hours and twenty minutes. Grover Gardner does an excellent job narrating the book. Gardner has won all the awards for audiobook narration. In 2018 he was the Publishers Weekly “Audiobook Narrator of the Year” and Audiofile Magazine’s “Best Voice of the Century”.

I liked it

I didn't think it was a waste of time. A fine addition to an excellent story!