Spaghetti Western meets solid sci-fi

The story is cliché and cheesy and all of those things that you love about a spaghetti western set in space. Yes the good guys win, yes the bad guys are just greedy and evil and have no real justification behind their motives, and yes the good guys come up with some unbelievable luck.

But it is entertaining and that's what these kind of stories are all about.

There are also some very solid sci-fi aspects of the series that I enjoyed.

8 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Terrible narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

A fairly good book. I just couldn't get past the narration. Every sentence sounded regretful.

5 persone l'hanno trovata utile

The first book is ok. The other two are weak.

The first book had a couple of plot twists that made the book. Unfortunately the lack of character development made for a long series. The main character was supposed to be this awesome guy who just can't catch a break. Yet everything goes easy for him and his crew and when it does not a piece of tech that he did not know about magically shows up to help him take over control of the "bad guys" brains and body's.

Throght the story the protagonist has it out for him yet is scarred of him. The reasons are a joke and make no sense because they continue put him in the exact situation they do not want. Even to the point of bringing him out of retirement from the army. He of course keeps breaking up all there evil plans yet they keep taking steps so he will be against them. It reminds me of Austin Powers when the son says "let's just shoot him, I have a gun we can do it together ". Of course they have to make an elaborate trap that puts him in the best possible position.

This does not even get into all the other characters. Good or bad there was no development. I had to rewind a few times just to even remember who died and I couldn't care less who got killed and who did not. The closest it came was for one character to mention that he used to be a fun practical joker before. Wow, super endearing.

Plot was weak, characters were no more than names on a page. Quite a let down.

4 persone l'hanno trovata utile

time filler

it was OK but more of a time filler while waiting for something better to be released

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

A good space opera.

For the most part a good story and characters. Not great but worth listening to.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

A great sci-fi action story!

After listening to Zero Point, a prequel to the Evan Gabriel Trilogy I knew that I would listen to the entire series. The Omnibus is a great way to get all three books in one package! Ray Chase is a great narrator and does an excellent job with this series. very entertaining!

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

More like the deus ex machina trilogy.

The formula for this book:
1) Describe in great detail all the mundane tasks & ordinary steps that the hero & other soldiers in the story perform, only throw in futuristic, outer space, sci-fi junk to pretend that it's interesting.
2) Write the hero into some impossible to win situation.
3) Miraculously save the hero. Use lucky circumstances sometimes but more often invent a new technology for the hero to employ. Occasionally just transform the bad guy into an idiot & let his ineptitude save the heroes.
4) Kill minor characters to pretend that there are stakes.
5) Repeat

Also the narration is not good.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Awesome trilogy

I couldn't stop listening to to this collection from the first book to the last. Steve Umstead is an extraordinarily talented author. His use of descriptive detailed words allowed me to envision each scene and character as if I were a part of the story. Ray Chase did a magnificent job narrating with his own unique style and use of distinct voices for each character. He made sure to add something to each so that the character's personality shined through.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY

Any additional comments?

The writing was mediocre at best. Maybe I'm just not a fan of Umstead's "style" if you can even call it that. What made it even worse was the awful narration by Ray Chase. I've never returned an audiobook on here before but I plan to with this one. Luckily I used a credit instead of paying. I just hope they will honor me with another credit upon return.

TL;DR
Bad author, worse narrator = SKIP THIS ONE!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Forgetable but inoffensive Sci-Fi

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Not really? It's hard to find any actual flaws with the writing when it's difficult to remember anything beyond the most basic aspects of the plot.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something with more substance ideally. Very unlikely that I will pick up anything by Steve Umstead in the future. Assuming that he writes more.

Have you listened to any of Ray Chase’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Ray Chase is probably the only reason that I finished this title. His performance is as good as it usually is.

Did The Evan Gabriel Omnibus inspire you to do anything?

Not in the slightest. "The Evan Gabriel" series is bland to the point that I had to go back several chapters to remember what I was supposed to be caring about in the story each time I picked it back up.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile