A tie-in to THE SECRET KING: LETHAO

The Secret King: Lethao is one of my favorite space opera novels and an audiobook I recommend everyone pick up. This is a side story which features medical doctor Brie as she lives on a dying planet that will soon be evacuated. This is a work which you should only pick up after the original novel but I enjoyed greatly as a supplement. The audiobook narration is excellent and continues the tradition of the series.

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Really adds to the world Dawn Chapman is building!

This is the second of the side stories of the Secret King series I have read, and it is just as well realized as the first. Brie has just graduated from medical school at the top of her class, and decides she want to be stationed at the front lines hospital, helping as best she can patch up the wounded from the war against the invaders bent on destrying her world. While there, she becomes entangled in a plot to keep their kingdom together with some loyal army officers, who are trying to get information back to the king, all while dealing with traitors in their midst! With their sun dying, and enemies without and within, what help can she possibly do? More than you'd think in this excellently plotted and executed story. The characters are sympathetic, and fully developed within the framework of the story. Their world is on the brink, and this is shown in many ways, and the people themselves are amazingly written.
Holly Adams again nails the characters and tone of the story, really bringing it to life.

I recommend this story for any fans of good character driven sci fi.

I was given a copy of this book free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review through Audiobook Boom.

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2 people found this helpful

Bree vs the world

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.

Brie just passed her exams to become a doctor. On her first day, an injured soldier comes to the hospital and insists on getting highly secretive/important information to the king. His injuries prevent him from making the journey himself, so he enlists his inexperienced brother on the mission. While this is going on, another soldier also comes to the hospital and needs to be protected, but he, too, needs to send the king super secret/important information. The mission is complicated by the presence of unknown spies: who can they trust?

Goodreads/audible didn't indicate it, but I think this short story is a sequel(?) / alternate ending to a full length novel "The Secret King: Lethao". I did not read the novel. While the short story seems written so you don't need to read it, I think the background knowledge would have helped a lot. The problem is that so much seems to be happening in the short story. We're introduced to a multitude of characters/places/devices/technologies with non-english names which made it a little difficult for me to follow. Some of the characters are referred to differently (eg: by race and also by name at different times), which made it a little bit harder for me to follow. I ended up reading some of parts twice to understand everything going on. The perspective changes between the main character and a side character a few times, but the divides don't happen with separate chapters so it took me a moment to figure it out. I'm guessing the print edition has little breaks to denote it, but they don't translate well into an audiobook.

One thing I don't like is something David Baldacci did in "The Finisher". The author replaced a few common words with other words. I guess it's supposed to show a different culture or something, but I hate it. In particular, the author uses "cycles" instead of "years" to measure time. eg instead of being 27 years old, she's 27 cycles. I think the author did the same thing with "days" (was it "sessions" or "shifts" or something?), but I don't recall the exact word.

With all that said, I'd give it a 3.5/5 for someone who isn't familiar with the world. I suspect it'll be higher for people who are familiar with the world, so I'll round it to 4/5

Narrator did a fantastic job. She uses emotions and portrays injured people very well. 5/5

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Loved it!

Any additional comments?

Yet another great audiobook, I actually finished it yesterday morning, but a looming art history exam kept me from being able to sit down at the computer and devote a few minutes to typing out my review. Either way, here it is.

This audiobook is actually intertwined with the last one I listened to, it shows the plight of this fascinating alien race that is introduced in the first one.

With this one, you'll learn about this alien race and its plight primarily trough the eyes of a young doctor on her first assignment. It also pops into a few other points of view for a limited time to complete the picture of what happens. Overall, I must say well done! It kept my attention and I didn't get lost while listening to it. Not only that, but I found it hard to put away.

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