Catalyst Audiobook By Rachel Ford cover art

Catalyst

Tribari Freedom Chronicles, Book 1

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Catalyst

By: Rachel Ford
Narrated by: Megan Green
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For a week, Brek Trigan has left behind the frigid nights and icy days of life on the mining colony he calls home. He's on holiday to his ancestral planet, and he finds a sparkling, welcoming world of riches and warmth.

But the longer he remains, the more he begins to see cracks in the glistening façade. When civil unrest erupts, Brek's plans for a peaceful getaway are dashed. Suddenly he's drawn into a conflict that will change the fate of his people, whether he wants to be or not.

©2019 Rachel Ford (P)2019 Rachel Ford Dystopian Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Engaging Worldbuilding • Thought-provoking Critique • Distinct Character Voices • Likable Protagonist • Parallel Storyline
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Listener received this title free

I am writing this review after almost finishing book 3. So far, as a whole, I really like the series, and I can now see where this book fits in with the rest. But I have to rate this on its own merits, and I find those a little lacking. But just remember, that if you keep on with the rest of the series, this book makes much more sense. I guess that you could say that this book is much better in hindsight than it is when you are actually in the middle or end.

So starting with the good...I like the writing. The style is clear, good choice of words, interesting characters, good flow. I was interested and wanted to get to the end to see what would happen. The narrator was engaging.

Now for the down sides. The book is short...really short. And overall it felt like nothing much really happened until the end. And I did not like the end...far to abrupt. I wanted to know more, or at least tell me if there was nothing more to know. Early on in the book, I really noticed the strong S sounds from the narrator, to the point that they distracted me from the story. I would be listening and think there goes another bunch of Ss (esses?). I noticed this less as the book went on, but early on it caught my attention more than the story, and I tend to think a narrator should be unnoticed as much as possible. Finally almost all of this story was taken from a male perspective, so having a female narrator just did not seem to fit.

With all of this, I still rate this book as "Pretty Good" (3 stars) (and once combined with the other books, my rating goes much higher).

I was given a free copy of this book at my request in exchange for a fair and honest review, and have voluntarily left this review.

Good start but too short and unsatisfying ending

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Listener received this title free

I did enjoy this series. It’s a bit to political for me to really get into it. Maybe because it felt a bit to real. Rachel Ford’s artistic world building makes it easy to get sucked into the story. Pretty dark and gritty compared to her other series I’ve read. I did like that.

Not fond of the narrator. I’d prefer to read the book over listening to this narrator. She has a lisp and it’s just too distracting to enjoy the book.

-I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.-

👍🏻

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Listener received this title free

This slice of life featured a miner from. the future as he goes on vacation and back home. I liked the way the author used his isolation to show us the world without long information dumps, using instead his false expectations being burst to set the tone. Good narration and solid writing. I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Slice of life

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This story is written about a world on the brink of revolution. Poor Brek was in the wrong place at the wrong time I would have liked for his story/personality to grow and become more developed. I was shocked and a bit sad that the book ended so quickly. :-o Not quite keen on the narrator. Her intonations didn’t seem to line up with the way the word building was intended (IMO). Ending would have been nicer if I had more of the story to read. ;-) 


My star ratings include these 5 elements:

1★ story line
1★ engaging characters
.75★ use of world building/descriptions
0★ narration or editing
1★ the ending

3.75 ★'s

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Listener received this title free

The Tribari book series has great examples of people longing for freedom from a class-based society. Rachel does an excellent job showing how three different people from varying backgrounds all come to the same conclusion and work for their goals. This type of genre is very reminiscent of Ken Follett's novels, where he introduces multiple characters, and at first, you are wondering how they have anything in common or how their stories relate, only to be brought together through the plot.

The only downside was that the narrator was made it difficult for me to listen to the entire series - only the storyline saved it. Her diction was fine, but she dropped her intonation at the end of almost every sentence, which is not how we talk, and it sounded very unnatural.

The storyline saved this audio series

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Listener received this title free

This is the fifth book I’ve read/listened to by this author, and second of this series. What a different style story from her Traveling Taxman Series!
I previously listened to book 3 of this series and am writing this review after completing the series.
This book follows a pivotal character, Brek. He goes back home from vacation after he has a chance meeting with Grel and winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once home he has to deal with an issue at work that tests his morality. The outcome helps set the base for his future decisions.
This has the feel of a prequel when the story contained has pivotal background information for the main plot, but it is actually a parallel story. Brek’s story crosses into an event in Uprising: Book 2.

This is the second book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Megan Green ) and I would listen to another. Yes, she has slight speech impediment, but I did not find this to be an issue. Like some other narrators, it just took a bit to get used to. I enjoyed this book more than the first I listened to.
Her character voices are, for the most part, distinct. She performs the book more than she reads it.
There is some static in the background of the audio. It was a bit disruptive. It depended on which earbuds I used if I could hear it or not.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Parallel story

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Listener received this title free

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. The narrator does a wonderful job, and I hope that the narrator does a lot more narration. For a first book in a series, it does a great job of setting up the rest of the series, I can't wait for the rest of the series. After listening to the rest of the series, I will say that the rest of the books and narration did not disappoint at at all.

For first 4 books

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Listener received this title free

**** SPOILER ALERT ****
I listened to Megan Green's narration of Ford's "Catalyst: Tribari Freedom Chronicles, Book 1" in Audible.
"Catalyst: Tribari Freedom Chronicles, Book 1" is the inaugural book set in Ford's "Tribari universe".
As is to be expected the author does a phenomenal job of world building and character development. The book drew me in and kept me on the edge of my seat.
I highly recommend this book in any format that you can get it in.
I listened to this book on audible and was impressed by both the production values and the narrator. Green does a superb job of bringing this story to life.  I'm a long time NLS Talking Books patron, other NLS Talking Books patrons will  recognize the following for the high praise that it is. Green's narration is on a par with long time NLS narrator Bob Askey.  I look forward to hearing more of Green's work in  the future.
In the interest of transparency: I was given a free review copy of this book and I am voluntarily sharing this review.
It is my own honest opinion. 

A great read in any format.

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Listener received this title free

An easily readable, but fairly predictable short story illustrating the evils of capitalism and corporatism. When I finished it, I was curious if it would tie into the rest of the series or if it would be a stand-alone. As it turns out, having finished the series now, it does tie it, FYI.

Note: I received a free copy of this book. I chose to listen and review it.

pretty good

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I should note that the main reason I picked this up is because I listened to Ford’s T-Rexes and Tax Law and absolutely loved it. Though I still got Ford’s writing style, this book definitely has a different, darker feel to it.

This was a really short audiobook and left me desiring more from it. Luckily, this is a series, so I hope Rachel Ford expands more upon … well, everything. On one hand, I can understand writing something short to whet the appetite for readers to continue the series. On the other hand, this may have been too brief. Aside from this being incredibly short, I think there may be great potential here. Ford merely hinted at what’s to come and I think (or hope) that we’ll see a big change coming to Brek’s story arc in the series.

I don’t know if Megan Green was the best narrator for this series. I think her posh British accent does work well for citizens in Brek’s ancestral home, but I really didn’t like her voice for Brek himself. It’s slow and makes him seem sort of stupid, when he’s merely a bit naive when it comes to what is really going on in Red Central. If Brek remains the central figure in this series, I wish that they the author or publisher had selected a male narrator or someone who is really good at male voices.

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Interesting start to a series

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