Jaunts of the Mantis Audiobook By Jim Henderson cover art

Jaunts of the Mantis

Mantis Saga, Book 1

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Jaunts of the Mantis

By: Jim Henderson
Narrated by: Robin Howatt Shrock
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When Ximon Sabo retires from the Kremniy Republic Scout Force he’s awarded a retired scout ship, the Mantis, but he has to find work to keep her flying. On missions across a dozen solar systems, Ximon and his crew make first contact with an alien species, pull off a daring rescue from a beleaguered outpost, face hostile pirates, and even face a murder mystery. The Mantis team - a female engineer with a drinking problem, a sensor operator who’s also a priest, Ximon’s sexy companion robot, and the ship’s AI computer - must work together to face challenge after challenge, before they run out of money or the ship falls apart around them.

If you like hard sci-fi and space opera novels with a Firefly or Expanse vibe, or if you enjoy inter-galactic role-playing games such as Traveller or Starfinder, you'll love this audiobook. Jaunts of the Mantis will hook you with intense space action, while its rich, colorful characters, and engaging stories keep you coming back for more.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Jim Henderson (P)2021 Jim Henderson Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Mystery
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I found the beginning of this book a little hard to get into. There were times when it became a bit to scientific. As the story progressed it slowly got better. I hope the author continues with the series as I would like to see what happens to the characters as the storyline unfolds.
I was given this free review copy audiobook ay my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good Start

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This work reads to me like the author was a participant in a long-running play-by-post roleplaying game and thought, "Hey! I could transcribe this and publish it!" I say this because it's very loosely formed; good bones but lacking flesh. There is also a major plot problem in the story of the scout base rescue. It's never explained why their small scout ship (which later on can land without problem on a stretch of unimproved grass by a sandy beach) must land dozens of kilometers from the base, use their ships vehicle to get most of the rest of the way there and then be forced to hike the final few kilometers. Especially when it turns out said base incorporates a cleared landing area large enough for an interplanetary shuttle! If this were a game, I would suspect the Gamemaster imposing these requirements arbitrarily in order to increase the chance of a random encounter with local fauna or difficult terrain. Another hint that this is a transcibed roleplaying game is how - in several scenes - the author's "explanations" of orbital mechanics make no sense at all. This would be fine for a game, assuming that all participants have agreed to overlook such things in the interest of creating a story together. But it's inexcusable in a published science fiction novel. Nevertheless, I intend to purchase the next book in this series, in the sincere hope that the author learns from these early lapses and improves. I am doing so because - despite the flaws - I really like the characters and wish them well!

Transcription Of A Play-By-Post?

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It took me a bit to get used for a woman voice as a narrator for a science-fiction book, its a first for me but eventually it worked up just fine.
Same with the writer Jim Henderson,
The beginning was a little slow, surprisingly as i kept listening it kept getting better and better with amazing unpredictable twists.

All i can hope is that the author will keep going with the same surprises on the rest of the series and that will let me continue reviewing it all.
Oded Ostfeld.

Excellent beginning for an excellent series!

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