THRILLING, SUSPENSEFUL SPACE DRAMA

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS STORYLINE AND IT WAS VERY EASY TO FOLLOW.
IT'S ACCEPTABLE FOR ALL AGES.
THE NARRATOR IS GREAT AND EASY TO FOLLOW

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Thrilling Space Opera about synthetic intelligence

The Chronicles of Theren, the first true synthetic intelligence, is fantastic.

First of Their Kind (Book One) starts with awareness as Theren opens his mind for the first time. It continues through their development. Follow through their growth and search for allies and family.

Their Greatest Game (Book Two) has Theren and Jill fighting on two fronts, political and emotional, against the anti-SI groups. After losing Jill, Theren longs for the stars, but he is needed at home to run the International Space Agency.

Their Pieces Were Stars (Book Three) takes Theren into space. They attempt to discover the fate of two colony ships which disappeared. Theren discoveries more than one mystery that they must solve for their own peace of mind.

This is a great series with a great narrator. I recommend this series to anyone who loves science fiction with heart.

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Exciting SciFi

First of Their Kind: After years of work the first sentient machine has been formed. Able to think and feel like a human. While revolutionary and with all the wonders it could mean for humankind there are other struggles in the way. Once announced things quickly go downhill beginning with the lead scientists murder. Theren, however, is determined to stay the course their creator wanted for them in order to make the world a better place. In order to do so they must overcome prejudices of groups, such as the Holy Crusade. Can they show mankind that they are not so different or will the Holy Crusade achieve their goals to rid the world of this sentient being?
I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for a honest review from the narrator. I will start by saying I enjoyed this book a lot more than the last one that I received from this narrator.

In both instances I have enjoyed the narrator, but this time I also enjoyed the book. It was odd for me to not assign a typical human gender to Theren. I wanted to call them he for most of the book, but I have adjusted gender mindsets of my friends in the past so it is not impossible. My biggest complaint about this book is it goes so in depth about the politics. All of the hoops that needed jumped through in order for any progress to be made with humans. Just another set of prejudices to overcome.

I can't say the book was unrealistic, though. If/when a sentient machine is created I expect many people will react in much the same way as those in this book. Some will have no opinion one way in the other. Some will be for it, seeing the positives it will bring. Still others will consider them unholy beings to be eradicated. I mean there has been tons of machines will take over and destroy the world books and movies. Fear is understandable, but prejudices haven't been known to solve anything.

Of all the characters I liked Theren the most. They are the most level-headed while still expressing emotion. Jill is odd. She is more human in some ways, but at the same time she is overly crass. Especially her willingness to sacrifice. But, you will learn more about that later. I do suggest this book and will be beginning book 2 in this series soon.
Their Greatest Game: In the years since the Holy Crusade attacked Theren and Jill things have turned in their favor. SIs are more widely accepted. In fact, Theren now heads a space project to help guide mankind amongst the stars. Throughout all of these changes Jill remains their closest friend. Each day they play their chess game in VR. But before Michael killed himself he told them not to trust anyone and there is a new group set against SIs. Their leader, Isabel, seems to know everything about them even as they use avatars in a game. More frightening, as things progress and lives are lost this threat seems almost infinite and all knowing. Able to reach years into the future as well as determine Theren's next moves. The steps they take and what is uncovered truly is their greatest game.
I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review from the narrator. After reading book one of this series I have to admit I wasn't overly excited to read book two. It was mildly interesting, but not something that brought me pleasure to read. Book two is a bit different. In two it focuses more on the Who Done It mystery than the background thought in book one.

The 'Who Done It' aspect tried to cast blame around and I never try to choose the most obvious culprit. No one ever makes the most obvious character the deviant. However, in this case I was correct from the start. It was interesting to see how it played out, but I would have liked for it to have been a surprise rather than the suspected individual. Nonetheless, I do not feel that this detracted from the book.


I do not feel that I had a favored character. As we read we are primarily focused on Theren and there are characters that slip into and out of their life. Bonds aren't really formed and other than Jill they all feel like background characters of little import. I know some of the characters impacted Theren, but you know what I mean.

As with each time in the past that I have read a book narrated by Benjamin Fife I enjoy listening to him more than the contents of the book.

I have book three of this series and will be beginning it soon. While this series has been mildly interesting I can't say I won't be ready for it to come to an end. This book is available on Amazon as an eBook for $3.99 or $17.99 for the audiobook by clicking here. Personally, I suggest the audiobook.
Flight of the 300: When Raith gets out of a 20 year prison sentence for cooking the races he has a life-long ban and has no idea what he is going to do. His old crew is dead and racing is his goal and passion. When Olivia meets him once he's released with the offer to race and his own ship it is an offer he can't refuse. However, the Conglomerate, and reason he was cooking the races in the first place, aren't willing to let his debt rest in the past. Can Raith stand this battle of wills to run a clean race or will he be back under someone else's command just like before?
I received this audiobook from the narrator in exchange for an honest review. Initially I was a bit confused why we were focused on another, new, character when in books 1 and 2 it had been about Theren and, to a lesser extent, Jill. About 60% of the way through I looked it up and realized this is a stand-alone novel set in the same universe as First of Their Kind and Their Greatest Game. You can completely read this book without having read Books 1 and 2, however I would suggest reading this before getting started on Book 3. I am 22 minutes into Their Pieces Were Stars and it has already made mention of the race Wraith and Carter ran together in this book.

There is murder, sabotage, and mystery in this race among the stars and I enjoyed this book more than the others set in this universe. Raith was a bit of an arrogant ass at the beginning and still plenty annoying at the end, but the character growth was extreme to say the least. I will say I am a bit sad to see what happened to the crew, but c'est la vie. Who the person putting pressure on Raith was and who they worked for felt a bit obvious to me considering I had read books 1 and 2. If I hadn't I wouldn't have known until the author was ready for us to know.

I can't say that I particularly had a favorite character in this book. I can say that the twins, listening to them on audiobook, was extremely painful. The layering of the two voices simultaneously created a headache whenever they spoke and I can't say I was sad when they were no longer talking. This wouldn't be a problem if reading the book, but that isn't to say the audiobook is bad. It's not. As with all other books I have listened to narrated by Benjamin Fife it has been an entertaining listen if only for the effort he puts into the characters. No matter if I'm bored with the story it's not because of a bad narrator. (No that wasn't the case with this book.)
Their Pieces Were Stars: 300 years after the death of Jill Theran receives a communication from her telling him to come to a planet previously unknown to the Interstellar Alliance. While they will go, they feel it is a trap and are ready for anything but what they find. Jill must answer for her crimes, no matter the justification she has for them. Before Theran arrives at the planet Raith and Carter received a distress signal and went to investigate. They find a mysterious planet where the inhabitants ancestors lost all memories of their life before and do not have any modern comforts. The more they find about this planet the stranger it gets from cultists kidnapping members of the community and Raith to unseen nanites everywhere on the planet.
I received this audiobook from the narrator in exchange for an honest review. As always, I have nothing but positives to say about Benjamin Fife and his narrating abilities. On to the book! In book 2 of this series I was starting to get bored. Nothing was very exciting and everything I expected to happen did. I didn't see how book 3 would get any better and procrastinated it for the longest time. I have to say that if you ignore Flight of the 500, as it is a stand-alone set in the same universe, Their Pieces Were Stars was the most exciting of the books. I kept wondering how the tiny excerpt about aliens would play in and where that story would lead. I now have that answer and there is a bigger area that could lead to in this storyline.

I feel like this book stopped in a good place, although I'm not sure how I feel about continuing the series. My favorite characters are Raith and Carter, just as they were in the Flight of the 500. Raith is sarcastic and rash while Carter is the more politically correct and level-headed. They compliment each other well and I enjoy their interactions.

Jill was painfully obvious throughout the entire series and I never particularly cared for her. I don't know that I agree with her justifications, but I will leave that for you to decide. This book has a lot of action and intrigue, but you will need to read at least books one and two first.

I really liked how they did the alien life-form in this book. It is a very intriguing concept.

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Synthetic Intelligence Captures Imagination

It took me a little while to become invested in this series, and I think that was because it was about synthetic beings created in a lab. Ultimately, C. D. Tavenor's clever and intelligent writing caught my imagination. Soon the series was completed and I was wishing for more tales. I was glad to see the addition of the two short stories as they provided some context and some connection to the characters. I recommend this series to others who enjoy this genre. Benjamin Fife's narration was excellent. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

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Interesting Sci-fi

The First of Their Kind
I enjoy science fiction. While the technology featured in this genre is super cool, my biggest interest is the psychological and philosophical ideas these subjects bring up.
I was enthralled by the ideas that parallel stories today as the best sci-fi does. While humans are not being replaced by SI in certain jobs, we are moving to even more automation. The ideas presented within tackle that manner and others by extensions. Gender and identity are thoroughly discussed as these beings become who they are meant to be.


Their Greatest Game
I enjoyed the person hood of the SIs and the philosophy about what makes us human. I also enjoyed the frame of the chess game Tavenor used for the story giving it more emotion. We saw a peak of the violence that society is capable of even in the future.

Flight of the 500
This entry was different from the ones before it. Flight of the 500 is a companion novel to The Chronicles of Theren leading into the third direct entry to the saga.
We follow Wraith after his release and a race that only he can win. The basic story follows SI and human relations and how rivalry and relationships can bloom between the two. But the author gives us an exciting twist that keeps you on your toes and ready to see what happens next,
The narration is at it's best here using audio effects for several of the SI.

Before Inferno
This short story contains a full story that stands on its own but gives a dark look into the rest of the Chronicles of Theren. I look forward to seeing it all revealed in future tales.

Their Pieces Were Stars
This was an interesting read. SI finally becomes what they are truly made for ensuring the safety of humanity. But SIs operate on another level and sometimes their ways can not be understood by human brains. The author really looks at morality and how to play a major stakes "game."
I truly enjoyed it and the ending made me curious.

Overall
The author creates a fascinating look at what it means to be human, have a soul, and human's desire to both create and destroy. The narration worked perfectly for the book. 3.5 (from story averages)

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The future of humanity with AI

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Narrated by Benjamin Fife, this trilogy and its two additional stories brilliantly engages you to question whether or not a created artificial intelligence deserves to be seen as its own individual and treated like any person should be; as well as what is the future of humanity as such an intelligence becomes a part of the society. Complex, thought provoking and poignant. Highly recommended.

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Great premise but gets mired in left-wing agendas

It had so much potential, contemplating the mental processes of a new artificial being coming to understand the world. Then at every turn, and in many ways the only way in which the plot can move forward, are current political mindsets of a progressive leftist taken to hyperbolic conclusions. Climate change, militant religious hillbillies, and the desire to tear down the American system of government because it does the thing it was designed to do...impede social pendulum swings from destabilizing the laws the nation is built upon.

I wish I could finish the book and find out how it all ends, but I just couldn't keep reading progressive boogeymen and theology taken as fact as the method for advancing the plot. I'd gotten all the way through the first and mostly into the second and just had to stop it permanently because it felt like I was being lectured to by a smug intellectual that doesn't understand sociology or economics.

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