Behind the Lines

Ganog Wars, Book 1

By: Chris Fox

Narrated by: Ryan Kennard Burke

Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Mankind's newest fleet has just been obliterated. Attacked without warning, enemy unknown. Their last transmission originated from a world on the edge of known space.

Alpha Company is dispatched to investigate. They're the best of the best. Hardcore warriors piloting battle-tested mechs, they've never lost an engagement.

Until they arrive on Ganog 7.

Now, shattered and stuck behind enemy lines, the remnants of Alpha Company struggle to survive. Between them and escape stand three Planetstriders, thousand-meter monstrosities capable of destroying an orbiting capital ship.

In order to survive, they must disable these titanic war machines, an impossible task made even more difficult by the discovery of a terrible secret - one that must reach fleet command, no matter the cost.

©2017 Chris Fox (P)2017 Chris Fox

Excellent as always from Chris Fox

Seemless continuation from the void wraith trilogy.......great story! Downloading and starting the next book immediately.

Loved it!

Clearly the author shares the same SciFi influences so I can completely immerse myself in his writing. Very enjoyable! Chris Fox has an entertaining imagination.

Solid Military Sci Fi

Review copy. If you like shows like BSG, or books like Old Man's War or Starship Troopers you will like this. The combat is strong, and unique enough to separate it from the crowd. The characters and dialogue are a little generic but this might improve as the series unfolds. 7/10

Caught

Dammit! This book drew me in like a fish on a hook...I loved it completely!

New Enemy, Bigger, Smarter, More Powerful!!

Behind the Lines picks up sometime after the end of the Eradication Wars, when the 3 races, the Primo, Tigris and Humanity, have come together into a Confederation. Fizgig is now an Admiral and leads the Navy, Nolan is a Captain, with his ragtag crew still in tow, whilst Catherine has moved to the Forge to work on creating tech that is needed, including things like the massive new starships that require only 6 crew to operate at a minimum, but can be run at an optimum of 2800.
Whilst all seems good, one of the fleets that is out exploring runs into a new race, and is wiped out.
This of course is in the Ganog system.
And thus starts a new series, as the Confederation goes to investigate the decimation of their fleet, sending a bigger fleet, with Fizgig, they come across the Ganog Imperium.
This series has much of what we loved from the first series with the Void Wraith, the Diversity of multiple different aliens working together against an implacable foe, but this time, the foe are kind of Ape like in nature, and able to inflate themselves through genetic manipulation so that they increase in size, making them very difficult to fight.
As a part of the ‘Upgrades’ that people like Nolan and his team have received, and to accommodate all of those that turned themselves into Adjudicators, those working at the Forge have developed Mechs for both living beings (Humans, Tigris etc), and that can also take a memory cube, so can be run by Edwards. This means the ground troops are mobile in Mech units, which makes them a lot more able to stand against giant inflatable Ape like things that stand 10ft tall when angry.
That is until they come across the Planetstriders – 3000ft tall Lizards with a cannon the size of a destroyer.
Behind the Lines brings a whole new level to the entire spectrum of combat zones, space and land.
This is just a lot of fun, with great characters (all the favourites are still there from the first series), some absolutely amazing tech, and some battle scenes that are just extraordinary.
This is probably able to be read as a standalone series almost (one of the big almosts is the continuous reference to ‘The Nameless Ones’, which given the Gorthians in the last series, and this is a follow on series, there just has to be a linkage), whilst you will miss some of the relationships between the characters, you could get away with it (you don’t want to, it is well worth taking the time to read the Void Wraith Saga), but as a sequel series, it definitely is worth reading. Can’t wait for book 2!!
The Narration is just as good as it was in Void Wraith Series, if not better, as the Narrator has gained a full understanding of all the characters, their personalities and how they work. He not only has the full range of voices, which he does so well (The Annie drawl is just brilliant), but it is the way he does things like the expressive voices of characters under fire and during combat, the irritation that he brings out in Fizgig so well, or the absolute singular warrior pride he gives to Khar every time he speaks. This is not just about Narrating, this is true story telling, and it is absolutely exceptional.

Great writing as always

Would you consider the audio edition of Behind the Lines to be better than the print version?

Never read the print, but the narrator adds a lot to my enjoyment

What did you like best about this story?

The new girl...never know her name...lol

Which character – as performed by Ryan Kennard Burke – was your favorite?

Annie

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yeah and I just about did

Any additional comments?

I wish the book was a little longer. But as always Chris wants us to do a little reading ourselves. Reading the prequel now.

enjoyed

I really enjoyed getting the chance to join back up with fizgig and nolin on their adventures. And I hope that the next two books are just as good. Thanks for continuing the story just a little more.

Mech wars in space... what's not to love?

What did you love best about Behind the Lines?

The mech wars. I love space battles involving mechs. Can't remember the last such book I had read.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Ryan Kennard Burke?

The narration was good. Though at times it felt the narrator was falling asleep or narrating through gritted teeth. But overall, it was alright. So, I'm not opposed to listening to more of his work.

Any additional comments?

I voluntarily received this copy for free from the author / narrator / publisher and am leaving an unbiased review.

An original mech novel with epic space battles

Behind the Lines is a new take on the mech genre. I have an affinity towards mech novels and I’ve read quite a bit of Battletech. This book brought a lot of new stuff to the table for me, especially all of the alien races. I really appreciated how the book also had good amounts of infantry combat and huge epic space battles. This was a truly original and engaging story from start to finish, and I can whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mech novels. The narrator does an amazing job with this story, voicing a wide variety of characters and different aliens. I would have enjoyed reading this book as well, but his voice acting really brought the characters to life for me and kept me interested from start to finish. I look forward to listening to next book in the series.

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

Chris Fox Just Gets Better And Better!

OK, Other than the "Dinosaur in space" part, It kept me NOT sleeping until I got finished!