Bitter Glory

Crimson Worlds Prequel

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Liam Owen, Sci-Fi Publishing

Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Augustus Garret is the hero of the Alliance, the greatest naval commander in the history of space combat. He leads massive fleets in great battles, but once he was a new captain leading his tiny attack ship on it first mission.

The young Garret was driven by ambition and the quest for glory. But war in space is brutal, and the consequences of command decisions can haunt even the strongest commanders. Garret will win his glory, but will he be prepared to pay its cost?

Bitter Glory is not a full length novel - it is a prequel novella set in the Crimson Worlds universe.

The Crimson Worlds Series:

Crimson Worlds I: Marines

Crimson Worlds II: The Cost of Victory

Crimson Worlds III: A Little Rebellion

Crimson Worlds IV: The First Imperium

Crimson Worlds V: The Line Must Hold

Prequel Novellas

Tombstone

Bitter Glory

©2013 Jay Allan Books (P)2013 Jay Allan Books

decent story, bad editing

the story was good but the editing was horrible. it was almost like nobody listened to the final copy before they uploaded to audible. spacing between chapters are inconsistant, when they edited the clips together there are some lines said and repeated 2 and 3 times...mid book all of a sudden character pickup different different tone of voices like the guy reading forgot who the characters were. if hou get past the shody editing job the story is decent.

Poor audio

The editing/audio is the worst i have ever heard. Repeat, pauses, and sometimes no pauses when there should be one.

Good Story Terribly Produced

Who the heck edited this? The Narrator did an OK job. Maybe he was a little lackluster in expression. But the bad part was that retakes were not cut out. Liam would repeat a line or two a few times as obvious attempts to get it right and whomever edited the audio left these retakes in. Very distracting.

Then in a few cases, when announcing the next chapter's title it just sounds like the previous conversation continued. It's not until a few seconds later that I realize they moved on. Ugh. Terrible editing. OK narration. Good story.

INTERESTING BEGININGTO A GREAT SERIES

THE AUTHOR GIVES THE INFOR THAT IS A GREAT BACKGROUND FOR A GOOD READ OF A REALLY GOOD SERIES

Ho-hum

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better characters, better plot, tighter writing, narration with differentiation.

What was most disappointing about Jay Allan’s story?

The premise is fine. The last chapter gives a history of the universe leading up to this story. It is almost more interesting than the story. The battles are not engaging, and I didn't care about the people. They were not distinct or well-rounded, and they did not include the interesting characters in the first prequel.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Liam Owen and Sci-Fi Publishing ?

Mark Boyett, Jeff Gurner, Jeffrey Kafer, Nick Sullivan.
Sci-fi needs to do a bit more cleanup on their recordings. As has been mentioned in another review, there are at least 5 repeats in the audio (the last line or two is inexplicably repeated). Then the readings of the chapter numbers comes so closely on the heels of the last words of the paragraph that you think it really reads: "...and the ship blew up chapter seven." That is an editing/production flaw that seems very amateur. Aren't there industry standards or something about how many seconds to allow between ending a chapter and introducing the next?

What character would you cut from Bitter Glory?

Doesn't matter. None were distinct or care-worthy. I am sorry for the deaths but I was never involved so I couldn't get worked up about what's-his-name's grief.

Any additional comments?

Jay Allan has a good idea. Perhaps some courses on story writing, or some good work with a great editor would help. Any of my Master's Thesis chair people could help.