Salvage Marines

Necrospace, Book 1

By: Sean-Michael Argo

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

To protect his young family from merciless corporate tyranny, Samuel Hyst signs up for the hazardous life of a salvage marine, the foot soldiers of a militarized deep space operation. Hazard pay is high for a reason, and Samuel must endure grueling tours of duty in the abandoned scrapyard quadrants of a war-torn universe.

Endless wars rage across every galaxy, leaving damaged starships, rusted factories, and broken planets in their wake, all ripe for plunder by the desperate and the daring.

Samuel must seize his destiny in frenzied combat against murderous scavengers, horrific monsters, and the elite mercenaries of rival corporations.

Left with no choice but to fight, he must win freedom with a combat rifle and his blowtorch.

©2015 Sean-Michael Argo (P)2016 Sean-Michael Argo

An Enjoyable Quick Read

“Salvage Marines: Necrospace, Book 1” is a militaristic SciFi novella set in a bleak future where a few monolithic corporations also serve as governments. People are forced to receive an education, but they must also pay for their education. Thus everyone who doesn’t come from a wealthy family starts out life with a debt that usually last that person’s lifetime. Work and careers are determined by a placement test, the results of which are almost absolute for the test taker. The only other avenue available for the average citizen is to join the salvage marines, which are a militaristic force run by each individual corporation. The salvage marines are used to do anything and everything from reclaiming useful materials, abandoned facilities and even planets. Many times the salvage marines are assigned to theses tasks in areas that are inhabited with hostile forces that can range from rival factions to indigenous alien life. Because the jobs are incredibly dangerous, the pay is incredibly high. The trick is to survive long enough to pay off one’s debt.

Author, Sean-Michael Argo does only the bare minimum on character development. The book is written like a series of action vignettes with some down time between them.

Narrator Jeffrey Kafer has a good voice and did a solid job as well. Overall, I enjoyed “Salvage Marines: Necrospace, Book 1” more than enough to pick up book 2. Finally, this audio book was provided by the narrator at no cost in exchange for an honest review, courtesy of Audio Book Boom.

Necrospace

Any additional comments?

Fast phase but it does occasionally get bogged down in repetition. Action and a quick read between monster sized epics. I wish the book was slightly longer to stretch out some interactions between the leading characters .
I received a free review copy from the narrator courtesy of AudioBookBoom.

More marine than salvage

After space wars have ended and corporations have taken over, there are a whole tonne of space hulks floating out there, waiting for the materials to be scavenged. And scavenging of these old ships is a cutthroat business. Literally.
Samuel Hyst has joined the 'Salvage Marines' to try pay some debts and better his poor position in life.

The premise of the world (universe) is very cool and seems fairly well fleshed out, thinking about how the economics of war-torn space would work, but in the end this is just another "space Marine" story. This time they are fighting over salvage rather than planets or for survival but it's much of the same things. The "don't make friends you lose them" type stuff that appears in most war books (space or not).

In the end it was entertaining, just not overly different from any other space marine book. I would have liked more salvage and focusing on the economics etc. rather than just another space fight. Give us a point of view that shows a wider scope of hte world, some of the corporate machinations etc. Instead the POV doesn't ever give us anything of the world other than the marines, thus giving a very narrow and very familiar focus.

Jeffery Kafer's narration was good (I've noted he does a lot of Space Marine stuff. Got a good corner of the market). It was gruff but engaging, providing different voices for characters while carrying their emotions, excitement etc. He's clear and well paced.

Yet to listen to a book read by him where I haven't enjoyed the narration work.

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

Dead Space

THIS IS THE JOB
This is a dystopian society. The universe is run by corporations. The corporations race to different planet systems and strip them of all their useable resources. The corporations war with each other. Most people barely survive. Everyone is required to get an education, but are required to pay for it. Coming out of high school they have huge debts, they owe to the corporation that owns their planet. It is a system similar to the old mining towns where you owed your sole to the company store. The corporations decides upon your graduation what job you qualify for, limiting your chance to pay them back. A last ditch option is to go into the military which pays a little better. While this is an old theme, it is one I enjoy reading about.

THERE ONLY TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE, THOSE BEHIND THE GUN AND THOSE IN FRONT OF THE GUN.
I already gave you the first half hour, after that it is purely military fire fights. Fighting for a company you hate, but THIS IS THE JOB. By the looks of the cover, I thought there would be a lot of tech type weapons and body armor. There is some, but it is mostly fight scenes. I lost interest.

Kafer is a top notch narrator and perfect for this type of book.

too short

Book was amazing loved it, but only 3 hours I would say it's not worth the price

SciFi action

This book was dark, grim and kind of fatalistic. Action packed it was never boring. Loved the characters and the story. Very well done.

Awesome narrator. He did a wonderful job.

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

In place of an empire, we have a corporation.

Where does Salvage Marines rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Out of the space opera genre I have listened to so far, I would say top ten, out of all my Audiobook, I would say top 50.

What other book might you compare Salvage Marines to and why?

I found quite a few similarities with Red Rising, and Sender's Heir. Even though the protagonists aren't slaves, they might as well be.

Have you listened to any of Jeffrey Kafer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any of Kafer's books so far, buy he did an awesome job with the many voices and kept up the suspense during the parts with a lot of action so I'm excited to listen to him again.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There is a point where Sam is given a coin for extreme Valor from a highly prestigious warrior group. For same to finally gain some recognition for his actions was very moving to me.

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookboom in exchange for an unbiased review

Salvage Marines

If you could sum up Salvage Marines in three words, what would they be?

I really love this audio book and will be looking out for the rest of the series. It is totally entertaining throughout the entire story.

Short but great

Jumping into this book I was skeptical, I usually don't listen to books that are shorter than 10 hours but Salvage Marine took me by surprise. In a world, or perhaps even a universe, where the money is weighed above the lives of individuals, one man seeks to make a different life for his budding family by risking everything. It's enthralling and action packed the entire time. The author makes great descriptions of battles and environments that make you picture every moment of the book. All in all, a great but sadly short book. I can't wait to dig me teeth into the next books of this series. I recieved this audio book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Good, but...

It's a good story and I liked it. Lots of action, but... It's a shorter story and not worth the price for the audible version.