The Curse of Europa, Volume 1

By: Brian P. Kayser

Narrated by: Victoria Masterson

Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Is there life on Europa?

You are invited to accompany a crew of eight astronauts on their mission to the Jupiter ice-moon named Europa. Their mission is relatively straightforward, look for evidence of life in a vast ocean, which is trapped beneath a thick blanket of ice. There is one problem though..."The Curse!"

Over the past 36 years, man has been trying to explore Europa. Every mission to date has ended in failure. Now in 2056, with a faster space craft, the Global Space Organization is trying one more mission. This fully manned mission will attempt to put humans on the surface to search for liquid water, and possibly life. Will this mission finally be the one to succeed, or will it end in failure as well... or worse?

Follow Lt. Commander Patrick Turkovitch, Dr. Juliana Evans, and six other astronauts as they try to make history by being the first humans to set foot on the Jovian moon. Will they find life deep in the oceans of Europa, will they find romance, or will they find that the curse is for real?

What are they willing to do to ensure their mission is a success? Find out in The Curse of Europa.

www.thecurseofeuropa.com

©2012 / 2013 Brian P. Kayser (P)2013 Brian P. Kayser

This was a fun read / listen!

Would you listen to The Curse of Europa, Volume 1 again? Why?

Well... Normally I don't re-listen or re-read any books, but I just watched The Europa Report and now I want to revisit some of this book. Plus it is relatively short.

What did you like best about this story?

The realism, starting out with the explanation of the ship and how it created artificial gravity was cool. The first contact was cool - I just wish it was explored a bit more.

Which character – as performed by Victoria Masterson – was your favorite?

She didn't to many unique voices except the Russian. She did a good job with him I thought, except he talked a bit slow.

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

Not necessary. At least not at first. Towards the midway part of the book the chapters started ending with cliff hangers which did make me want to keep going.

Any additional comments?

I thought the story was great and well told. Some of the story seemed feasible but some things were a bit far fetched, but I guess that what makes it interesting. I don't think they could have really stayed out on Europa for as long as they did with the radiation, the book kind of (conveniently) glosses over that. This is really a story about first contact and was refreshing that the aliens were not man eating monsters (well... except... I won't say anything else to spoil anything.) This is a short story and I think some more detail could have been added to the story, but I liked it.

The narration was average but acceptable. There was some dialog that seemed a bit "off", it's hard to explain. But all-in-all ok.

I thought this book was the plot line for The Europa Report movie, but I just watched that and it does not seem to be. This book was better.

Good story, felt rushed

I enjoyed this story, I felt the story was a bit rushed and spoon feed. But I did just come off of 130 hours of KSR Red Mars and 2312....

I think the narrater did a fine job, but I didn't feel that a space sci-fi was her thing.

No Kind words for this book

Would you try another book from Brian P. Kayser and/or Victoria Masterson?

I don't think I would. The book itself was weak and the performance was as well. The voice didn't match the story.

Any additional comments?

I wish I could write something better about this book, however I disagree with most reviews. I didn't find the science to be all that accurate or in depth, and though the book started trying to hold to realism at the end it started to go over the top. The idea was great, but in my humble opinion it just didn't execute well.My 2 cents. Some might love it.