Crystal World cover art

Crystal World

Undying Mercenaries, Book 20

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Crystal World

By: B.V. Larson
Narrated by: Mark Boyett
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About this listen

The Silicoids are a growing threat from beyond the frontier. Launching waves of crystalline drones, they ravage colonies all along the border of the Empire. Earth has been forced to ally with her enemies against this mysterious alien menace.

Scouts have located a forward base of the freakish creatures, who plot to annihilate all meat-based lifeforms. Earth assembles a joint task force with legions of Rigellian bears, Mogwa battlecruisers, and Saurian troops. Together, they strike as one against Crystal World.

After annoying every superior in his chain of command, James McGill is the first to be deployed on the unexplored planet. His mission: to establish a beachhead on this strange, hostile ground. Surrounded and cut off, his troops fight to the bitter end against creatures made of earth, stone, and jewels.

Find out what happens next in Crystal World, the thrilling 20th book of the Undying Mercenaries series. With millions of copies sold, USA Today Bestselling author B.V. Larson is the king of modern military science fiction.

©2023 Iron Tower Press, Inc. (P)2023 Podium Audio Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction
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20 books in and this series and still brilliant and going strong. Would make an excellent TV series...

Excellent science fiction series

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Mark Boyett's narration is as good as ever, and these books continue to be as entertaining as ever. I love this series and don't think I could ever get sick of it .

As good as ever

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After 20 of these books, it is fair to say; I’m rusted on. They just scratch an itch that sits in some juvenile part of my mind. There is so much wrong with them, but they successfully transport me into another universe. I love them... I enjoy them, and the thing that annoys me the most is reaching the end of each book and thinking that the lead character is getting dumber after each revive and that the authors n Xu book is almost a year away.

I don’t think the audio franchise will survive Mark Boyett leaving it. His voice is the voice of McGill (and in this book, you could hear the wear in his voice when he did other characters). Boyett isn’t Casy Kasem or Michael Jayston, but I’m beginning to appreciate him as if he was. In fact I’m convinced that no small part of my love affair with this series is directly Boyett. He just does the character so well.

My feeling in the last two or so books is that B.V Larson has been stumbling, and in this I’m pretty sure I’m on the money as this book, he’s flexing and building future storyline’s and they are becoming far more interesting. The limitations of a few key characters have been sidelined in this story and to be honest it was a nice respite. Allowing the development of some key characters for the greater story arc. Larson looks like he’s writing again rather than cruising along like a very competent SF hack.

If you’re a fan of the series, genre and oeuvre, then this was a burst of feel good fantasy that satisfies. I enjoyed it, but now I’ll have to wait for the next audio book. If I can’t wait I’ll go buy the paperback, but I think I’ll miss Boyett voice. He gives the series a life that the writing sometimes doesn’t really exhibit. Together they have made a mighty radio series and I am definitely a fan.

Annoying, formulaic but brilliantly addictive...

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Good story, with twists, tails and interactions to keep you entertained. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Another banger from B V Larson.

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Book is good and keeps chugging along. Am interested to see what the next book has in store but 20 full legnth books is enough to start to drag on when the same plot devices are used to give the MC a mission or a reprimand yet again.

I do miss the days when our MC was just one small cog in a very large machine, and the universe was less established.

Low key feel like we are progressing more and more towards a stellaris match

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Yeah its silly. Serious scifi aficionados turn their noses up at it but its faultlessly hilarious, equally in part thanks to the narrators brilliant characterisations and comedic interpretation. You really have to listen to the audio-play to get the full effect. Solid five stars all round.

Still the most fun you can have in space

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