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The Blighted Stars
- Narrated by: Ciaran Saward
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
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Publisher's Summary
When a spy and her mortal enemy crash-land on a dying planet, she must figure out how to survive long enough to uncover the deadly, galaxy-spanning conspiracy that landed them there. The Blighted Stars is the first book in an epic space-opera trilogy from the author of the Philip K. Dick-nominated Velocity Weapon.
She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found, and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.
He's the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study geology and read books. But Tarquin's father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.
Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she's sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that's bigger than both of them.
Critic Reviews
"Brimming with unconventional gender dynamics and shifting identities, The Blighted Stars is character-driven science fiction at its best - a taut novel with human questions at its heart." (E. J. Beaton, author of The Councillor)
"Smart, incisive and utterly gripping. Megan E. O'Keefe's masterful storytelling will draw you into a complex, brutal, yet hope-charged world, break your heart, and leave you begging for more." (Rowenna Miller, author of Torn)
"A delightfully twisty space opera filled with unique worldbuilding and deft explorations of humanity, family and power. Add in a dash of rebellion and a hint of romance, and I'm hooked - I can't wait for the next book!" (Jessie Mihalik, author of Hunt the Stars)
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What listeners say about The Blighted Stars
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Susie
- 10-03-2024
Great SciFi romance with a generous splash of horror but didn't vibe with the narrator
Fascinating premise, especially as the story progresses and answers to some mysteries are revealed. This was surprisingly romance heavy, though I enjoyed the progression of the relationship between the two main characters. They're both fundamentally good people who are ideologically opposed to begin with, and I enjoyed the exploration of that dynamic as it shifts as they uncover the disturbing truth about their themselves and humanity's future. There's really effective use of horror elements as the tension ramps up.
The narrator, however, doesn't appear to be able to distinguish between character voices without giving them a random accent for no apparent reason... and they're baaaad. English, fine. But then he cycled through a dizzying array of attempts at American, South African, French, Irish(?), Australian(?), etc. accents, with varying degrees of success. It was really distracting and often threw me out of the story. Different narrator, but I had the same issue with Priory of the Orange Tree.
I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series but I'll stick to a physical copy!
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