Fierce Girls

Fierce Girls at War

De: Mike Adams

Narrado por: Rachanee Lumayno

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

100 years in the future, there are still fanatics terrorists who seek to create chaos and mayhem wherever they can, navy ships patrolling off foreign shores, US Marines deployed and international peacekeeping efforts that don't always keep the peace.

In the jungles of Africa, a courageous, tough, highly competent (and beautiful) Marine Force Recon squad leader named Susan "Molly" Bennett can't just sit by and watch while some of the world's most wanted terrorists murder their captives right in front of her eyes.

Molly's actions make her a target that only grows bigger after a fortunate meeting with navy Lieutenant Paul "Rick" O'Brien and his family of extraordinary women and girls including his precocious daughter Ciara.

Hunted by teams of assassins they form an unbreakable bond that will serve them well as events unfold around them. As the hunters close in on them, a lack of better options forces them to make a fateful decision that will separate Rick from his little girl for what may be years and will have far-reaching ramifications for the future: self-imposed exile under new identities on an alien planet.

There, known as Molly Pickford and Rick Cassidy, they become members of the Colonial Rangers, the international force sent to protect the colony from its native wildlife. They become friends with some of the female Rangers who one day will be the ones whose courage and smarts will determine the survival of the colony in a perilous future that is approaching faster than anyone could know.

If you like David Weber’s Honor Harrington series or David Drake’s RCN series you will love Fierce Girls. Click the BUY button, and begin your journey now and meet more of the fierce girls before they must go to war.

Book 1, Fierce Girls, is the prequel to the saga recounting the fight against an alien invasion in the Fierce Girls at War series that begins with Book 2, Threat on the Horizon.

©2018 Mike Adams (P)2020 Mike Adams

Fierce Girls - Backstory

The setting outlined in the synopsis promised to be interesting. I like space. I like anything that looks like there should be spaceships pew-pewing at each other. There were none of those. Instead, we get Earth based military skirmishes, the middle east still causing problems, a theme of empowering females in the military via a futuristic military-based storyline, and people still acting surprised that girls shoot guns. The audio narrator’s voice is comfortable but frequently has a slight lisp at the end of each word that might have been the quality or equipment. Once something bugs me it’s all I can hear. I’d give it a 7 out of 10 because that slight distortion disturbed me just enough to make it hard to focus. It felt far less frustrating to hear during conversation passages. The story spans a longer period and covers multiple events on Earth as the family ages. Due to third person, the main family isn’t always the center of the story. That may be aggravating to listen to because there are tons names thrown out in the first few chapters. Mom is a super fit woman who instructs people how to shoot because she’s at the top of her field. The kids are instructed by an AI, which is the kind of teacher my kids won’t get during a 2020 pandemic. Dad’s highly ranked and apparently known to have multiple women because he’s not the sort to be tied down. Luckily he’s so respectful to women that it’s not an issue. The central family is mixed, close knit, and all the events focus on their journey through a shifting political landscape that involves escaping earth then venturing toward a colony planet (per the synopsis). I found myself longing for a “Lost In Space” style story where you picked up at the immediate action and not the backstory (or the back story’s backstory). For me, as a listener, I would have had more interest picking up with “we’re in space. Quick, cover fire, we have to escape!”, or something along those lines. As the novel is presented, the first half feels like sheer backstory, exposition, and people watch internet videos of action happening elsewhere. The second half is a bit more exciting and gets into a bit of the virtual reality, space travels, and the world going crazy. Here’s the wrap up. If you’re looking for a military story based one hundred years in the future where everyone faces the same problems they have now, with an emphasis on strong females who punch names and kick bubblegum, then this story is a good listen. If an action report writing style turns you off or you want the space portion immediately, then you’ll be frustrated. But, take a glance at the previews and see for yourself.

Powerful Beginning to a Great Series

I had been thinking about rereading the Fierce Girls series when I learned that the first book had just come out in an audio format. I love audio books, so this seemed a good way to re-experience the universe of Fierce Girls.

When Sergeant Molly Bennett kills two of the sons of world famous terrorist, Hassan Gul, she pokes a hornets’ nest. When she and Lieutenant Rick O’Brien kill Gul, himself, and two more of his sons, the hornet’s nest bursts open and all hell breaks loose. This is the backdrop to Mike Adam’s exciting new novel, Fierce Girls, and the foundation of a whole new series with the same name as Molly and Rick have to deal with the consequences of their actions.

The action in this book is intense, develops quickly and plausibly, but not necessarily in a predictable fashion. That’s good obviously! I learned quickly I could never be certain what Adams had in store on the next page. The other highlight of the novel is the large cast of fiercely independent and deadly capable characters. O’Brien’s large family (mother, sisters, daughter) often steals the show from the two technical heroes—but that’s a good thing because I have no doubt that these women will be taking center stage as the series develops.

In summation, the future is a mixed bag in Mike Adams’ 22nd century universe. On the one hand, technology is becoming truly amazing, faster-than-light travel has been developed and humanity is colonizing a planet orbiting another star. But on the other hand, the threat of terrorism is worse than ever and much of it is directed at stopping the colonizing of that new world. This well-thought-out mix produces plenty of problems which provide loads of excitement in this novel and promises even more its many sequels.

I should also point out that Mike Adams found a superb narrator in Rachanee Lumayno. Fierce Girls has a large cast (and it will get much larger as the series continues), but Lumayno was up to the task creating distinctive voices for the many characters. If she sticks with the series, her talents are going to be stretched even further, but after listening to this one, I’m willing to guess she’ll be up to the task.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.