Ambition

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 2

By: Yoshiki Tanaka, Daniel Huddleston - translator

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

In the 36th century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance.

This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

After a coup d'etat erupts in the Free Planets Alliance, military strategist Yang Wen-li is ordered to use his tactical wizardry to put down the rebellion, but the ringleader holding the capital is someone he once trusted deeply. Meanwhile, in the Empire, Reinhard will soon face a new trial, as in the wake of the emperor's death he stands amid an intensifying power struggle among the aristocracy. The unbeatable magician and the unstoppable genius: The decisions these heroes make will send shock waves across the galaxy.

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Finish the books!

Great book! Love the anime series and the manga. Love this too. I wish audible would finish the series!!!

Glory, deceit, conquest.

So refreshing to have a story who's writer understands a multitude of motives. The characters are numerous and unique, their interactions with each other are a delight. Having finished Evola's: 'The Metaphysics of War,' Legends is more profound.

Hooked

Impossible to not find yourself lost in the world of both the galactic empire and the free planets alliance, truly a space opera epic worth more audio versions

A Fantastic Continuation!

The war between the Empire and the Alliance is in cessation while both the two factions are busy quelling the uprisings within their own territories while a third, yet undeclared faction continues to work insidiously in the background with intent on the ruin of both.

This book is much more invigorating than Book 1 in that there are many levels of intrigue, betrayals, subterfuge and more than a few poignant and emotionally-charged scenes where friendships are called into question and the loss of a few likable characters seem to drain not only the affected characters but the listener, as well.

I also enjoy how the author spends the time to explore personalities of even the 3rd tier characters and the local battles play out. In many instances, it adds a fuller understanding as to how despicable these aristocrats were and how likable and interesting other, less fortunate, were.

A study in causes and effects of Ambition

Very aptly named second part of the series. While Dawn set the stage and major characters, Ambition details the even more meteoric rise of Reinhard and Yang as central figures in the Empire and the FPA while facing civil war and rebellion.

Dawn felt somewhat impersonal and antiseptic focusing solely on high level of tactics, politics and philosophy, I think this outing is more visceral and personal on the effects of war and violence down to the individual level. In my opinion this makes the writing more engaging and well rounded. It drives the point that you can get caught up with your ego or cross fire of egos even when you have the best of intentions.

You also get to learn a bit more about Phezzan and get a glimpse of the maneuvering going on behind the scenes. Being familiar the overarching story, no doubt that will take a few books to fully to take full shape.

Enthralling battle of minds and might

Would you listen to Ambition again? Why?

While I loved Dawn, Ambition hooked me immediately and never let me down. Every action made either ends in success or tragedy, and the amount sheet chaos in the second half of the book was a joy to listen to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ambition?

Spoiling as little as possible, the melee combat bit within the fortress corridor made it clear that this book series should see the light of Hollywood!

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think he does a very good job bringing out the cold calculation that is the heart of this book. The few times emotion is brought up are done well enough that I noticed them just by subtle audio cues and shifts in the narrators voice.

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

No Major Spoilers

The scene in the stadium actually made me pause the book for a few minutes and think about what that meant for the Empire.

Additionally, the assassination attempts were nothing short of awesome. (I hope that does not reflect poorly on my character XD).

Any additional comments?

Better than the first! More than worth a listen. Time for Endurance!

Probably the dullest moment of the serie.

Even as a big fan of the serie, this book was hard to listen to

An incredibly slow pace with great narration.

As a the second audiobook of the "Legend of Galactic Heroes" series, "Ambition" is a title that is the perfect one word summary for it's content. There are some story arcs worth a listen here as the main characters Yang and Reinhard continue their roles as tacticians for opposing factions while struggling with far more poisonous political opponents on their own sides. This maneuvering around the traps of political corruption is actually the dominant focus of this story. There are still tactics and space warfare, but instead of focusing on the main characters' unlikely careers, the story now focuses on their surviving their own respective governments.

While Tim Gerard Reynolds still continues  a fantastic performance as the audiobook 's narrator, the slower pacing of this audiobook's plot is hard to ignore. There are more ruminations about human psychological and philosophical flaws that widen and water down development of the events within this story than in the first book.  This ends up requiring more patience from it's listeners than the first volume of this audiobook series which was already at a pace set to "slow, but pleasantly steady".

This audiobook is recommended to extremely patient listeners who enjoy overblown political drama more than most. The story is translated from Japanese so there are some different writing choices here and the villains are more obvious in their motives than in most political drama scenarioes, but this in combination of the narrator's skill makes the audio experience stand out in tone dispite it's crawling pace.