Duel in the Dark

Blood on the Stars, Book 1

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

A new adventure by the author of the best-selling Crimson Worlds and Far Stars series.

The Confederation has fought three wars against the forces of the totalitarian Union. Three generations of its warriors have gone off to war, held the line against the larger, more powerful enemy. Now the fourth conflict is imminent, and the Confederation's navy is on alert, positioned behind the frontier, waiting for the attack it knows is coming.

The battleship Dauntless has spent the past 10 months patrolling the border, deployed far forward of the main fleet, a forlorn hope, an advance guard positioned to give the warning of invasion. But no attack has come. Her crew is exhausted, and the aging battleship needs maintenance. With the fleet mobilized and the forward bases overloaded beyond capacity, she is sent clear across the Confederation, to a planet along the quiet and peaceful far frontier. Her crew is looking forward to a rest, and Dauntless herself is scheduled for a long-overdue maintenance session.

But the quiet frontier isn't what it seems, and when a distress call is received from one of the mining colonies on the edge of Confederation space, it falls to Captain Tyler Barron to take Dauntless forward, to find out what is happening, and to put a stop to it.

Barron and his crew have their ship - and each other - but they can expect no other help. Suspicion is strong that Union deceit is at play, that the attack is some sort of diversion intended to draw Confederation forces from the disputed border. The orders are clear. No ships will be transferred from the prospective battle line. Stopping whatever is happening on the rim is Barron's responsibility and his alone.

Barron is the grandson of the Confederation's great hero, the father of the modern navy. His family name has always carried privilege with it - and crushing responsibility. And now he must prove that he has inherited more from his famous grandfather than name and privilege. He must face the enemy and win the victory before the Confederation is caught between two enemies and destroyed.

©2016 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Not bad, if only tactics, timing and technology we

Not bad, if only tactics, timing and technology were actually applied to the story...but I'll keep reading the series...

The story was good, but very predictable

When you have read as many "good vs evil" books and seen as much scifi as I have, a predictable plot is annoying.

That was ok here because it was a good, well written story in spite of this fact.

What really grated on my nerves was Allan's choice of having all military persons, no matter whose thoughts within any of the four cultures' militaries were being presented, used the word "comrades" in the narration of their thoughts to identity their fellows in arms. This wouldn't be a big issue if he hadn't used the term dozens upon dozens of times.

For four cultures so different and with such lack of knowledge about each other, it seemed like a very obvious bit of laziness within an otherwise good book for him to use that term ad nauseam. It cheapened the book for me.

Should be shorter

Jay Allen is a good story teller, but needs to expand his vocabulary. He tends toward redundancies which come off somewhat preachy with repetition. Many phrases, even paragraphs, are repeated almost verbatim. He relies too much on trite wording.

Lived it!

my only concern is why do all the crew on the conrad's side sound like their from the deep part of the south.

Not the best not the worst

An ok story if your don't think to hard on the overall characters and story continuity.

Sold

I am glad I bought this book. I will listen to all in the series.

Fantastic book

I was a little slow to start enjoying it, but the longer I listened the more I was drawn in. by the end I was fully and emotionally invested.

Loving this series so far!

Jay Allan writes some incredible books. And Luke Daniels is among my favorite narrators. These two together create an excellent experience and this story is so far very well done!

Action packed and interesting take on politics.

I thought this story started out a little slow and repetitive, but before long I was totally into the story. The characters are interesting and I became attached to several, so much so that I shed quite a few tears toward the end of the story. I look forward to the next in the series. I voluntarily reviewed this audio book after receiving an advanced copy I requested.

Not bad

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend it to specific friends that have a decent amount of intelligence and can keep up with the story line.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Duel in the Dark?

The last 1/8th of the book was fantastic. The end battle on the planet and around it.

Have you listened to any of Luke Daniels’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Luke Daniels is one of my favorites. I didn't realize he was telling the story until I heard the voice of one of the characters in the Ember Wars book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The author spent so much time building up on the Alliance characters and I have to say, I like the Roman style culture that they built. When the Alliance is destroyed from Santos, I was actually sad. I was completely cheering the Alliance on due to the bond that is formed with the author spending so much time building up the story line with them. I have always been intrigued with the Roman culture and it just latched on with similarities. I will totally finish out the series, but I would love to see the Alliance come back into the plot with better technology and perhaps aligned with the Confederates. I have an eight hour drive this week separate from my normal commute so I am sure I can get through the next two books in a week. Good one Jay! Slow... The Alliance won my heart over the Confeds, but hey... Lets see where the next one goes! Going to put the same comments in the "additional comment" section. I think it applies to that as well.

Any additional comments?

The author spent so much time building up on the Alliance characters and I have to say, I like the Roman style culture that they built. When the Alliance is destroyed from Santos, I was actually sad. I was completely cheering the Alliance on due to the bond that is formed with the author spending so much time building up the story line with them. I have always been intrigued with the Roman culture and it just latched on with similarities. I will totally finish out the series, but I would love to see the Alliance come back into the plot with better technology and perhaps aligned with the Confederates. I have an eight hour drive this week separate from my normal commute so I am sure I can get through the next two books in a week. Good one Jay! Slow... The Alliance won my heart over the Confeds, but hey... Lets see where the next one goes!