Fall of the Core

Frontiers Saga Tie in Series, Book 1

By: Ryk Brown

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

A freelance reporter struggling to get into the "big time"....

A rookie officer starting her career in public safety....

A cargo ship captain trying to outlive a terminal illness that has no cure....

A bounty hunter returning a long-hunted fugitive to Earth....

A terrible plague that threatens to destroy the human race....

The 25th century is not starting off very well.

©2021 Ryk Brown (P)2022 Tantor

This book Rocked

This book was so good, I didn’t want it to end. It could have been a brand new series. Narration rocked too

Hoping the series is as good as this book!

Really enjoyed this book. The characters were believable, the scenario believable, and the outcome unexpected!

this is an essential tie-in to read if you are a Ryk Brown fan

this fills in a lot of the gaps. I am 30 books in to the frontier saga and a lot of little details that get suggested are explained in this book. it's a good story in and of itself. you'll be looking for more

The Fall of the Core

Sometime back in 2012 I found the Frontiers Saga by Ryk Brown. I love the audiobooks narrated by Jeffrey Kafer. Of the many things I like about this series is the fact that Ryk committed himself to producing a new book about every quarter. To date there are now 32 books in the series broken down into three episodes or seasons and one stand alone. The Fall of the Core is the stand alone that chronicles, well, the fall of the core worlds. What caused the bio-digital plague? This has been an unanswered question for the fans of the Audiobook series.

The print fans may remember the three book Net Cast series that covered The Fall of the Core but there was never an audiobook version. Back in 2020 Ryk posted that he was combining the Net Cast, adding some stuff to it and publishing a prequal book to the Frontiers Saga called, The Fall of the Core.

I tore through this book and loved it. No spoilers here but the book answers many questions. There is room for more to be added should Ryk decide to do so but The Fall of the Core sets the stage that we enter into in Aurora CV-01. There are some nods to the origins of some of the proper Frontiers Saga characters. I appreciate all that Ryk puts into this series and how diligent he has been with the series and the fans. I highly recommend the series to anyone who likes this genre and recommend reading The Fall of the Core anytime throughout the series. It will not spoil anything and will explain how the bio-digital plague pushed mankind back into the preindustrial era before the Data Arch was discovered.

Gripping

When I started reading, I wasn’t sure what I was reading. But any book by Ryk Brown, I will read. The book started off slowly and I was somewhat confused. I kept expecting characters from prior series until I realized this story takes place prior to events in previous series. The confusion is my fault, not Ryk Brown’s. I was not paying attention.

I enjoyed the story of the biodigital plague. I got engrossed in the story and before I knew it the book ended. Hope there is more books coming as I have become fascinated with these new characters.

The audiobook was seventeen hours. Jeffrey Kafer does an excellent job narrating the story.

very good prequel,

gives great background information, good stories line,
both author and narrator did very well.
thanks

Ryk delivers again

in my mind I had an idea of how I'd like the ending to go, but Ryk surpassed anything I can dream up by a long shot. A very, very long shot ;-)

Solid story.

Has a description of how the Earth and core fell apart in this series universe. I felt the best part was he didn’t over do the story and it was all new characters.

Must Listen for Fans of the Frontiers Saga

For anyone that is a fan of the Frontiers Saga Series, or has read any of the books, there is mention of the bio-digital plague that brought down the fall of humanity the thousand years earlier that led to not only trillions of people dying in the Core Worlds, but the mass exodus to outer systems as people fled to try and escape the plague.
Fall of the Core finally tells us the story of what happened during this time, told from the point of view of a young reporter and her producer friend, Hanna and Ari.
This is a futuristic world, one in which technology has advanced to the point that everyone has a neural implant, enabling them to be connected to the global network (In a way, like having a computer/phone directly in your brain), with a wireless internet connection.
Hanna has always dreamed of making it big and becoming one of the major reporters, but is currently stuck doing what she considers boring news articles. Her friend Ari is her producer, and finds these jobs so that they can both survive financially, and is also trying to get them noticed. It is whilst doing these pieces, that Hanna comes across information about a virus that is popping up all over the planet, in different, unrelated locations, and has no cure, the Klaria virus. This virus is affecting people biologically, and killing them. At the same time, a separate virus is also popping up called Twister, but this is affecting technology.
During a couple of her interviews, and whilst starting to look at things, Hanna makes the suggestion that these things could be linked, but is immediately shut down by everyone, until at one press conference, an ‘Unknown’ source contacts her, and tells her to ask the hard question of leading people, about whether these things are linked, and the risk to the population. Not only does this create an uproar, it puts her in the spotlight, and suddenly, without meaning to, she gets the role she has always wanted.
This is not the only story being told in this book though (and I don’t want to give away too many spoilers), but as things start to unfold across the planet, Ryk Brown provides us with the perspective of several other people as well.
Originally, this was actually a collection of short stories a while back, and this book is the culmination of those short stories, but Brown has added some additional material, and part of that is the additional perspective of these others. We not only get to see the continued story of Hanna, Ari and those with her, but also some of those that are in space onboard a starship as they are inbound to Earth from a long haul trip just as the outbreak occurs.
There are a couple of different characters we get to see their points of view of as things unfold on Earth, and it makes for a fascinating look at the events and situation from multiple perspectives as humanity tries to deal with the outbreak of this devastating plague.
The character work in this story is exceptional, each of Brown’s characters are incredibly authentic, you can feel the anxiety and panic that is emanating from them as things start to unravel and it is becoming apparent that this is much larger than they realise. Hanna’s initial youthful enthusiasm, and almost genuine naivety is captured so well, but is also tempered by Ari’s more grown-up attitude, and her understanding that they have to go a certain path to be able to survive. Both characters are captivating, and really bring the story to life.
The later characters (again, I don’t want to give spoilers), also are exceptionally well written, you really get this sense of urgency from them, there is this underlying fear about what is happening and just how big this is. For some, you can tell it is growing into something greater (like absolute terror), but for others, there is that controlled understanding of what needs to be done – professionalism – Brown captures these characters extraordinarily well.
One of the things that is done really well is the world building. Throughout this story, you get a real feel that you are in a future in which humanity has evolved into a society that is reliant on its technology, but that they are also incredibly advanced, having achieved a level of technological advancement well beyond our own. Brown has really thought about things, and captured the environment to make it realistic and let us immerse ourselves into this incredible world.
For those that have read the Frontiers Saga, this is a story that is a must read for every fan of the series as it provides so much background, providing an incredibly detailed account of the fall of humanity and what became known as the ‘Bio-Digital’ plague.
The great thing about this book though, is that if you haven’t read the Frontiers Saga, you can still read this as a standalone book about how two reporters stumble across the story of a lifetime, how they discover that what appears to be one very deadly virus, and another very dangerous technological virus are actually linked, and could actually mean the downfall of humanity.
This is a brilliant story, one that is totally captivating, and once you start reading, you just can’t put it down, as you get totally enthralled in what is happening. Must read for fans of the Frontiers Saga!!
Jeffrey Kafer is one of the best narrators around when it comes to Mil Sci-Fi, he has such an outstanding voice for narrating this style of story. Whilst he can do a great set of voices, both male and female, and he does a great ‘range’ of voices to – so that you can distinguish who is talking during the narration (without having to be told), Kafer has this brilliant, almost clinical narrating style, that is perfect for a Military Sci-Fi story. I have always been amazed that he can create such exceptional voices, and provide the emotional background for these voices to, and at the same time, switch back to this detached style for the rest of the Narration – allowing you to know when someone is talking, and when the story is being told. His prologues and when he is filling you on background story is just exceptional.
Kafer is one of the best Narrators there is for Audio – and this is one of those that you just have to listen to as you will get so much more out of it rather than reading the book.

A very good prequel.

I was concerned in the beginning but you do get dragged into the story. Good listen.