Hard Duty

Merkiaari Wars, 1

By: Mark E. Cooper

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Humanity's last encounter with aliens saw 16.2 billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades.

Two hundred years later, the Alliance is cautiously exploring beyond its borders again, but the survey corp is considered a mere gesture by some. General Burgton of the 501st Infantry Regiment believes a lack of expansion is leading the Alliance into stagnation. So when one small ship discovers a new alien race, it should be an easy decision to make contact, but what if the aliens are like the Merkiaari?

Captain Jeff Colgan of the survey ship ASN Canada is at the tip of the spear. His ship made the discovery, his crew's lives are on the line, and his decisions will decide the outcome. Will the Alliance make new friends or will he be responsible for another 16 billion deaths? When the aliens discover his ship and begin hunting him through their system, his mission changes from one of study to one of survival.

©2012 Mark E. Cooper (P)2014 Mark E. Cooper

Boots hit the ground running!

Where does Hard Duty rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very new and interesting!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Eric I loved following him into battle!

Which scene was your favorite?

The first battle scene I felt like I was there in Eric's head going to battle!

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

I laughed, I got mad! I wanted to kick some butt!

Any additional comments?

I was looking for something new and different when I found Mark E Cooper's "Hard Duty". I sure found it when I first started reading book one in the series. I got so hooked into the story line I switched to audio and started the book over. I really got a much better experience from the audio book, They narrator really gives a great personally to each character in the book. One of the main character's Eric has a inner voice that is his computer sensors. Very nice touch and funny when he is complaining about it.

I titled this boots "hit the ground running" because that is how this book starts. Our world has been attacked by our worst fears aliens in a 1st contact. Something we had done had drawn them to us. We really take a beating for it with 16.2 billion losses. How were we to know that the "Meriaari's were blood thirsty killers!" But as always we humans remain. Bruise and battered but we will remain.

Now the story moves forward to exploring space. To further our cause and to have a early warning should the Meriaari were to return. We find a second race that we think of a docile cats. So with our inner human kindness we have to make contact to help them if needed. Only to find out they have dealt with the killers themselves. Which make contact with us very nerve racking for them.

I love Mark's books I'm a big fan of being taken to another world and trying something new. With this one. I got lost into Eric's head. I felt like.....
I'm looking right the wall is falling. Oh God my buddy! A Boom behind me. Now jump! Commander called "Full out loping run kill em' all!"
When I finished that first battle I thought I'm so hooked!

At the end I silently thanked Mark for being 3 books ahead of me because I knew I wasn't finished visiting his worlds.

And Thank you to the narrator for being all the characters with suck interesting personalities I couldn't have gotten from reading the book!

Would I listen to the series again! YES!

Still Deciding

Since I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review I really wanted to like it 5 stars worth. Science fiction and meeting new aliens are some of my favorite things in audiobooks, so I liked that about this book. The aliens, in particular, were well described.

I know I'm in the minority here, but the narrator's human female voices were annoying. They all seemed to be the same irritating, old voice. The male voices were well done. I finally finished in my Kindle, and I enjoyed the story more after that.

There seemed to be two separate story lines in this book. I still have no idea why they were together. Unless I seriously missed something, the plot lines never intersected. I kept waiting for them to, but they didn't.

I thought the ending was strange. I haven't decided if I'm going to pick up the next in the series or not. I will admit to being curious, but I'm not sure yet.

Highly enjoyable Sci-Fi Series

I received a review copy from the author for an unbiased review.
I'd been looking for a new sci-fi series to get stuck into and I believe I've found it in the Merkiaari Wars series by Mark E. Cooper. The action and build up was great, kept me listening long after I had intended to take a break, I wanted to hear what would happen next, especially when humanity discovered and observed a new alien race. There were times where I felt the female characters all had the same character, although this could have been done to the male narrator's voicing of them! Enjoyed this first book so much when I was just over half way through it I went and ordered the second in the series!

An enjoyable and exciting story

Hard Duty is a great book, and makes for an excellent audiobook version as well. Mikael Narramore is perfectly cast as the narrator for this series' main character. The performance draws you in immediately, and holds your attention hard and fast. In regards to the story itself, it's choked full of intricate and colorful detail that never feels boring or overwhelming, as well as action and intrigue to spare. Overall I would absolutely recommend this version of Hard Duty, and I myself will be looking forward to enjoying the rest of the series.

another great book by Mark Cooper.

I'm a big fan of Mark's books. I really like his writing style and desperately want more. he does such a great job of character and plot development. I like the way he weaves the multiple stories together. I can't wait to find out where this wonderful story goes next. I would recommend this book to anyone.
the narration was again, wonderful. I can't say enough great things about his skill. the voices were wonderful and I love how the voice becomes muffled but is still loud enough to hear when they are communicating behind a closed door or the way he makes the computer's voice sound mechanical like it's coming from a speaker. this is why audio books are so enjoyable to me. it's important to have a great narrator or a truly entertaining book would be awful in the audio version.

Gripping sci-fi story

I received a review copy from the author for an unbiased review.
It's been a while since I read a 'hard sci-fi' book, and I must say it was a pleasant break from all the YA Dystopian I've listened to lately. The narration was top-notch, the characters were interesting, and the whole set-up reminded me a bit of Star Trek (which I'm a huge fan of): an exploration ship that will go where no-one has gone before. If you like classic sci-fi and lots of action and excitement, definitely pick this one up. It's the beginning of an entire series, by the way :)

And so it begins

What made the experience of listening to Hard Duty the most enjoyable?

Finding out what a Viper can really do. They are uber bad ass

Which character – as performed by Mikael Naramore – was your favorite?

Gunnery Sargent Gina because she was the most human thus the most relatable

Any additional comments?

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

I enjoyed this novel

The story here really had be captivated. I really enjoy having a series of books to listen too. I will definitely look for more from this author!

Lite Sci-Fi

Up front, no mind-twisting serious depth here, and many plot and execution flaws... but somehow it kept me smiling and listening. I hate to say I keep thinking of it as "Young/Juvenile Science Fiction", but that's how it feels to me. Part of me wants to say "Shallow", but a bigger part enjoyed it. I've bought Book 2, So I guess buying the next book in the series is proof that there is enough here to keep me listening, while hoping the story line matures.

Very appropriate to call this a 'space opera'

So why do I think it was appropriate to call this title a "space opera?" Unless you're a huge fan of opera you'll likely find the experience somewhat tedious intermingled with moments of brilliance. That's about how I felt about "Hard Duty." If you're a fan of the series or the author (it turns out that although this is called book 1 it was actually written as a "prequel" after book 2) you'll likely love this book - just look at the number of positive reviews. If you're just reading it as a stand-alone book you might be less than satisfied, which would explain the rest of the reviews.

The overall storyline is good - two alien races nearly wiped out by the evil Merkiaari meet for the first time. Can they see past the terrible scars those encounters left to make a peaceful first contact, or will their justifiable mutual distrust doom the attempt? I loved the first face-to-face meeting of the races - let's just say it doesn't quite go as planned. Narration is good as well - no monotone recitals and good differentiation of characters. There's a lot of characters, so if 1 or 2 of them sound alike that's okay.

The bigger problems really come from the storytelling and progression. There are multiple storylines here. One of them gets dropped 1/3 into the book and doesn't show up again until the very end, and never gets tied to the rest of the plot. The other storyline is more cohesive, but it is difficult to gauge the passage of time and what happens in parallel with what. Both stories end abruptly and not particularly satisfactorily. Probably this is less apparent if you are familiar with the other books in the series. Knowing then what I know now, I might have started with book two.

Overall it's not a bad book, particularly (I believe) if you come into it with some foreknowledge of what is going on. I may still give Book 2 a try because there is some solid storytelling here, even if the overall book may have benefitted from some additional editing.