Journeyman

Matt Miller in the Colonies Series, Book One

By: Mark J. Rose

Narrated by: Mark J. Rose

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

American scientist Matt Miller is torn from his own century and dropped into Colonial America with nothing except a backpack. His phone, his money, and his identity are all useless and he quickly finds that he is foreign and alone in his own country.

Matt must meet the challenge to survive in a newly forming society where he seemingly has no relevant skills and no one he can count on. He suspects that his 21st century knowledge of science and technology could make him a king in the New World, but he quickly finds that 18th-century America is a dynamic place where nothing is guaranteed.

The challenge to prosper, succeed and especially to win the hand of a beautiful Virginia farm girl is like nothing he has ever faced.

©2016 Mark J. Rose (P)2018 Mark J. Rose

kept my interest

it's an interesting storyline, getting book 2 if available. a professional reader would do it more justice but all in all pretty good.

Loved the story, not the narration

the story itself was great, smart man from the future who uses his future knowledge to help better himself and his community. I just really think the author should invest in a proper narrator. He describes accents and the way people speak many times through out the book. It kind of takes you out of the story because you're expecting some kind of accent or inflection, but its all the same and quite meh.

lovely Series

Great story, purged book one and off to the second! Matt was charming and was a fun mesh of historical fiction and science fiction.

I usually cringe when I see that the author is also the narrator...

But in this case Mark J. Rose did an admirable job. I enjoyed the characters and the story. His narration felt effortless, which is how good narration should be. I just realized there’s a book 2 so I’m getting ready to buy it.
ps: I highly recommend this book!

audio is disappointing

Both the performance and the recording are not up to the standards that I expect. I was distracted but buzzes and clicks and awkward phrasing. The story is interesting but I will not continue with the series due to the distractions.

Please hire a narrator

Good read, similar to the Anger series. It has a few anachronisms. The major complaint has been raised by others. Performing is not be same as reading

An Adventure

I wasn’t sure what to expect being an adult woman who mostly read nonfiction and business motivation literature but I can say I absolutely fell in love with the idea of Matt traveling to the 18th century with a 21st century vocabulary, mannerisms and etiquette. Found myself giggling in the simple things he would say or do. The story has many little gems to take away and made me appreciate my parents who grew up in similar societal conditions. I loved it and dying to read book two.

Time travel

Normally, when looking for books, I don't choose time travel. Can't really say why I chose this particular one but really enjoyed it. Have just bought the 2nd book in the series. Thank you to the author and narrator, Mark J. Rose for a very enjoyable few hours.

An enjoyable treatment of time travel

This is an entertaining story of a 21st century man hiking in the Appalachians being suddenly and unexpectedly transported to Colonial America when an experimental facility where he is employed has an accident creating a temporary black hole. He is found unconscious by a farm family in the year 1762. His interactions with the family and the society in Colonial Richmond are the focus of this book. There are a number of interesting occurrences as he learns to adapt to what is an alien society. A romance starts to develop, which changes the character's desire to cooperate with efforts to return him to the 21st century. I enjoyed this book so much that I bough the sequel. Hopefully, anyone reading these books will enjoy them as much as I have. I plan to buy future books in this series, if the Author writes them.

Not sure Book 2 is in my future

(A few minor spoilers) The time travel genre always requires a suspension of disbelief, and I was OK with how our protagonist ended up in 1762. The story then interminably drags, morphing into an unrealistic love story. Boy sees pretty girl from unfamiliar culture, instantly falls in love a la James T. Kirk. It was easier to suspend disbelief re: time machine physics than it was to find actions within the love story believable. Thought we might run into some historic colonial figures and raise the specter of a time line change or paradox, but not to be. One dialogue faux pas was bothersome. 21st century character uses the phrase "OK", and 18th century characters who usually call him on his 21st century idioms, are "OK" with it- OK was a 19th century word. Overall, not sure the hook was set deep enough to move on to Book 2.
Regarding the narration- it was not the worst, but having been spoiled with hundreds of audiobooks narrated by talented voice actors, this one was bland. It's nice to have a voice actor do different inflections for all the characters, such that their character is instantly recognizable. Author's voice was not unpleasant, but had a one-size-fits-all characteristic. A voice pro would have had a lot to work with in this story- 21st century Philadelphia boy and 18th century Virginians.