Planet Strike

Extinction Wars, Book 2

By: Vaughn Heppner

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Interstellar combat in the twenty-first century by the author of Assault Troopers!

Imagine a ship the size of a planet. It has an atmosphere of methane, but there is no water. Mysterious and dark, it sails through a gateway, leaving a path open to the most implacable enemies that mankind and the aliens of the Milky Way Galaxy have ever face.

Genetically tailored, symbiotic body armor protects the human commandos that are to be dropped on the metallic surface. A trooper in his armor, with surgically enhanced, neuro-fiber speed, is the deadliest grunt in the universe. But he will have to fight an endless horde of monstrous invaders - the infantry arm of an ancient enemy older than the stones of Earth.

Creed knows the aliens of his galaxy are using the remnants of humanity to do their dirty work. Earth is already a radioactive hell, and mankind's friends view them as little better than beasts. But he has a plan to bring humanity back from extinction. First he has to do the impossible and reach the portal ship. Then he has to battle to the center and take control of the vessel. But even if he wins, he'll have to deal with his allies: Treacherous aliens with ulterior motives.

Humanity's fate is at stake, and Creed will do whatever he must against these star-born bastards, hoping to make them curse the day they messed with Earth.

©2014 Vaughn Heppner (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

A good continuation...

What did you love best about Planet Strike?

Like I did with BV Larson I also came late to Vaughn Heppner but now he is one of my go to authors for the very definition of military SciFi. Planet Strike is a great addition to this, my favorite genre and I hope to see this series grow.

good read. well worth it.

good plot that keeps you reading and realizes a certain amount of luck required to make it believable

excellent

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Creed Is Locked on Vengeance Mode

What did you love best about Planet Strike?

This audiobook is no nonsense military sci-fi. Planet Strike's message is basic and unambiguous - If you fuck with Earth, Creed will find you and destroy you and everything and everyone you hold dear.If you are looking for some light-hearted story with quirky backstories about some twerp's coming of age amidst an unsympathetic blah, blah, blah don't come looking for it here. Vaughn Heppner has no time for that nonsense, nor do I. Hence, I gobbled this audiobook up as soon as I saw it. Why? Because Vaughn frickin' Heppner wrote it! Listen to any of his audiobooks and it will become very clear very quick that his man knows his craft. Planet Strike is no exception.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Creed. He dominates the action. He does not back down, nor does he give a rat's ass about who is trying to browbeat or intimidate him - and several different puffed up alien admirals, a smarmy princess, some has been of a space pirate and a couple of humans try - all to no avail. If you stand in his way, you will soon be either vaporized into a reddish cloud of mist or cleavered into bits by him and his wonder axe he found in the bowels of that planet he invaded at the end. Either way, you are screwed. Creed is a leader of men. His forces, after gorging on nano muscle enhancers and the like are roided up, bug eyed pissed off and ready to destroy literally hundreds of thousands to accomplish their mission, and Creed is in the vanguard hacking away with the best of them. He will not allow anyone or anything to impede his mission to avenge humanity after the apocalyptic nightmare that occurred in the previous book. When Earth went down, Creed stepped up and the perpetrators of this crime paid with their worthless lives, every single one of them.

Which character – as performed by Christian Rummel – was your favorite?

Creed - Refer to the above answer. Hey Audible - is there any character in this audiobook not performed by Christian Rummel? How is this question different from the above question? Why have this format if this is what I am given as a guide to reviewing? The answer to the above three questions is - the mouth breathing monobrow who shakes that review question eight ball is a loser and needs to be terminated with extreme prejudice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Thirteen and change hours of nonstop listening might be a smidge much. At some point sleep enters the picture. I bought the book yesterday and finished it today, and am good with it.

Any additional comments?

Vaughn Heppner is absolutely rock solid gold when it comes to writing books about anything associated with intergalactic genocidal invasions, kinetic kill rounds turning planets into god forsaken glass sheeted hell holes and characters like Creed who spit righteous venom directly into the eyeballs of his enemies. I cannot say enough about the sheer joy I get out of Mr. Heppner's books. There are many authors who try to pull off military sci-fi, Mr. Heppner does military sci-fi.

More arrogant condensing aliens fall to Cmdr Creed

What made the experience of listening to Planet Strike the most enjoyable?

The narrator is really good and gets the voices spot on.

Would you be willing to try another book from Vaughn Heppner? Why or why not?

yes. This was entertaining.

Which scene was your favorite?

The end where Creed sets himself up as leader of the guards.

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

The final conversation with the Lohar Prince.

Any additional comments?

This illuminates some of the mysteries from the first book. While it is awesome to see Creed goad and manipulate a bunch of arrogant aliens, it does get kind of old. This is basically the first book with a few names changed. That said, who doesn't love daring space adventure, fighting against new and horrible aliens, and saving the universe? Still a fun book.

very good book

if you like science fiction this is for you
it will be a very good book

Enjoy it while you can

This is one of the last books before the storyline becomes weak and ridiculous in the upcoming books. Byt can't take anything away from the narrator.

This guy could read War and Peace and make it interesting regardless of a weak storyline.

Still entertaining after all the similaries

On finishing Planet Strike, I've come to the conclusion that this series is not a parody of other similar novels but closer to that of a mashup or blending of two (Star Force series and Halo Saga) and, possibly a touch of a third (Pandora's Star).

Warning: Spoiler Alert!

The Metal World (portal planet) is a completely unnatural planet, similar to Onyx (Halo: Ghost of Onyx), that is inhabited by Xenokillers (Kargs) whose primary objective is to kill all other sentient beings, period. This is more like the Primes in Pandora's Star but could also apply to the Sentinels in Halo. Also, part of the portal planet includes a Dyson Sphere but in this case more closely aligns with Ghost of Onyx than one in Pandora's Star. The top alien fighters, Lokhar, are a prideful fanatical species much like the Halo Elites which seem to combine two of the Halo Covenant hierarchies, High Prophets and Elite warriors; where the prophets are the ones who are charged with interpreting the Forerunner artifacts. The main Lokhar warrior, Prince Venturie, is similar to the Halo Arbiter in that he is Creed's primary Lokhar nemesis but there are many differences such that it's clearly not a close match. One of the artifacts is a sphere-shaped floating 1000s year old circuit-addled AI, EP/SRT2000, much like Halo's Halo 343 Guilty Spark or Mendicant Bias. Lastly, the description of the Lokhar Indomitable crash closely resembles that of the Halo Pillar of Autumn.

With that out of the way, I still highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading an entertaining swashbuckler space opera novel, even if they've read the other similar novels. Yes, there are glaring overlaps to other novels but there are more than enough differences to give it its own unique feel.

Excellent

Outstanding story, well written, excellent presentation. If you like stories where the main character is a man's man, the this book is for you.

Tuff guy runs the space troopers

The narrator is very talented, easy to listen to. Plot drags you through every tuff guy move and his limited thoughts. Hard to engage with the main character as he has little to no empathy.