The December Protocol

By: Devin Hanson

Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

For Amazon best-selling author Devin Hanson, the question is not how to achieve immortality, the question is what happens when we do?

Throughout the entirety of history, humanity has fought against sickness, old age, frailty, even death itself hoping for eternal life. Countless legends and stories share the same hunt: extend our lifetimes beyond the impossibly brief moment we have. Hanson imagines life beyond those legends and stories - a solar system where humanity has discovered the secret to immortal life, at an extreme cost. What horrors await a society that rests an economy on the most scarce resource man has ever known - eternal life?

Join The December Protocol in following three characters uniquely affected by the most amazing technological change humanity has ever experienced. Min, an ageless Earth-born marshal older than the very Martian colonies he fights to enforce a brittle and bleak law upon. Angeline, a young girl terrified by the social and scientific necessities prompted by the promise of eternal life. Marcus, a man brought to his knees by that emperor of all maladies, cancer, willing to pay the ultimate price for perfect health through immortality.

The December Protocol rockets the listener into the late 24th century and raises thrilling questions about how far mankind would go to preserve the most precious gift we've ever received: immortality.

©2017 Devin Hanson (P)2018 Devin Hanson

Great book!

Humanity has achieved immortality, but at what cost? Could you imagine being able to live forever, free of disease? What would you do to be able to afford your monthly treatment to remain that way? What would you be willing to overlook and ignore? Could you ignore the fact that young girls are being kidnapped and killed for their eggs? There are many women willing to sell their eggs for a nice sum of money, bit where there's a lot of money to be made, there will certainly be a criminal element as well. This mostly takes place on Mars since Earth has banned this practice. This was an excellent book and my first by this author. I'd love to check out more of his work. The narrator isn't new to me though. I really enjoy Rhett Samuel Price! He's an excellent story teller who is great at expressing the emotions of the characters and great at doing several voices and accents for both sexes.

Good story, well told.

Hanson's dystopic vision of life on Mars in the future is imaginative and grim, with fully realized science and great characters, all vying for immortality. I loved Rhett Samuel Price's narration. He's got one of those deep, sonorous voices but he doesn't rest on it. Instead he creates vivid characterizations, even of the smallest roles. The central character, the marshall Min Yang, is heroic and tough without being cartoonish, and I quickly began to root for him. The many brave girls, indifferent scientists, and greedy crooks gave Price an acting challenge and he rose to it. Hanson and Price are a great team in the creation of this cynical, sometimes funny, sometimes violent, always enthralling world.

Fast Paced Sci-Fi

Great classic sci-fi takes place on Mars, where a procedure is legal for prolonging life indefinitely - but at a cost. This story takes you into the underground world of body snatching and ovaries harvesting, and the fight for justice on a planet of refugees and criminals.

So many ways to die on Mars

I do love a good detective novel. And I love Mars stories. This tale wraps both up in a pretty entertaining listen. My favorite character was Min, who has been around a long time and seen how human society (both on Earth and on Mars) has evolved over the decades. I pictured him as an albino version of Gaff from the original Blade Runner movie. He’s a bit shady in some ways but has hard boundaries on other things (like murdering young ladies for their ovaries).

The setting was well integrated into the story. Mars doesn’t have much water or usable soil, so human waste (including the dead) are reused for fuel and manure. Yeast is mashed and melded into many unpalatable foods. It was enough to make we feel like we were on Mars and not just an Earth #2. However, I think it could be strengthened a bit. Mars lacks the regular live organisms in the soil, but the dirt itself can be easily sewn with those organisms, like from human waste. Also, I wondered why there was no talk of insect meals. Then there’s also nori as part of the cheapeast meals yet tea is super expensive. Assuming that both have to be shipped in from Earth (since there isn’t enough luxury water to grow either tea trees or seaweed), I would think that they would both be considered luxury items. Anyhoo, if you don’t give it too much thought, the setting really works for the detective story.

I want to applaud having a scifi story that doesn’t bat an eye at discussing menstrual cycles. Yay! But this story takes the cake for worst period ever – a period that can get you killed! These black market egg harvesters are hard core. Instead of just taking an egg or two a month, they take the ovaries and then dump the bodies in to the reclamation units. Ugh!

I have lots and lots of questions about the science behind the main plot point. If you need mature eggs for the super secret serum that turns you into an immortal albino, then how are you convincing all those harvested ovaries to keep maturing and spitting out eggs? If you have the science to do that outside of a human body, then you probably have the science to create ovaries in a lab to begin with. As with the setting, as long as you don’t think about it too much, the ovary thing makes for an exciting reason for the plot of carry on.

All around, it was a fun scifi flick that had a most satisfactory ending. I routed for Angeline the last quarter of the book. I was glad to see Min and Rou declare war on those corrupt officials and business people who perpetuated this ovary stealing ring. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Rhett Samuel Price has a great voice and he totally nailed Min. I loved his light Asian accent, as the story called for. His female voices were believable as well. There were a handful of mispronounced words like susurrus & scarification but they were few and far between. The pacing was perfect & there were no technical issues with this recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Rhett Samuel Price. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Great

I enjoyed the story very much and the narrator did a good job
Thank you

edge-of-your-seat action and intrigue

What if you could live forever?  What would you be willing to turn a blind eye to?  Who would you sacrifice to have immortality? December Protocol is a probing story that demonstrates what could happen to society when their number 1 resource for survival is threatened with extinction as well as just how far humankind will go to live forever.

The main characters – Min, Angelina, and Marcus demonstrate the deadliness of immortality and the moral/ethical results of acting upon those desires.  Devin Hanson, the author, challenges his readers to examine these age-old questions through a thrilling, action-packed sci-fi novel guaranteed to leave you struggling to determine who is the most evil – the one seeking immortality due to a fatal disease or the one providing justice but also requires the main ingredient to maintain his immortality?

This is definitely a book that provokes thought long after the book ends while also being entertaining through the edge-of-your-seat action and intrigue.  The storyline flows smoothly and the characters are well defined.  The dialog is realistic as are the situations.  One cannot help but become immersed in the story as it unfolds.

Rhett Samuel Price, the narrator, performed this audiobook wonderfully!  Changing voices for each character is a monumental feat and one he pulls off well.  I enjoyed hearing Price read this book!

There were no issues with the audio quality or production of this audiobook.


Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

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Kicked like a donkey!

Warning! This book may contain triggers to some!

Very well planned out and written book! I was a little confused with some of the terminology, only because this book it set into the future and on Mars! I am usually not a big fan of 3rd person books, but I didn't even realize this was 3rd person until close to the end! Applaud to Rhett Price (tied for my favorite narrator!) for narrating this phenomenal book by Devin!

Thought-provoking detective case on Mars colony.

Within a colony on Mars, a thriving criminal enterprise revolves around girls who are kidnapped and killed for the contents of their ovaries. The precious eggs are highly sought after, being vital to a medical procedure already outlawed on Earth, but on Mars it's quietly tolerated in the young and fragile economy. The procedure prolongs human life by thousands of years. A black market emerges on Mars, happy to supply the increasing demand for neverending youth and everlasting health. After two girls vanish from their school field trip, a detective that operates outside the law suspects they've been kidnapped. He vows to find them before their ovaries can be removed and their bodies discarded like trash.

December Protocol is one of the best sci-fi novels I've heard in a while. It's thought-provoking at its very least. I enjoyed pondering potential consequences of the immortality scenario deftly described by the author. I am once again blown away by veteran narrator, Rhett Samuel Price. His fantastic performances showcase a professional quality and experience that consistently enhance the author's story. Very well done overall, and highly recommended for scifi, biotech, detective, and crime fans.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge. This review is unbiased and the opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

Well Worth the Listen

I listened to this because the narrator was one of my favorite. Otherwise I might have overlook this excellent book. The summary does not do it justice. As with Mr. Hanson's other release, this book is well written, the characters are interesting ,the story keeps you listening to the end and you might ask How far will someone go for immortality. Fresh take on a future fantasy world.
Mr. Price once again brings life to the author's words.
This audio was given to me free at my request & I made this review voluntarily.

Entertaining And Thought-Provoking

The December Protocol was a unique story and challenged the listener to consider the morality of immortality. Would you want to live forever at another's expense? Is your life more valuable than someone else's? And just what lengths would you go to in achieving it?

Aside from the moral questions, this was a very entertaining and action-packed listen. The time just flew by as I was completely immersed in the story. With great writing, interesting characters and the occasional humor, I just couldn't stop listening. Rhett Samuel Price's narration was a definite highlight, with terrific character voices and pacing. He kept me engaged throughout and enhanced my listening experience. I was really wowed by The December Protocol and would recommend it.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This review is my honest opinion.