The Merrimack Event

Shieldclads Series, Book 1

By: David A. Tatum

Narrated by: Troy Duran

Once every four years, the Earth Alliance Naval Academy is included in a war game...or rather, the Wargame: On a distant frontier colony, cadets must repair, recommission, and crew a fleet of old, mothballed warships for a simulated fleet action against a group of seasoned veterans using top-of-the-line warships.

After some meddling on the part of the Admiralty, many of the Academy's best are assigned to the oldest, smallest hulk in the Wargame, the unfortunately named corvette, Chihuahua. Thanks to a genius engineer, an Army veteran loaned to the Navy for the war game, and an unconventional captain, they make a new discovery which turns her into the most valuable warship in the fleet: the first ever Shieldclad warship.

The crew abruptly finds itself center stage in a real combat action, however, when Earth is attacked by an unknown foe, and a lone squadron of these once-mothballed ships is the Alliance's only hope to respond....

©2017 David A. Tatum (P)2018 Tantor

Star ratings are becoming meangless 4 1/2 Stars???

The plot is transparently formulaic and manipulative to the point of being childish. The accomplishments of the two protagonists are so far beyond the pale as to be unbelievable. Examples (Spoiler alert) a first year engineering student - on his first exercise - develops a shielding tech and improved speed that all the minds of the fleet have not been able to invent. He accomplishes all of this before the ship is even out of mothballs. Meanwhile his girl friend who is a second year student and isn't even an engineer figures out how to soup up the ships canons.

I have noticed a lot of ratings inflation lately. There is no way that this book deserves 4 !/2 stars. Audible needs the fix the ratings system. It is becoming meaningless.

great story a little teenie bopper though

story and characters were very good, but story fell into teen corny romance in last 1/3. this dramatically distracted from what would have been a 5 star sci-fi. lite tough on teen romance and character play would be a great improvement.

Need more

Good listen. Found myself looking forward to listening. Looking forward to the next in series.

its ok

decent enough story. no real strong points, but no real major issues. comes off as ki d of bla d in a very young adult style. some points annoy, like enlisted men getting drunk on an active ship, and assaulting an officer who is on duty, and then are only given a few days in the brig.

lots of little stuff drag it down from being something good, but if you have a credit sitting around you can do worse.

and really. Really. that is your big overarching threat..? come on. you could easily do better then that.

It’s the Merrimack EVENT!

Full of action, spiked with humor, a dash or two of romance, and just a trace of mystery twined through the plot, Mr. Tatum has created a near perfect space adventure. And how do I arrive at that conclusion? I can easily picture Harrison Ford as the excelling strategy engineer and add it to the Adventure trail of the Jones’s. I can hardly wait for the next book in the iron-clads!

Excellent story - when is the next one coming?

Was captivated by the story.
Also, there are no unnecessary build ups of characters that can drag even a good story

Great New Series Launch!

This is a great launch to a new series! There are some wonderful twists and turns. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Awesome series !

I find myself wanting to get my hands on the next audio book yet again I must wait .

A little too amateurish.

Good story but too much explaining. Readers or listeners need to be able to reach conclusions without being led by the nose.

Awesome start to the series

I can not do this book justice, I do not write many reviews because I do not have that artistic touch but this one deserves for me to try and leave a good review.

This was book 1 and it was a great start. Academy cadets take part in a large scale war game until the unexpected happens.

I like a book that grabs your interest early on an keeps you wanting to know more about the characters. The characters are very likable and has you wanting to follow them through every second of the story. Character building has been good so far and I waiting to see what happens next to the young cadets and in the rest of the story.