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1st out of 68 books
—
8 voters
Swarm (Star Force #1)
by
B.V. Larson
Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet!
Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there....
SWARM is the story...more
Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there....
SWARM is the story...more
Kindle Edition, 263 pages
Published
December 23rd 2010
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“Incoming Message: You are the leader of the indigenous resistance forces.” “Tell them yes. Yes, I’m speaking for this world”
Swarm immediately engaged me with its fast paced and nightmarish plot centered around an indentifiable every man. The action and mystery easily carried me through and kept me entertained. If you are looking for a light read, good old fashioned adventure sci fi and like to cheer for the hero this is the book for you. If however you're looking for depth and complexity look e...more
Swarm immediately engaged me with its fast paced and nightmarish plot centered around an indentifiable every man. The action and mystery easily carried me through and kept me entertained. If you are looking for a light read, good old fashioned adventure sci fi and like to cheer for the hero this is the book for you. If however you're looking for depth and complexity look e...more
I picked up Swarm based soley on a recommendation and reviews on Audible.com and I'm so glad I did. This book is fantastic, fast moving, well written (really well narrated if you do Audible) and incredibly creative. The novel starts with a bang when Kyle Riggs' children are snatched up by an alien spacecraft and dropped to their deaths moments later. Needless to say, Kyle is pissed and grabs a rifle (he's a farmer/computer science professor, so the rifle is on hand) before the arm reaches down t...more
While I have been a sci-fi fan for many decades, I can't say I've been too much into the military "prowess" kind of books. I don't go for the descriptions of ammo and machinery specs, I just want the action. "Swarm" doesn't disappoint. Military jargon is at a minimal, whereas action is at a maximum! I picked "Swarm" up fairly cheap and decided to give it a try because the book's description was just SO different and far too tempting.
What kind of alien takes humans and makes them the commander of...more
What kind of alien takes humans and makes them the commander of...more
I have been on leave burning through my “use or lose” vacation time over the last week. In that time I have also burned through B. V. Larson’s Star Force military science fiction series. I have completed five of the six books in the series by burning through my available credits at audible.com. Is it just me, or have I been doing quite a bit of burning lately?
These books have been fun enough to stay at them. I have rated them with 3 out of 5 stars on account of foul language. Granted, it is not...more
These books have been fun enough to stay at them. I have rated them with 3 out of 5 stars on account of foul language. Granted, it is not...more
I have to admit, I went into this book not expecting much. Knowing the author to be independent and knowing what I do about the ability for just about anyone to publish just about anything to the Kindle, I was apprehensive. I had mentally put a self-published, independent book in much the same category as a self-produced piece of music. Not necessarily bad, but likely lacking much of the professional production value.
Larson changed my mind. Not only did I enjoy Swarm and find it highly entertain...more
Larson changed my mind. Not only did I enjoy Swarm and find it highly entertain...more
SWARM is a book for when you are in the mood for what they would have called in the old days, 'a testosterone-driven' read. It's a book with aliens, space ships, and invasions much in keeping with the scifi classics.
The story is told in first person. Kyle Riggs is our protagonist and he makes a convincing computer scientist cum war hero. Something along the lines of a Heinlein character; a man of wit who rises to the occasion.
WHAT I LIKED:
--The concept was great and interesting.
--I particularl...more
The story is told in first person. Kyle Riggs is our protagonist and he makes a convincing computer scientist cum war hero. Something along the lines of a Heinlein character; a man of wit who rises to the occasion.
WHAT I LIKED:
--The concept was great and interesting.
--I particularl...more
This was my exposure to B.V. Larson’s writing, and I was riveted from the start. I read Swarm in two sessions; I just did not want to put it down until I found out how it ended.
The plot is simple, much like the E.E. Smith “Lensman” novels: forces try to one-up each other in a series of combat scenarios, either by tech or tactics while an alien device assists our side. But the first person POV of main protagonist Kyle Riggs works marvelously to get the story to that point, as the reader is droppe...more
The plot is simple, much like the E.E. Smith “Lensman” novels: forces try to one-up each other in a series of combat scenarios, either by tech or tactics while an alien device assists our side. But the first person POV of main protagonist Kyle Riggs works marvelously to get the story to that point, as the reader is droppe...more
I read some of the other reviews on this one and I see it got a lot of good ratings. There were a couple however that rated it fairly low and said things like, "simplistic" or "no depth". The main question that came to my mind at that was, "who picks up a book titled Swarm (Star Force 1) looking for a deep philosophical tome?" It's the people who had the same sort of complaint about Monster Hunter International I suppose...what did you expect? We get it, you're too highbrow for the rest of "us"...more
This is a real scifi with aliens, robots, spaceships and laser guns. Time after time it is refreshing to listen to an audiobook without overcomplicated concepts. The story goes around an old concept: aliens attack the Earth to pirate its raw materials. Other aliens send help, so the humanity has a chance to defend itself. But then comes a spin: the help arrives in a form of automated ships, which pick up their command personnel by their own. In the process selecting the suitable candidates they...more
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I picked this book out of my "purchased for cheap on Kindle" pile because I didn't have to read anything for my book club yet, and it looked kinda fun. I have extremely mixed feelings. While this was a fun, light version of military SF and came up with some interesting battle strategies for new technologies, I had some serious reservations about the lack of minority characters. I did not care for the female character (only one!) at all, there was something about the main character's relationship...more
I didn't expect very much from this book. I think I may have gotten it on special, though in retrospect, it may have been a recommendation from a friend. The book jumped into the action rather quickly, and transitioned from a survival situation to a more action/military-oriented piece rather seamlessly. While I do not normally read a lot of military-themed books, this handled it well, and there was enough going on, otherwise, that I didn't feel out of my element. I particularly liked the author...more
Absolutely great read! I do not believe I have read any other books by this author but I will certainly do so in the future! This story is well written with great character development. If you like military science fiction, this is the series to read.
Now I know what's going on with all these alien abduction reports I read about. They're true, well, maybe! Unfortunately, they're not pleasant abductions.
The main character, Kyle Riggs, turns out to be the perfect guy you'd want if you were captur...more
Now I know what's going on with all these alien abduction reports I read about. They're true, well, maybe! Unfortunately, they're not pleasant abductions.
The main character, Kyle Riggs, turns out to be the perfect guy you'd want if you were captur...more
Swarm has a lot going for it, a strong start, excellent pacing, plenty of action. It kept me up at night, and was hard to put down. The first half of the book had a great 'flight of the navigator' feel to it as well.
Things start to fall apart a bit after 60% of the way in, and I found myself skimming more and more. The protagonist is the only real character, everyone else is rather shallow and unbelievable. The underlying plot has a ton of holes, which would be forgivable if the book remained fu...more
Things start to fall apart a bit after 60% of the way in, and I found myself skimming more and more. The protagonist is the only real character, everyone else is rather shallow and unbelievable. The underlying plot has a ton of holes, which would be forgivable if the book remained fu...more
This book was so awesome. It's very rare to find books that are just super invigorating the entire way through. To this day Scott Sigler and BV Larson are the only ones to do it.
Other authors could really take notes from these 2 on how to make plot development, filler, and descriptive writing interesting. You'll never catch either of these authors writing a sentence like, "The bright green and orange flower that was in the giant football like field, the just happened to be on the side of a majes...more
Other authors could really take notes from these 2 on how to make plot development, filler, and descriptive writing interesting. You'll never catch either of these authors writing a sentence like, "The bright green and orange flower that was in the giant football like field, the just happened to be on the side of a majes...more
This a great popcorn sci-fi romp in the tradition of Robert Heinlein. Kyle Riggs is a computer science professor, farmer, and widower parent of two teenagers who is abducted by an alien spacecraft made up of nanites seeking a new commander. These ships are attempting to help save Earth from an invasion from the "Macros" a race of immense building-size robots that seek the solar system to mine resources to expand their empire.
Riggs finds himself as the primary engineer adapting alien technology t...more
Riggs finds himself as the primary engineer adapting alien technology t...more
Considering that this was evidently B. V. Larson's first foray into writing I'm pretty damn impressed. I'm usually not a fan of this genre but with a publisher's summary of
"Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there...."
Dark at first but you'll find yourself altern...more
"Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there...."
Dark at first but you'll find yourself altern...more
Originally posted at FanLit. http://www.fantasyliterature.com
Professor Kyle Riggs and his kids were asleep in their house when the alien spaceship arrived. It killed the kids, kidnapped Kyle, and put him through a series of grueling tests. Since he was still alive afterward, the ship made Kyle the captain. This has been happening all over Earth. Most of the captured humans have been killed because they couldn’t make it through the rigorous tests, but all the survivors are now piloting spaceships...more
Professor Kyle Riggs and his kids were asleep in their house when the alien spaceship arrived. It killed the kids, kidnapped Kyle, and put him through a series of grueling tests. Since he was still alive afterward, the ship made Kyle the captain. This has been happening all over Earth. Most of the captured humans have been killed because they couldn’t make it through the rigorous tests, but all the survivors are now piloting spaceships...more
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Alien Invasion! Ok, so the subject matter is not exactly the most original. I am sure H.G. Wells, the Zentradi and the Invid, the Sectoid, Starship Troopers and all sorts of other real and fictional creatures and humans would agree on this.
I did enjoy this author's take on the story. While this was certainly not the most creative of stories, it was enjoyable enough. I am a bit disappointed by how slow they are to figure out solutions of the F.O.D. (Foreign Object Debris/Damage) problem and ther...more
I did enjoy this author's take on the story. While this was certainly not the most creative of stories, it was enjoyable enough. I am a bit disappointed by how slow they are to figure out solutions of the F.O.D. (Foreign Object Debris/Damage) problem and ther...more
3 Skull RatingSwarm is really fast-paced, catapulting its hero from one life situation to a completely different situation, all over the span of a few hundred pages. For that reason, I really liked this military sci-fi tale. I even finished it, which is higher praise than I give half my TBRs. Otherwise, I have a hard time recommending it.
To begin, Swarm was barely understandable, let alone believable. The invading aliens themselves were not very scary, and as a result, there was a dull fatalism...more
My boyfriend is currently reading this series and asked me to read the sample to see if I was interested. The first few chapters quickly revealed this was not my cup of tea, but I bought the book and continued to read because I love him. And it's easier for me to agree to read a book of his choosing than of mine lol.
I was quite shocked that I enjoyed it, I was glued, and I finished in less than a week :-P
I honestly thought I would struggle staying interested but hey I love Star Wars and Star T...more
I was quite shocked that I enjoyed it, I was glued, and I finished in less than a week :-P
I honestly thought I would struggle staying interested but hey I love Star Wars and Star T...more
Some piles of crap are fatter than others. This is medium-fat pile of crap. I've read fatter. I read this in audiobook format, and I can at least say the reader was pretty good. If you've never encountered a book before, you might think this is really cool. This book does not even deserve the time it takes to say why I thought it was excremental. True, I suspected from the cover, the title, and even the blurb that this might be a floater, but all the reviews were so good, I figured, hey what the...more
This book makes no pretense about being anything more than a tactical alien invasion story; but what it does, it does quite well.
It seems the author made a conscious decision not to dwell too long on any of the characters or relationships, which is probably a good thing because when he DOES spend a few pages on that kind of stuff, it drags the book down significantly.
I guess the snapshot takeaway is it has a good brain but little heart.
I'll probably give the second book in the series (and this...more
It seems the author made a conscious decision not to dwell too long on any of the characters or relationships, which is probably a good thing because when he DOES spend a few pages on that kind of stuff, it drags the book down significantly.
I guess the snapshot takeaway is it has a good brain but little heart.
I'll probably give the second book in the series (and this...more
Well done. The main character just has his children eviscerated by aliens. For the rest of the book, he throws token remorse in their direction, but really spends most of his time trying to get into the pants of the hot/curvy/mostly-naked/restrained woman that ends up falling for him for some reason.
Bonus points for all of the hot-blooded Latina stereotypes! I'm surprised her skin color wasn't compared to food, like flan or something.
I'll give a star for the tech though. Yay nanos!
Bonus points for all of the hot-blooded Latina stereotypes! I'm surprised her skin color wasn't compared to food, like flan or something.
I'll give a star for the tech though. Yay nanos!
Swarm is a very fast-paced science fiction read that will generally keep you entertained throughout. It really took me a while to read the book because of other life related issues, not for it being bad, it's actually a good book once you complete it. I think if I read it from front to back within a day or two I would have enjoyed the story more. Swarm isn't a hard story to get through either, just take the biggest blockbuster movie of the year and incorporate it into a novel and that is what Sw...more
This book starts out fast as the main character has his children killed by an alien space craft. He is then kidnapped by the ship and put through varies "tests". He gains command of the ship and has to figure out what is going on. This portion of the book seems to fly by. The second half seems to slow down. I really liked the first portion of the book, the second half was ok. It was a quick read and enjoyable enough if you are looking for something to fill in some time.
First book in this series...there's 3 out so far, and I plan to read them all in quick succession. Swarm is another of those sci-fi alien invasion books, but instead of weird green men with big heads, they're robots/computers.
B.V. Larson doesn't fluff anything up; his writing style is very simple, and pretty concise. In a book of this length (somewhat short), he keeps everything moving at a brisk pace, which means you likely won't get bored. That being said, the book was a bit predictable. There...more
B.V. Larson doesn't fluff anything up; his writing style is very simple, and pretty concise. In a book of this length (somewhat short), he keeps everything moving at a brisk pace, which means you likely won't get bored. That being said, the book was a bit predictable. There...more
Great book. Bit fluffy but interesting concepts. Very easy to read. I think I'm probably going to end up tearing through the series. Has alien technology, war, sex, betrayal. Sort of like a space opera, but not really...I don't want to explain more than that for fear of spoilers. His writing is quite...simplistic. When I think back on it it kind of bugs me how it's so simple, but I think that's the genre/style he is going for. So it's fine :)
This one is difficult to rate. I enjoyed the book...quite a bit, actually...but it wasn't particularly well-written (not bad, just not great). One of my favorite things about the story was Larson's view of what would happen if mostly average humans came into possession (but not necessarily control) of advanced alien technology.
It seems like it's going to be a fun series. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Can I somehow give this book 3.5/5?
It seems like it's going to be a fun series. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Can I somehow give this book 3.5/5?
This is one of those books that I enjoyed, although not enough to give it four stars.It was a decent enough, although there is a lot of military science fiction out thee that does it, as well as all the other aspects of waging war - logistics, R&D, strategy etc. much better.
The characters were not that interesting as a whole and character development could have been better as well.
As a debut novel it is ok I guess.
The characters were not that interesting as a whole and character development could have been better as well.
As a debut novel it is ok I guess.
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Mar 23, 2013 05:18pm