awesome

can not tell you much I loved this.
loved it from start to finish.
Great.

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"Remember, we will win this together."

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On his twelth birthday, a boy, with several of his peers, sits the exam which will help determine his education for his future career. He hopes to become an engineer. At home, his mother has baked him a chocolate birthday cake. But he never gets to eat it, or to return to his parents and siblings. Because he was special, according to the test, and so began his training with eleven other boys and girls in the previously unheard of Marathon Militia.

Kalju's story is told in the form of a first person journal, one which is being recorded for younger brother Ryan, left behind at home when he was recruited. Now a man now looking back over several years of his life, Kalju's tells of the early years of training - very different from that of most military inductions - over an almost three year period and then, later, battles in which he was involved. It is very visual and imaginative, with excellent description and characterisation. And always, behind everything, is that little question - what has happened to Ryan, the brother?

At over eighteen hours, this is a long audiobook, but it holds the reader's attention throughout. It is exciting, thoughtful and sometimes very poignant as all of this part of Kalju's life is relived with him as his memories tumble out in between breaks waiting for some unspecified military push to occur. And with these memories, he is once again caught in the emotions of the time. The whole presentation is masterfully done, including the final ending. Lots of action but also speculation on the part of Kalju about what is happening to him, and why, the battles themselves, their adversaries, and about friends and family left behind. Just like a fully rounded journal might be written.

As the man recounting his story, narrator Chuck DiMaria is superb. His individual voicings of all of the other characters is distinctive, individual and appropriate. But it is as the storyteller himself that he really excels. Sometimes the pace is gentle,, fully imbued with wonder, joy or questioning, at other times it is fast, loud, excited or even near hysterical as the battles roll over him, with sentences almost gasped out. His pace of narration so closely matches the text, it is easy to believe not only in the man but in the situations in which he finds himself. Even the final epilogue, written differently from the rest of the novel, receives a completely altered voicing. Amazing.

This is a standalone book entirely, but does link into the post apocalyptic world created by the author in other stories. This, however, is far more intense and wide ranging than any of the others so far, and it is quite unecessary to have any knowledge of them to fully enjoy this book. I received my copy of Battle on the Marathon as a freely given gift from the rights holder, via Audiobook Boom. Thank you so much. I loved this book and was fully immersed in it throughout the eighteen hours. There are hints at the end that more stories from this world will be forthcoming: I sincerely hope so. I, for one, will be looking out for them. Highly recommended.

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Enjoyed the story

An interesting story with well drawn characters. Narrator was good when using normal speaking voice, interesting change for each character, except for frequently raising his voice as if giving a stage performance.

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Powerfully written and engaging Sci-Fi

Being a journal with bits and pieces of what is going on at the time the character is recording it and the more historical events they are writing about gives the reader a developing sense of the character and their past as the story moves on. You can very much believe this was being narrated by the character, the language and attitude fit them perfectly. John Thornton has expertly crafted a story with touches of Ender's Game and Starship Troopers to it with an interesting setting of a sunlight colony ship midway on its epic journey.

Good, clear narration that is easy to listen to, fits this book and is well suited to Kalju the main character. Chuck DiMaria does a wonderful job of adding tension, keeping the action fast paced and pulling you into the events Kalju is recording. You can really feel for Kalju though the highs and the low of his story.

The audio recording is good and I noticed no errors.

This was a new and fresh take on some standard themes bound together by great writing and narration, I very much liked this audio book, this is one I am going to remember.

I can highly recommend it is a very interesting book that is well worth the listen.


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

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SiFi at it's best

The story chronicles the life of Kalju, at 12 he is sent to military school for three years. Then on his first mission he encounters the enemy, the story takes off from there. Really well narrated or maybe it would be better to say acted by Chuck.

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Good story

I really enjoyed this story and I too hate it when animals die. Bit of a disappointing end for me but doesn't mean that you shodnt listen

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The narrator really made the story!

Really liked this, I know it's a good one when I stop doing other things to listen! It was a bit bloodthirsty at the end but I loved the lead into the next in the series. I

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great!!

great story already looking for another in this universe. If you like sci-fi you will love this

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Poor recording in parts

I'm a bit in two minds over this. The narrator is quite good, the voice develops as the character becomes older, but there is a certain stiffness in it that makes it difficult to listen to for long periods and instead of sounding excited he merely sounds slightly hysterical. The recording starts off well and then about half way through you can hear where the recording was stopped and started again, words are doubled up because they weren't synced properly. I ended up stopping listening to the narration and reading the ebook. Also lots of audible, gasping breath sounds, not all the way through but in sections. Regarding the storyline, I felt that it was far fetched that the authorities didn't give the military enough details to do the job properly and the persistent intransigence and general ignorance of the common population of the biomes was jarring, but it seems to be a theme throughout all colony ship stories I've read before. I suppose I just don't like it and the whole indoctrination issue doesn't work for my libertarian instincts.

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Yawn

I have no idea how good the story is, it could be astounding but the narrator's voice was so uninspiring and boring, to the point of being annoying that I managed less than 10 minutes of this before giving up.

I received a free copy of this from the author in return for a review.

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