corporate greed meets live stream mercenaries

good take on warfare where you live or die on the donations from your fans, there is more to this story but i do not want to spoil anything :)

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excellent

absolutely loved this book. love how the characters evolved and the twist in the ending made me cry it was soo bittersweet. the story itself covers soo much feeling of the tragedy of social media, and that of war, that it was believable and sad. I hope humanity never lives this story

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War is a helluva drug.

Mid 2230s and most occupations are now done by robots, better and far more reliable. So jobs are few and bored psychology student, Sam, spends much of her time playing computer games and drinking with, or without, her friends, not that she has enough money from government handouts to become an alcoholic. She wants to do something with her !ife and doesn't know what; there doesn't seem to be anything left.
Then a young man tells her that machines will never be able to do his job: there is one thing that they can never do - die. And Sam is recruited to join the Death Streamers, men and women sent on the war ship, Final Hope, to fight the alien race discovered as Earth expanded to become a multiplanetary species. Each soldier wears a camera which streams back to the vast earth audience everything that the wearer can see and experience. Build up a good fan base, and the future holds wealth and fame - if the player can last long enough. Viral follows Sam as she tries to ma!e a difference in her life and in the war to save humanity.

Although it might sound like it, and there are several intensive human-alien battles charted, this is not quite the usual military space campaign story. Instead it also looks at perceptions and societal interaction, fears, hopes and jealousies as well as links between individuals, including a very gentle romance. All is sympathetically narrated by Natalie Duke who takes on the persona of Sam who, in the book, is recording her story in the first person, with chapter introductions by assorted quotations. Ms.Duke is an excellent choice, her voice p!peasant and able to give separate character interpretations as well as feeling her way into Sam's personality and project this for the reader. Clear, articulate and we'll modulated, hers is a good performance.

Viral is a book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys military S.F. or is interested in possible futures generally and the effect of media on society. It was a very compelling and enjoyable listen.

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2 people found this helpful

Well Enjoyed.

Took me a while to get around to listening. While it's not of the size of Raths story, still well worth a listen. Well read by Natalie too.

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Excellent performance of an excellent story.

This is a first rate Sci-Fi tale and i thoroughly enjoyed it right from the start. As an audiobook it is delivered flawlessly Natalie Duke who really brings the character of Sam to life. Despite this being Sci-Fi and set during a future war this is simply a tale of how one person deals with the situation they find them self in and how they change as a result. I won't give away how things pan out for Sam, (what would be the point of listening to it if i did that?) but i will say she learns a lot along the way about herself and the larger world.
A great story delivered brought to life with high quality production. Simply put: give it a go.

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Starship Troopers X Twitch

Loved every chapter. There weren't any particular weak points in the story or the VA, all served to tell the tale very well. I couldn't help but relate this to Starship Troopers but in today's streaming environment. Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful