Audible Book Review: Eternal Frontier by Anthony J. Melchiorri

This is full of action with one fight and miraculous escape after another.

Eternal Frontier
By: Anthony J. Melchiorri
Narrated by: Bradford Hastings

Series: Eternal Frontier, Book 1
Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
Release date: 04-18-17
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Adventure, Space Opera
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 3.75; Narration 4.25.

Publisher's Summary
Humanity has avoided interstellar war for centuries.
It was a time of peace, prosperity, and exploration. But when an unexpected attack cripples a scientific vessel, the SRES Argo, it appears that time has come to an end.
Chief Medical Officer Tag Brewer is the ship's only survivor. He is alone in the far reaches of space. To survive, he must restore and protect the downed vessel from its unknown attackers on a planet as deadly as it is mysterious. He vows to do everything in his power to seek justice for his fallen crew.
When Tag uncovers a sinister secret about those who attacked the Argo, he realizes far more is at stake than just his survival. Something more powerful, more technologically advanced, and more ruthless has emerged from the darkest voids of the galaxy. It's up to Tag to survive long enough to warn humanity and stop the dawn of a new war.
©2017 Anthony J. Melchiorri (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Review:
Tag Brewer once trained to be a captain, but one failed exercise resulted in a change in his career. He still wanted to go to space, so he became a Chief Medical Officer on a scientific ship, the Argo. The ship is headed to a particular inhospitable planet to pick up a biologist who was left there to explore the local life. When the ship enters the planet atmosphere, they begin to lose communication abilities. Then they are attacked by ‘pirates’ who swiftly take control of the ship poisoning all humans on board…except Tag who watches in horror from his secured medical bay.

Tag manages to stay alive and take out the three aliens who remained on the bridge in spite of their superior weapons and armor. Tag finds himself without any AI which has been compromised. He cannot make repairs or man the ship without aid, so he implements an experiment he has been working on. He implants brain tissue from one of his dead friends into the medical robot. The robots reaction when activated is to attack its creator!

Tag has to dodge the pirates, land a badly damaged ship and hope he can find the biologist if he wants a chance of finding another human and getting the Argo back running. He survives one death situation after another to finally gather a handful of companions to help make a risky, miraculous escape and then an equally risky and unexpected rescue.

It doesn’t take long into the book to wonder at Tag’s remarkable escapes and versatile skills. He is the sole character for the beginning of the book. The story was full of action which was good although it required a suspension of belief. I downloaded this book and its sequels for free through the Audible Plus Catalog, so I have the next two books in the series and will read them at some point. I don't count this as stellar space opera but it should be entertaining for action junkies.

Audio Notes: Bradford Hastings does a good job with the narration. He provides distinct voices (when there is more than one character) and he brings good energy to the presentation. I enjoyed the audio.

Source: January 2021 Free Audible Plus Catalog. This qualifies for 2022TBR, 2022Audiobook, and 2022Alphabet goals.