Try free for 30 days

  • The Ember War

  • Publisher's Pack, Books 1-2
  • By: Richard Fox
  • Narrated by: Luke Daniels
  • Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (292 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Ember War cover art

The Ember War

By: Richard Fox
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $46.99

Buy Now for $46.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

The Ember War, book 1: The Earth is doomed. Humanity has a chance.

In the near future, an alien probe arrives on Earth with a pivotal mission: to determine if humanity has what it takes to survive the impending invasion by a merciless armada. The probe discovers Marc Ibarra, a young inventor who holds the key to a daring gambit that could save a fraction of Earth's population. Humanity's only chance lies with Ibarra's ability to keep a terrible secret and engineer the planet down the narrow path to survival. Earth will need a fleet. One with a hidden purpose. One strong enough to fight a battle against annihilation.

The Ember War is the first installment in an epic military sci-fi series. If you enjoyed A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo and The Last Starship by Vaughn Heppner, then you'll love this explosive adventure with constant thrills and high stakes from beginning to end.

The Ruins of Anthalas, book 2: An ancient holocaust holds the key to humanity's survival.

Only a sliver of mankind survived the Xaros invasion. With Earth's defenses in ashes, nothing can stop the aliens' inevitable return. Hope arrives through a cryptic message from a long-lost alien race, promising the means to rebuild the shattered space fleet. Captain Valdar takes one of the last strike carriers, the Breitenfeld, and his shell-shocked crew on a desperate mission to the dead world. Unfortunately humans aren't the only power that received the ancient message....

The Ruins of Anthalas is the second book in The Ember War Saga, a military sci-fi space opera. If you like David Weber and John Ringo with a touch of Isaac Asimov, then you'll love this fast-paced and captivating adventure where humanity survives at the edge of a knife.

©2015 Richard Fox (P)2016 Podium Publishing

What listeners say about The Ember War

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    174
  • 4 Stars
    80
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    162
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    144
  • 4 Stars
    82
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An excellent story with plausible tech...

The narrator does a superb job with the narration. His pacing is spot on, as is the many different accents and intonations of male/female/alien voices, making it rather easy to follow the dialogue between characters. The narrator definitely brings the story to life.

The author of this story has a masterpiece here. There were occasions where I had to relisten, or listen very carefully in order to understand some of the plot line. But besides that, it is an excellent story, with varying themes small and large alike. The prominent theme, like most modern sci-fi, is about humanities insignificance in the grand scheme of the cosmos...But does not demean humanities abilities.

if you love sci-fi, space navy battles, believable technologies , civilizations and love thinking beyond our galaxy...then this is the book for you...And trust me. I'm extremely picky when it comes to sci-fi.

also, check out the Fear Saga by Stephen Moss if you end up loving this book. similar style of story, but insanely unique, as is this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

American Marines in Space, Again

America saves the world, again.
American military hierarchy dominates in the future, again.
Over sentimental company/squad leaders for their dead marines but hard as nails and herioc at the same time, again.

Otherwise the story is not bad. Narrator is good but needs to practice accents, particularly the Australian.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A painfully pro American author with good ideas

The story was intriguing and punchy enough to keep my interest consistently piqued. However, the authors nationalistic arrogance made me want to puke and stop numerous times throughout. This could be a recommendation if these inane comments were removed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great original sci-fi delivered well!

This story is a great original and simple take on the sci-fi realm. It's a simple story written with everything simplified as much as possible, which makes it incredibly easy to follow and digest, although, for me, this had the side effect of making some points feel shallow.

The only two characters I really sympathised with and felt much for were Ibarra and Valdor, and to a slightly lesser extent Elias, but neither of them felt like they got the character exposition that they deserved, considering their sheer importance to the story and their own heft of power within the story.
And I get the impression that the full jist of what Stacey truly is will be explained in future books, but the hints at her biological makeup felt both underdone and overdone, considering the lack of an immediate answer to them within these two first books.

Some of the story -again just my perspective not quite an objective observation- felt rushed, or oversimplified.
Just like it's great simplifying sci-fi technical talk to make it easy to follow, it's also important to have just enough meat and potatoes behind it to make you feel that the characters are impassioned about it and give it a heavier importance to the story.

Before listening to the story, I was convinced to purchase based on a QA with Richard Fox I read. He mentioned those points I did above from a positive light, and my criticisms of them is purely from how I like to enjoy a sci-fi. The story itself seems to be very well written and delivered.
But one point in the QA which I did find very contradictory was the question and answer regarding why Humanity (modern day?) haven't heard from an alien civilization yet.
I believe that RF gave three possible explanations and used the third (There's something out there silencing civilizations before they can begin to use interstellar communication) to explain the why in this story.
And yet there is initial contact with the Alliance probe which propels the story forward. This point is in line with RF's answer, and the probe even explains why it decides to make contact considering Ibarra's discovery and how it can be used to propel Humanity forward.
Later, it's revealed that the probe is from an Alliance of alien species, which again feels in line with that answer, giving the impression that they were only perhaps a dozen or so different races.
But in the 2nd book, it's revealed that there are (perhaps) hundreds of races in the Alliance. And that many of them were already capable of advanced space flight and interstellar contact prior to the Xaros and the Alliance contact, contradicting the why for why the stars are so silent.
This point stood out to me and really knocked me off track on enjoying the story as much and I felt shook the core motivation of the story.

My next point that reeeeaaaallllyyyy bothered me was the Australian character. I am Australian, partly raised in US as well so I personally have a very in-between accent. But NEVER have I heard an accent as stereotypically atrocious as the one delivered in this narration.
Upon hearing it and realizing it was meant to be Australian, I tried to focus on the dialogue rather than how it was spoken and found that the "Australianisms" used were, likewise to the narration, stereotypically atrocious.
The most "Australian'ish" accents and speaking I've ever heard have been in Darwin, and they didn't hold a candle to the Australian in this.

My negative points aside, for the most parts, the narration was well done, but how bad the Australian part was put me off so much that I couldn't give that more than a 2-star rating.

The story is well written and brings a new take to Humanity expanding into the stars and contesting with peaceful and waring alien races in an easy to follow and enjoyable fashion.

The characters, whilst I felt were overly simplified, were still solid characters and were shown in a way that can make you understand their motivations and views.

I will most certainly be working my way through the rest of the novels over time.

And I thank the author for putting the work into making this.

I would definitely suggest this story to any sci-fi lover out there.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

excellent sci fi

loved this book a lot. Great story and excellent narration. on to blood of heroes!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable and gripping

Would you consider the audio edition of The Ember War to be better than the print version?

The audio book is exceptionally enjoyable and accessible when driving or relaxing while working around the house. With 2 Children it is not always easy to devote time a print version.

What does Luke Daniels bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The narration was excellent overall with good character vocal inflection. The only grating aspect is the Australian accent. As an Australian myself I find it over acted and hope I don't sound like that to others.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Phoenix from the embers

Any additional comments?

This is a great story without some of the over hyped military macho ism. The characters have more depth and frailty than is generally seen is this genre. All up a great plot, well executed. I will definitely work through the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Started 'meh' then got better.

Rough start for me but improved along the way. The attempts at Australian accents and women's voices are cringe worthy. I'll probably get the sequel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great experience.

This audiobook gets better each time I listen to it. I am carried away to another time and place.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ember Wars

One of the best saga I have come across. love every installment. really great read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it!

Loved going back to this book over and over ahain. the performance is outstanding!!!! keep up the good work!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.