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Earth Song #1
Overture
In Central Park, a homeless man bears witness to the arrival of a strange device, but is it a gift from the Angels of God, or a way for them to invade Earth at its most vulnerable moment?
Disgraced astronomer Mindy Patoy learns of an asteroid bearing down on Earth, and she finds herself drawn inexplicably to New York City, where she finds friends and enemies alike as she struggles to unravel the mystery of the portal.
As word spreads of alien devices appearing around the globe, scientists race to find out whether they are the end of human civilization or its salvation. Through the portal, a small band of soldiers struggle against monstrous reptiles to carve out a place for the refugees who hope to follow. They cannot hold out for long without resupply, and the portal is one-way only…there is no retreat.
As the asteroid bears down, time is running out, and New York City has become a war zone. Civilization is shaking itself to pieces as factions around the globe battle over the portals, and the asteroid draws ever closer. Is the Song of Earth about to end, or is it just beginning?
Disgraced astronomer Mindy Patoy learns of an asteroid bearing down on Earth, and she finds herself drawn inexplicably to New York City, where she finds friends and enemies alike as she struggles to unravel the mystery of the portal.
As word spreads of alien devices appearing around the globe, scientists race to find out whether they are the end of human civilization or its salvation. Through the portal, a small band of soldiers struggle against monstrous reptiles to carve out a place for the refugees who hope to follow. They cannot hold out for long without resupply, and the portal is one-way only…there is no retreat.
As the asteroid bears down, time is running out, and New York City has become a war zone. Civilization is shaking itself to pieces as factions around the globe battle over the portals, and the asteroid draws ever closer. Is the Song of Earth about to end, or is it just beginning?
- GenresScience Fiction
484 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
80 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 2, 2021
Author left two harassing comments on my Monster Hunter International review.
December 18, 2017
a race powerful enough to create spontaneous travel,can't send a ship instead
fucking retarded
fucking retarded
December 9, 2017
Earthsong Overture: Review
Mark Wandrey
Author of Cartwright's Cavaliers and A Time to Die (2016 DragonCon Dragon Award finalist)
FYI: I was given an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Here it is :-)
I’m ready for more of the series!
This is a solid, entertaining read. It covers an amazing amount of ground with a lot of action. I grew to care about them each character as the story progressed. I love stories where people work together to work out a problem.
I highly recommend this book, and especially this author. Mark has several books available and they’re each worth the time invested.
Get a copy, see for yourself.
Mark Wandrey
Author of Cartwright's Cavaliers and A Time to Die (2016 DragonCon Dragon Award finalist)
FYI: I was given an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Here it is :-)
I’m ready for more of the series!
This is a solid, entertaining read. It covers an amazing amount of ground with a lot of action. I grew to care about them each character as the story progressed. I love stories where people work together to work out a problem.
I highly recommend this book, and especially this author. Mark has several books available and they’re each worth the time invested.
Get a copy, see for yourself.
December 9, 2017
Great fast paced opening to a series I am looking forward to finishing. While I received this book free, I plan on buying the audio edition of this book as well as the rest of the series.
February 9, 2019
I do have a few issues with this book but on the whole it was a fairly nice read.
It is a mix between a humanity-discovers-there’s-life-in-space story and a apocalypse story. The entire book is pretty much a set-up for books to come. I guess this is a bit of a spoiler but given that the author pretty much discloses the outcome on the first few pages it’s really not that much of a spoiler. Anyway, by the end of the book Earth is gone, literally, and what remains of humanity is … elsewhere.
This book is all about the events that leads up to this point. The discovery of the pending apocalypse, the portals, the escape and, not very surprisingly, a lot of the stupidity of human behavior. The latter are the parts that I really was not to thrilled about.
The book is well written, the characters are not bad at all and, on the whole, the story is captivating. I do like these mystery/discovery/build-up kind of stories. Of course the author had to drag in CERN which is always a mistake since no one seems to be able to look up actual facts. How bloody hard can it be to do some research, for instance where the actual geographical location of the laboratory is? Hint, it is in Switzerland with some parts of it in France. I did like the stab he made at the global warming fanatics though.
The parts I am not so thrilled about is that he threw in some fanatical cultists that were allowed to screw things up the way these kind of lunatics usually screw things up. Boring and not very fun reading. Then we just had to get some internal FBI and NSA conspiracies crap as well. To top it all of there was the utterly unbelievable stupidity of some nations (one in particular) who managed to almost make humanity extinct by themselves. Come on, if the author had just chosen some of the well known totally deluded nations of fanatics like North Korea or Iran it might have been half believable but no…
Okay, those parts aside, I have to say I quite enjoyed this read. Given the finality of certain things at the end of the book I am also quite eager to see where the story goes from here.
It is a mix between a humanity-discovers-there’s-life-in-space story and a apocalypse story. The entire book is pretty much a set-up for books to come. I guess this is a bit of a spoiler but given that the author pretty much discloses the outcome on the first few pages it’s really not that much of a spoiler. Anyway, by the end of the book Earth is gone, literally, and what remains of humanity is … elsewhere.
This book is all about the events that leads up to this point. The discovery of the pending apocalypse, the portals, the escape and, not very surprisingly, a lot of the stupidity of human behavior. The latter are the parts that I really was not to thrilled about.
The book is well written, the characters are not bad at all and, on the whole, the story is captivating. I do like these mystery/discovery/build-up kind of stories. Of course the author had to drag in CERN which is always a mistake since no one seems to be able to look up actual facts. How bloody hard can it be to do some research, for instance where the actual geographical location of the laboratory is? Hint, it is in Switzerland with some parts of it in France. I did like the stab he made at the global warming fanatics though.
The parts I am not so thrilled about is that he threw in some fanatical cultists that were allowed to screw things up the way these kind of lunatics usually screw things up. Boring and not very fun reading. Then we just had to get some internal FBI and NSA conspiracies crap as well. To top it all of there was the utterly unbelievable stupidity of some nations (one in particular) who managed to almost make humanity extinct by themselves. Come on, if the author had just chosen some of the well known totally deluded nations of fanatics like North Korea or Iran it might have been half believable but no…
Okay, those parts aside, I have to say I quite enjoyed this read. Given the finality of certain things at the end of the book I am also quite eager to see where the story goes from here.
June 15, 2020
Ohboyohboyohboy!
The ohboys are meant from the heart, after just finishing Overture. There is an ever increasing rhythm that carries the best of humanity into the battles of a lifetime. There are so many wonderful characters that leap off the page and (sometimes) slam straight into your heart. Mindy is strong, super-smart and so loveable. There’s one or two secondary characters that deserve hisses and boos. Those battles are so often bloody and brutal, so much loss of life. This is an apocalyptic event that truly surpasses anything I’ve ever read. And it shows with realism and timing. Even the complexities woven in are entertaining! There is even a love story in there, but that’s all I’ll say. I loved this book!!!!
The ohboys are meant from the heart, after just finishing Overture. There is an ever increasing rhythm that carries the best of humanity into the battles of a lifetime. There are so many wonderful characters that leap off the page and (sometimes) slam straight into your heart. Mindy is strong, super-smart and so loveable. There’s one or two secondary characters that deserve hisses and boos. Those battles are so often bloody and brutal, so much loss of life. This is an apocalyptic event that truly surpasses anything I’ve ever read. And it shows with realism and timing. Even the complexities woven in are entertaining! There is even a love story in there, but that’s all I’ll say. I loved this book!!!!
April 27, 2022
In his forward, the author stated that he'd revamped this book, written in early 2000's, to bring it more in line with the present. Indeed, there is more current technology mentioned and some hints to the current political/social situations but overall it still reads like a book written over twenty years ago. We're given the end of the story right from the start as the Earth struggles with alien deposits and an off course asteroid; which is a strong hint there will be more in the series. I could never really get fully in to this story, perhaps because there's too many moving parts, too many potential protagonists, and the pacing doesn't pick up until the end. However, it's an ok read.
May 31, 2020
Action-packed, engaging and entertaining, but ultimately average “apocalypse” sci-fi novel. The biggest issue by far was grammatical and punctuation errors, which were incredibly irritating. I got this book for free, which made the sloppiness easier to tolerate; not sure its worth the $7.99 on Kobo. That said, definitely willing to give the next book in the series a shot, though I hope the author had a decent editor for that one!
June 16, 2020
Overture
Even though at the last hours there was an intervention this book was awesome. The characters are believable and lots of witty moments. Still not sure why anyone wanted to destroy earth.
Even though at the last hours there was an intervention this book was awesome. The characters are believable and lots of witty moments. Still not sure why anyone wanted to destroy earth.
September 23, 2021
This book was interesting. I liked it reasonably well, and will try continuing with the series.
May 16, 2022
Loved this story of humanity's reactions to an impending extinction-level event, and the arrival of mysterious alien devices around the world. It's well-written, believable and entertaining, and kept me turning the page at a feverish pace.
February 3, 2024
The story is a bit lengthy in my opinion. It gives off a 'Stargate' vibe, with a wormhole opening to a distant planet just before an extinction-level event. The narrative sets the stage for a new colony, and I'm curious to see how it unfolds.
May 23, 2018
A good book to read Mindy becomes very likeable, but not what I expected from this author after reading about the four horsemen
July 2, 2019
Outstanding start to a great series.
September 15, 2019
A very good apocalyptic space opera well-populated with characters to love and characters to hate.
June 16, 2020
A Must Read For Sci-fi fans
The book had me from the first chapter and I finished it in two days! I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
The book had me from the first chapter and I finished it in two days! I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
June 17, 2020
Excellent
Great characters and most mysteries solved. Really enjoyable and interesting handling of the science.
I hope book 2 is as good.
Great characters and most mysteries solved. Really enjoyable and interesting handling of the science.
I hope book 2 is as good.
June 25, 2020
Asteroids, Aliens, and Escape from Earth!
Even paced writing and good characters that are well written and engaging. I'm looking forward to jumping straight into the next book.
Even paced writing and good characters that are well written and engaging. I'm looking forward to jumping straight into the next book.
June 27, 2020
Yes a 5! It was an excellent read. I'm off to buy book #2 right now!!
July 5, 2020
Love the dramatic beginning, then it lost me
June 11, 2021
Pretty gripping story
I especially enjoyed the well drawn characters. Interesting plot, a few twists and turns...and now I'm looking for the next book in the series
I especially enjoyed the well drawn characters. Interesting plot, a few twists and turns...and now I'm looking for the next book in the series
February 21, 2013
A nice blend of Lucifer's Hammer, Cradle of Saturn, and Stargate, with a more personal viewpoint. Left a couple intriguing plot devices in place to make for an interesting sequel. I purchased the Barnes and Noble eBook version, but this is one of those I definitely would like to have in hardcopy, if anything just to encourage the author to write some more!
Additionally, very addicting. I started it yesterday morning and finished it around 2 a.m. with a craving for MORE. First rate near future sci-fi.
Additionally, very addicting. I started it yesterday morning and finished it around 2 a.m. with a craving for MORE. First rate near future sci-fi.
January 13, 2013
great read! I liked the book a great deal!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews