Book Review: Solitude by Dean Cole

Version: Audiobook

Genre: Science Fiction

Amazon Rating: 4.4 (162 reviews as of this posting)

Solitude was a fun book to listen to. R.C. Bray and Julia Whelan were great narrators who gave the story flair and substance. I love listening to Scifi books, and while this book sits nowhere near the top of the list, it was enjoyable and worth listening to. 

Let’s dive into the good the bad and the great!

The Good

I loved the promise of the story, that there would only be a few surviving members of the human race and they would need to find each other. It was a scifi meets love story that got the romance piece right. 

The Bad

This book has a lot wrong with it. I’ll list three major failing points. 

1) I didn’t like the two narrators. It was jarring switching back and forth, sometimes mid-chapter. I would have been okay with either narrator (but I’ll admit, I bought the book because of R.C. Bray.) They did a great job with their parts, but the interrupting nature of a new voice killed the flow. 

2) While the story was interesting and filled with twists, the action was described poorly. Throughout most of the action sequences I had no idea what was really happening. 

3) None of the book was realistic. Sure, all science fiction takes leaps of what is possible, but each of the characters kept getting into situations that defied logic. At one point, Angela gets into a car with no working breaks and gets into an accident. Is it likely that this car loses it’s breaking function two months after the disappearances? No. I don’t like impossible situations that come out of nowhere and seem random. Unless it’s a giant setup for the next book, the level of near death experiences for these characters when no one else is around is just unbelievable. 

The Great

Unfortunately, the list of bad could continue past just three major problems. I can’t add anything to the great, as the book wasn’t great. It was some good, mixed with a lot of bad. 

Pick up the book on Amazon here and check it out for yourself. 

Enjoy and best of luck in all and please recommend your favorite science fiction books.

-Jordan