Review: In the Orbit of Sirens

In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An intriguing blend of sci-fi and fantasy

In the Orbit of Sirens was an intriguing book with surprising depth and complexity. It's categorized as science fiction on both Audible and Amazon, but Bruno seamlessly blends fantasy elements into the novel.  The story is set on a newly colonized world -- but one already inhabited by intelligent, indigenous lifeforms. The planet has rich mythology that comes to life as the colonists discover the god-like creatures they refer to as Sirens.  The Sirens have powers and abilities that defy scientific explanations, and they are tied to the planet as Gaia-like protective deities. With the plot revolving around the supernatural Sirens, the story deviates from most of your typical sci-fi adventures to be something somewhat unique in the building of genres.

I'll admit that I wasn't that impressed with the book before the various plot elements came together and the narrative started to solidly move forward.  I was about a quarter into the story before becoming hooked on the building suspense and intriguing mix of sci-fi and fantasy.  Besides the unique premise, there was also good dialog and interaction, an interesting cast of characters, and an entertaining plot that was difficult to predict.  While the story does come to a resolution at the end, there were also a few loose, unresolved threads that leave a perfect opening for future books in the series.

The narration in the audiobook version is something of a mixed bag. Some parts of Michael Reimer's performance are excellent. For example, his character voices (especially using a synthesized voice for a marine who uses a cybernetic voice box) are very good and, for the most part, distinctly unique.   It helps that Bruno describes his characters well, making it easy to attribute accents and speech patterns -- and Reimer replicates these well.   However, at the start of the book, Reimer's default narration voice felt flat and monotone and was a bit of a turn-off. The lack of voice inflection was so bothersome that I almost stopped listening after only a few minutes.  However, once character dialogue became prominent and character personalities became more evident in POV text, the issue narrowed to become only a rare and minor annoyance.

Special thanks to T. A. Bruno, who provided me with this book at my request.

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