Retrograde

Written by Peter Cawdron

Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen

Venturing into space and travelling to Mars sounds like an exotic adventure, but the reality is living in lava caves hundreds of feet below the surface of a rocky, frozen, lifeless planet is exacting on the Mars Endeavour crew. The only viable option for long term habitation lies beneath the surface of the planet, where humans can be shielded from harsh cosmic radiation.

Connor, Harrison, and Liz are senior members of the US module. When war breaks out on Earth, and rumors begin spreading on Mars, they find their core principles rocked by the devastation and loss of friends and family. Who can you trust on an international mission when your countries are at war? As the colonists struggle to figure out what really happened on Earth, grief and anger become pitted against camaraderie and the spirit of exploration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Sep 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543602661

Peter Cawdron

PETER CAWDRON is an Australian science fiction writer and author of numerous novels. He lives in Queensland, Australia.

Reviews for Retrograde

[Ron Goetz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good read. It keeps you going with an interesting air of intensity. The idea of having to get along in a world devoid of nationalities that unfortunately are inherent by nature keeps a person wondering. In the end, the solutions are a little too easy coming and really detract from the plot that unfolds.
Even so, a recommended read.

[Geoffrey Siegel · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Keep reading if you enjoyed the first couple of chapters. If not, stop. The plot is overly-simplistic, not very exciting, and I was left wondering why the writer wrote the book at all.

[Alyssa McIntosh · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The plot line had potential. There was not great character development or background information.

[Alexander Hagen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining enough for a listen while doing some busywork. Main character is compelling, but underdeveloped leaving payoffs feeling a little overplayed. Book should’ve been longer, and I could see promise as a TV show. I think introducing more complex relationships in hard science fiction is a great idea, though I found the love triangle in this book to not be written particularly well. Voice acting is excellent! Minor detail, but the author seemed to make a point constantly about profanity? Weird for adult fiction. It’s okay to say the F word.

[Erik Harmon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good sci-fi! Give it a try. Both smart and emotional.

[PATRYK Battle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fine story. But as a farmer I was reminded that this is science! Fiction!. Gene splicing “gods” may get to a point were they can “breed””wheat” that produces in a two week cycle. But I'm gonna bet you most all of them astronauts would have gluten intolerance in short order. I get that a general science fiction writer boys into the fantasy that is genetic engineering but the reality is that the web of life it's still well beyond for comprehension by humans. even modest modifications have had devastating impacts. Check out the disaster of GMO tryptophan if you disbelieve. massive alterations needed to make a crop that matures more normally in 1/2 a year or sof be able to ripen in two weeks makes that our bodies would not be able to deal with the massive concentration of novel proteins,sugars, fats ,microbes etc such a drastic alteration would engender. I doubt it but it might be that my irritation with this early on in my view clueless prediction Alienated me from the story but either way it didn't grab me Where Ilike the other three that I've listened to. Still given the abundance of dreck that is out there posing as science fiction this is an intelligent well executed story and I had moments was even gripped a bit but never delighted like I was bye anomaly alien porn tentacle or Wel To a somewhat lesser extent Wecome to the occupied states of America. Please forgive the absence of capitalization for these titles and all other capitalization mistakes I am using speech to text technology and my AI can't even figure out capitalization I guess I'm not gonna worry about it becoming Malignant intelligence in yin the immediate future.

[Robert Burris · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The overall story was compelling with what is occurring in the world at present.

[Ryan Acree · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author used facts about Mars and the likelihood of what might be possible in the next few decades to paint a telling and colorful story. The voice actress for this was wonderful and made it that much more enjoyable.

[Jon Levin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. Fascinating story with realistic characters and an unexpected plot twist. Highly recommended!

[Ash Waziry · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A horrible monotone narration. Like someone is mimicking an robot horribly.

[Adam Lewis · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The author really didn’t even try to hide their bias of their interpretations of science theory and sociopolitical ideology. It was too much to stomach at times how much they glorified anything outside western culture. The story wasn’t worth being force fed commie propaganda.

[kylecarroll · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A hidden gem!

[montzaleew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Retrograde
By: Peter Cawdron
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Another favorite book by Cawdron...
Earth has many colonist and scientist on Mars then one day the Mars groups hear bits and pieces of bad new then nothing. War, nukes all over the world. No one knows who started it, each nation's pod is given different info. Now on Mars, no one trust each other. But now, whoever started the war on Earth is starting the war on Mars. It is so freaking exciting!!! Sci-fi, mystery, and so much more! With his books it is always that more that gets you... that is what keeps me coming back to his books. What is life? Such a good book.
The narrator is such a great actress, had me on the edge of my seat! Wonderful job!!!

[billiebook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good characterization and seemingly-strong science (seemingly only because I'm no scientist and wouldn't know one way or the other) are done a disservice by an under-developed "villain"/conflict. The book is short, at under 250 pages, so perhaps a few more pages to allow the plot to really develop would have been helpful.