The Caledonian Gambit cover art

The Caledonian Gambit

A Novel

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Caledonian Gambit

By: Dan Moren
Narrated by: Rob Grgach
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £23.99

Buy Now for £23.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The galaxy is mired in a cold war between two superpowers, the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth's preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly soldier happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems.

Kyle Rankin is a lie. His real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Simon Kovalic knows Caledonia is a lit fuse hurtling towards detonation. The past Brody so desperately tried to abandon can grant him access to people and places that are off limits even to a professional spy like Kovalic. Kovalic needs Eli Brody to come home and face his past. With Brody suddenly cast in a play he never auditioned for, he and Kovalic will quickly realize it's everything they don't know that will tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn't?

The Caledonian Gambit is a throwback to the classic sci-fi adventures of spies and off-world politics, but filled to the brim with modern sensibilities.

©2017 Dan Moren (P)2017 Tantor Adventure Fantasy Fiction First Contact Military Science Fiction Space Opera Suspense Thriller & Suspense Espionage

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Bayern Agenda cover art
Space Hunter War: The Complete Series cover art
Aquaria Falling cover art
Backyard Starship: Origins 2 cover art
Convergence cover art
The Raven Spell cover art
All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation) cover art
Starter Villain cover art
Origins cover art
Elder Race cover art
The Lazarus Protocol cover art
The Fifth Column cover art
Rocket Repo cover art
The Lyons' Pride cover art
Elantris (Dramatized Adaptation) cover art
Knighthood cover art

Critic reviews

"The action scenes, both on the ground and in space, show a focus on thoughtful planning and careful pacing. The characterization delves just enough into emotionality to give the characters realism without moving the focus away from fights, intrigue, and spycraft." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant  
It is only with the arrival of the second book in this series, the Bayern Agenda, read by a different and better narrator, that I returned to this first book, having been driven away by the narration. I’m sorry but it isn’t well read. Weird and inconsistent accents, rather dull; even the name of the planet is pronounced inconsistently. Hopefully the audiobook will be reissued at some future date with a different narrator.

So, that’s got the bad stuff out of the way. This is a good old style space adventure. Opening with a scene of almost Star Wars proportions but leading to sleuthing and espionage. There is a good dollop of humour, maybe a little too much, some of it falls a little flat. But there is emotion too; family reunion and heartache.

It’s a pity about the current narration but perseverance will be rewarded.

Enjoyable Space Adventure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story lacks courage but the writing is good. The narrator couldn't remember his accents from one dialogue to another.. it might have been easier to just keep it all in one note.

not too bad

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story that hit some high notes. Unfortunately I got pulled out of the story a little by some shaky English and Irish accents. Well read in all other aspects.

Loved the premise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story was fine, but not exceptional. The narration was odd - what the hell kind of accent were the Caledonian's supposed to have?

It was fine

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story pulls you along, and the mixture of adventure, spycraft and family drama kept me intrigued. I wasn't in any serious doubt of the ending, and found some of the beats and turns of phrase predictable, but I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Definitely recommend.

The narration, on the other hand, kept me going out of a sort of morbid fascination. The reader's normal voice was a bit flat, but perfectly listenable. The accents for the characters wandered all over the place, occasionally within the same sentence. It was off-putting at first, and there were some real clangers along the way, but after a few hours, my brain adjusted, and I stopped trying to think of them as real accents, and more like 'the accent the reader is doing for this character'. It was occasionally painful, but I really wanted to know what was going to happen, so I persevered. Just be prepared for it!

A good story lurking behind the narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I tried to enjoy this, but couldn't get past the terrible Scottish(?) accent the narrator put on. Scottish place names, an ancient title for the country and... Irish accents.

Ireland =/= Scotland

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I brought this on a whim, and I'm very glad I did. On the whole, it's a strong debut novel with a great premise, as well as enough espionage and dry humour to keep it from becoming just another sci-fi novel.

Initially, the narrator really annoyed me, as I found him quite flat. As I got more into the characters and the story, I was able to put that irritation behind me and really enjoy the book, but (and I'll offer a little unsolicited advice here) I would love for him to practice his accents before the next book in the series, as they were a bit hit or miss. By the end of the book, though, I found the performance had improved.

Great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For me slow start, got better and better. Ended up listening last few hours in a day.

Enjoyed to end

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Some pronunciation way off . This detracts from the text . Still with a read

Dictionary

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