The Last Sword Maker cover art

The Last Sword Maker

The Course of Empire Series, Book 1

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The Last Sword Maker

By: Brian Nelson
Narrated by: Bradford Hastings
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A taut, fast-paced thriller about the coming high-tech arms race between the United States and China

In the high mountains of Tibet, rumors are spreading. People whisper of an outbreak, of thousands of dead, of bodies pushed into mass graves. It is some strange new disease … a disease, they say, that can kill in minutes.

The Chinese government says the rumors aren’t true, but no one is allowed in or out of Tibet.

At the Pentagon, Admiral James Curtiss is called to an emergency meeting. Satellite images prove that a massive genocide is underway, and an American spy has made a startling discovery. This is no disease. It’s a weapons test. Chinese scientists have developed a way to kill based on a person’s genetic traits. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. The success of their new weapon proves that the Chinese are nearing “Replication”—a revolutionary breakthrough that will tip the global balance of power and change the way wars are waged.

Now the US must scramble to catch up before it is too late. Admiral Curtiss gathers the nation’s top scientists, including a promising young graduate student named Eric Hill who just might hold the missing piece to the replication puzzle. Soon Hill and his colleague Jane Hunter are caught up in a deadly game of sabotage as the two nations strive to be the first to reach the coveted goal. But in their headlong race, they create something unexpected … something the world has never seen and something more powerful than they had ever imagined.

The Last Sword Maker is an exciting globe-trotting thriller with unforgettable characters that depicts a haunting vision of the future of warfare.

©2018 Brian Nelson (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Thriller Fiction China Technology Exciting Scary Biological Warfare
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I was slightly unsure at the very beginning, but once it got going it was pretty much impossible to stop.

This really an amazing first novel. It feels very believable (for the most part) and there are some very clever twists and turns that are difficult to predict. It feels like a mix of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy, and has themes covering important current issues such as the aggressive expansion of China and nanotechnology in a very effective way.

The narrator also did an excellent job and was a perfect choice for this book.

I'm not sure if publishers read these, but the only very minor issue is that sound engineer used gating too aggressively and sometimes the narrator has a syllable cut off. (This doesn't take away from the experience too significantly though.)

I'll definitely be jumping straight into the next book and keeping a close eye on this author.

Highly recommended book.

An Excellent Thriller

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Some 20 years ago I remember reading an article about Nano Technology and how it was going to change everything. I didn't fully appreciate or even understand it at the time but this is a manifestation of all that article foretold. This is science fiction but feasible science fiction; the science and research would seem to be already in place in the technology we already use. The story itself is full of thrills, twists and generates real excitement, it is also quite prophetic being written pre-covid. For me, this was better than anything I have read by Frederick Forsyth, Robert Harris or Len Deighton. The whole thing is narrated perfectly by Bradford Hastings, I would have given it more stars if it were possible.

Best Thriller Ever

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This is a lively, somewhat daft but really enjoyable sci fi thriller. Not exactly flattering to the Chinese regime, but you have to take the rough with the smooth. It also contains what should almost be the trope namer for deus ex machina, but under the circumstances it's easy to forgive.

Buy this if you want some lightweight, guilty-pleasure entertainment, and don't mind checking in your credulity at the entrance.

Hokum, but great fun.

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Possibly the fastest I've got through an Audiobook.
Had me hooked from start to finish, I found myself listening every free moment I had.
Fantastically written and Narrator does a great job!

Gripping

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I’m not gonna lie, I did struggle at the beginning….

I must have “picked” this book up and “put” it down half a dozen times, until one evening I couldn’t be bothered reaching for my phone to turn it off…. An hour later I realised I’d stopped what I was doing and was listening intently.

I found myself drawn into the story and was unable to put it down from then on.

Brilliant story and characters I became attached to.


I have already downloaded the next book and will be starting it as soon as I finish this ‘’’My First Ever’’’ review….

Absolutely Loved It…..

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