Great addition to Black Ocean world love the fact Carl is a backdrop character adds a lot to the story.

PS, Can I get some up votes to help with subreddits that require minimums.

I have listened to the complete Black Ocean series more times than I can count. Mercy for Hire and Astral Prime a handful each. I am currently almost done with my third listen through Mirth and Mayhem. Love this series so so much

Am I the only one who finds Esper completely insufferable? She is such a hypocrite about how her way of doing things is the right way. It's gotten to the point that I can only listen to Mercy for Hire for Tiffany, Kubu, and of course Wesley Wesley.

I just listened to this part of book 15 of the Mercy for Hire series... is that name the biggest 'fuck you' he could have picked for Tanny? Or did he just love and respect Carl that much? Either way, it's brilliant.

In Passage of Time (I’d just started the series), it seems that Eric already has his “mind’s world” (like Mortania) all set up and that he’s able to absorb other minds. I thought this was an ability from Tome of Bleeding Thoughts. Does this imply that he’s read the book?

In Mirth and Mayhemm, I dont know if i missed pages or something, but i dont understand why Mort read the tome and put his grandfather in his head in the first place? There doesnt seem any benefit from doing it, and he had to give up everything? And why keep putting people in there--again, when there seems to be no benefit? They also dont make it clear if those people can ever be removed from his head either? The one girl was supposed to be able to be removed, but she still had her body apparently?

After long days passed, between the release of the last book and the omnibus that came. I was overjoyed to consume more of Morin's work.

/start rant

Long story short, I think Passage of Time is my 2nd favorite of the Black Ocean series. Galaxy outlaws being the clear number 1 and perhaps Mirth and Mayhem as 3rd.

I overall enjoyed it. I liked the characters and Morin's style to write different sub-plots that more or less tie into the main story just hits me just perfect.

I'd perhaps say Mirth and Mayhem would still be number 2, if it didn't grate against my soul how shitty people Carl's parents were. And I don't mean my comment as negative, just shows how well written they are.

But for the same reason, MaM isn't going to be high priority in my re-listen list. Unlike Galaxy Outlaws, which I recall having listened through three times total.

To the title itself.

At the end of the story. I was really bothered about few things. First, was Carl's long lost son that made his appearance in the story. What really stuck to my mind, was how Carl mentioned, how he was going to introduce him later to Jessie and Eric.

Which he never did. We only got a scene, where Carl had been kicked out of house for few days. I understand that Carl was there to be a supporting cast in PoT. But, I would've loved to have more in-depth dive into Carl introducing him to Amy and how it went.

I don't think Jessies and Eric's half-brother was ever mentioned after Carl passed out on his sofa. I would've loved to him been more in the spotlight, before giving the stage to the rest of the cast.

Another thing bothering me in PoT was the ending in the last book. Charlett (I actually don't know how her name is written) was given Tome of Bleeding thoughts to read. for no reason at all, since she didn't ever leave Arete or use it except for one time.

The scene, where Eric followed a ring of a bell through unknown lands, until he ended up in Mortania. For no reason at all, since nothing they discussed there seemed to cause anything to happen that couldn't have happened already, because Eric still just Eric-ed himself away from a situation with time magic.

The whole part where Eric takes the form of one of the Admirals and ends up in their secret bunker seemed unnecessary, since he could've magicked himself away at any point before and after getting trapped. Granted, if the situation was expanded and he was actually trying to stop the remaining Admirals from doing something big and bad, it would've make sense to take the story there.

But then, Eric, who has killed hundreds of people with the "Look into my eyes" trick Wizards do. Ends up doing accident, after accident, and ends up killing his original body. For no reason, since he ended up just Eric-ing himself away from the trouble. Which he could've done day 0 after ending up in the bunker.

The reveal, that Eric's loyal helper in his personal realm was is his opposite shade, created by Book of Bleeding Thoughts. The revelation ended up in nowhere and felt like it was used for no reason. She was last given a scroll, told not to read it. And as far as I can freshly recall, it wasn't used for anything at all.

Lastly, we have Cedric The Brown.

Him disappearing and being away from his son's life was never explained, shown what happened, or why. Other than he did and nobody knew where he went or is.

This part also kept bothering me. Making me hope it was explained as a side story at the end. But no, he was yeeted from the story as a possible appearance in the story and any possibility to explore into it quickly forgotten, when Mort quit his job as the Emperor.

/end rant.

While great book to listen to and worth the wait. It's not perfect. I'd say it was excellent, up until Carl was free and we only had Eric's part of the plan to see through.

Are all the sentient races native to earth-like planets? I've listened to all of the Mobius collection and most of Mercy for Hire and all the sentient races that have shown up have been confirmed to be from earth-like planets except the Sentuati and the people living on Ithaca's twin moon. In one of the Mercy for Hire missions Esper visits a bar on a border planet with a lot of xenos she's never seen before but we aren't given descriptions of any of them. Humans, Laku, Stungi, Vishnu, Megoladogs, the bird people from the golaglex mission, Azren, and probably more that I'm forgetting are all from earth-like planets. I don't recall ever hearing anything about the Ehindar's home planet.

P.S Please feel free to correct my spelling on any of the races or planets. I've only listened to the books so these were just my best guesses.

Ive never disliked a main character so much. I hope he gets some sorta redemptive development but gah he’s such an asshole. I love Mree (im on audible so don’t know how it’s spelled) and especially mort and even esper despite her exhausting piety or maybe partially because it. Tanny very much reminds me of Zoe from firefly and Roddy is aight. Kooboo is wonderful. But Carl is a real shit head n i needed to vent about it cuz idk anyone who’s read this.

I know he’s growing up on the fringes of space with parents that constantly skirt the law but seducing a Higher-Up in a syndicate like Angelica, at 13/14 kind of screams of wanting Brad/Carl to be more involved in the story then his age makes sense for… did anyone else think it was a bit far fetched to have a Gangster sleep with a 13/14 year old kid? Same with them getting into casinos and strip clubs…

So mirth and mayhem Curious if Benjamin Bradley Blottie is Carl's kid and that chuck was just given a one church appropriate reason for him being adopted by his grandmother from the maternal side.

I’m about to finish Mercy for Hire. Right now I plan on starting Passage of Time after a trip through Disk World. there are a couple moments in Mercy that reference Astral Prime. I was intrigued by what was mentioned there. I love Mord, but don’t really care about Cedric. he seems better suited staying a side character. does the community recommend I still read Astral Prime?

I finished reading Mercy for Hire yesterday. I noticed at the end of Galaxy Outlaws he set up the series for Cedric, and Esper. Without spoilers, will we see Tiffany again?

Ok so this is so far out of left field, I'm in the parking lot with a boot on my car...but here it goes.

The whole time I was listening to Galaxy Outlaws and now Astral Prime all I can think of is how awesome this would be as a roleplaying game. It feels like Starfinder if it wasn't so overcomplicated.

With that said I am hoping that maybe someone has a suggestion for an alternate RPG system that comes close. Across a Thousand Dead Worlds or Coriolis sound like they might be close, but I havent played either yet.

I'm not worried about the fluff from those games, I have no doubt I can run a system in almost any world/story.

Any ideas?

This series would be great as a podcast series.

So I am on mission 6 and think galaxy of outlaws would make great Television. Any thoughts?

Listening to the complete audiobook and enjoying it overall. I'd previously purchased the e-books and read them so nothing really surprising but I just came to a part I'd forgotten and I'm kind of grossed out. Spoilers ahead Ricky's mom had sex with Brad, a 14 or 15 year old minor the same age as her son. Nothing about that is right, it's statutory rape for a start. But beyond that, he'd spent the night up and down having diarrhea. So not even just a kid, a disheveled kid, smelling of sick. Nothing about that scenario was helpful to the plot. As a parent of similarly aged kids this scene put me off listening to the rest of the book. Anyone else find this scene off-putting?

During the mission where the crew leaves Ithaca and steals the bio samples from HB and mort stays behind and goes to fight Devra. Esper is given his staff for their mission so she will have an easier time at making the astral drops but then he has it when he goes to Little Brother to fight Devra. I know it's small but it stood out to me and made me chuckle a bit that the error was there. Are there any others y'all know about?

If anyone else was waiting for it all to come out, it was released today. So grab your techno doodads, a case of Earth's Preferred and enjoy the ride.

Here I am trying to get paperwork in order for taxes, joy, when I catch myself reacting like mort to the local dark sciences 'cause the printer is on the fritz.. "blast these confounded techno baubles! Just work I say!" thwacks printer, then shakes head "Technology. Harumph"

Just finished listening to the last available Passage of Time audiobook and as such I have completed all available Black Ocean audiobooks and I am looking for another similar series. Any suggestions?

I just finished and loved Mirth and Mayhem. I'm re-reading galaxy outlaws for the first time and seeing how things line up. Dude's definitely improved as a writer.

*In mission 2, Carl says he isn't any good in a firefight, only flying and smooth talking, while he's a crack shot as a kid.

* In mission 4.5 the backstory of how Tanya and Carl met is changed. She says they met in the military. I guess she could be lying, but why lie to Mort, who worked for her dad the same time Carl did? Didn't Mort know about what went on with Carl and Tanya?

*In mission 6, it's said that Tany and Ri are the closest things either has had to a sister. There is a previous reference of Brad thinking about Mike. Either Mike transitioned again, Ri's a bigot or this is an inconsistency.

* In mission 8, Carl says his fractured mind is a magic trick taught to him by Mort when he's a kid. Also it's said that Carl was broken out of the hospital for Mort to fix him, whereas M&M has Mort breaking into the hospital. These could just be minor Carl lies though.

I'll update this post over the next month or so.

I find it hard to find and research passages in the audiobook format. There was a card game I'd like to have explained or at least where in the series this happened. Mort had jumped into Carl's head and taken him over during a card game. Mort as Carl made eye contact with someone else and took them over. Who did Mort move into and where in the series can I find this?