Siege of Titan

Star Crusades Uprising #1

by Michael G. Thomas

Siege of Titan is the first book in the epic science fiction series that chronicles humanity's first interstellar confederation that is torn apart by religious strife and extremism. In the first book of the Star Uprising series, the bloody struggle is told through the eyes of an illegal pit fighter named Spartan, who is forced to choose between incarceration or military service. Choosing the Confederate Marine Corps over servitude he begins his thirty long weeks of training. Together with his group of marines, they are honed into a force ready to be thrown into the meat grinder on the newest and greatest planet in the Confederacy, Proxima Prime. His term of service will soon become one of violence and carnage, as the entire sector is ripped apart by a brutal and virulent religious movement and its shocking plans. What starts as a series of suicide bombings and hijackings through the Confederacy quickly turns into a full-scale revolution on Prime that threatens the entire planet and quickly spreads to its orbital Naval Station and beyond. As every warship and military transport in the area is rushed to its defence, the fate of the planet and the entire sector lie in the hands of a small number of rookie marines. Siege of Titan is a classic work of realistic military science fiction set against the background of the first interstellar human empire. The continuing saga includes the Star Crusades Uprising and new Star Crusades Nexus series that follows the story of the Centauri Alliance seventeen years after the end of the Uprising. Novels currently available in the series Check out all the novels by Michael G. Thomas STAR CRUSADES UPRISING Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) Tears of Kerberos (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 2) Fires of Prometheus (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 3) Battle for Proxima (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 4) Fall of Terra Nova (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 5) Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6) STAR MERCENARIES Lords of War (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 1) Ghost Soldiers (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 2) Flames of War (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 3) Battle for Karnak (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 4) Warzone (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 5) STAR CRUSADES NEXUS Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) Heroes of Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 3) The Great Betrayal (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 4) Prophecy of Fire (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 5) Call to Arms (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 6) Battle for Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 7) Wrath of the Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 8) The Black Rift (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 9) Star Crusader Hero of the Alliance (Star Crusader Book 1) Knighthawk Squadron (Star Crusader Book 2) Operation Hellfire (Star Crusader Book 3) Battleship Furiosa (Star Crusader Book 4) Battle Fleet Victorious (Star Crusader Book 5) All these books are available on Amazon.com and Audible Please visit my website for more starcrusader.com

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Amazon, Fiction, Action, Space Opera

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2011

About the author

Michael G. Thomas, is a writer, martial artist and military historian. He has written books on European martial arts and military history as well as Zombie Survival books and fiction. He is the co-founder of the prestigious Academy of Historical Fencing that teaches traditional armed and unarmed European martial arts. His specialist subject areas are teaching the use of the medieval two handed longsword and the German long knife in both the UK and other parts of Europe.

His academic background is as varied as his writing with degrees in Computing, Classical Studies and Machine Learning. In recent years he has undertaken substantial research in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence as well as Ancient Greek and Byzantine military history.

Michael is currently completing his Champions of the Apocalypse Series and Star Crusades science fiction series.

Reviews

[Jayde Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me just say, Sci-Fi is not my usual genre so I downloaded the sample chapters with trepidation after I noticed the book pop up on my recommendations page. It's not that I don't like the genre but more the fact that most sci-fi books I try border a bit too much on the unrealistic. But not this one.
The first few pages of a Siege of Titan sucked me right in and I was hooked so I bought the whole thing. What makes this book stand out from the crowd is the author's amazing imagination that doesn't cross the line between believable and fantastical. The writing conveyed a sense of reality and urgency, and kept me on the edge of my seat. I found the main character, Spartan, engaging and interesting. What I also enjoyed was the excellent world building. The Confederate Marine Corps were so well described at times I felt like I was watching a movie running before my eyes. I'm going to pick up the next book in the series to see how Spartan's story progresses.
If you're looking for fast paced action non-stop, look no further because you've found it. A really good book I can only recommend.

[Ron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Failed the hundred page test.

Straight forward space opera, but neither the story nor the storytelling engage the reader.

Illogical situation and military response makes no sense. That irregular forces can do these things to regulars isnot to be denied, but there are other responses.

Not for me.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this a pretty good book. Fast, easy reading, well formatted and pretty action packed.

I would have liked more depth during the "basic" part of the story, but all in all, a pretty good "good guy in a bad situation, forced to choose between prison or the military (think space marines), survives, thrives, and kills lots of bad guys against the odds" story.

I also liked that there wasn't just the single point of view, that we got views from other characters, some connected to the main protagonist, some not.

It wasn't heavy military like you'd get in a Weber or Ringo book, but more than good enough.

Also I appreciated that the space travel was treated well, no magic, no "inertia compensator's" allowing travel across solar systems in hours, etc. The way space travel was handled felt reasonable and itself added to the story (the tense waiting as the travel happen, the impact of how distances mattered and the decisions that can force, etc).

The next two books in the series have already been added to me wishlist... :)

[Mojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I don't know if it has been re-edited from when most of the other reviews were written but I didn't find the large numbers of typos that I was expecting. There were a few, to be sure, but not all that many.
Over all, I thought the story was well written. The pacing was good. My one major complaint was the way the characters interacted. The Officer/Enlisted interaction was WAY too informal, especially for the Corps. Maybe it's because I'm a veteran and have a certain familiarity with the military culture/mindset but I kept thinking Mr. Thomas needs to do a little more research or find someone to proof read his stories who can identify the worst offenses against military protocol. I also liked that the technology wasn't too 'futuristic'. No anti-gravity, FTL travel or comms, killer lasers, etc..
A good solid entry in the genre. I will give the next one a try and see how it goes.

[Cheng Jun · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the book people think of when they think "generic military science fiction." The protagonist is an underdog tossed into an unexpected situation, where conventional wisdom is upended and his martial prowess is suddenly a huge benefit. There is the generic incompetent Big Brother space authority, and the generic super evil fanatical terrorist group. There is even a generic space girlfriend for the generic space protagonist.

The sin of genericity could be forgiven if the world building, plot, action, or characters were good. Unfortunately, they aren't. If I could rate this book any lower on Goodreads, I would. Goodreads gives me an option to hide the review due to spoilers, but I couldn't spoil any part of this book even if I wanted to - there is simply nothing that the reader will be shocked by.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

At a time when Humanity has spread out into the galaxy, the Centauran planets are united in an Alliance which is threatened by The Zealots, a fundamentalist group of suicidal maniacs.
Spartan, as his name may suggest, is a wrestler/fighter in a deadly and illegal fight ring. When the games are raided, Spartan, attempting to escape, accidentally kills a policeman and is sentenced to either ten years in prison or ten years in the army, training as a marine to fight the zealots.
It's competently written and maintains the interest but the narrative is a little one-sided. There is no attempt to humanise the zealots or - at this stage - to explain why officers within the Navy would wish to side with them.
Thomas is very good when he is in space. The description of ships and their structure does much to add some verisimilitude. It is presumably no coincidence that Post 9/11 there have been a succession of works which feature religious maniacs, suicide bombers, and a level headed rational crew to sort them out.
Keith Brooks 'Keepers of the Peace' turns the idea on its head to a certain extent, but its genes have their origins in the same pool.

[A.G. Claymore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siege of Titan is the kind of story that I tend to enjoy reading. The idea that we could get out there and colonize other worlds without having to invent `warp drive' or FTL is one that appeals to me. The story is supported by current technology, right down to the weapon systems. The most advanced weapons in the story are the ship mounted rail guns and they already exist here on Earth.

There has been talk of typos and I noticed a few. Though I have seen the same sort of thing in eBooks from the big publishing houses, it somehow bothered me far less in a three dollar indie novel than it does with a fifteen dollar eBook from a multi million dollar publishing house.

I felt the story was engaging and some of the ship to ship battle scenes were so skillfully described that I felt as though I were floating in space watching it happen.
I'll be reading the next in the series.

[Alec · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me just say that this wasn't inherently a terrible book. Though the plot was predictable, and the characters pretty un-developed, it has the basic structure of a fun, easy sci-fi book, and even manages to develop some good tension in the final sections. Unfortunately, this book just doesn't appear to have been edited. At all. The number of typos, errors, and straight-up un-readable sentences is absolutely amazing, and I really just don't think this thing should have ever been published in its current form.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is fine and the characters are interesting. The biggest problem with this book and the entire series is that there is clearly no editor or beta readers. The repetitive use of words or the use of a word no longer in modern use is highly jarring as a reader. It breaks the flow and takes the focus off of the story. Anyways, interesting book but could use a thorough editing.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. Starts with gladiator combat of the future in bloodsport matches, and then moves quickly to the main character being enrolled in the Marines. Got to love that.

Quick pace, and just a fun read if you like military sci fi. Lots of setup for the next book as well. Looks to be a fun series.

[Robin Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly cliché but none the less very entertaining story that’s really let down by what I can only assume is a lack of proofreading. There are absolutely terrible sentences and turns of phrase littered throughout that I am convinced would have been re-written had anyone proofed it.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it 50% through this one, Life is too short to finish reading poorly written books. The dialogue feels wooden and none of characters have any depth. I love military science fiction, but didn't enjoy anything about this book.

[John Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy holiday reading fodder

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly entertaining military sci-fi. Plenty of action and enough 'real' science to keep me interested.

Let down by proofreading errors, but compelling enough to make me want to continue the series.

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In reality probably 3.5 stars for what is solid space marine novel and the first by this author I have read. On the one hand there is nothing startling new about the novel. Social misfit (Spartan) gets a choice between prison and joining the marines, takes the marines and on first outing makes a decent stab at it. Good points, the training section which is always used to flesh out back stories and build inter character relationships was interesting punchy and not overly long. The action /combat scenes where well written and brings the reader into the battles quite well. The book moves along at a good pace and everything has the feeling of realism despite being set in a SciFi universe. The not so good, I didn't feel that the enemy (religious revolutionaries) were bought to life enough their purpose and reason for being not being explained sufficiently for my liking making it difficult to feel anything for them.
Overall positive new author who I will definitely been reading more of.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook: I was entertained by this book. My attention was grabbed from the opening paragraphs until the end of the story. I felt for Spartan whose choices were limited. I liked that this story was realistic and never strayed from the science fiction genre. I enjoyed the fast-paced energy and almost non-stop action which kept this story flowing towards the end. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I thought Roberto Scarlato's narration was good, but there were a few times when he repeated the same sentence twice. I was given a copy of the audiobook. I volunteered, without financial gain, to post this review which reflected my honest opinions regarding this audiobook.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siege of Titan is the first book in the Star Crusades Uprising series. This could be read as a standalone. But it is clear from the end of the book that the story continues in the next book. There is a lot of violence...this is a war in space afterall. The storyline is average for a book like this but is worth reading. I plan on reading on continuing to read the series to see what happens next.

[Stghaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can understand why people would not like this book. I gave it for stars for several reasons. The first is the bad editing. There are typos and messed up sentences through out this book. They cause a reader to loose the flow. Character development was lacking. Characters are kinda flat.

Having said that, the story is exciting and like others who have reviewed this book the end has a great twist. Its a little predictable but exciting just the same. The military lingo is kept to a minimum and the action scenes are well thought out. The protagonist (Spartan) is not a god and he does get hurt. A definite plus in my book. Cant have a war hero walking through fire and not getting burned. The story has a large scope feel and we get to see the battle from several different points of view.

For a selfish pleasure book its good. It definitely made me want to read the next one.

[Nathan Balyeat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure that I am going to ever trust blind recommendations from Amazon again. I was looking for a new series to take with me while traveling and the description looked promising. I was disappointed, especially for a series that has three books already.

It is not a bad book, but its not a very good one either. The author is skilled at keeping the action moving but lacks high end writing skill. This small press book is poorly edited, especially in the last third of the book and some author coaching from a good editor could have helped with some things. I had to dial the combat realism filter down to about zero and not think too hard about science and economics. But, the read met the price of admission since its in a genre I enjoy. Don't look at it too hard though.

[Edward Rosenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and the other books in this series are great fun to read. Strong heroes, good plot and great continuity. The version I got are on ebook and I have to say that whoever did the editing was way short of compitent. Typo's galore and words inserted wher they make no sence. My rating would probably have been 5 stars save for the sloppy editing...

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was awful, just awful. Typos abounded, the characters were barely one dimensional, and it was all simply wretched.

There's good military science fiction, and then there's this.

Keep away. Far, far away.

[April Kohrt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning developed the characters quite nicely then, "Bam," we are in the action and lots of it. It was fun and somewhat terrifying. I hope the author continues to build the characters some more in the next one because I fully intend to read it.

[Jed Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. Pacing, structure, grammar and usage, things like that were flawed. Repetitious as well, and could use some copy editing. But regardless of all that, it was still an awesome story with lots of action. I liked it.

[Joe D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, fun read. It was free on amazon for some reason(?) Good enough to read the next one in the series. Good action but not very good characters. It's harder to remember the characters in this book compared to "The Empires Cops" even though I finished Siege of Titan more recently.

[Dimitrios · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok novel for a first try...just ok. I am informed that the next ones are better. Lets hope so.

[Robert Giambo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Self-published sci-fi of the military space genre. Worth reading if you like this stuff (I do and got all six books in the series). E-book version is cheap if you by the bundle.

[Muhammad Gibran · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very barbaric fight... Full of action and carnage. 

[phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story

Action packed , .my second time reading it already has me hooked and .looking forward to the next book again!

[Moethedog · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a exceptionally good series of Sci-fi books. Well written and suspenseful. I recommend them.

[Jeff Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick fun read

Likeable main character. Lots of options going forward. Will definitely read the next one in the series. Action start to finish