The Phoenix Conspiracy

The Phoenix Conspiracy #1

by Richard L. Sanders

Calvin, an intelligence operative, is sent to eliminate a dangerous traitor. But, as he chases his prey across the stars, he realizes they are both pawns in a shadowy chess game. One that threatens humankind everywhere.

If he is to uncover the conspiracy he must confront--and embrace--the darkest elements of the galaxy. And throw himself, his career, and everyone he loves into the line of fire.

The Phoenix Conspiracy is the first in a series of five books. It is available for free on almost every device including iTunes, Nook, and (usually) Kindle. If it is currently not free on Kindle, you may click "tell us about a lower price" and Amazon may choose to match their competitors' promotion for you.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Military Fiction

346 pages, ebook

First published May 12, 2011

About the author

I’m a 26 year old law student with a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah. I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek and all of that fun stuff. I’ve been writing stories since I was able to hold a pencil and have always loved escaping into books. In the real world I enjoy the beautiful outdoors (camping, hiking, climbing, swimming, all of that) and have recently gotten into skiing. I also love a good game of chess every now and then.

I cite Orson Scott Card and J.K. Rowling as my primary influences, however there are others (Roddenberry, etc.) who’ve clearly influenced me and the list of those deserving credit is, I’m sure, far longer than I could possibly guess.

Copied from http://www.richardlsanders.com/

Reviews

[Ronny · Rating 1 out of 5]

While it wasn't boring, it certainly wasn't good either. The plot was so-so, good parts and some not so well put together parts. What I just couldn't see past though, were the incredibly flat and poorly written main characters.
Actually, that might be doing flat characters a disservice, they weren't just flat, which implies some sort of inner area. They were more like squiggly lines moving a bit all over the place but never with anything going on inside besides an instant of two of combined tragic-backstory and complete and utter lack of realistic judgment (at least for people in command positions, I might have believed it if they were in primary school or thereabouts).
I was gonna write a bit more about the world with its Faster then light travel, paper printers and werewolves/vampires, but I think I've spent enough time.

[Paul Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review by http://indiebookclub.wordpress.com/
- - -

Plot:

A decorated captain stands accused of a random act of terror on civilian transports, before making a seemingly audacious escape before his trial. Not believing the official story, an Intel Commander sets out to track down the fugitive Captain and determine what he did and why. Along the way, he discovers there is far more to the events than he could possibly have suspected.

Two words: Firefly and Enterprise. Don’t look shocked, it’s not that well hidden.

Two more words: Underworld and Blade. Really?

I can see why this gets so many rave reviews from people. It’s a stereotypical, blended plotline, that’s easy to follow and has the narrator constantly assisting with the ‘difficult’ moments – ‘Hey look… That just happened. That means this and that are linked. Nudge, nudge…”. But, it’s about as original as the Conservative Party and crosses no new boundaries at all.

Plot? I’ve seen it – Many, many, many times. And I know it works. So does the author. So he’s regurgitated it for your delectation.

Also, this book has no real ending. It squats, almost gurning with anticipation that it’s done enough to make you want to read the next installment. It has not. Minus one point for even thinking about doing this.

Plot Rating: (2/5)

- – -

Character:

There’s no doubt that Trek fans love this book (many giving it 5 stars), and with good reason. It’s Trek fan fiction. It has to be. Let me take you through the characters and you’ll understand.

Captain Archer, ahem, Captain Raidan, is a proud military man, with a proud military lineage. He’s no traitor. He just does things his own way to ‘get the job done’.

Malcom Reed, sorry, Calvin Cross, our hero, is exactly what you would expect. A military man, with good tactical skills, who’s a little awkward around women and has links to ‘secret’ ops.

Charles “Trip” Tucker III, er…, Security Chief Miles, is brash, happy-go-lucky and has a failing for gambling and women.

The mysterious new female officer, T’Pol, I mean, XO Summers, is a good-looking, no-nonsense, rule stickler, who…

and my brain has stopped working…

Get the picture. It feels similar, because it is similar.

Based on how I remember the cast of Enterprise, and can imagine how they would be in a Firefly style universe, I can see they are reasonably well drawn. So that’s a plus. But it’s not a very big one.

Character Rating: (1.5/5)

- – -

Style:

The style is clean – very clean. It’s not going to set the world on fire and it’s not going to win any awards, but it does enough to keep you involved, without getting too wordy and causing offence.

And that’s a very good thing. And this is one of the reasons why people love it and rate it so highly. It truly is exceedingly well written.

You never see any moment in the writing where the pace is off, the style never affects the story, or the character interplay, and never once do you feel that the style has changed without warning.

It’s very, very well done piece of plagarism writing.

Style Rating: (4/5)

- – -

Impact:

There is none.

Seriously now - none.

I was happy reading it, thought the style and pace were excellent at times, but was never once drawn to any of the characters or engaged in the storyline. Therefore, it could not possibly, no matter what happened, have any impact.

I give it half a star, only because no stars feels too harsh.

Impact Rating: (0.5/5)

- – -

Readability:

There is a little-known Sci-Fi / Fantasy writer called Peter David (maybe not so little known to some). This book reminds me of his work.

I adore Peter David.

I hate Mister Sanders for writing a book that has the dichotomies of this one. It is truly woeful from plot and character perspectives, but is fabulously easy to read.

5 Stars. And deservedly 5 stars. I’ll even ignore your sometimes less than satisfactory copy-edit to give you the mark. That’s how good it is.

Now write something original.

Readability Rating: (5/5)

- – -

Overall Rating
(2.6/5)

A fabulously written piece of ST: Enterprise fan fiction, with enough Underworld plot plagiarism to last a lifetime. Listed, for some unknown reason, as original Science Fiction. For shame Mister Sanders, for shame.

Paul Anderson - 2012

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Honra y déjà vu.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. El capitán Asari Raidan ha cometido un acto de traición contra el Imperio al usar su nave, la ISS Phoenix, para atacar una flota mercante alienígena, aunque se entrega sin resistencia a pesar de que la nave muestra daños estructurales. Calvin Cross, oficial al mando de la IWS Night Hawk y oficial de Inteligencia que ha tenido papel protagónico en la localización de la nave de Raidan, tiene dudas sobre el comportamiento de Asari ya que no encajan en su perfil e historial. Primer volumen de la serie The Phoenix Conspiracy.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Douglas Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Royalty, Replicants and Men bent on putting the galaxy right'

Read if you

Love Star Trek and imagine yourself in the Captain's Chair [Kirk Accent may or may not apply here]

Enjoy heated space battles, offworld experiences and the clash of cultures only Space Opera can provide

Relish decent 'mystery - reveals - mystery -reveals -WTF IS THAT sci-fi

Avoid if you

Think Star Wars is better than Star Trek

Never enjoyed games like X3 or Freelancer

You only read sci-fi with sex in space [search elsewhere for your blue skinned orgy desires]

Get hives from a contemplative, 'by inner demons be driven' male lead

The Screws that bind:

Ship battles featuring multiple weight classes and tactics
Tripod political environment [Royalty | Aliens | Everyone Else]
Secret Societies, hidden agendas
Alien locales, crime syndicates and gambling

AfterTaste: Jetfuel, Determination and the lightless hum of a Stealthed Ship

Lines to Adore:

"And in his mind he offered a silent farewell to his dear friend. He leaned his head against the glass and closed his eyes as several choice memories poured through his mind. Only then did the tears flow.

His eyes burned and cheeks grew damp, but it gave him peace"

Author: Richard Sander-male, American, Chess Player

Personal Bias: I love soap opera so I read the book from start to finish. Enjoyed the plot turns, was a little annoyed in some parts by the awkward dialogue moments between Calvin [Protagonist] and Summers. That being said, gave me the feeling while reading of playing space sim's so that's high praise from me.

Review: Worth Reading

[Timothy Finucane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a free e-book available from several vendors. It is a fast paced military/mystery sci-fi similar to a Star Trek novel. Don't expect any mind-blowing hard science here though, it's not that deep; in this one the futuristic world is just the setting for the story. But if you just want a page turning thriller with a mystery to boot, then you'll probably enjoy this. The writing was decent, but there were a few typos throughout and it would benefit the author to revisit the book and clean those up. Since this is independently released it probably didn't have the level of editing you'd get from a normal publisher. Also, a few parts of the story probably could have done with some extra polishing, but it didn't stop me from wanting to read it.

The book is the first in a trilogy, so don't expect the mystery to be solved by the end of this one. The second book is currently available on the Kindle and the Nook, but the 3rd one is only available on the Kindle at the moment. Also, while the first book is free, the second and third do require payment, but they are typical low cost e-books, so it won't cost you a lot.

Overall this is not bad for an little known independent author and I can see the beginnings of what could be a promising future if Mr. Sanders keeps at it.

[Carolyne Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Phoenix Conspiracy is another great example of good idea, with flat characterization. From Space Werewolves to Clones to Imperial Royals, the book had everything except clever writing. The extreme beauty of all of the women, coupled by the archetypical "smoking doctor" and "trigger happy" weapons expert all the way down to Literally Uhura as comms officer... I think she was called Sarah left this story-even to the pulp sci-fi world- as okay..

The story was so identifiable, I had a hard time caring at all for the characters. The main character, some how supposedly highly decorated, young for his status, dealing with the ghosts of his past with a soul draining addiction to a space-drug didn't match up to his actions or dialogue. Summers was very specifically 7 of 9 in every way possible. Back alley Mafia-esque planets, desirable princesses. It got to the point where I'd hoped the author would just mention Klingons and end the whole facade of a thinly veiled attempt to recreate federation space.

As scathing as all of that is, I happen to love Star Trek. I may even read the other books if I've run out of things to read, or happen upon them for free/ cheap. All in all, not impressive, but better than Twilight.

[Yin Wah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm listening to the audio while reading the ebook.
By chapter 3 many paragraphs have been worded different! Why is that? Has the narrator changed it for a reason?

Edit* I did continue with the audio and ebook. I was curious to how much more of it was different. To be honest, I prefer how the audio was worded compare to the book.

Very star trek like but with a rogue captain

[Pauline Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems like a fairly standard sci-fi affair, but there’s a nice mystery at the bottom of it, and there are some amusing elements tossed into the mix. Thought you couldn’t find vampires and werewolves in sci-fi? Think again. And it starts well, oh so well. But then... oh dear. What a disappointment.

The characters are basic cookie-cutter types. There’s the maverick captain with the tragic past and an addiction problem, brilliant (of course), young, a risk-taker but gets results. There’s the seasoned senior officer with the impeccable career who suddenly and inexplicably goes rogue. There’s the beautiful female second-in-command, who plays things strictly by the book. And so on. It’s not that these are uninteresting, but there isn’t anything very original about them either. Nevertheless, there’s a good rapport between the various crew members, and a real feeling that they work well together as a team. I enjoyed the early parts of the book very much - the confidence and joking between the characters, the mysterious goings on the team are investigating, the easy writing style without too much techno-babble - all of this was very appealing.

There are some oddities that jumped out at me. The hero goes into a crowded bar to meet his friends but has trouble finding them. Erm, isn’t that a problem that was solved by mobile phones? So why have spaceships in the future lost the ability to track down individuals? The hero keeps his stash of illegal drugs in a safe, opened purely by thumbprint. Well duh, there’s a reason safes usually have a combination lock. And how many times must this supposedly brilliant person forget to hide his pills away before he gets the message?

And then there came a point about two thirds of the way through where the hero does something so incredibly stupid that I nearly tossed the book away. Now, I have no problem with protagonists who take risks in order to further the plot. Sometimes an author just has to have his characters do something radical to move things along. But it has to be plausible. Here, the options are: 1) we fail and we’re all screwed, totally; or 2) we succeed, and - well, actually we’re probably all screwed just the same. In other words, the likelihood of any realistic success is virtually zero. And from there it’s all downhill, so that the options become: 1), 2), 3)... we’re all screwed and this time we die, horribly, painfully. And the only way out is the miraculous rescue out of nowhere (also known as deus ex machina). No prizes for guessing what happens...

Now, maybe some readers are less critical than me, and in between all the frankly stupid decision-making is some quite dramatic action stuff - hand-to-hand fighting through the corridors of space-ships, that sort of thing. And for those who enjoy that, it may well compensate for the idiocy that made it necessary. It’s unfortunate that the author’s grasp on sentence structure breaks down at this point, and he develops a nasty habit of breaking off entire clauses. Which is very irritating. And makes my inner pedant scream. Which is quite unpleasant. Argh! Now, I understand the effect he’s trying to achieve - in a particularly tense moment, short choppy sentences work very well to increase the drama, but please, please, please - let them be sentences, and not horrible bits and pieces.

And then, right at the end, there’s a massive info-dump revealing the mystery that set things off and what’s going on behind the scenes, with the proviso that none of this may be true, it may just be a clever ploy to suck the hero into the conspiracy of the title. Plus it sets everything up for the next book in the series. It may not be a surprise that I won’t be one of those breathlessly waiting for it to download. Sorry, but this was too silly for words. I’m happy to accept that the hero of a book is a brilliant risk-taker, but only if his actions are in fact brilliant. The first two thirds of this book was heading for four stars, but then it cratered, leaving it at two stars, at best.

[John Faherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading The Pheonix Conspiracy by Richard L. Sanders. Though upon first reading the book appeared merely to follow a formula common to the genre, however, it soon surprised me with its originality. It is at once Space Opera and a crime thriller. Following the exploits of a young but deeply flawed intelligence officer in service of the empire there is a mystery to which the reader's interest quickly becomes invested.There are firefights and mutinies that form the backdrop of an intrigue whose pace of action quickens towards the story climax. My only complaint would be that I would have liked to learn more about this universe and the motives behind those involved in the conspiracies. Otherwise, I would have given it another star. I still think its is a good read and I would recommend it.

[odedo1 Audio book worm. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I couldn't put it down not even for dinner or sleep ( kept listening while eating ) and now 2AM going to sleep.

To bad that this was read on podcast ( podiobooks ) by the author but the rest of the series is not audible which makes absolutely no sense for such a great book.

Any way if you are into space adventure this book is a must!!!

Got this audiobook for free for reviewing.

[M M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Werewolves in space, and Lizard people....this was a great book.

[The Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Sci Fi adventure. Yes, there's conspiracy, suspense, action, mystery, chases, mutiny, aliens, space battles, trickery, etc . .
If that's your jam, I recommend reading this one.

[Sierra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like reading books with drugs in them. This was mentioned in the first 10 minutes or so. It wasn't all that riveting even before that, so I wasn't too sad to leave it.

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

I picked this up very randomly but it was such a page turner and even though there wasn’t a lot of action I found myself really enjoying the world-building, the mystery and the characters were very strong and charismatic. I would definitely recommend this to people in the mood for a simple and fun scifi.

[G.R. Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t pay a penny for this book, not one single cent, rupee or any other small denomination of currency. It was free. The advent of Kindle Publishing (the dominant ebook force in the UK) and others has taken us down the same road as the music industry; artists who spend many years and thousands of hours learning their craft and honing their skills then struggle to get a fair wage for their work. The music industry has found ways around, or at least to mitigate, this; subscription services and royalty payments from the likes of Spotify and Youtube. It is not ideal, and making a living for most musicians (even the incredibly talented ones) can be tough. The book industry is still finding its way along this path… actually, I must trade mark the websites Youread and Storyfy. I could be rich! Anyway, back the book. Sorry.

The Phoenix Conspiracy is the first book in science-fiction story set in a future where the human empire has expanded through the stars and now butts up against other alien species. As the story begins a traitor has been captured by a young intelligence captain and is being delivered to his doom. But, our hero, Captain Calvin – a rising star and maverick in the intelligence services – cannot resist a puzzle and something is nagging at him. Why did this respected, decorated navy officer go rogue and attack harmless civilian ships? His investigation takes him into the heart of a conspiracy (hence the book title) that could threaten the very existence of the human empire.

The book itself has been out for quite a while and racked up hundreds of reviews on Amazon. 400 out of the, and I have rounded the figures slightly to make the maths easier, 500 reviews are four and five stars – so you can be pretty sure that people enjoyed the book. I know I did. The structure of the story is quite simple and it is an easy read. There is adventure, betrayal and revelation at every step. The characters themselves are well enough drawn, the author hangs each member of the crew on one or two traits; the weapons officer is in love with the navigator but insecure, the XO is a by-the-book logical thinker, the doctor is old and crotchety. It would be easy to complain that this lacks depth but it works well enough in this story to keep the characters straight in your head and to predict their reactions to the situations they find themselves in. This is also an author who is willing to kill his characters off and you might be surprised at the body count by the end.

The story is reminiscent of the Star Trek novels and that is an easy comparison to make – it is a crew, on a star ship, why wouldn’t the Enterprise pop into your brain? It must be a worry or concern to every writer of ship based science-fiction; am I writing Start Trek or Star Wars? In the end it doesn’t matter. The story is well-paced, the twists and turns are done well, and you can forgive the odd typo (there really are very few) as, when it ends, you want to read the next one. On that subject, the next one isn’t free – the price hike is substantial (Free to £4) but as I said at the start, this is an industry trying to find a pricing strategy that works. And £4 for a book, for many hours of pleasure, is still incredibly cheap.

Give the first book a chance. It is free, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Phoenix Conspiracy by Richard L Sanders - 5/5 stars

I’ll get straight to the point here: fantastic, epic, galactic space-opera!

The first chapters pulled me in immediately. The story had an interesting premise. Intel Wing, the Empire’s investigation division, is assigned to look into a very unusual case. A decorated imperial military captain, Asari Raidan, has uncharacteristically destroyed several Rotham ships. Why would Raidan risk his position and his impeccable record just to destroy what appears to be several innocent Rotham Ships? Calvin Cross of Intel Wing is tasked to discover why.

The conspiracy angle was very unique. The reader sees the conspiracy (this shouldn’t be a spoiler since it is in the title!) through the perspective of Calvin Cross and his laid-back crew. This enabled us to learn a lot about Calvin and his crewmates. When Summers Presley, a beautiful by-the-book commander, formerly under Asari Raidan’s command, is sent to help Calvin Cross, on-ship tensions threaten to breaking point. Calvin Cross and his loyal investigative crew’s ideals clash with those of Summers Presley because she is a fleet officer of the empire and she is used to doing what she is told.

About a third of the way through the book the story became even more interesting. Characters are introduced, and more information is given to the reader to digest regarding strange galactic events. The book never ceased to amaze me. My eyes were glued to it from page 1 to the end. I don’t think there was one single moment where I drifted. The characters were believable and the plot was riveting and moved forward at a fast-pace.

I have seen a few reviews citing this book as being similar to Star Trek, but I failed to see much similarity. Yes the main characters are on a ship and there is a commander trying to solve problems … hmm. The Mass Effect video-game series was where I thought similarity existed: events of galactic importance hitting the main characters again and again, and added with a sweet mixture of unusual and very interesting characters.

I am very tempted to buy his next book and read it. It was one of the best sci-fi books I have read. If you like sci-fi/military/space-opera/thriller books that are un-put-down-able then read this book!

[Kerezyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so difficult for me to read to the end. First off I’m a bit of a puritan in terms of what I read. This is my bias. If I pick up Urban Fantasy I am expecting werewolves and vampires. I don’t not want or expect that in my Sci Fi filled with the wonder of space.

If this book shook things up I’d be happy, wouldn’t mind the mosh mash of elements that are common in other sub genres.

The cliches that show up are in both the same vein as Star Trek babble of pseudoscience (“more unstable than antimatter” LOL) and Star Wars (a rebel princess asking for help?); a self serving Calvin character that likes to think of himself as the smartest man around when no, that’s actually... No one? Because every character was cut and pasted from a barrel bin of cliches. Every woman is beautiful; every mistake Calvin makes only makes him more special and closer to the truth — which we don’t find out because answers are potentially in the second or third or fourth book (or whoever many are in the series). A part of the plot feels a bit like a Fallout 4 one to be quite honest with you.

This was free and I feel like I have paid more from my life reading this. I should have paid someone to read it for me and give me the cliff notes.

I can’t say how much I dreaded reading this book at times and it’s so dry and lacking anything that deviates from the status quo that’s it’s not bad — it’s just boring. Awfully boring. I’m stubborn and the type that likes to read everything regardless so I’ve only myself to blame here.

Remove all thoughts of cool space fights or battles or intrigue because Calvin either hamfists the reader with what’s happening or has happened and then acts like he’s a genius and no one else can see The Conspiracy. (I don’t feel that’s a spoiler since it is in the name). Or the characters are so... off that I find they don’t have anything other than to be there and spout the lines Calvin needs to go to Plot Point B.

I am so glad this is over.

[Janel Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this book in exchange for a fair and honest review by NetGallery.

This was a deep space mystery, which I enjoyed. I found some parts a little wordy, and there were a lot of introductions, but since this is the first book in a series, that is to be expected. I liked the fact that Cross was imperfect and struggling with addiction. It make him less perfect than most captains of starships that you would normally read about.

I liked hunting down the mystery of why Raiden, a decorated war hero, would throw everything away for a single mission. Cross, who is in the Intel Wing, even states early on that it's like a separate person took over. And with what we found out in the end, it kinda makes you wonder...

I thought once the action took off, the book had pretty good flow and was easy to read. It seemed pretty believable except for one issue. Cross early on was not swayed by the random womanly charm. So how was it believable that Summers would suddenly go from being the ice-queen, to the flirt? And why would he of all people, fall for it?

Other than that, I really liked the story. I liked that greed was still a part of humanity, there were casinos, bars, seedy areas of the universe and racial differences. Of course in this story it's not so much the color of your skin but in his case being half-human kept him at his current rank and that's why he isn't a full captain. I love Star Trek but find it hard to believe that society will give up money so easily.

While I did enjoy the storyline I didn't find it impossible to put down. It was an intriguing story but I never fell head over heels into it like I do with some books. If you like space travel, weird alien races and solving mysteries you will find this a good read. I give it 3 1/2 stars, rounded down to 3 for a man thinking with his, well you know...

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of The Phoenix Conspiracy

Reviewed for FreeBookDude.com for August 20 2012
5 Stars
It’s been quite a while since I read any science fiction and I’d forgotten how intriguing a space opera could be-especially one that yanks the heartstrings and thought processes of us dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy theorists. Fleet Commander Raidan, a twenty-nine year decorated veteran, must stand trial for his unprecendented, apparently unfounded, attack on four alien commercial freighters and destruction of three of them. He will give no reason for his actions; his crew knows nothing; and he surrenders immediately, pleads guilty at the tribunal, and on his return to Capital World for execution, the ship carrying him disappears.
Intel Wing Lieutenant Commander Calvin Cross, whose ship and crew located and returned Raidan and his ship, knows intuitively that not only is Raidan not telling all-but that something deep and convoluted is the foundation to Raidan’s bizarre attack. Calvin begs the Tribunal to look into it, to no avail. As a half-citizen, he doesn’t have sufficient clout-so he decides to pursue it himself, and sets off on a self-determined course of action that will bring up painful memories of tragedy caused by vampires (Strigoi), the disappearance of his father, werewolves, a gangster planet, and royalty-not to mention a multilayered conspiracy at which Calvin can only peel a chunk at a time, like ripping layers from an obstinate onion.
Yes, there really is a significant paranormal element in this space opera, but it is scientifically-based and a matter of genetic engineering. What’s more, the novel reads so smoothly that the suspension of disbelief is instantaneous. Thankfully, “The Phoenix Conspiracy” is the first entry in a series. I certainly recommend it!

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

C2011. FWFTB: intelligence, unorthodox, rogue, warship, shadowy. Another Kindle freebie. This was a relatively easy and interesting read. But the dialogue seemed at times to be trite and banal evidencing some immaturity of writing skill. Also, just how many times can one forget to hide one’s illicit drugs? The characters are fairly one dimensional and traditional of the genre. I have read on Goodreads that the author is indeed young but one to keep an eye on IMHO. This seems to be another book self published via Smashwords and would probably benefit from some experienced editing. I would recommend as a YA read. FCN: Calvin (“egomaniacal commanding officer. A rash careless young boy who lacked the experience and wisdom of a professional captain”), Summers Presley (“She was breathtaking with her cascade of blond hair and exquisite physique and her aura of certainty was disarming” but – of course!!, Raidan (“They wouldn’t believe him. But the truth was, everything he’d ever done had been for the good of the Empire.”), Miles (“as good as Miles was at losing money, he was even better at his job.” ) Sarah (“She was a young brunette, though a year his senior, with wide brown eyes and a relaxed demeanor”) – bog standard blonde for the love interest, brunette as the competent friend. Arrggghghghgh.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book that offers a strong start to a new series. As the title suggest, there is something afoot in the galaxy. The main character, Calvin Cross, is the captain of an Intel Wing stealth ship. He is tasked with tracking down a fugitive captain that has gone rogue and destroyed foreign national civilian crafts. But things don't smell right to Cross and he is interested in finding out the truth. Even if he has to deceive the very people who have given him his task in the first place.

I will definitely be picking up the next book in the future.

[Roger Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series was recommended to me by a friend and I wanted to like it. Unfortunately the characters are implausible and distracting. There is *NO* way that a military service would make a person like the protagonist a captain of a ship. In fact, the entire command crew comes across as being immature and controlled by their hormones. Even elite Intelligence units have to convey professionalism and competence in some way and these characters simply don't, in any way.

Read the 1st book - it's free, but I would pass on this one.

[Sam Freeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad. Even for self-published it's bad. A paper-thin universe for paper-thin characters to wander around in. The plot appears to be intriguing, but reading about these terrible characters blundering around witlessly is no fu at all.

Needless to say I shan't bother with the follow-ups. And for those of you who share similar tastes to me (and are used to more than the See Spot Run level of science fiction) avoid this like the plague.

[Marco Straforini · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate reading books and thinking why on Earth the characters are doing such stupid things. And this is supposed to be the best person for that job? Come one, Sherlock Holmes would have solved the mistery in less then one hour, asking the right questions to the right people. And what is this all about female characters coming straight from the first Star Trek series, all beautiful and blonde and all men losing their little head for them? In which century are we?

[Benjamin Spengler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrid editing, god awful sentence structures and a plot worse than a "Lost in Space" episode make this book incredibly difficult to finish, much less enjoy. Jarring dissonances on almost every other page. Save your eyes, your time and your wits by grabbing a Jules Verne or a Stephen Donaldson novel instead. Even at free, this is not worth what you paid for it.

[blinkenjim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very mediocre both in its science and in its characters. The author needs to understand a lot more about space travel, and in particular orbital mechanics. The characters are shallow and 2-dimensional. The plot isn't bad, but is undermined by the book's flaws. I don't plan to read any more of the books in this series.

[A.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is incredibly tedious. I gave up about halfway through.

[Rosemary Cantrell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got 25% of the way through and had to quit. I rarely find sci-fi that I like I just could not get into this one at all.

[Kirk Guy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could only get through chapter 7 before I had to put this one down, the shallow characters and obvious plot line was just to much for me.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sorry. I cannot in good conscience recommend this book. I have the audible version from GooglePlay Books. Good narrator.