Alpha Wave

The Sleepers War #1

by Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse

Created to defeat the invaders. Forgotten in victory. They will rise again...

We were outnumbered, outfought. Mankind was about to fall to the alien Flock. Our only chance was a desperate gamble, transforming Tier One Spec-Ops agents into deadly super soldiers. In the end, we won the war, but we lost the peace. The Flock surrendered and spent the next two hundred years making reparations, indentured to humanity, doing everything humans did not want to do. And the evolved super soldiers were consigned to an endless sleep. Ready if ever needed, but in time they became myths. Abandoned and forgotten

And then, when we were content in our dominance, the Flock revolted against all of humanity across the whole of the galaxy. We fell in a single day. Which is when the dreams began. People across the settled worlds began dreaming of the Sleepers. The evolved saviors. Acts of rebellion and terrorism swept the galaxy, and in response the Flock ground us under heel. Lexi Chow, descendant of a hero of the Flock War, believes the Sleepers are real, and are humanity's only chance against the alien conquerors. With a crew of misfits, criminals, and believers, she sets out to wake the Sleepers. Hoping they will once more save us. If the betrayed Sleepers are willing. If the Sleepers are even human. If the Sleepers are on our side at all...

Alpha Wave by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry and master storyteller Weston Ochse launches a new sprawling military science fiction adventure that will span the whole of a galaxy at war!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Space

764 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[saradevil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never has a book so desperately needed an editor.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

l tried, I really did. l struggled through half of this book and it just couldn't hold my attention. l found myself doing almost anything else so I didn't have to pick it back up.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

won’t be reading the next book

This was all over the place and felt like a couple hundred pages could have been edited out. Two stars because the story had potential but god was some of it redundant and felt like an adhd adolescent on monster energy drinks kept writing a couple of paragraphs every other hour and after 700 pages said “send it!” And it was published as is.

[Rhoddi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flirting with a one star, I ultimately decided to give Alpha Wave two stars as I pushed myself through it to the end. For a couple of reasons I couldn't just DNF it. One was the cost of the book; at $25.95, this mammoth book has a steep cost to get into and one I didn't want to quit after 200 pages. The second reason was that the book had a decent story and the writing, for the most of it, was pretty engaging. Sometimes, I could help turn another page to see what would happen next.
But the problems or my problems with the book, almost killed all the positives.

First off, this book was written by two authors, and it feels like they both had their own editors and proof readers. Sometimes the book was flawless, not a mistake. Then after around 150 pages, the mistakes started happening with grammar, spelling and gender. Somewhere in the book there is one sentence where the character's gender changed twice in one sentence. Once her, then a him. It's jarring to shake your head so much, throwing you right out of the book.

And why are air vents so big in space? Big enough for humans and aliens to crawl through. Please kill this trope. Space in space is expensive.

Another problem with the book was the world building. Not all of it, but a good chunk of it. The flock were pretty well designed as was the general universe and tech, but the culture shifts of the characters, and aliens at times, was weird. One character was spouting slang and felt from the 1920-30's, another two characters felt like they came from a cheap Mad Max clone, while everyone was pretty much using modern century slang like Jiggy, Cat and Nerd. There was NO attempt to make a new human culture or fully realized characters. It may as well been a shlocky 80's action movie dipped in sci-fi, with a good amount of gun porn thrown in. This derailed all the descriptions and world building and brings me to the last prob.

Description in this book was marginal at best, since the flow of the book is more towards action. It was adequate. But what I really missed in this book was any sense of atmosphere or the sense that the characters actually lived and breathed in this universe. A lot of what happened in this book outside of the action scenes felt sterile and lacked tension or drama, even though humanity was being subjugated by an alien species. This being a military sci-fi book, maybe I'm just being too harsh on it. It's not about deep characterizations or filling out the scene with all five senses. It's about blasting aliens and bro hugs and fist pumps followed by some terrible loss, all mixed with a heady brew of testosterone. That said, the women in this book weren't wearing any bikini armor and achieved as much as the men, which for me, gives it another thumbs up.

All in all, it's a donation book for me; an expensive one that I'm sure someone out there will enjoy more than I did.

[John #Audible · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is all over the damn place. You don't get to focus on a character to cheer on, you get some spaghetti mess that bounces all over and holy jesus the monologues are ridiculous.

[Drew Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

-1 star for finding several distracting formatting and spelling errors in eBook. Needs an editor to do one more pass.

Decent story of sci-fi elite soldiers, hurt by being overly long.

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray Porter and Jonathan Maberry are an unbeatable combination when it comes to audiobooks. Turns out that the addition of author Weston Ochse doesn't change that, not even a little bit.

Alpha Wave refers to a group of superhumans, created by normal humans, to help fight the Flock, an alien race of bird-like beings. Then, unexpectedly, the Flock surrendered and the superhumans were put on ice. Fast forward 200 years, and the Flock resurges and this time, they have humanity right where they want them. A small group of rebels form a resistance and want to wake the sleepers to help in their battle. Trouble is, they don't even know for sure where the sleepers are. Will they find the sleepers? Will they succeed in waking them? And if they do, will the sleepers help? You'll have to read this to find out!

I felt that the writing here was seamless-I couldn't tell who wrote what and nor did I care. I developed empathy for these characters, though it took a bit to get to know them. This is a long audio coming in at 19 hours but I was still upset when it ended. Ray Porter brings all of these characters to life with his performance. He adds emotion, he's not just reading as some narrators do. The characters here are all well defined, because the authors took the time to fill them out. Even the space ship used by the resistance is a character. (Ray Porter's voicing of the ship, {Tin Man}, had me laughing out loud.) All of these characters grew and changed throughout, even Tin Man, and I found their arcs to be compelling.

There's lots of sci-fi action battles and world building here. The authors take their time and there's no info dumping, which I appreciated. The story is layered and a little complicated at first, but as the tale unfolds everything becomes clear. I enjoyed the opening chapters before the time jump and I don't think the story would have been as good if those portions weren't included.

I'll wind up by saying I don't even like to read action books/stories. I don't even like action movies that much. But some kind of magic happens when Ray Porter is performing. He makes the action exciting. Even where there's a bit of technical jargon about weaponry, defense systems, etc...(where I would normally get bored in a book), I find exciting and interesting when it's done by Porter, Maberry and Ochse.

So here I am, eagerly awaiting the audios of the next Joe Ledger book, the next Kagen book, and now, the next Sleeper's War book. None of these guys work fast enough for me!

Highly recommended for fans of science fiction and action tales!

*Thank you to NetGalley for the download of this audio in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a monster of a book, the audio over 19 hours. I split this one up over a few days, not wanting to get bogged down in it, like can sometimes happen for me with sci-fi. I don't think that would have happened, had I listened straight through. The world was interesting, the fight for humanity compelling and I wanted the resistance to win!

I found the Flock to be creepy. The thought of big birds like that for some reason really creeps me out. I hated how they came to our world and subjugated us. Was cheering when with the super soldiers we won! Then the Flock proved how sneaky they were. I have to say, what they did in the aftermath of defeat was genius and if you were willing to play the long game, it's a great way to win and beat down those that beat you and do it in such a way that it will be hard for them to fight back.

It was funny how the dreams started to change things. Made those that wanted to fight, see that maybe now there was a good reason to start planning, that something bigger might be in the works and maybe those old rumors would be worth checking out.

With the search for the Sleepers on, everyone was ready to fight. The first obstacle came with the Sleepers themselves, finding them and waking them up was not pretty and the first punches came hard. Once that hiccup was dealt with things got a bit better, but there were more battles ahead. Often those battles came with big prices for the good guys and at times the choices they had to make were hard. Sometimes things seemed bad, but it was the best choice for all.

At the end, things are a bit better for the little band of resistance fighters. It remains to be seen if this was just a battle or the war, but most likely a battle.

[Sobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Alpha Wave." Jonathan Maberry and Weston Ochse have crafted an electrifying tale that pulses with adrenaline from start to finish. Set against the backdrop of a galaxy on the brink of destruction, humanity's battle for survival against the formidable alien Flock ignites a narrative that will leave you breathless. As the Flock rises to power and humanity faces its darkest hour, hope flickers to life with the emergence of the legendary Sleepers. Led by the indomitable Lexi Chow, a ragtag team of adventurers embarks on a daring mission to awaken these mythical super soldiers and turn the tide of war. The brilliance of "Alpha Wave" lies not only in its epic battles and intricate world-building but also in its unexpected humor and ingenious twists. From the witty banter of a snarky AI ship to the endearing presence of a robotic dog, the novel is imbued with a sense of levity that balances the intensity of its action-packed scenes. It delves deep into the intricacies of shared consciousness, exploring the connections that bind us across vast distances of space and time. But make no mistake, the stakes are high, and the tension is palpable as the narrative hurtles towards its heart-stopping conclusion. With each page turn, you'll find yourself drawn deeper into a gripping saga of sacrifice, redemption, and the unyielding resilience of the human spirit. "Alpha Wave" is a tour de force of military science fiction that will leave you on the edge of your seat and yearning for more. With its captivating storyline, richly drawn characters, and pulse-pounding suspense, this is a must-read for fans of the genre. Prepare to be swept away, and brace yourself for an unforgettable journey through the stars. I cannot wait for the next installment!

[Brittany Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

What I enjoyed:
-The world Maberry and Ochse created. It gave me an almost cyberpunk vibe (which is what caused me to round up to 4 stars)

What I did not enjoy:
-The bird thing is weird. I don't know why I had such a hard time envisioning the flock-no matter how much detail the authors put into describing their appearance.

-Unfortunately, this book desperately needed an editor. There were typos in a good amount of the book. And these aren't just small typos that wouldn't make a huge difference to the story. For example, when I was halfway through the book I still didn't know if Fodder is a man or a woman because of sentences such as:

"Fodder was on her knees, gun hanging in his forgotten hands..." 

-I don't feel like any of the characters had any depth. Even after reading a book so long I felt like I hardly know any of them.


***Spoiler***


-I was disappointed that not much of the story was spent in the bottoms or with the other aspects of the resistance. I feel like these were the coolest parts of the story, and also the shortest parts.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the epic battles.The alien Flock ( yes, they're bird like) are about to defeat mankind so as a last hurrah Tier One SpecialOp agents are transformed into deadly super soldiers turning defeat into victory and as a reward (yeah, right), the soldiers are put into a deep sleep to be ready as needed. The Flock submit, mankind is lolled into a peaceful co-existence for 200 yrs., the Flock revolt and take total control of humanity across the galaxy in just one day. As in any war or aftermath resistance grows and every time they hit against the Flock, the Flock strikes back hard plus they have turned some into betraying their own. Some think the Sleepers are a myth but then the dreams begin so a small group of ragtag resistance fighters are sent to find the Sleepers and hopefully have them fight for mankind again. I highly recommend this book to any fan of the military/sci-fi genres.

[Michael Mayfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it more, I truly did. I picked it up because I very much enjoy Maberry's novels. I, as others have pointed out, the text is wrought with errors, from missing spaces separating words, to missing of whole words or phrases, and further to using multiple different pronouns to describe the same character. It was hard for me to get past all that, sorry to say. Some of the dialogue seemed forced, trite, overused, too cliche (and look, I'm totally ok with some cliche in my books, but I have a limit). I seem to be of similar mind of other 1/2 star reviewers. My book was identified as "version 1", so maybe future revisions will address some of the concerns. Maybe. It's an ok ride overall, but I can't gush about it.

[Tim Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intro was a little too long to be a normal intro, so the 200 year time jump seemed a bit...excessive. I understand why they did it, but I wonder if just starting 200 years in the future and revealing bits of the past might not have worked better.

Anyway, after getting over that, it was an enjoyable, weird sci fi book that left behind at least as many questions as it answered (in a good way--this was obviously always going to be the first in a series, but it didn't end on a complete cliffhanger like so many books like to do).

[Leslie Baptiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent story, but very verbose not much action until the end of the book.

I enjoyed the story very much. There’s plenty of mystery and story threads throughout this first book. A lot of unanswered questions as well. The book is heavy on character development and very verbose. There are sections of the book that make you want to pull out your hair and ask what is wrong with these characters. There are a lot of sections that you as a reader, figure out instinctively, and wonder why the characters have not done the same. Will read the next book when it arrives.

[Dennis Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel concept but...

I’ll try to keep this spoiler-free. The overall story was decent but the execution was horrific. This has to be the most poorly edited, least proof-read book I have ever read. The inconsistencies and contradictions were mind-numbing to the point I almost could not finish it. I was originally going to address some of the more numerous ones specifically but there ended up being so many I decided not to bother. I’ve read self-published books that were more well-polished than this which is very unexpected from a book with Jonathan Mayberry’s name on it.

[Bill Brinkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story and kept me entertained the entire time. The characters were great and the story was very interesting. However, the authors repeated quite a bit of narrative multiple times. I felt like the book could have been somewhat shorter if they had not repeated they're narrative multiple times. I know writing a book is extremely hard and I hate to leave even a slightly negative review but as I said too long should have been shorter. It would have still been a great story. I still recommend this book. It is a great story.

[Marion Schloemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technically, 4.5 stars for the Audible read. As always, narrator Ray Porter transported me to new planets so effortlessly that I would sometimes look up from what I was doing, and wonder how I got to standing in the kitchen when I was just recently on another world. Still, it’s clear that I am going to have to read this book again because I got to the end and still didn’t know who “won” the battle.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed this sci-fi. During a human/alien war, scientists created a super-human soldier. But when the war is over, they're put in cryogenic sleep and forgotten about. But the aliens are now overlords and the humans need their secret weapon.

I liked the plot and characters. The only part that was a little obnoxious was the monologuing lectures the main characters give from time to time. But they weren't overly long and we quickly moved onto to action again.

[Bernard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate flashbacks. This book has way too many and they are too damned long.

Super soldiers, a plot that has been done many times in scifi. Things working out in a way that isn't expected. That has been done, a lot.

The main characters were alright but I felt that they were all been there, done that propositions.

The book was okay.

[Chase Cardinal · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY SHIT

I haven't read a sci-fi book this good in well over a a decade!!! It literally had me in an adrenaline rush through half the book! I can't wait for the next book!! The character growth and introductions are simply amazing as well as the fight scenes and descriptions. There is some humor in this book as well.

[Aaron Advani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is BIG in scope and page count!!!
This is SCI FI/Space Opera in spades, Jonathan Maberry brings his fantastic storytelling skills to the party in space and boy oh boy is it a wild ride.
If you are a fan of his work you will love it, if you've never read his stuff before give him a go as he can tell a good story no matter the genre.

[Logan Horsford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts off interesting then (an hour forty minutes in) all of the momentum suddenly stops so we can hear a dull dissertation on 2001 A Space Odyssey because far into the future they will still be dealing with 1960's movies as nothing better has been made in the last few hundred years...as you do.

DNF>

[Simon Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting premise

A refreshing view on humanities quest for the stars and the consequences of thinking you understand another’s point of view. interesting characters, huge potential for other storyline’s to come off this one. well thought out which I loved. would love to see the next three books and direction being taken

[Dan Kenkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like books that have Ray Porter as the narrator. He is the best. This book wasn't perfect but it was a nice listen and I found myself listening while walking, driving or even at the grocery store. It had a nice story with a really cool way the bad guys got defeated and then took over the universe. I can't wait until the next in the Sleeper Wars series comes out.

[Carmel McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

i've got a lot to say about this story. you really are a fantastic storyteller with imagination plus. I forgot as i stop purchasing your books due to the price hike. But this story is too encompassing not to continue. will lexie and Jason save the universe.

[Gary Davis]

excellent

Someone once said... A good book is one you can't wait till it's finished and then when it is you're sad. This was one of those. Guess I'll just have to read the next to see if humanity wins its freedom. 😊

[Bill Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great SF

I haven't read a SF book like this in years. Action, suspense, you name it this one has got it. Reads like the books that got me hooked on SF so many years ago.
Hopefully book 2 is not far behind.
Thank you for a super read.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting Concept

The book started out very well…grabbed my attention, involved me with the characters but you just knew when the lid closed, things were headed south. I struggled with parts but overall a good book. I looked for a book 2 but it’s not ready yet. Can’t wait!

[Andreas Acevedo Dunlop Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read the whole way through. Starts off with a bang, and just gets more and more exciting. Filled with so many great ideas and concepts, brilliant fights and battles, tragedy, comedy and everything in between. I can't wait for book 2. I need to know what happens next...

[Clayton Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it a couple of books ago, and I already don't remember all that much. It was another read to pass the time until I find an inspired read. I did not enjoy this as much as the prior Maberry books.