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The Spiderverse Saga #1
The Spider and the Fly
Humanity lies in ruin. Our once invincible empire has crumbled, and refugees struggle to survive on backwater colonies and broken ghettos on the fringes of the galaxy. Worst of all, any child born with a spark of psychic potential is hunted down by elite telepathic operatives of the ruling alien government. But now, with the entire species on the brink of extinction, everything is about to change…
For nearly ten years Jenavian Vale has faithfully served the Convectorate as a Spider, tracking down and capturing potential telepaths before their powers grow out of control. But when she finally catches up to her latest target, she realizes he is more than just another rogue “Fly”— he is none other than Markus Coveri, her former partner and the only Spider that has ever defected. And he holds the key to an ancient secret that could change the course of human history.
As the chase begins, Jen must pit her loyalty for the Convectorate against the fate of her own beleaguered species…and her loyalty to the Spiders against the life of her only friend.
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY is an action-packed adventure full of colorful characters, dazzling space battles, and galaxy-spanning conspiracies—in other words, the consummate Space Opera (160,000 words).
Spiderverse Novels
The Spider and the Fly
Rebellion
Phoenix Rising
Homeworld
For nearly ten years Jenavian Vale has faithfully served the Convectorate as a Spider, tracking down and capturing potential telepaths before their powers grow out of control. But when she finally catches up to her latest target, she realizes he is more than just another rogue “Fly”— he is none other than Markus Coveri, her former partner and the only Spider that has ever defected. And he holds the key to an ancient secret that could change the course of human history.
As the chase begins, Jen must pit her loyalty for the Convectorate against the fate of her own beleaguered species…and her loyalty to the Spiders against the life of her only friend.
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY is an action-packed adventure full of colorful characters, dazzling space battles, and galaxy-spanning conspiracies—in other words, the consummate Space Opera (160,000 words).
Spiderverse Novels
The Spider and the Fly
Rebellion
Phoenix Rising
Homeworld
450 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2012
25 people are currently reading
402 people want to read
About the author
C.E. Stalbaum
11 books21 followersC.E. Stalbaum grew up reading plenty of space opera and fantasy, particularly Tolkien, R.A. Salvatore, Robert Jordan, and most of all Timothy Zahn. In 2011, Stalbaum published “The Last Goddess” and has written nearly a dozen other novels and novellas since.
C.E. Stalbaum also writes the dark fantasy “Godswar Saga” under the name “Jennifer Vale.”
C.E. Stalbaum also writes the dark fantasy “Godswar Saga” under the name “Jennifer Vale.”
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 20, 2019
'Sarafan' Overlords? Hahaha! In case someone wonders what's so funny about it - 'sarafan' is a type of a Russian traditional dress. Here we got a caste of overlords called that. And they weren't even 'Overladies', not like a feminist bunch but rather 'Lords' of both sexes!
Q:... the Sarafan, the caste of human psychics who had ruled the Dominion (c)
Q:
The Spire of Freedom was one of those absurd cultural monuments whose name was a misnomer on virtually every level. For one, it wasn’t much of a spire. (c)
Q:
Calling anything in this shithole a “VIP section” was like calling a penal colony an “all-expenses-paid vacation resort.”(c)
Q:
But the most disturbing thing about this particular cesspool of a nightclub, Jenavian Vale mused, was that she might have been the only female of any species still wearing all of her clothing. (c)
Q:
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stretched out with her mind. Her own telepathic web stretched out across millions of kilometers, easily enough to blanket an entire star system, but directly communicating with another psychic as powerful as the Widow could cover an even longer distance. (с)
Q:
The other was a standard communications relay, though Drathir wondered distantly how often it was used in a base full of telepaths. (c)
Q:
Eventually, Drathir had managed to convince then-Minister Kirask that they weren’t going to be able to stuff the gazack back in its hole, and instead they launched a massive disinformation campaign across every news outlet and holocast. Soon the populace was so inundated in conflicting reports they could no longer separate fact from fiction, and within a few months the scandal had disappeared completely. At this point most people still believed the story had been a concoction of anti-government extremists rather than anything legitimate. (c)
Q:
He really was annoying sometimes, what with his brutal honesty and keen observational skills. It was like having a robot for a partner, except that with a machine she could at least program it to humor her once in a while. (c)
Q:
She was a Spider, for fuck’s sake, a highly-trained, psychogenetically engineered tool of destruction.
Who had apparently needed to take a little nap. (c)
Q:
He was always well-intentioned, just…kind of an idiot. (c)
Q:
Technologically speaking, the Dominion is known historically for three particular inventions: the astral drive, the psionic power core, and instantaneous, galaxy-wide communications. The third is what is important here. There’s only one way a disease could have possibly reached thousands of Sarafan spread across hundreds of systems at the same time—the same way they were able to communicate with one another across such vast distances. (c)
Q:
Between the dim lighting, the bare walls, and the eerie echo of her boots clicking against the cold metal floor, Jenavian felt rather like a ghost on a derelict ship cursed to wander its empty decks for all eternity. The unsettling telepathic whispers occasionally worming their way into her thoughts weren’t helping matters, either. (c)
Q:
Evidently all those years in Spider combat training had never taught him to duck. (c)
Q:
“You could always just ask. As it turns out, I’m a pretty good conversationalist.” (c)
Q:
The Tarreen are a culture so obsessed with rank and caste, so consumed by secrets and deception, that their own leaders were forced to hide their identities from their peers just to survive. (c)
Q:
He always reminded me of some of our ancient peers who seemed more interested in apologizing for their powers rather than using them. They refused to accept the true nature of the horrors lurking in the darkness between the stars, and they couldn’t see how we were the only force in the galaxy keeping them at bay. (c)
Q:
“I’m not sure if it’s the fact I’m pumped full of stims or that I’m just big into symmetry, but shooting you in the back right after you dragged my ass out of the fire seems oddly appropriate right now.” (c)
Q:
He’d believed he was an agent of a ruthless, alien-led government bent on galactic domination. (c)
Q:
Plucking random adepts out of a desperate and impoverished population doesn’t seem like much of a way to rebuild a lost order of psychics.”
“Maybe she likes the idea of the being queen of the refuse,” (c)
Q:
“It isn’t poetry—it’s psychology. Humans often require symbols to motivate them.” (c)
Editing issues:
Q: Jen hit the paid on her wrist ... (c)
Q: ...to evacuate it’s bases... (c)
Q: “You’re timing couldn’t be better, in fact.” (c)
Q: ... he almost wished she would crossed that line, too. (c)
Q: And hen toppled over helplessly onto his back. (c)
Q:... the Sarafan, the caste of human psychics who had ruled the Dominion (c)
Q:
The Spire of Freedom was one of those absurd cultural monuments whose name was a misnomer on virtually every level. For one, it wasn’t much of a spire. (c)
Q:
Calling anything in this shithole a “VIP section” was like calling a penal colony an “all-expenses-paid vacation resort.”(c)
Q:
But the most disturbing thing about this particular cesspool of a nightclub, Jenavian Vale mused, was that she might have been the only female of any species still wearing all of her clothing. (c)
Q:
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stretched out with her mind. Her own telepathic web stretched out across millions of kilometers, easily enough to blanket an entire star system, but directly communicating with another psychic as powerful as the Widow could cover an even longer distance. (с)
Q:
The other was a standard communications relay, though Drathir wondered distantly how often it was used in a base full of telepaths. (c)
Q:
Eventually, Drathir had managed to convince then-Minister Kirask that they weren’t going to be able to stuff the gazack back in its hole, and instead they launched a massive disinformation campaign across every news outlet and holocast. Soon the populace was so inundated in conflicting reports they could no longer separate fact from fiction, and within a few months the scandal had disappeared completely. At this point most people still believed the story had been a concoction of anti-government extremists rather than anything legitimate. (c)
Q:
He really was annoying sometimes, what with his brutal honesty and keen observational skills. It was like having a robot for a partner, except that with a machine she could at least program it to humor her once in a while. (c)
Q:
She was a Spider, for fuck’s sake, a highly-trained, psychogenetically engineered tool of destruction.
Who had apparently needed to take a little nap. (c)
Q:
He was always well-intentioned, just…kind of an idiot. (c)
Q:
Technologically speaking, the Dominion is known historically for three particular inventions: the astral drive, the psionic power core, and instantaneous, galaxy-wide communications. The third is what is important here. There’s only one way a disease could have possibly reached thousands of Sarafan spread across hundreds of systems at the same time—the same way they were able to communicate with one another across such vast distances. (c)
Q:
Between the dim lighting, the bare walls, and the eerie echo of her boots clicking against the cold metal floor, Jenavian felt rather like a ghost on a derelict ship cursed to wander its empty decks for all eternity. The unsettling telepathic whispers occasionally worming their way into her thoughts weren’t helping matters, either. (c)
Q:
Evidently all those years in Spider combat training had never taught him to duck. (c)
Q:
“You could always just ask. As it turns out, I’m a pretty good conversationalist.” (c)
Q:
The Tarreen are a culture so obsessed with rank and caste, so consumed by secrets and deception, that their own leaders were forced to hide their identities from their peers just to survive. (c)
Q:
He always reminded me of some of our ancient peers who seemed more interested in apologizing for their powers rather than using them. They refused to accept the true nature of the horrors lurking in the darkness between the stars, and they couldn’t see how we were the only force in the galaxy keeping them at bay. (c)
Q:
“I’m not sure if it’s the fact I’m pumped full of stims or that I’m just big into symmetry, but shooting you in the back right after you dragged my ass out of the fire seems oddly appropriate right now.” (c)
Q:
He’d believed he was an agent of a ruthless, alien-led government bent on galactic domination. (c)
Q:
Plucking random adepts out of a desperate and impoverished population doesn’t seem like much of a way to rebuild a lost order of psychics.”
“Maybe she likes the idea of the being queen of the refuse,” (c)
Q:
“It isn’t poetry—it’s psychology. Humans often require symbols to motivate them.” (c)
Editing issues:
Q: Jen hit the paid on her wrist ... (c)
Q: ...to evacuate it’s bases... (c)
Q: “You’re timing couldn’t be better, in fact.” (c)
Q: ... he almost wished she would crossed that line, too. (c)
Q: And hen toppled over helplessly onto his back. (c)
June 7, 2017
2.5 stars.
This was okay, but it didn't end up really grabbing me. I think that's partly due to what felt like a large chunk of the middle being incredibly slow and not particularly needed. There were also an awful lot of bad guys in this book and we got to read all their misguided evilness as they plotted it, which really wasn't all that interesting to be honest and would have had much more of a dramatic impact if we'd been surprised along with the protagonists. It was also annoying because most of these bad guys ended up being completely superfluous to the plot.
Sadly I also didn't really care for the protagonists much. To me they always felt distant or just outright unlikably, I mean, for a great part of the book Jen is a loyal and dutiful underling to the Convectorate who has little to no remorse over any actions she takes. Markus comes across as an idealistic and naive fool, blinkered to the Mire's negative traits simply because he wants them to be the "good guys". Selaris is a star-struck child, whiny and out of her depth most of the time (though she improved towards the end). The alien council were all incompetent, complacent idiots too busy playing at the game of politics and fostering angry resentment towards the people making it possible to live their current lives to do anything particularly useful. In fact I think the only character I really liked at all was Thexyl and he didn't really do much other than repeatedly pull Jen's arse out of the fire when she jumped in feet first and be the voice of reason that everyone ignored.
The world building was also meh, with no real explanations for anything beyond everyone hates humans because the Dominion (human empire) basically enslaved the nearby parts of the galaxy and ruthlessly crushed any resistance. This doesn't explain why humans and only humans have psychic powers, who originally forged humanity in to a weapon, and how they managed to rapidly expand and consolidate their influence after helping to overthrow the previous iteration of the Convectorate. Nor does it do a good job of explaining how the Convectorate managed to regain all their lost power with minimal resistance when they only had a handful of indoctrinated psychics and several independent not-very-friendly empires also on the scene.
Despite coming across as distinctly underwhelmed, I do have to say that the writing itself was actually not that bad. Very few typos or grammatical mistakes (unlike myself) and honestly had all the extraneous material been taken out and the plot tightened up this would have been a rather exciting rebel underdogs against the evil empire type story without actually treading on Star Wars toes.
I may end up skimming the second book to see how things turn out, but right now I'm not really interested in picking it up for a proper read.
This was okay, but it didn't end up really grabbing me. I think that's partly due to what felt like a large chunk of the middle being incredibly slow and not particularly needed. There were also an awful lot of bad guys in this book and we got to read all their misguided evilness as they plotted it, which really wasn't all that interesting to be honest and would have had much more of a dramatic impact if we'd been surprised along with the protagonists. It was also annoying because most of these bad guys ended up being completely superfluous to the plot.
Sadly I also didn't really care for the protagonists much. To me they always felt distant or just outright unlikably, I mean, for a great part of the book Jen is a loyal and dutiful underling to the Convectorate who has little to no remorse over any actions she takes. Markus comes across as an idealistic and naive fool, blinkered to the Mire's negative traits simply because he wants them to be the "good guys". Selaris is a star-struck child, whiny and out of her depth most of the time (though she improved towards the end). The alien council were all incompetent, complacent idiots too busy playing at the game of politics and fostering angry resentment towards the people making it possible to live their current lives to do anything particularly useful. In fact I think the only character I really liked at all was Thexyl and he didn't really do much other than repeatedly pull Jen's arse out of the fire when she jumped in feet first and be the voice of reason that everyone ignored.
The world building was also meh, with no real explanations for anything beyond everyone hates humans because the Dominion (human empire) basically enslaved the nearby parts of the galaxy and ruthlessly crushed any resistance. This doesn't explain why humans and only humans have psychic powers, who originally forged humanity in to a weapon, and how they managed to rapidly expand and consolidate their influence after helping to overthrow the previous iteration of the Convectorate. Nor does it do a good job of explaining how the Convectorate managed to regain all their lost power with minimal resistance when they only had a handful of indoctrinated psychics and several independent not-very-friendly empires also on the scene.
Despite coming across as distinctly underwhelmed, I do have to say that the writing itself was actually not that bad. Very few typos or grammatical mistakes (unlike myself) and honestly had all the extraneous material been taken out and the plot tightened up this would have been a rather exciting rebel underdogs against the evil empire type story without actually treading on Star Wars toes.
I may end up skimming the second book to see how things turn out, but right now I'm not really interested in picking it up for a proper read.
August 25, 2012
No heavy lifting required, just relax, read and enjoy. I'll be looking for more in this series. classic space opera with excellent, well developed characters and an interesting cast of good guys, bad guys and aliens in both categories with the bad guys not quite as obvious as first seems. Main female character seems to fall a bit on the side of the bad guys although indications are that may change in future books in the series and the hero is definitely a good guy.
Good story that had a beginning, middle and a reasonable ending, though there will obviously be more to come. I definitely enjoyed this one, liked the psi touches and the alien interactions.
Good story that had a beginning, middle and a reasonable ending, though there will obviously be more to come. I definitely enjoyed this one, liked the psi touches and the alien interactions.
September 27, 2013
Well done. A complex tale of betrayal and misperceptions. Several main characters exhibits high hopes and conflicted motivations--often toward each other.
Could have tightened the telling by cutting out some of the repetition. It's enough for us to know that people don't trust each other, often for the wrong reasons, without detailing the history of why EVERY TIME the character anticipates some action.
A very good read.
Could have tightened the telling by cutting out some of the repetition. It's enough for us to know that people don't trust each other, often for the wrong reasons, without detailing the history of why EVERY TIME the character anticipates some action.
A very good read.
April 16, 2013
Jenavian Vale is a Spider, trained to use her psychic powers to maintain security for the Convectorate. But her next mission may turn out to be her last, when she comes face-to-face with Markus Coveri, the only Spider to ever defect. And he is on his own mission, one that may very well be the last hope for the human species, if it doesn’t destroy everything first.
This space opera has it all: adventure, drama, mystery and enough gadgetry to satisfy most SciFi fans. Well written with a fast, tense pace, The Spider and the Fly delivers a great, fun read. Stalbaum creates a believable universe in which humans are no longer the dominant species, and the results could be disastrous. I recommend this to any SciFi buffs.
This space opera has it all: adventure, drama, mystery and enough gadgetry to satisfy most SciFi fans. Well written with a fast, tense pace, The Spider and the Fly delivers a great, fun read. Stalbaum creates a believable universe in which humans are no longer the dominant species, and the results could be disastrous. I recommend this to any SciFi buffs.
July 30, 2014
I never know what to think about these far into the future humans are defeated or on the run, or dominating evil books. I guess they are called Space Operas. But I want to reach out a little beyond my usual Spy / Techno-Thrillers genre and I hit IMO a winner. I loved the writing, the action, the ideas (implausible as they may be).
This book was (is?) free on Amazon. It's sequel is $5. Whether I'll buy the sequel is not clear. I have a LOT of books to read in the queue.
But IMO I recommend this book as a good read for a sci-fi fan.
The Spider and the Fly
This book was (is?) free on Amazon. It's sequel is $5. Whether I'll buy the sequel is not clear. I have a LOT of books to read in the queue.
But IMO I recommend this book as a good read for a sci-fi fan.
The Spider and the Fly
December 8, 2012
This book captured my interest right at the beginning with some great action and promise of some interesting new ideas. However, towards the middle it slowed down and I hard a hard time staying focused. In fact, I put the book down for about a month, however, I'm glad I gave it another chance, as it picked up in the end.
May 25, 2014
This was a good old-fashioned space opera, with a similar feel to Star Wars. The characters were interesting and complex. It had plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, and lots of action. Looking forward to the second installment.
August 5, 2013
Tight sci-fi story with lots of action. Set in a future where humans have lost power in the Universe and a group of them with psychic powers are looking for the cure for a disease that robber them on their powers. Twists and turns and leaves you wondering what the next book will reveal.
January 6, 2014
A nice action scifi adventure book with interesting characters, but I did get a little lost in the history the fed into the conflicts in The Spider and the Fly. Pretty good overall, though, and I'll be looking for the next book.
September 7, 2012
Very entertaining! It has a sort of Star Treky feel to it. The writing is smooth and it moves quickly.
November 26, 2012
Inoffensive brain candy.
May 16, 2013
Just recently started reading Sci-Fi and Space Opera's. This was definitely a good read with enough turns to keep my attention.
July 23, 2014
Good Sci Fi adventure story with minimal cheese and over explanation.
April 25, 2014
LIVING ON THE EDGE MIGHT NOT ALWAYS BE EASY BUT YOU WILL LEARN WHO TO TRUST AND NOT TRUST AS YOU TRAVEL ALONG WITH THIS CAST OF CHARACTERS...
November 20, 2013
Read my full review here! http://nerdsdom.com/the-spider-and-th...
February 23, 2014
Timeless thought provoking scifi... an enjoyable read.
July 8, 2015
Good epic!
I love the space opera genera and this one does not disappoint! Fast paced book with a well thought out plot. And a few twists to keep one guessing.
I love the space opera genera and this one does not disappoint! Fast paced book with a well thought out plot. And a few twists to keep one guessing.
January 8, 2021
The story kept me going so much that I had to set an alarm on my phone to stop reading when my lunch break was over. The characters are well written and I feel that I got to know them and cared for them. There are plenty of cliff hanger endings in chapters that make you want to keep reading. Even though the storyline is set in the future it is believable and I could relate to some of the struggles of the characters. There are lots of good twists in the story and I can't wait to see what happens to the characters next.
February 2, 2015
An interesting story where humans are feared by the aliens and several factions are competing for power. The main characters were well written even if one was initially not that likeable. I love those types of characters that start out being hated and eventually come through as one of the good guys. For me, I initially struggled a bit with putting together the various players and figuring out who was who and what had transpired in the past to create the present situation. It came together for me in the last half of the book. I'm looking forward to reading the next book and I'm hoping we learn more about the widow and see how things transpire.
May 4, 2016
DNF at 35%. It took me about a month to realize that I wasn't going to finish this, seeing as I wasn't really interested in whatever was going on. 35% felt like a whole book in itself - with chases, escapes, kidnappings, reveals, etc. etc. - and I was tired to even think about what would come next. I like my dose of space opera, but the whole world, and, by extension, characters, seemed so detached and unfamiliar that it was hard for me to form any attachments. All in all, it was too much and too little. Shame, really.
January 28, 2014
This was a very poor sci fi read for me. So poor in fact I did not finish it. Did skip to the end to see if what I thought would happen, happened. It did and laid the groundwork for sequels. Not for me at all. Too many characters with too many sub-plots to try and keep them all straight especially since I really did not like any of them.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews