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Lightship Chronicles #1
Impulse
Lieutenant Peter Cochrane of the Quantar Royal Navy believes he has his future clearly mapped out. It begins with his new assignment as an officer on Her Majesty’s Spaceship Starbound, a Lightship bound for deep space voyages of exploration.
But everything changes when Peter is summoned to the office of his father, Grand Admiral Nathan Cochrane, and given devastating news: the death of a loved one. In a distant solar system, a mysterious and unprovoked attack upon Lightship Impulse resulted in the deaths of Peter’s former girlfriend and many of her shipmates.
Now Peter's plans are torn asunder as he is transferred to a Unified Space Navy ship under foreign command, en route to an unexpected destination, and surrounded almost entirely by strangers. To top it off, his superiors have given him secret orders that might force him to become a mutineer.
The crisis at hand becomes a gateway to something much more when the ship’s Historian leads Peter and his shipmates into a galaxy of the unknown -- of ancient technologies, age-old rivalries, new cultures, and unexpected romance. It’s an overwhelming responsibility for Peter, and one false step could plunge humanity into an apocalyptic interstellar war….
But everything changes when Peter is summoned to the office of his father, Grand Admiral Nathan Cochrane, and given devastating news: the death of a loved one. In a distant solar system, a mysterious and unprovoked attack upon Lightship Impulse resulted in the deaths of Peter’s former girlfriend and many of her shipmates.
Now Peter's plans are torn asunder as he is transferred to a Unified Space Navy ship under foreign command, en route to an unexpected destination, and surrounded almost entirely by strangers. To top it off, his superiors have given him secret orders that might force him to become a mutineer.
The crisis at hand becomes a gateway to something much more when the ship’s Historian leads Peter and his shipmates into a galaxy of the unknown -- of ancient technologies, age-old rivalries, new cultures, and unexpected romance. It’s an overwhelming responsibility for Peter, and one false step could plunge humanity into an apocalyptic interstellar war….
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
69 people are currently reading
992 people want to read
About the author
Dave Bara
13 books52 followersDave Bara was born at the dawn of the space age and grew up watching the Gemini and Apollo space programs on television. He dreamed of becoming an astronaut one day. This soon led him to an interest in science fiction, especially on television. His early years were filled with dozens of episodes of the original Star Trek, Lost in Space, The Outer Limits, and The Twilight Zone.
He began to read science fiction voraciously in his teens, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Gordon Dickson, and Joe Haldeman being among his favorites. This led him to try his hand at writing, which he continued all through his college years, even using a novel project as part of his undergraduate degree studies. During these years the story concepts for what would become The Lightship Chronicles series began to take form.
Dave's writing is influenced by the many SF novels he has read over the years, but most notable were books like Dune (Herbert), The Mote In God's Eye (Niven and Pournelle), Dorsai! (Dickson), The Forever War (Haldeman), Tau Zero (Poul Anderson) and the Foundation novels (Asimov), among many others.
Dave looks forward to bringing SF fans many years of exciting and interesting writing, heroic characters, and soaring adventure in the years to come.
Look for IMPULSE: The Lightship Chronicles, Volume I on February 3, 2015 from DAW Books in the US and Del Rey Books in the UK and Europe. Volume II, STARBOUND, should be coming later in 2015.
He began to read science fiction voraciously in his teens, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Gordon Dickson, and Joe Haldeman being among his favorites. This led him to try his hand at writing, which he continued all through his college years, even using a novel project as part of his undergraduate degree studies. During these years the story concepts for what would become The Lightship Chronicles series began to take form.
Dave's writing is influenced by the many SF novels he has read over the years, but most notable were books like Dune (Herbert), The Mote In God's Eye (Niven and Pournelle), Dorsai! (Dickson), The Forever War (Haldeman), Tau Zero (Poul Anderson) and the Foundation novels (Asimov), among many others.
Dave looks forward to bringing SF fans many years of exciting and interesting writing, heroic characters, and soaring adventure in the years to come.
Look for IMPULSE: The Lightship Chronicles, Volume I on February 3, 2015 from DAW Books in the US and Del Rey Books in the UK and Europe. Volume II, STARBOUND, should be coming later in 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
August 4, 2017
This looked interesting, but it's old school space opera without the fizz & that just doesn't cut it for me any more. Space opera can be fun, but only if it doesn't take itself too seriously or I'm reading some old paperback with a lurid cover. Trying to pull it off now requires a finesse that just wasn't there.
This edition is incorrect, but I don't see an audio version listed. The narrator did a good job.
This edition is incorrect, but I don't see an audio version listed. The narrator did a good job.
February 6, 2016
I picked up Impulse because I have a weakness for space opera — probably because I was raised on a steady diet of Star Trek and Star Wars, Blake’s 7 and Babylon 5. Impulse is fun enough, with chases and traitors and first contact with (sort of) aliens, and dealing with romance on board ship, and conflicts between differing kinds of orders.
It’s fun, but kind of bland; others have done it better, and there wasn’t much contact with aliens. Both romances were straight out of Kirk’s playbook, really, and the main character is a mixture of mature and immature; inexperienced and cocksure; getting rank through privilege but also coincidentally being good enough for it, somehow… His fuck-ups don’t have major consequences for him (only for other people), and generally life goes along pretty easily for him — other people get hurt and die, but he makes it through and will be fine.
I found the ending extremely annoying — the nominal goal of the book isn’t reached, and it’s just… very unsatisfying. There’s more in the background that interested me that wasn’t brought out.
Still, fun enough to occupy a train journey. Not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series, though I think the second book is now out.
Originally posted here.
It’s fun, but kind of bland; others have done it better, and there wasn’t much contact with aliens. Both romances were straight out of Kirk’s playbook, really, and the main character is a mixture of mature and immature; inexperienced and cocksure; getting rank through privilege but also coincidentally being good enough for it, somehow… His fuck-ups don’t have major consequences for him (only for other people), and generally life goes along pretty easily for him — other people get hurt and die, but he makes it through and will be fine.
I found the ending extremely annoying — the nominal goal of the book isn’t reached, and it’s just… very unsatisfying. There’s more in the background that interested me that wasn’t brought out.
Still, fun enough to occupy a train journey. Not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series, though I think the second book is now out.
Originally posted here.
March 29, 2015
Military space opera, flawed not only by a disregard for physical laws ("Full stop, Mr. Marker." "Turn us around, Mr. Marker."), but by deep seated sexism---ranging from the fact that women are usually referred to by first name and men by their last, to truly hamfisted efforts to seem "balanced" by making the female characters all either whores or aggressive types ("Her grip on my hand was as firm as any man's"). Also, nearly every order from a superior officer is questioned or disputed by its recipient, and/or explained by the giver, and ship captains are constantly bullying their subordinates or issuing stupid demands for certainty or perfection.
The ONE decent line---"The marines themselves were impressive, in a size-is-everything-and-I-can-kill-you-with-my-dog-tags kind of way."---gives me hope that if the author does a little homework future efforts might be readable.
The ONE decent line---"The marines themselves were impressive, in a size-is-everything-and-I-can-kill-you-with-my-dog-tags kind of way."---gives me hope that if the author does a little homework future efforts might be readable.
November 30, 2017
30/11 - I didn't enjoy the first chapter. I was highly irritated by the way so many off-Earth locations are named after a current Earth city or state - New Queensland, New Brisbane AKA New Briz, New Wurzburg. I find it hard to believe that future people would be quite so unimaginative that they can't come up with names for interstellar locations that aren't copies of places that already exist. But then I got confused by this sentence from page 14
'"I was just thinking that before the Earthmen came with their technology and their science we led a much simpler life. Things changed so suddenly when I saw the Earth ships approaching Quantar. Our universe was smaller then, less complicated."'
The term 'Earthmen' seems to indicate that Peter and the other people of Quantar are not originally from Earth (despite apparently being human), so then why are there places named after Earth locations? Also, on page 34 Peter reminds a colleague from New Wurzburg that in earlier times she would have been thought of as a spy, the colleague responds by telling him that a war fought over 150 years ago (which makes it circa 2200) doesn't have any impact on current events.
Then there's Evangeline Goolagong, a character mentioned on page 12 as an intel officer Peter Cochrane (main character) requested for his crew. Evonne Goolagong is a famous Australian Aboriginal tennis champion - during the 70s and early 80s she won 14 Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and French Open. Is Evangeline Goolagong's name just a really (Goolagong is hardly a common last name) weird coincidence, Bara's attempts to 'honour' a great tennis player (but then you've got to wonder why?), or something else I can hardly fathom?
After all that in just two chapters I came to have a look at the reviews, to see if any of my concerns/confusions were mirrored by other readers. Not exactly but I did find reviews talking about accusations of sexism (all female characters were either sexually aggressive, which Peter had never experienced, or sluts and the female characters all get called by their first names while the males get to be 'Mr.'), weak old-fashioned plotting, awkward romance and sex scene writing, and a hero with a hero complex (he's the only one who can save the world/situation, none of the other more superior officers can manage it). I only read 35 pages, but I think a DNF was definitely warranted with all that evidence.
'"I was just thinking that before the Earthmen came with their technology and their science we led a much simpler life. Things changed so suddenly when I saw the Earth ships approaching Quantar. Our universe was smaller then, less complicated."'
The term 'Earthmen' seems to indicate that Peter and the other people of Quantar are not originally from Earth (despite apparently being human), so then why are there places named after Earth locations? Also, on page 34 Peter reminds a colleague from New Wurzburg that in earlier times she would have been thought of as a spy, the colleague responds by telling him that a war fought over 150 years ago (which makes it circa 2200) doesn't have any impact on current events.
Then there's Evangeline Goolagong, a character mentioned on page 12 as an intel officer Peter Cochrane (main character) requested for his crew. Evonne Goolagong is a famous Australian Aboriginal tennis champion - during the 70s and early 80s she won 14 Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and French Open. Is Evangeline Goolagong's name just a really (Goolagong is hardly a common last name) weird coincidence, Bara's attempts to 'honour' a great tennis player (but then you've got to wonder why?), or something else I can hardly fathom?
After all that in just two chapters I came to have a look at the reviews, to see if any of my concerns/confusions were mirrored by other readers. Not exactly but I did find reviews talking about accusations of sexism (all female characters were either sexually aggressive, which Peter had never experienced, or sluts and the female characters all get called by their first names while the males get to be 'Mr.'), weak old-fashioned plotting, awkward romance and sex scene writing, and a hero with a hero complex (he's the only one who can save the world/situation, none of the other more superior officers can manage it). I only read 35 pages, but I think a DNF was definitely warranted with all that evidence.
February 12, 2015
Impulse is Dave Bara’s debut novel, published earlier this month by DAW. The cover copy starts off like this:
Following in the tradition of such top science fiction writers as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Gordon Dickson, Frank Herbert and Joe Haldeman, Impulse, the first novel of The Lightship Chronicles, launches readers on a star-spanning journey of discovery, diplomacy and danger.
Based on the names mentioned in that paragraph, you can probably make some pretty decent assumptions about this novel… and you’d be 100% right. Impulse is aimed squarely at readers hankering for the Good Old Days of Science Fiction, when Old White Dudes wrote stories set in galaxies torn asunder by rival space empires, featuring proper dashing heroes and splashy space battles. This is as traditional a military science fiction novel as you’ll find. If that’s your cup of tea, Impulse may be something worth checking out for you.
Read the entire review on my site Far Beyond Reality!
Following in the tradition of such top science fiction writers as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Gordon Dickson, Frank Herbert and Joe Haldeman, Impulse, the first novel of The Lightship Chronicles, launches readers on a star-spanning journey of discovery, diplomacy and danger.
Based on the names mentioned in that paragraph, you can probably make some pretty decent assumptions about this novel… and you’d be 100% right. Impulse is aimed squarely at readers hankering for the Good Old Days of Science Fiction, when Old White Dudes wrote stories set in galaxies torn asunder by rival space empires, featuring proper dashing heroes and splashy space battles. This is as traditional a military science fiction novel as you’ll find. If that’s your cup of tea, Impulse may be something worth checking out for you.
Read the entire review on my site Far Beyond Reality!
September 14, 2015
Impulse by Dave Bara is very much an old-school space opera. The novel’s hero Lieutenant Cochrane is also a member of a landed gentry class and in line for the throne; competent and capable Cochrane is thrust into the unexpected when an attack on a lightship kills his girlfriend along with many of his friends. Taken from his expected duty and assigned to the titular Impulse, the very same ship that was attacked, Cochrane sets off to investigate who that mysterious attacker might have been. Bara tosses a bit of romance into the mix as Cochrane meets the Impulse’s stern and attractive Executive Officer and complicates things further when he later meets an insanely competent and attractive “alien” (isolated human) Princess. There are shades of Asimov’s Foundation as the technology employed by the Unified Space Navy is doled out (on an as needed basis) by enigmatic Historians from Earth. The world building is light and the novel manages to engender both the feel of old-school nautical adventure and old-school science fiction adventure at the same time. This isn’t by any means a perfect read, I often found some of the history hinted at in the novel more interesting than the main thrust of the narrative and the novel leans heavy on the opera in space opera but it is at the least a highly entertaining read. If you’re looking for a novel of high adventure and high emotion than Impulse by Dave Bara might be worth a shot.
June 10, 2015
The story starts out strong, but gets muddled in the middle with too much going on, awkward romances, and frankly stupid decisions on the part of numerous characters. The world building falls apart as well, a true shame given its initial promise. The main character, Peter Cochrane becomes kind of annoying after the thirteenth crisis or so. In every situation, it seems like he's the solution, either because everyone else is suddenly incapable, or because he is, for some reason, the only option. Once or twice, fine, but it just gets to be too over the top. Peter apparently never got the memo detailing the benefits of teamwork. Tack on the fact that every woman he runs across seems to fall immediately in love with him (seriously, a woman, a damn PRINCESS, completely falls for him in less than 24 hours), and the story ends up feeling like a male power fantasy with some spaceships tacked on. I simply cannot recommend it. For a good space hero, smart and bad-ass, try the Paradox trilogy by Rachel Bach.
February 20, 2015
prose did not work out for me; from what I browsed including the last several pages, the novel is a generic mil sf/space opera book so if you like the subgenre it's worth taking a look
-tried again the novel as I was in the mood for some space opera stuff and this time I read it end to end as it moved fast; still not quite at the top of the subgenre but better than on my first try and with enough goodies to keep me interested and even possibly pick up the sequel
- I would say that a little better world building and choice of narrator (the cliche of son of grand admiral saving the universe, or at least the situation here, grated a lot and the naming conventions verged on unfortunate on occasion) would have made the difference for me as the prose turned out to be alert and energetic enough, once I got over those things that annoyed me on first read
-tried again the novel as I was in the mood for some space opera stuff and this time I read it end to end as it moved fast; still not quite at the top of the subgenre but better than on my first try and with enough goodies to keep me interested and even possibly pick up the sequel
- I would say that a little better world building and choice of narrator (the cliche of son of grand admiral saving the universe, or at least the situation here, grated a lot and the naming conventions verged on unfortunate on occasion) would have made the difference for me as the prose turned out to be alert and energetic enough, once I got over those things that annoyed me on first read
February 12, 2015
originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2015...
Impulse came as a total suprise to me, I hadn't heard of Dave Bara before and his writing and didn't saw any annoncements of this book whatsoever. When Del Rey asked me if I would like to review this book I counldn't say no, I am a big fan of space opera science fiction and from the blurb I could make out that it would be choke full of action and spaceships. What more can you wish for? Well this is far from everything that you get in Impulse as Dave Bara does not only make the book drive on action there is a very nice undercurrent of something big that is about to happen. And only one man can save it.
The story of Impulse focuses on the main protagonist young Lieutenant Peter Cochrane. In his military career he was groomed with one goal in mind, serving on the Lightship the HMS Starbound. One day he is called into his father office, Peter's father is a general in the Quantar Navy, his father mentions that one of their Lightships, the HMS Impulse has been attacked and has to be retrieved, however there is worse new as Peter's girlfriend was on board HMS Impulse and is presumed dead. The Quantar Navy cannot loose the HMS Impulse and therefore assemble a rescue mission to retrieve the ship, now Peter's original plans of serving on HMS Starbound are thrown around as he is part of the lead to retrieve HMS Impulse. But as you might imagine, this rescue mission will be far from straightforward. Something is going on board of the HMS Impulse that is hard to put a finger on. Luckily Peter isn't alone in this mission. On a night drinking he already get acquainted with a female officer, one that he hadn't thought to see that soon after. Commander Dobrina Kierkopf and Peter's first introduction is quite an eventful one as after a few drinks they decide to has a fencing sparring match. After this everything mostly take place in outer space and where some might think that it is only empty space, well also here Dave Bara has some nice surprises for you. All this combined makes the story of Impulse very cool to read, as I already mentioned there are a lot of cool things happening but they all follow up on each other so explaining more would only spoil many surprises.
What leaped out of the book was the way that the narration of the story was done. The narration is told from the first person perspective of Peter. In many ways this narration really worked to show the inner thoughts of Peter, how he reacted and perceived the different elements of the world. Such a first person narration always help to bring a much stronger conviction of the protagonist to the front. However I do have a small remark concerning this and perhaps it is due to being a first book in the series and that Dave Bara wants show a lot (and I do welcome this enthusiasm) but it felt in some cases that the narration faltered and felt more of less forced, this could also be due to the Peter himself being torn in so many different ways. This is just a small remark as when the action takes in Impulse, this first person narration offers a front row seat.
As I already said Peter is the main protagonist of Impulse. In building his character Dave Bara doesn't give him an easy role. Peter is a descendant from a noble line and has to live up to this role, you can feel that he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders due to this. This also becomes notable later on in the story when he acts as a emissary/delegation to construct an alliance. He is also haunted by the loss of his girlfriend on HMS Impulse and his obligation to help and save as many people as he can. This makes him a complex character but enjoyable to read, but as I said with he narration sometimes there is a conflict of interests. Next to Peter there are numerous secondary characters that you meet during the story but on stood out for me. Commander Dobrina Kierkopf, she is a smart you women, somewhat German descent. She knows what she wants and doesn't like to say no, one trait that if Peter hadn't intervened might have given disastrous results. What I said with she knows what she wants, comes more to show in the end of the book. There is an interesting twist in the end that I found written very well and you could clearly see the emotion being Dobrina's actions, I am convinced that she wants more from Peter. Eager to see how this will be followed up.
What I like to see in space opera is technology. I read a few of these same genre books and they brought forth very cool technology ideas. And this is precisely what you get in Impulse. Just to name a few, you have: Hoagland Field, Gate travel, displacement waves, lightspeed ofcourse, EVA suits, spaceship fights and much much more. In setting up the world and what makes it tick Dave Bara has hit all the right snares with showing just the right amount of "accessories" to build it, not going over the top with it but keeping a very serious tone, showing that even with a lot of technology you can still be beaten. Because if you think you are good, keep in mind that there might always be someone better than you. Because I didn't mention the Founders and a mythical race known as the Sri. And I also didn't mention nanotechnology. Ok now I do have to stop but just this premise alone is worked out very well.
The same count for the core world building, the idea behind Dave Bara's interstellar world is promising. A war was won or more solved with an alliance and now a group of Historians from Earth are in search for answers of the First Empire. I haven't really spotted the typical alien like horrific creatures, but there are more than just humans present. It feels to me thatwe have just seen the tip of the iceberg or should I say one quarter of a moon of the world that Dave Bara wants to show, the history of the Founders and the other players of this universe must be much more intricate than shown so far. I really like this idea of a high entity taking charge, this will leave for a action packed sequel without a doubt.
With Impulse Dave Bara is of to a good start with The Lightship Chronicles. He has build a very cool universe that is readily available for further exploration. Furthermore, the story is far from a straightforward kind of one as might be implied by the synopsis. Dave Bara creates quite the intricate story combining engaging surroundings and likable and human characters. As I have already said the whole promise with higher and better entities always inspires something grande. I can already see it happening for Starbound!
Impulse came as a total suprise to me, I hadn't heard of Dave Bara before and his writing and didn't saw any annoncements of this book whatsoever. When Del Rey asked me if I would like to review this book I counldn't say no, I am a big fan of space opera science fiction and from the blurb I could make out that it would be choke full of action and spaceships. What more can you wish for? Well this is far from everything that you get in Impulse as Dave Bara does not only make the book drive on action there is a very nice undercurrent of something big that is about to happen. And only one man can save it.
The story of Impulse focuses on the main protagonist young Lieutenant Peter Cochrane. In his military career he was groomed with one goal in mind, serving on the Lightship the HMS Starbound. One day he is called into his father office, Peter's father is a general in the Quantar Navy, his father mentions that one of their Lightships, the HMS Impulse has been attacked and has to be retrieved, however there is worse new as Peter's girlfriend was on board HMS Impulse and is presumed dead. The Quantar Navy cannot loose the HMS Impulse and therefore assemble a rescue mission to retrieve the ship, now Peter's original plans of serving on HMS Starbound are thrown around as he is part of the lead to retrieve HMS Impulse. But as you might imagine, this rescue mission will be far from straightforward. Something is going on board of the HMS Impulse that is hard to put a finger on. Luckily Peter isn't alone in this mission. On a night drinking he already get acquainted with a female officer, one that he hadn't thought to see that soon after. Commander Dobrina Kierkopf and Peter's first introduction is quite an eventful one as after a few drinks they decide to has a fencing sparring match. After this everything mostly take place in outer space and where some might think that it is only empty space, well also here Dave Bara has some nice surprises for you. All this combined makes the story of Impulse very cool to read, as I already mentioned there are a lot of cool things happening but they all follow up on each other so explaining more would only spoil many surprises.
What leaped out of the book was the way that the narration of the story was done. The narration is told from the first person perspective of Peter. In many ways this narration really worked to show the inner thoughts of Peter, how he reacted and perceived the different elements of the world. Such a first person narration always help to bring a much stronger conviction of the protagonist to the front. However I do have a small remark concerning this and perhaps it is due to being a first book in the series and that Dave Bara wants show a lot (and I do welcome this enthusiasm) but it felt in some cases that the narration faltered and felt more of less forced, this could also be due to the Peter himself being torn in so many different ways. This is just a small remark as when the action takes in Impulse, this first person narration offers a front row seat.
As I already said Peter is the main protagonist of Impulse. In building his character Dave Bara doesn't give him an easy role. Peter is a descendant from a noble line and has to live up to this role, you can feel that he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders due to this. This also becomes notable later on in the story when he acts as a emissary/delegation to construct an alliance. He is also haunted by the loss of his girlfriend on HMS Impulse and his obligation to help and save as many people as he can. This makes him a complex character but enjoyable to read, but as I said with he narration sometimes there is a conflict of interests. Next to Peter there are numerous secondary characters that you meet during the story but on stood out for me. Commander Dobrina Kierkopf, she is a smart you women, somewhat German descent. She knows what she wants and doesn't like to say no, one trait that if Peter hadn't intervened might have given disastrous results. What I said with she knows what she wants, comes more to show in the end of the book. There is an interesting twist in the end that I found written very well and you could clearly see the emotion being Dobrina's actions, I am convinced that she wants more from Peter. Eager to see how this will be followed up.
What I like to see in space opera is technology. I read a few of these same genre books and they brought forth very cool technology ideas. And this is precisely what you get in Impulse. Just to name a few, you have: Hoagland Field, Gate travel, displacement waves, lightspeed ofcourse, EVA suits, spaceship fights and much much more. In setting up the world and what makes it tick Dave Bara has hit all the right snares with showing just the right amount of "accessories" to build it, not going over the top with it but keeping a very serious tone, showing that even with a lot of technology you can still be beaten. Because if you think you are good, keep in mind that there might always be someone better than you. Because I didn't mention the Founders and a mythical race known as the Sri. And I also didn't mention nanotechnology. Ok now I do have to stop but just this premise alone is worked out very well.
The same count for the core world building, the idea behind Dave Bara's interstellar world is promising. A war was won or more solved with an alliance and now a group of Historians from Earth are in search for answers of the First Empire. I haven't really spotted the typical alien like horrific creatures, but there are more than just humans present. It feels to me thatwe have just seen the tip of the iceberg or should I say one quarter of a moon of the world that Dave Bara wants to show, the history of the Founders and the other players of this universe must be much more intricate than shown so far. I really like this idea of a high entity taking charge, this will leave for a action packed sequel without a doubt.
With Impulse Dave Bara is of to a good start with The Lightship Chronicles. He has build a very cool universe that is readily available for further exploration. Furthermore, the story is far from a straightforward kind of one as might be implied by the synopsis. Dave Bara creates quite the intricate story combining engaging surroundings and likable and human characters. As I have already said the whole promise with higher and better entities always inspires something grande. I can already see it happening for Starbound!
February 6, 2015
*Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Impulse is the debut sci-fi novel from Dave Bara. It’s protagonist is Peter Cochrane, a ships Lieutenant in a space navy composed of two uneasily allied powers, and a third balancing force, the ‘Librarians’ of Earth. In a nutshell, it’s got a lot of high adventure, the odd firefight, some tense space battles, and some really clever ideas.
The background to all the conflict is rather interesting; after a disastrous interstellar civil war, two of the surviving factions have come together in a rather strained compact of alliance, and with the assistance of “The Librarians”, a mysterious group from Earth, have set about rediscovering the remains of the Empire that birthed them, with a combination of peace, enlightenment, and superior firepower.
The surviving factions are politically interesting; in one case, seemingly drifting from a more democratic set of institutions toward a monarchy. The whole system has a vibe of The Mote in Gods Eye about it, and that isn’t a bad thing. The third faction, the Historians, is another wrinkle for the reader’s attention – serving their own purposes, they advise the crews of the ‘Lightships’, ships which they provided to the growing Alliance, and whose full capabilities only they control. The ideals and agendas of the Librarians are gradually made clearer over the course of the text, and they’re interestingly presented – if not given the space and explanations I would have liked. Hopefully that will change in future books!
The descriptions of the ships, and the space battles themselves are well done; the crew feel a bit like submariners, their actions remotely detached from the gross impacts of their actions – again, not a bad thing. We don’t get quite the intricacies of something like Honor Harrington, but it makes for a suspenseful read, and kept my attention admirably.
The plot is certainly fast paced, leaping from crisis to crisis, not really giving the reader a chance to pause for breath. This is a shame, in a way, because whilst the text presents a lot of difficult situations, it doesn’t really seem to give each the depth and attention it desires, so focused is the plot on showing the reader their next cool thing (and attendant crisis). I’d have been happier to have taken half the situations in the text, explored those more deeply, and presented the remaining plot threads in another book entirely. Still, I certainly can’t complain that nothing happens.
The characters are a bit problematic. On the one hand, the protagonist is carrying around guilt, pressure to live up to a sibling, and a few other flaws – on the other, these don’t really present themselves in the narrative as well as they might; the reader is given a view into these motivations, but they don’t seem to help drive actions. On the other, the supporting cast suffer from being driven by the plot – in some instances, the emotions they feel seem to be forced, in service to the narrative rather than growing organically within it; the romance threads in particular are interesting in the plethora of character paths they leave open, but the rapidity of their growth is startling. There’s also the occasional problem of characters being forced to be idiots for purposes of the plot, and the emotions and logic of the supporting characters, in particular, seem to turn on their head at the convenience of the plot. It’s a shame, because the actual characters are quite interesting – they just need more time to develop, more space given to them, and some structure given to their actions, to make the characters and the plot act in symbiosis.
Overall then, this is a solid debut, and a good start to a series. The seams creak a bit, especially around the characters, and in the multiplicity of plotlines, but there are some interesting ideas, and a broad and fascinating universe available to counterbalance this; right now, this is a decent read – I’m hopeful that as further books become available, they’ll pare down the amount of plot, and give the characters more room to breathe. That said, right now, it makes for a perfectly good popcorn read – it just has potential to develop into a lot more, and it would be good to see that potential realised.
Impulse is the debut sci-fi novel from Dave Bara. It’s protagonist is Peter Cochrane, a ships Lieutenant in a space navy composed of two uneasily allied powers, and a third balancing force, the ‘Librarians’ of Earth. In a nutshell, it’s got a lot of high adventure, the odd firefight, some tense space battles, and some really clever ideas.
The background to all the conflict is rather interesting; after a disastrous interstellar civil war, two of the surviving factions have come together in a rather strained compact of alliance, and with the assistance of “The Librarians”, a mysterious group from Earth, have set about rediscovering the remains of the Empire that birthed them, with a combination of peace, enlightenment, and superior firepower.
The surviving factions are politically interesting; in one case, seemingly drifting from a more democratic set of institutions toward a monarchy. The whole system has a vibe of The Mote in Gods Eye about it, and that isn’t a bad thing. The third faction, the Historians, is another wrinkle for the reader’s attention – serving their own purposes, they advise the crews of the ‘Lightships’, ships which they provided to the growing Alliance, and whose full capabilities only they control. The ideals and agendas of the Librarians are gradually made clearer over the course of the text, and they’re interestingly presented – if not given the space and explanations I would have liked. Hopefully that will change in future books!
The descriptions of the ships, and the space battles themselves are well done; the crew feel a bit like submariners, their actions remotely detached from the gross impacts of their actions – again, not a bad thing. We don’t get quite the intricacies of something like Honor Harrington, but it makes for a suspenseful read, and kept my attention admirably.
The plot is certainly fast paced, leaping from crisis to crisis, not really giving the reader a chance to pause for breath. This is a shame, in a way, because whilst the text presents a lot of difficult situations, it doesn’t really seem to give each the depth and attention it desires, so focused is the plot on showing the reader their next cool thing (and attendant crisis). I’d have been happier to have taken half the situations in the text, explored those more deeply, and presented the remaining plot threads in another book entirely. Still, I certainly can’t complain that nothing happens.
The characters are a bit problematic. On the one hand, the protagonist is carrying around guilt, pressure to live up to a sibling, and a few other flaws – on the other, these don’t really present themselves in the narrative as well as they might; the reader is given a view into these motivations, but they don’t seem to help drive actions. On the other, the supporting cast suffer from being driven by the plot – in some instances, the emotions they feel seem to be forced, in service to the narrative rather than growing organically within it; the romance threads in particular are interesting in the plethora of character paths they leave open, but the rapidity of their growth is startling. There’s also the occasional problem of characters being forced to be idiots for purposes of the plot, and the emotions and logic of the supporting characters, in particular, seem to turn on their head at the convenience of the plot. It’s a shame, because the actual characters are quite interesting – they just need more time to develop, more space given to them, and some structure given to their actions, to make the characters and the plot act in symbiosis.
Overall then, this is a solid debut, and a good start to a series. The seams creak a bit, especially around the characters, and in the multiplicity of plotlines, but there are some interesting ideas, and a broad and fascinating universe available to counterbalance this; right now, this is a decent read – I’m hopeful that as further books become available, they’ll pare down the amount of plot, and give the characters more room to breathe. That said, right now, it makes for a perfectly good popcorn read – it just has potential to develop into a lot more, and it would be good to see that potential realised.
April 14, 2016
***SPOILERS***
The Good:
Well written. It was actually quite refreshing not to have an adjective before every verb that means “said” but isn’t. When I came across that first conversation in the novel, I had to sit back and take it in. His writing style is refreshing.
The Bad.
The main characters and supporting characters are completely one dimensional. You have the main character, let’s refer to him as Wesley (for ease of explanation really) who is absolutely the best at everything. He can best the world champion fencing player. He wins every game he plays with his friends, even the smartest supporting character, Serosian. Wesley’s the guy that could played soccer professionally, but instead decided to follow his dead brother’s footsteps into the military, because well, of course he’s honorable. He’s the guy that literally every woman in the novel wants to be wooed by and he’s the character who’s worst commendation in file is when he disobeyed orders and saved a captain from dying. Because he’s just that damn good. Besides Wesley, there’s the woman commander-turned-captain who has to prove herself – and, of course she’s in love with Wesley. There’s the mysterious other-worlder, Serosian, who just happens to have taken Wesley under his wing. And then there’s Wesley’s friends that he met in military school. You know the ones, that big drunkard and that other not so big drunkard? They’re both older than Wesley because even though Wesley joined the military late, he completed the same schooling in less time. His friends literally think Wesley is so great that they explain to him that they’re going to follow him wherever he goes in his career.
The plot is at best predictable and at worst outright confusing. Who would have known that the woman that Wesley nicked in the butt while fencing would be his commander? Can you say drama? Who would have guessed that his royal background would help him later? And then get him engaged to the woman that NO ONE would have guessed was the woman calling the shots in the military and then the mysterious woman in the cape bringing tea to his room in the middle of the night? Who would have guessed that Wesley would offer up the one important fact when trying to dissolve a force field or the one option for saving an entire race of 30 million people? Welp. If you didn’t, I’m kinda stunned. But it’s the fact that Wesley is out on these missions at all. Why would he be sent as he is, at many times, the only person capable of manning his station?
The worst.
It takes me a while to get annoyed with masculinity run amok and sexism in general, but every time the author describes women, it’s about how they look physically, how they’re either beautiful or “not a natural beauty” or what their bodies look like. Every.time. OF COURSE the female commander-turned-captain in like 5’7’’ because we have to have the moments when she’s standing up to Serosian who’s towering over her. Of course the Princess that he might marry in five years is an absolute beauty – and of course she’ll wait for him for five years because she just met him this past week and when he talks about how he might want to help women’s issues in her country...of course she can’t help herself. Of course the two women get catty and they’re both jealous of each other. Because Princess of an entire world doesn’t have anything better to do or, for that matter, a commander-turned-captain. Never matter that they are in the middle of some life-threatening stuff here.
Overall:
The author is a skilled writer. The wording drew me in even when the characters and plot didn’t. But, then I dissect literature and can really enjoy writing styles. I just wish that he would have written something worthy of his skill. This book – these characters lacked everything. Nuance, dimension, subtlety. Overall, the novel lacked everything beyond a great writing style. If you’ve watched Star Trek, it’s very much like reading a novel with Wesley Crusher as the main character. By the end, you wish he’d died.
The Good:
Well written. It was actually quite refreshing not to have an adjective before every verb that means “said” but isn’t. When I came across that first conversation in the novel, I had to sit back and take it in. His writing style is refreshing.
The Bad.
The main characters and supporting characters are completely one dimensional. You have the main character, let’s refer to him as Wesley (for ease of explanation really) who is absolutely the best at everything. He can best the world champion fencing player. He wins every game he plays with his friends, even the smartest supporting character, Serosian. Wesley’s the guy that could played soccer professionally, but instead decided to follow his dead brother’s footsteps into the military, because well, of course he’s honorable. He’s the guy that literally every woman in the novel wants to be wooed by and he’s the character who’s worst commendation in file is when he disobeyed orders and saved a captain from dying. Because he’s just that damn good. Besides Wesley, there’s the woman commander-turned-captain who has to prove herself – and, of course she’s in love with Wesley. There’s the mysterious other-worlder, Serosian, who just happens to have taken Wesley under his wing. And then there’s Wesley’s friends that he met in military school. You know the ones, that big drunkard and that other not so big drunkard? They’re both older than Wesley because even though Wesley joined the military late, he completed the same schooling in less time. His friends literally think Wesley is so great that they explain to him that they’re going to follow him wherever he goes in his career.
The plot is at best predictable and at worst outright confusing. Who would have known that the woman that Wesley nicked in the butt while fencing would be his commander? Can you say drama? Who would have guessed that his royal background would help him later? And then get him engaged to the woman that NO ONE would have guessed was the woman calling the shots in the military and then the mysterious woman in the cape bringing tea to his room in the middle of the night? Who would have guessed that Wesley would offer up the one important fact when trying to dissolve a force field or the one option for saving an entire race of 30 million people? Welp. If you didn’t, I’m kinda stunned. But it’s the fact that Wesley is out on these missions at all. Why would he be sent as he is, at many times, the only person capable of manning his station?
The worst.
It takes me a while to get annoyed with masculinity run amok and sexism in general, but every time the author describes women, it’s about how they look physically, how they’re either beautiful or “not a natural beauty” or what their bodies look like. Every.time. OF COURSE the female commander-turned-captain in like 5’7’’ because we have to have the moments when she’s standing up to Serosian who’s towering over her. Of course the Princess that he might marry in five years is an absolute beauty – and of course she’ll wait for him for five years because she just met him this past week and when he talks about how he might want to help women’s issues in her country...of course she can’t help herself. Of course the two women get catty and they’re both jealous of each other. Because Princess of an entire world doesn’t have anything better to do or, for that matter, a commander-turned-captain. Never matter that they are in the middle of some life-threatening stuff here.
Overall:
The author is a skilled writer. The wording drew me in even when the characters and plot didn’t. But, then I dissect literature and can really enjoy writing styles. I just wish that he would have written something worthy of his skill. This book – these characters lacked everything. Nuance, dimension, subtlety. Overall, the novel lacked everything beyond a great writing style. If you’ve watched Star Trek, it’s very much like reading a novel with Wesley Crusher as the main character. By the end, you wish he’d died.
March 5, 2015
The description of this book as "Dave Bara's debut book" is false. This author gave us Speedwing in 2012 -- an embodiment of every American adolescent male's fantasies. Possibly Bara prefers to forget that one, since the reviews were not so good.
The present title likewise has a hero who will appeal to adolescents. There are elements of the classic Joseph Campbell "Hero's Journey" here. The young man thrust too early into a position of responsibility; how his saga threatens him and changes him -- and, of course, how he triumphs in the end.
The problem with Dave Bara as a SciFi writer is that he knows next to nothing about science. Somebody who thinks geosynchronous orbit is 300 miles up, or who imagines space stations of the future as having wooden doors, really ought to restrict his public activity to making Youtube videos of his pet cats.
The present title likewise has a hero who will appeal to adolescents. There are elements of the classic Joseph Campbell "Hero's Journey" here. The young man thrust too early into a position of responsibility; how his saga threatens him and changes him -- and, of course, how he triumphs in the end.
The problem with Dave Bara as a SciFi writer is that he knows next to nothing about science. Somebody who thinks geosynchronous orbit is 300 miles up, or who imagines space stations of the future as having wooden doors, really ought to restrict his public activity to making Youtube videos of his pet cats.
May 14, 2015
This book is terrible. The main character is the most Marty Stu sexist nonsense I've seen in a while. I'm just waiting for him to "M'lady" someone. It's not even good hard SciFi. There's nothing technical about this book. Just your typical predictable storyline, meh world building and 2D characters. Don't waste your time. This is the SciFi book containing all the tropes everyone makes fun of, but it's no parody.
December 12, 2017
I understand this is a first book, but it is bad. The military in the book's universe makes no sense, subordinates routinely question orders, the main character has apperently never served on an actual space vessel but is nonetheless promoted to Lt. Commander and posted to a starship as 3rd officer with secret orders from the head of the navy to mutiny if necessary.
April 7, 2018
Wow. Just… wow.
And NOT in a good way.
I now stare at a wall, having finished the chore that was reading this 376 page book. Wondering just how many times I put it down rolling my eyes or disgusted at the depiction of the military, the cheesy aristocracy scenes or the oh-so predictable last resort plans that always succeed.
Science fiction is a splendid vehicle to push modern concepts to their limits and explore where they might lead us. The only overarching concept I could find in this book is religion is good, and science without restraint is evil. It has the subtlety of a baseball swing to the reader’s face, and the nuance of a bully. Worse yet, it is there, but never really expanded upon as the story is far more focused on the main character, a freshly graduated, privileged as hell (of course he’s the only surviving son of his planet’s monarchy) boy who’s just better than everyone else at everything.
The guy’s obnoxious to boot, learning a lot of people have lost comrades in an event, all he can think about sums up as “they may have lost crewmates, but I lost my first love” and then a few pages later goes on to kiss every possible woman he can find. I don’t mind flaws in characters, but no one’s bothered by his flaws, everyone is just in love with the man. Other men of the military swear their lives to him on a dime and almost every woman he meets ends up falling for him (even someone who was his deceased brother’s lover). Every subordinate likes him, but at one point a marine is trying to do his job (simply grabbing someone who’s floating around, never mind the marine should logically have a lot more zero-g training than the vessel officer) and he snaps at the man to get out of the way before doing it better than the marine. That’s one of the shortest path to losing your men’s respect, but again, no effect on the meter-thick plot armor surrounding that guy.
Now, there would have been next to no story if the aforementioned stupid decision hadn’t existed. But that’s not to say it’s the only thing which had me doing a facepalm therapy as I read this book. At a point early on, a senior commanding officer delivers a heated speech that making fact-based decisions isn’t the navy way, and that captains must use emotion and intuition to guide their military decisions … Sun Tzu would have been slapping his thighs in laughter from here on to next year hearing that.
Now, I haven’t counted, but it happened enough times that I started growing weary of it. The MC does something and thinks I’ve got no idea if this is going to work, but let’s try…and it always does. At one point, there’s a rigged console, and instead of waiting for the expert to come around, he starts to fiddlef*** with it because, and I quote: “I’m tired of waiting”. Why?? There was no emergency, nothing that amounted to an immediate threat. Of course this triggers a stupidity induced near drama as an ominous countdown starts, but then the hero solves it without breaking a sweat.
Then there’s the depiction of women. From a pat on the bottom of a serving girl (which not only doesn’t provoke any kind of reaction from anyone and a smile from the serving girl?) to a supposedly proud woman fighting for equal rights on her world who then comes and offers herself like a slave to a man she barely met, a superior officer who looked formidable at first then gets relegated to the back seat (while of course falling for the hero). Behaviors of all kind can be represented in a book, but when it’s all tilting the same way, it’s annoying.
Passages like: I was surprised by the statement, and I had no idea what he meant by it. “What’s a Founder Relic?” don't help at all. Thank you very much for telling me the character is surprised instead of having him react, and then repeating it by having him say out loud what he just thought…
There are just so many gaps of logic and unlikely situation: going on a 2.5 hours hike without comms while an enemy ship is prowling around, crap calls like “your next promotion depends on it” when people are in a life or death situation, long-winded exposition speech in tense moments where comms could be lost at any time, ship to ship combat always a string of “we hope that…” instead of anything relying on training, or practice, etc. One moment, recovery of something is so critical, a planet may burn over it, in the next command is going to get over losing it… A guy’s on a first contact mission and he thinks ineptitudes like: “it almost brought me to tears, even if I didn’t recognize the tune.” Why would you recognize the tune, this is a foreign world!
So, for stupidity driven plot dumber than anything I’ve ever seen, no real thought or philosophical questions explored coupled with incredible gaps of logic. Oh, and finally, let us not forget an MC who’s God in disguise because he knows next to everything, does everything better than anyone and when he doesn’t know, what he does manages to work every. Single. Time. I rate this colossal waste of time a single star.
Cons: Everything?
Pros: None. Aucun. Ninguno. The only reason I finished this book was because I’d paid for it and it was supposed to be short.
And NOT in a good way.
I now stare at a wall, having finished the chore that was reading this 376 page book. Wondering just how many times I put it down rolling my eyes or disgusted at the depiction of the military, the cheesy aristocracy scenes or the oh-so predictable last resort plans that always succeed.
Science fiction is a splendid vehicle to push modern concepts to their limits and explore where they might lead us. The only overarching concept I could find in this book is religion is good, and science without restraint is evil. It has the subtlety of a baseball swing to the reader’s face, and the nuance of a bully. Worse yet, it is there, but never really expanded upon as the story is far more focused on the main character, a freshly graduated, privileged as hell (of course he’s the only surviving son of his planet’s monarchy) boy who’s just better than everyone else at everything.
The guy’s obnoxious to boot, learning a lot of people have lost comrades in an event, all he can think about sums up as “they may have lost crewmates, but I lost my first love” and then a few pages later goes on to kiss every possible woman he can find. I don’t mind flaws in characters, but no one’s bothered by his flaws, everyone is just in love with the man. Other men of the military swear their lives to him on a dime and almost every woman he meets ends up falling for him (even someone who was his deceased brother’s lover). Every subordinate likes him, but at one point a marine is trying to do his job (simply grabbing someone who’s floating around, never mind the marine should logically have a lot more zero-g training than the vessel officer) and he snaps at the man to get out of the way before doing it better than the marine. That’s one of the shortest path to losing your men’s respect, but again, no effect on the meter-thick plot armor surrounding that guy.
Now, there would have been next to no story if the aforementioned stupid decision hadn’t existed. But that’s not to say it’s the only thing which had me doing a facepalm therapy as I read this book. At a point early on, a senior commanding officer delivers a heated speech that making fact-based decisions isn’t the navy way, and that captains must use emotion and intuition to guide their military decisions … Sun Tzu would have been slapping his thighs in laughter from here on to next year hearing that.
Now, I haven’t counted, but it happened enough times that I started growing weary of it. The MC does something and thinks I’ve got no idea if this is going to work, but let’s try…and it always does. At one point, there’s a rigged console, and instead of waiting for the expert to come around, he starts to fiddlef*** with it because, and I quote: “I’m tired of waiting”. Why?? There was no emergency, nothing that amounted to an immediate threat. Of course this triggers a stupidity induced near drama as an ominous countdown starts, but then the hero solves it without breaking a sweat.
Then there’s the depiction of women. From a pat on the bottom of a serving girl (which not only doesn’t provoke any kind of reaction from anyone and a smile from the serving girl?) to a supposedly proud woman fighting for equal rights on her world who then comes and offers herself like a slave to a man she barely met, a superior officer who looked formidable at first then gets relegated to the back seat (while of course falling for the hero). Behaviors of all kind can be represented in a book, but when it’s all tilting the same way, it’s annoying.
Passages like: I was surprised by the statement, and I had no idea what he meant by it. “What’s a Founder Relic?” don't help at all. Thank you very much for telling me the character is surprised instead of having him react, and then repeating it by having him say out loud what he just thought…
There are just so many gaps of logic and unlikely situation: going on a 2.5 hours hike without comms while an enemy ship is prowling around, crap calls like “your next promotion depends on it” when people are in a life or death situation, long-winded exposition speech in tense moments where comms could be lost at any time, ship to ship combat always a string of “we hope that…” instead of anything relying on training, or practice, etc. One moment, recovery of something is so critical, a planet may burn over it, in the next command is going to get over losing it… A guy’s on a first contact mission and he thinks ineptitudes like: “it almost brought me to tears, even if I didn’t recognize the tune.” Why would you recognize the tune, this is a foreign world!
So, for stupidity driven plot dumber than anything I’ve ever seen, no real thought or philosophical questions explored coupled with incredible gaps of logic. Oh, and finally, let us not forget an MC who’s God in disguise because he knows next to everything, does everything better than anyone and when he doesn’t know, what he does manages to work every. Single. Time. I rate this colossal waste of time a single star.
Cons: Everything?
Pros: None. Aucun. Ninguno. The only reason I finished this book was because I’d paid for it and it was supposed to be short.
September 19, 2022
I didn’t enjoy this one. I kept wait for it to get better…it never did.
April 9, 2015
Bookworm Speaks!
Impulse: The Lightship Chronicles Book One
by Dave Bara
***
*Warning!-This review may contain slight spoilers!*
The Story: Lieutenant Peter Cochrane of the Quantar Royal Navy believes he has his future clearly mapped out. It begins with his new assignment as an officer on Her Majesty’s Spaceship Starbound, a Lightship bound for deep space voyages of exploration.
But everything changes when Peter is summoned to the office of his father, Grand Admiral Nathan Cochrane, and given devastating news: the death of a loved one. In a distant solar system, a mysterious and unprovoked attack upon Lightship Impulse resulted in the deaths of Peter’s former girlfriend and many of her shipmates.
Now Peter's plans are torn asunder as he is transferred to a Unified Space Navy ship under foreign command, en route to an unexpected destination, and surrounded almost entirely by strangers. To top it off, his superiors have given him secret orders that might force him to become a mutineer.
The crisis at hand becomes a gateway to something much more when the ship’s Historian leads Peter and his shipmates into a galaxy of the unknown -- of ancient technologies, age-old rivalries, new cultures, and unexpected romance. It’s an overwhelming responsibility for Peter, and one false step could plunge humanity into an apocalyptic interstellar war….
The Good: It is military science fiction space opera that follow’s in the footsteps of Honor Harrington. Peter Cochrane is a well written character that reads very realistically. The way he acts as the second son of a noble family seems authentic. The young buck on the important mission who gets in over his head is not a unique story but then again some would say there is no such thing as a truly original story. Anyway, he already knows his way around diplomacy but is still trying to find is way in a universe that has gotten much bigger.
The relationship he has with his father is well-done. Being both a noble and military commander there is some understandable distance between him and his son but it is clear that they care deeply for one another and the death of their loved one has greatly affected them.
The author’s creativity is best exemplified by the sheer amount of back story that the reader is introduced to. We learn about a vast galaxy made up of a variety of aligned and non-aligned factions such as the Quantar and the powerful humans from Earth. There is a rich history to be had here and its makes the reader eager to explore more. The fact that the ship the main character travels on in so luxurious is a unique wrinkle on space opera.
While, almost predictably, there is a bit of a romantic angle between Peter and Domina, another character. The two flirt to a significant degree as there is a great deal of tension between them in the last third of the book. Minor spoilers but the two do not jump into bed at the end of book which really works in the books favor as it sets things up for the sequel.
The Flaws: Unfortunately, there is a great deal that is flawed with this book and the majority of them are very glaring problems.
The author creates a very interesting world but it leaves out a great amount of worldly constructs. In the last third they crew of the ship visits a long lost colony of humanity but aside from knowing that the world is ruled by a monarchy we don’t see anything of what the world is like. Reciting a history of a government is all well and good but that is not what is needed to immerse oneself in a world. We need to see what Earth cultures the architecture emulates. What kind of paintings are hanging on the wall? What is the food like? (very important!) What kind of clothes do they wear? What does the planet smell like? All of this and more helps build the atmosphere of the world and makes it feel more real. This planet did not feel real
Something tells the worm that the author is a student of history and his enthusiasm for said topic bleeds to much into the text. A purpose of a novel is to tell a story with characters not recite a history of a universe not matter how interesting it may be.
This is obviously a military science fiction, but that kind of story requires research and that fell flat in regards to the military aspect. It is never made clear exactly how it all functions. The ranking system seems nebulous and the way they act does not really seem like that of military vessel. More like a band of professional explorers, which would be pretty cool.
What this book lacked ultimately was refinement. The author has a lot of good ideas but the execution was lacking in a significant manner. The backstories are fascinating but what drives a story are characters and plot which were not well handled in this tome.
Final Verdict: While Bookworm may indeed purchase the sequel, he sincerely hopes that the author will have refined his craft and the make the book much more enjoyable. It has a lot of potential.
Three out of Five Stars
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
Impulse: The Lightship Chronicles Book One
by Dave Bara
***
*Warning!-This review may contain slight spoilers!*
The Story: Lieutenant Peter Cochrane of the Quantar Royal Navy believes he has his future clearly mapped out. It begins with his new assignment as an officer on Her Majesty’s Spaceship Starbound, a Lightship bound for deep space voyages of exploration.
But everything changes when Peter is summoned to the office of his father, Grand Admiral Nathan Cochrane, and given devastating news: the death of a loved one. In a distant solar system, a mysterious and unprovoked attack upon Lightship Impulse resulted in the deaths of Peter’s former girlfriend and many of her shipmates.
Now Peter's plans are torn asunder as he is transferred to a Unified Space Navy ship under foreign command, en route to an unexpected destination, and surrounded almost entirely by strangers. To top it off, his superiors have given him secret orders that might force him to become a mutineer.
The crisis at hand becomes a gateway to something much more when the ship’s Historian leads Peter and his shipmates into a galaxy of the unknown -- of ancient technologies, age-old rivalries, new cultures, and unexpected romance. It’s an overwhelming responsibility for Peter, and one false step could plunge humanity into an apocalyptic interstellar war….
The Good: It is military science fiction space opera that follow’s in the footsteps of Honor Harrington. Peter Cochrane is a well written character that reads very realistically. The way he acts as the second son of a noble family seems authentic. The young buck on the important mission who gets in over his head is not a unique story but then again some would say there is no such thing as a truly original story. Anyway, he already knows his way around diplomacy but is still trying to find is way in a universe that has gotten much bigger.
The relationship he has with his father is well-done. Being both a noble and military commander there is some understandable distance between him and his son but it is clear that they care deeply for one another and the death of their loved one has greatly affected them.
The author’s creativity is best exemplified by the sheer amount of back story that the reader is introduced to. We learn about a vast galaxy made up of a variety of aligned and non-aligned factions such as the Quantar and the powerful humans from Earth. There is a rich history to be had here and its makes the reader eager to explore more. The fact that the ship the main character travels on in so luxurious is a unique wrinkle on space opera.
While, almost predictably, there is a bit of a romantic angle between Peter and Domina, another character. The two flirt to a significant degree as there is a great deal of tension between them in the last third of the book. Minor spoilers but the two do not jump into bed at the end of book which really works in the books favor as it sets things up for the sequel.
The Flaws: Unfortunately, there is a great deal that is flawed with this book and the majority of them are very glaring problems.
The author creates a very interesting world but it leaves out a great amount of worldly constructs. In the last third they crew of the ship visits a long lost colony of humanity but aside from knowing that the world is ruled by a monarchy we don’t see anything of what the world is like. Reciting a history of a government is all well and good but that is not what is needed to immerse oneself in a world. We need to see what Earth cultures the architecture emulates. What kind of paintings are hanging on the wall? What is the food like? (very important!) What kind of clothes do they wear? What does the planet smell like? All of this and more helps build the atmosphere of the world and makes it feel more real. This planet did not feel real
Something tells the worm that the author is a student of history and his enthusiasm for said topic bleeds to much into the text. A purpose of a novel is to tell a story with characters not recite a history of a universe not matter how interesting it may be.
This is obviously a military science fiction, but that kind of story requires research and that fell flat in regards to the military aspect. It is never made clear exactly how it all functions. The ranking system seems nebulous and the way they act does not really seem like that of military vessel. More like a band of professional explorers, which would be pretty cool.
What this book lacked ultimately was refinement. The author has a lot of good ideas but the execution was lacking in a significant manner. The backstories are fascinating but what drives a story are characters and plot which were not well handled in this tome.
Final Verdict: While Bookworm may indeed purchase the sequel, he sincerely hopes that the author will have refined his craft and the make the book much more enjoyable. It has a lot of potential.
Three out of Five Stars
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2015
This is a debut novel and I always try to read new authors. I know how difficult it is to break onto the shelves. Also, it fits right in with my resolution to read authors I've never read before this year. This is a military sci-fi novel, so a little outside of my usual reading preferences. (I'm mostly into fantasy, although I do delve into sci-fi and mystery occasionally.)
The premise: Peter Cochrane has just graduated and expects to take on his role as an officer in the military on the spaceship Starbound, but receives the shocking news that someone has attacked the ship Impulse, killing his friend and one-time girlfriend. He's been reassigned to the Impulse, which after repairs is headed back to the system to find out exactly what happened and if it's a sign of the reemergence of the old Imperial enemy. But Peter will have to deal with the vengeful captain of the Impulse while trying to discover the truth--is it Imperials . . . or is the enemy much closer to home?
I enjoyed the book. The military aspects feel genuine, although pushing a little bit into the "Star Trek" realm with some of the action. Peter steps outside the bounds for a few scenes and the punishment he receives is perhaps a little light considering what would have happened in a real military setting, although at least he did receive some type of punishment for disobeying orders, etc. The science fiction elements--the lightships, the weapons and technology, even the political setting and history--are all believable, with limitations that are reasonable while still allowing for that feeling of future realism. It's not as smoothly thought out (or perhaps not as smoothly explained) as something like Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet setting, but all of the SF elements are there and they aren't stretching your suspension of disbelief. It's easy to settle yourself into this universe and to follow along with the action.
My issues with the book were twofold: one with character and the other with plot. First, the character. This is likely just a personal preference of my own, but I had a hard time connecting to the character. Peter felt a little too arrogant and a little too perfect for my taste. Now, he's supposed to be somewhat arrogant. I'm not saying that he wasn't a fully realized character--he's supposed to be young and cocky and make snap decisions that make no sense at the time--but in the end, for me, he just wasn't all that likeable. It's hard to root for a character you don't particularly like. Others may not have this issue with the character, though. He is fully realized, after all.
Second, the plot. While the plot is fine overall, I felt that it was a little loose, with sequences sort of happening at random. The main plot is to find out what happened to the Impulse the first time it entered this system in order to strike up negotiations with the native planet's population. Pretty straightforward. But then it sidetracks into a bunch of other subplots or tangents, like setting aside the search for a significant amount of time while Peter plays royal to get the planet's leaders to agree to an alliance or the diversion to search for the Relic in the asteroid. Both of these side plots (among others) really gave me the feeling of a "Star Trek" episode and diluted the much more interesting plot of what the hell is going on with the Impulse and the original attack. Now, this is blatantly billed as book one of a series, so there's no promise of a resolution to the main plot in this book (and there isn't a hardcore resolution provided here), but that doesn't help with the feeling that these other plots are distractions from the main point of interest. While reading them, I wanted to get back to the main point.
So, if not for the distracting plot elements, I would have rated this at 4 stars. And if I'd connected to the character a little bit more, it might have gotten 5. As I said, SF isn't my normal reading preference, so perhaps the military SF readers out there will find the character perfect (although I still think they'll have issues with the distractions in the plot). I'm still interested enough to read the second book when it comes out, with some hopes that the plot settles down and becomes less distracting, and that the main character matures a little bit as well.
The premise: Peter Cochrane has just graduated and expects to take on his role as an officer in the military on the spaceship Starbound, but receives the shocking news that someone has attacked the ship Impulse, killing his friend and one-time girlfriend. He's been reassigned to the Impulse, which after repairs is headed back to the system to find out exactly what happened and if it's a sign of the reemergence of the old Imperial enemy. But Peter will have to deal with the vengeful captain of the Impulse while trying to discover the truth--is it Imperials . . . or is the enemy much closer to home?
I enjoyed the book. The military aspects feel genuine, although pushing a little bit into the "Star Trek" realm with some of the action. Peter steps outside the bounds for a few scenes and the punishment he receives is perhaps a little light considering what would have happened in a real military setting, although at least he did receive some type of punishment for disobeying orders, etc. The science fiction elements--the lightships, the weapons and technology, even the political setting and history--are all believable, with limitations that are reasonable while still allowing for that feeling of future realism. It's not as smoothly thought out (or perhaps not as smoothly explained) as something like Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet setting, but all of the SF elements are there and they aren't stretching your suspension of disbelief. It's easy to settle yourself into this universe and to follow along with the action.
My issues with the book were twofold: one with character and the other with plot. First, the character. This is likely just a personal preference of my own, but I had a hard time connecting to the character. Peter felt a little too arrogant and a little too perfect for my taste. Now, he's supposed to be somewhat arrogant. I'm not saying that he wasn't a fully realized character--he's supposed to be young and cocky and make snap decisions that make no sense at the time--but in the end, for me, he just wasn't all that likeable. It's hard to root for a character you don't particularly like. Others may not have this issue with the character, though. He is fully realized, after all.
Second, the plot. While the plot is fine overall, I felt that it was a little loose, with sequences sort of happening at random. The main plot is to find out what happened to the Impulse the first time it entered this system in order to strike up negotiations with the native planet's population. Pretty straightforward. But then it sidetracks into a bunch of other subplots or tangents, like setting aside the search for a significant amount of time while Peter plays royal to get the planet's leaders to agree to an alliance or the diversion to search for the Relic in the asteroid. Both of these side plots (among others) really gave me the feeling of a "Star Trek" episode and diluted the much more interesting plot of what the hell is going on with the Impulse and the original attack. Now, this is blatantly billed as book one of a series, so there's no promise of a resolution to the main plot in this book (and there isn't a hardcore resolution provided here), but that doesn't help with the feeling that these other plots are distractions from the main point of interest. While reading them, I wanted to get back to the main point.
So, if not for the distracting plot elements, I would have rated this at 4 stars. And if I'd connected to the character a little bit more, it might have gotten 5. As I said, SF isn't my normal reading preference, so perhaps the military SF readers out there will find the character perfect (although I still think they'll have issues with the distractions in the plot). I'm still interested enough to read the second book when it comes out, with some hopes that the plot settles down and becomes less distracting, and that the main character matures a little bit as well.
April 30, 2015
In space, no one can hear you squirm and this is no bad thing if you happen to be Lt. Peter Cochrane, newly out of the Navy Academy he is put straight on the front line and is prone to as many mistakes as he is heroics. Cochrane has no choice, the son of an Admiral; he is deemed the best choice to seek out an ancient enemy that has destroyed a starship full of Navy Officers. When you are only one of a few Officers left standing, you do what you can; even if this does involve blowing stuff up and falling in love.
On initial inspection ‘Impulse’ by Dave Bara looks like it will be a piece of solid military science fiction that takes an almost realistic approach as to how the armed forces would function in space. However, this is soon blown out of the water when we are introduced to Peter Cochrane himself, a sort of pseudo-Kirk who does not know the effect he has on women. It would appear that this book is not about military might at all, but adventure, explosions and relationships.
This combination is a little worrisome as it speaks of a light headed and flighty novel that would not be worth anyone’s time, but thankfully Bara is able to handle the story with aplomb. At times the book may be silly, but at least it is well written and has some great action set pieces. Many of these happen in space and writing exciting action in a vacuum is not easy – things tend to feel ponderous. This is not the case here as Bara has Cochrane flying around the place at breakneck speeds, on occasion literally just managing to avoid breaking his neck.
The tone of the novel rests on its lead character. Cochrane is a little too young, inexperienced and impatient to be a great officer, but that is the point. Bara creates a believable backstory as to how Cochrane has found himself in such a powerful position at such a young age (he is essentially a Prince); this allows the author to explore how someone learns on the job. There are times where it gets silly – one point Cochrane can’t even wait 30 minutes so goes ahead and jeopardises the entire crew. This sort of action would not be acceptable in any military situation; if you are ordered to wait, you wait.
Whilst the action is full on, there is more to the book. The personal side of Cochrane’s life also plays a role. He is charismatic and driven; this makes him an attractive character to read about, but also an attractive proportion for the women in the book. The relationships in ‘Impulse’ seem quaint and can get in the way of the story. At times, Cochrane feels very much like a young Captain Kirk, but a James T who is not yet aware of his charisma. All this does is ramp up the campiness of the novel; moving it way from military sci-fi into the world of pulp.
Despite some clunky relationships ‘Impulse’ is an absorbing book. The universe that Dave Bara has created is part of a trilogy and it will be very easy telling more stories within it. There may be lots of action, but it all sits on an intelligent concept of a future war between civilisations that have just rediscovered long range space flight. The book feels somewhat of a mixture of ‘Mass Effect’ with ‘Buck Rogers’ and I would read ‘Mass Rogers’ (of The Buck Effect) any day of the week! Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
On initial inspection ‘Impulse’ by Dave Bara looks like it will be a piece of solid military science fiction that takes an almost realistic approach as to how the armed forces would function in space. However, this is soon blown out of the water when we are introduced to Peter Cochrane himself, a sort of pseudo-Kirk who does not know the effect he has on women. It would appear that this book is not about military might at all, but adventure, explosions and relationships.
This combination is a little worrisome as it speaks of a light headed and flighty novel that would not be worth anyone’s time, but thankfully Bara is able to handle the story with aplomb. At times the book may be silly, but at least it is well written and has some great action set pieces. Many of these happen in space and writing exciting action in a vacuum is not easy – things tend to feel ponderous. This is not the case here as Bara has Cochrane flying around the place at breakneck speeds, on occasion literally just managing to avoid breaking his neck.
The tone of the novel rests on its lead character. Cochrane is a little too young, inexperienced and impatient to be a great officer, but that is the point. Bara creates a believable backstory as to how Cochrane has found himself in such a powerful position at such a young age (he is essentially a Prince); this allows the author to explore how someone learns on the job. There are times where it gets silly – one point Cochrane can’t even wait 30 minutes so goes ahead and jeopardises the entire crew. This sort of action would not be acceptable in any military situation; if you are ordered to wait, you wait.
Whilst the action is full on, there is more to the book. The personal side of Cochrane’s life also plays a role. He is charismatic and driven; this makes him an attractive character to read about, but also an attractive proportion for the women in the book. The relationships in ‘Impulse’ seem quaint and can get in the way of the story. At times, Cochrane feels very much like a young Captain Kirk, but a James T who is not yet aware of his charisma. All this does is ramp up the campiness of the novel; moving it way from military sci-fi into the world of pulp.
Despite some clunky relationships ‘Impulse’ is an absorbing book. The universe that Dave Bara has created is part of a trilogy and it will be very easy telling more stories within it. There may be lots of action, but it all sits on an intelligent concept of a future war between civilisations that have just rediscovered long range space flight. The book feels somewhat of a mixture of ‘Mass Effect’ with ‘Buck Rogers’ and I would read ‘Mass Rogers’ (of The Buck Effect) any day of the week! Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
May 26, 2016
I almost wish I could give this book a "no stars" rating, but it gets one star as that's as low as I can go. I looked forward to reading this book, as the blurbs on it made the book sound really interesting. You can see where the author got a number of his influences. Some of the terminology could come direct from a classic Asimov, Clarke, or even Heinlein's Future History stories. That's where it ends though. It goes downhill rapidly from there. It's almost like the author looked at Orson Scott Card's novels and their veiled Mormon themes and thought: "I can do that too"! Except he can't, he bludgeons the reader on page after page with direct and indirect links to the Church and theology. The heavy-handedness of this completely turned me off. Paired with the bland writing style, this ruined the book for me. Details below.
SPOILERS - IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ THIS NOVEL DON'T READ FURTHER
The protagonist (Lieutenant Peter Cochrane) is from a royal family, one about to ascend back to power, thanks to the machinations of some politics briefly covered in the first few pages. He's lost his brother, and very recently his girlfriend. Both of whom served in the 'fleet. He's reassigned from his first formal deep space mission to hastily cover for losses aboard another ship, with "secret orders" to mutiny if things go pear shaped. He meets part of the arriving command crew replacements during a drunken bar hop and subsequent fencing match. Despite it being revealed shortly thereafter his fencing opponent is his superior officer, you can tell there will be romance. Even if they have to fight it.
It turns out that the main backstory of the 'verse is hundreds of years prior two main factions fought it out over who would direct the human expansion into space. The two empires represented the Church and the "Corporate Empire". Can you guess where this is going yet? The Corporate Empire was an empire that had focused on technology, bioengineering and completely "amoral and evil" and had "rejected god". Oh heroes however, belong to the Chruch of the Later Days. If that sounds familiar, it should; they're Mormon.
The Church has priests (Historians) who very carefully dole out and control all technology to the recovering remnants of the "good guys". The Historians even have a secret mission that will override any other mission; recover any and all technology from an even older race of humans. Even at the cost of losing planet(s) full of people.
It gets worse, when they stumble upon one of these treasures, it's protected by a puzzle. Said puzzle literally turns out to be an encoded spelling of the name of God. More and more of this is injected into the story line.
This heavy-handedness ruins the book for me, and I suspect will for others.
SPOILERS - IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ THIS NOVEL DON'T READ FURTHER
The protagonist (Lieutenant Peter Cochrane) is from a royal family, one about to ascend back to power, thanks to the machinations of some politics briefly covered in the first few pages. He's lost his brother, and very recently his girlfriend. Both of whom served in the 'fleet. He's reassigned from his first formal deep space mission to hastily cover for losses aboard another ship, with "secret orders" to mutiny if things go pear shaped. He meets part of the arriving command crew replacements during a drunken bar hop and subsequent fencing match. Despite it being revealed shortly thereafter his fencing opponent is his superior officer, you can tell there will be romance. Even if they have to fight it.
It turns out that the main backstory of the 'verse is hundreds of years prior two main factions fought it out over who would direct the human expansion into space. The two empires represented the Church and the "Corporate Empire". Can you guess where this is going yet? The Corporate Empire was an empire that had focused on technology, bioengineering and completely "amoral and evil" and had "rejected god". Oh heroes however, belong to the Chruch of the Later Days. If that sounds familiar, it should; they're Mormon.
The Church has priests (Historians) who very carefully dole out and control all technology to the recovering remnants of the "good guys". The Historians even have a secret mission that will override any other mission; recover any and all technology from an even older race of humans. Even at the cost of losing planet(s) full of people.
It gets worse, when they stumble upon one of these treasures, it's protected by a puzzle. Said puzzle literally turns out to be an encoded spelling of the name of God. More and more of this is injected into the story line.
This heavy-handedness ruins the book for me, and I suspect will for others.
February 20, 2015
“Impulse” was published in 2015 (February) and was written by Dave Bara (http://davebara.com). This is Mr. Bara’s second novel.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG’ as there are instances of mild Violence. This Science Fiction novel is set in a far future. Earth has spread out over the stars, then humanity has fallen into dark times with little contact between colonized worlds after a 80 year civil war that over threw the Empire. After 150 years, Earth reaches out to two of the planets Quantar and Carinthia, and with them forms the Union. The Union is now trying to seek out other colonized worlds and ask them to join them.
The primary character of this story is Peter Cochrane who has just graduated from the Union Navy Lightship Academy. He is pulled from the mission he has been training for his last two years. He is assigned to a Union vessel Impulse with a predominant Corinthian crew. A short time earlier that same ship had encountered a displacement wave while in the Levant system. That wave damaged the ship leaving many of the crew injured or dead. Among the dead was Peter’s girlfriend from the academy.
The Lightship Impulse is being sent back to the Levant system, site of the incident, to investigate as soon as repairs are completed. Peter, against his will, is being sent on the ship. There are space battles with other ships, and the Union is led to believe they are from the Empire. Peter is also able to complete the ‘First Contact’ mission that the Impulse had originally been dispatched for.
Peter finds himself involved not only with the new XO of the Impulse, but also with Princess Janaan from Levant. There is plenty of action, a touch of romance and some politics. The story reminds me a little of the Honor Harrington books. I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent with the novel. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG’ as there are instances of mild Violence. This Science Fiction novel is set in a far future. Earth has spread out over the stars, then humanity has fallen into dark times with little contact between colonized worlds after a 80 year civil war that over threw the Empire. After 150 years, Earth reaches out to two of the planets Quantar and Carinthia, and with them forms the Union. The Union is now trying to seek out other colonized worlds and ask them to join them.
The primary character of this story is Peter Cochrane who has just graduated from the Union Navy Lightship Academy. He is pulled from the mission he has been training for his last two years. He is assigned to a Union vessel Impulse with a predominant Corinthian crew. A short time earlier that same ship had encountered a displacement wave while in the Levant system. That wave damaged the ship leaving many of the crew injured or dead. Among the dead was Peter’s girlfriend from the academy.
The Lightship Impulse is being sent back to the Levant system, site of the incident, to investigate as soon as repairs are completed. Peter, against his will, is being sent on the ship. There are space battles with other ships, and the Union is led to believe they are from the Empire. Peter is also able to complete the ‘First Contact’ mission that the Impulse had originally been dispatched for.
Peter finds himself involved not only with the new XO of the Impulse, but also with Princess Janaan from Levant. There is plenty of action, a touch of romance and some politics. The story reminds me a little of the Honor Harrington books. I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent with the novel. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
February 18, 2017
This is the 1st book in the Lightship Chronicles by Dave Bara. I this one Lieutenant Peter Cochrane is just graduated from the space academy and is slated to join the crew of the Lightship Starbound. Peter is expectantly summoned to his Father's office just before he is due to assume his position on the Starbound. He is given the bad news that another Lightship, the Impulse, has been attacked and several crew were killed, including his girlfriend. He is reassigned to the Impulse which is being repaired and redeployed to find out who attacked them. Along with several of his classmates they go to the star system where the attack occurred and while investigating an asteroid that may hold a clue about the attack their ship is betrayed from someone on board and leaves the star system by means of a jump gate leaving Peter and his friends marooned. They travel to the nearest planet and with their help and the unexpected arrival of Peter's friend, an Earth Historian, they pursue the Impulse to find who betrayed them and what secrets are to be found about an ancient empire of man who may be behind the attacks. This book is a great example of Space Opera/Military Science Fiction and I highly recommend it.
February 10, 2015
If you like your action with a side of more action, this is the book for you. Bara's debut novel is a fast paced blend of military SF and space opera, with a likeable hero and enough mystery to keep readers guessing from start to finish.
The author wastes no time throwing his protagonist, Lieutenant Peter Cochrane, into the fire. Just as the young man is preparing to begin his naval career aboard the lightship Starbound, he's given the news of a deep space disaster and re-assigned to a Unified Navy Ship, with orders to mutiny if necessary. To say "chaos ensues", would be a gross understatement.
Bara's pacing and action sequences are tight, with no shortage of edge-of-your-seat scenes, but what I enjoyed most was the mystery of the ancient (but advanced) civilizations and the enigmatic Historians. Lots of seeds are planted but I have a feeling it will take a few more books before the truth is revealed--I can't wait!
This was a fun read that left me satisfied and yet wanting more.
The author wastes no time throwing his protagonist, Lieutenant Peter Cochrane, into the fire. Just as the young man is preparing to begin his naval career aboard the lightship Starbound, he's given the news of a deep space disaster and re-assigned to a Unified Navy Ship, with orders to mutiny if necessary. To say "chaos ensues", would be a gross understatement.
Bara's pacing and action sequences are tight, with no shortage of edge-of-your-seat scenes, but what I enjoyed most was the mystery of the ancient (but advanced) civilizations and the enigmatic Historians. Lots of seeds are planted but I have a feeling it will take a few more books before the truth is revealed--I can't wait!
This was a fun read that left me satisfied and yet wanting more.
December 11, 2023
DNF. I try really hard to give books a good chance before I give up, but halfway through this still reads like the most predictable, cliche space opera ever. The writing matches the content in its lack of quality. Gave it a go, time to move onto better stuff.
March 30, 2015
Space Navy action with a few other things chuckd in. Our hero here is Royalty also serving in the Space Navy who gets pointed to another critical mission when a ship is atttacked.
The scenario we are presented with is a loose alliance of worlds using technology that has been provided by Earth mentors ("Historians") but without full disclosure of their full workings and capability. There is talk of historic conflict between races, of a view between church and science and so on. And the workings of the technology is slightly confusing to us readers, we just have to get on with it. And the author chucks in some relationship stuff as well, which I think wasn't needed to be honest.
But, in fairness, the author avoids some of th eobvious pitfalls and can write pretty well. Not much gets resolved in this, it is very much the first in a series and I think with this first book behind him the author and this series can only get better.
The scenario we are presented with is a loose alliance of worlds using technology that has been provided by Earth mentors ("Historians") but without full disclosure of their full workings and capability. There is talk of historic conflict between races, of a view between church and science and so on. And the workings of the technology is slightly confusing to us readers, we just have to get on with it. And the author chucks in some relationship stuff as well, which I think wasn't needed to be honest.
But, in fairness, the author avoids some of th eobvious pitfalls and can write pretty well. Not much gets resolved in this, it is very much the first in a series and I think with this first book behind him the author and this series can only get better.
February 3, 2015
If you are a fan of military science fiction you might give this one a try. It was easy reading. There was a lot of world building and back story scattered throughout the book. For me the weakness in the book were the characters and their action. The action drove the characters instead of the characters driving the action. As a result some things just did not ring true. As a result it is not one of my favorites. It just rates an OK.
It will be interesting to see where Bara goes with the series. I really want to know more about the Earth Historians. They play a big part in the story but their back story is sketchy at best.
There were some interesting new concepts in Impulse. It is an action filled book that uses some of the old and some of the new to tell an story filled with adventure.
It will be interesting to see where Bara goes with the series. I really want to know more about the Earth Historians. They play a big part in the story but their back story is sketchy at best.
There were some interesting new concepts in Impulse. It is an action filled book that uses some of the old and some of the new to tell an story filled with adventure.
May 4, 2015
In essence a nice story, or the start of one, but for me i can not get over the 'Religion + Science = Moral <-> Pure Science without Religion is Scary and has no morals and boundaries' flag that is waving every time, it feels like the Theist calling the Atheist in principle Amoral, as if you can not be a decent person without Religion.
That may be the common thinking across the bible belt, but as such in the normal world this is empty and hollow, especially as a lot of atrocities are bound to religious actions (read your history books), from blowing up hospitals by 'pro lifers' to full blown wars because one side does not like how the other side interprets the same religion.
I think i let it be by this part, not often i decide to not follow trough on a series..
That may be the common thinking across the bible belt, but as such in the normal world this is empty and hollow, especially as a lot of atrocities are bound to religious actions (read your history books), from blowing up hospitals by 'pro lifers' to full blown wars because one side does not like how the other side interprets the same religion.
I think i let it be by this part, not often i decide to not follow trough on a series..
February 24, 2015
The Lightship Chronicles - Centuries after civil war shattered an interstellar civilization, planetary enclaves are beginning to reconnect, with the aid of tech-wizard Historians from Earth. Studly young Lt. Peter Cochrane of the Quantar Royal Navy is suddenly given huge responsibilities when he's assigned to help investigate a mysterious assault on a lightship that was exploring close to the ruins of the old empire. Peter has plenty of concerns to keep him busy aboard the lightship Impulse, but he also finds himself increasingly attracted to his immediate superior officer, Cmdr. Dobrina Kierkopf. The action kicks in fast, as Peter, Dobrina, and a few others are stranded aboard a little landing craft when ancient machines attack, while a renegade Historian steals the Impulse
November 29, 2015
In the future:
* The preferred government will be absolute monarchy.
* Noble twits will be placed in commands with no experience.
* Female bridge crew will exist for seduction purposes.
* Captains will go haring off on suicidal missions, followed by successive replacements until an evil civilian can be left in charge.
* Germany, England and other European nations will be reproduced on other planets.
* Strange humans will hang around to turn on random ???secret??? weapons and ships sensors and supply villains as required.
Very old school SF in a bad way. This is the author's first printed and possibly edited book so I'm cutting it some slack. People who like the original Star Trek may like this though the protagonist is not as modest as Kirk.
* The preferred government will be absolute monarchy.
* Noble twits will be placed in commands with no experience.
* Female bridge crew will exist for seduction purposes.
* Captains will go haring off on suicidal missions, followed by successive replacements until an evil civilian can be left in charge.
* Germany, England and other European nations will be reproduced on other planets.
* Strange humans will hang around to turn on random ???secret??? weapons and ships sensors and supply villains as required.
Very old school SF in a bad way. This is the author's first printed and possibly edited book so I'm cutting it some slack. People who like the original Star Trek may like this though the protagonist is not as modest as Kirk.
February 23, 2018
This was ...disappointing. After “Rave reviews” about reinvigorating space opera, it seemed much more like rehashing. A hero with elements of Kirk, Skywalker, and even Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Drives, shields, and communication devices that allowed battles in the vastness of space to feel more like Horblower’s sea battles. Human colonized planets which despite millennia of isolation are still monocultural (Aussie, German, Eastern Mediterranean). It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t very good, either.
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