Alien Honor

Fenris #1

by Vaughn Heppner

2457 AD. Premier Lang is a dictator ruling a solar system in crisis. The human race is still haunted by the Doom Star days, and millions dwell in slums below Earth’s surface. The pristine star system of New Eden is a beacon of hope —but it is 230 light years away. Getting there will be a challenge unlike any ever attempted by mankind. Only with the help of “Specials,” human telepaths who can create rips in space, will the ship stand a chance of traveling the vast distance.

But when one telepath makes a disastrous deal with an alien enemy, the entire mission takes a deadly turn. Can a fledgling Special with steely street smarts save humanity as the dwindling crew makes the final, frightening leap toward New Eden?

An inspired work of sci-fi adventure and combat, Alien Honor delivers a thrilling showdown between humans and a terrifying alien menace.

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

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2013

About the author

You can visit Vaughn at www.vaughnheppner.com

I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine.

I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Total popcorn scifi! Heppner employs just about every cliche know to science fiction here, and populated the novel with wooden stereotypes for characters. Nonetheless, it is a fun, light read. Earth, 25th century, is suffering due to population pressure and a ruthless dictatorship. An earth-like planet is discovered light years away, and scientists discovered a FTL means that utilizes psi power to make wormholes. The dictator sends a colony ship there, but unbeknownst to humanity, another species is already there and hostile!

This reads like pop scifi from the 50s or 60s. If that is your gig, you may enjoy this. 2.5 stars.

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is my fourth book by Vaughan Heppner so I guess this makes me a fan. He gives me what I want and need from a science fiction. I need a protagonist who I can follow, root for, and trust that no matter how rough things get they’re going to live to fight another day. That for me is a breaking point for me – No Joke! Cyrus fills those boots for me in this amusing start of a new series. He uses his street smarts to survive various bad guys in space and that is no easy feat. The pace is fast and even. We’re not overwhelmed with science jargon; we’re given just enough to know what’s going on. Another choice Heppner made was the way the large meetings with lots of characters was written to make it easy for the reader to track who said what. There is a cliffhanger but it was inevitable and considering how much I dislike them this one was handled very well. Oh, I love Skar!

[Mike Nemeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK. I'm a big Vaughn Heppner fan. So, totally biased. Still, if he wrote some sort of bizarre navel-gazing exploration of whatever, I'd call him on it. Maybe. More likely I'd read something else. His "Alien Honor" is not that kind of book. The first in the Fenris series is a bit of a continuation of the future universe of earth in which Marten Kluge from Heppner's Doom Star series battled the Highborn and then the cyborgs. Many decades have passed, and Kluge has passed in all but legend. Humanity has embraced psi power, harnessing the mental powers of telepaths to travel multiple light years in space. Cyrus Gant is one of those "specials." But he's of mediocre power. What he has in spades is the toughness of having been raised on sublevel 41 in the worst underground slums on earth. He learned to survive using his wits and learning how to hide his tears. He's snatched from certain death by telepath hunters and allowed to learn, read and live in the open. He finds a kindred spirit in Spartacus because Cyrus, like Spartacus, doesn't like to be forced into thrall-like servitude. While he's treated well, because he's a telepath, the government of dictator Premier Lang implants a shut-off switch in his head, allowing government agents to control when he can use his power. Cyrus and other telepaths are enlisted to travel 230 million light years to twin planets earthers have dubbed New Eden. Heppner goes into detail to set up the characters, establishing a shipboard cast that reader suspects will be used later. However, Vaughn changes the plot line up. He veers into something I was hardly expecting. The space traveling humans enter not New Eden but a land in which a previous human colony ship has been captured, subjugated and made slaves by a dinosaur-like race. Cyrus isn't the toughest guy around. But he figures out how to fight the aliens' telepathic weapons. And he, as small as his talent is, turns out to be the only hope for the humans in Fenris.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sparta!
Did I mention Spartacus?
What about how fat and bald Jasper is?
I'm almost certain I didn't tell you how cool I thought Spartacus was yet, did I? I did. Well, he is cool. You know he was a slave? I told you that too.... Multiple times?
Well, he escaped! Oh, I told you that also.
Well, then I didn't mention I was from Level 40, did I?

Okay, I might have gotten stuck on the repeated mentions of Spartacus.
A fair start to a series. Not compelling enough for me to continue with book two.
I found by the time the story ended, I didn't care enough about anyone to know what happens next.
There are plenty of mysteries to solve in the coming books.

Where did it fall down the most? Characters.
Most felt too flat, too stereotypical to engage with, to engender sympathy with their situations.
Perhaps the author was hoping to invoke mystery in not fleshing them out fully, but I felt that it left them lacking.

The pacing of the story was handled very well.
The descriptions of the locales, action, and people were also done well.

I wanted to like the story and characters more.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cyrus Gant is a low level "talent" that grew up in the slums of the underground. He's found and taught a great many things. he's one of only 134 among the human race and can power the mighty starships. Cyrus is a .83 which means he can jump .83 light year in one instant. He's one of four talents, the lowest of the four powering the colony ship headed for the New Eden system, two earth-like planets 230 light years from home.

The most powerful of the four is an 8.3, over eight light years in one leap. But it takes a toll and each talent must rest after a jump.

But there's trouble on the ship. Mutiny and something unknown waiting for them at the end of their journey.

The first of a new series growing from a previous five book sequence. Looks promising.

[Janet Arroyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cyrus

I really enjoyed this book. It is like a mixture of Star Trek, Felicity and star wars. I loved the storyline. I liked the fact that the humans did not want to be slaves to the aliens. Cyrus, Jasper and a few others had "Psi" abilities. I loved how Cyrus used his experience living on level 40. Cyrus is street smart. The "resistance" of New Eden helped him escape. I look forward to reading the next book in this series. This is a great read.

[Andrew Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misfire

When a colonization mission is discovered to be a trap its up to a lone psychic to light the flames of rebellion. The problem I had was how plodding the set up seemed in the book. You only find out at the end how the two points of view are connected and it didn't seem worth the wait. I've enjoyed other series by this author but I'm not sure about this one.

[David Teachout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set after the Doom Star series, this one follows a similar formula though with continued fun. The author simply knows how to sell a good solid character. Yes he's a bit naive and idealistic, but when faced with such incredible experiences, a little idealism can go a long way. This is pure space adventure fun.

[Kathryn Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story. I especially enjoyed the character development of Cyrus Gant from slum rat in the dark underground Level 40 of Milan to space traveling key player in a colonization mission to a star system 230 light years away.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but too brief.

The book was great, but I think more could have been elaborated on. Perhaps Vaughn is leaving that for other books. Regardless, I wanted more.

[Niall Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy going science fiction with big horrible monsters that definitely need their arse booted. Quality.

[Engie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I thought it would be. Action scenes were good & thrilling. Captivating story and characters. Foreshadows a good series. Now on to book 2.

[Blossom378 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beginning of a great adventure from Vaughn Heppner

he really is one of my favorite authors his stories are complex Innovative and actually believable I love the fact that he is not PC and his characters are full and complex the storyline is great he leads you on a voyage of Discovery and adventure and really fils your imagination with possibilities my favorite author

[Ken McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great as President Trump

Great story line characters fleshed out.. just as though they’re sitting across the table from you with brandy good cigars. The ladies with cheesecake and a dark rich coffee light right French port.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was worried at the beginning, seemed juvenal and had a big portion of fantasy. However, the story worked well and those issues didn't matter or just disappeared. Probably be worth reading more of the series.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

engaging premise to the end

Great story to the end of the book. I look forward to the continuation of the series. It looks like to be several books. The characters development is interesting and I look forward to how the story progresses.

[Htb2050 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good read. The plot and specially the world building was really interesting. The book finishes on a good end with plenty of potential left for writing a great follow up book.

[Lee-sa Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book

It took me a little while to become immersed in this story maybe because I just finished stories about Noah and Lod.

[Donald Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast moving

Fast moving, the connection not clear at first, but hang in there and the story gets good!
This is a good book.

[Göran Svensson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fun light read, if you don't think too much about all the horror and brutality. Why didn't they use tin-foil hats?

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, and narrator is fantastic!

[Todd Barwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be a little too scattered for my taste. The main story was about Cyrus, but every so often there would be a quick chapter about Klane who was on some distant planet. There wasn't enough about Klane to whet my appetite, nor peak my interest. It seemed unnecessary. But, of course, I am not an author. I do realize that this was to set up the second book in the series, also something I was not expecting. I did not realize that this was going to be a series of books, so maybe I was disappointed. As a stand alone story, there was just too much unanswered. While I did enjoy the book, and I am sure a lot of sci-fi readers will, it just didn't grab my attention enough. I couldn't get sucked into the story. It is a toss up whether I will seek out the next installment, but I am leaning towards it, as I do want to see how the story is resolved.

[Paul Shewmaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interstellar faster than light travel is solved through latent magical abilities discovered in a tiny number of humans. Cyrus is such a human and is plucked from the slums and trained in creating the rift in spacetime to make the jumps. But the fear of people with these abilities leads to a form of enslavement. So Cyrus dreams of becoming the Spartacus of his kind… and that’s just the beginning of the book. The story proceeds nicely to a dramatic encounter with a dangerous race of aliens and real enslavement, but it abruptly ends with the setup for book two. Meh. I want to read the next book but this halt mid plot leaves this book feeling less than whole.

[Chas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I fancied something different so picked this up on Amazon on a £1 deal. At first it was refreshing, a throwback to 70s/80s sci-fi, FTL, Telepathy, World dictatorship, frickin lasers... managed 70% but gave up as I was at the point where I wanted all the cardboard characters to die and get it over with.

Poor writing, poor plot, a collection of stereotypes doing stereotypical things with juvenile motives and emotions. If you have a physical copy of this book then take it to your back garden and burn it, enjoy the momentary warm as you bask in the knowledge that no-one will pick it up and be tempted by this nonsense.

[Ricardo Portella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful space opera

I don't even remember when or why I bought this book, but I am glad that I dd. It tells the story of a colonizing expedition to a solar system 200 light years from Earth. The main character is Cyrus, a psionicist that is necessary to drive the spaceship faster than light.
This is the first volume of this story, and it is wonderful. I can hardly wait to read the sequel.
I highly reccommend to all scifi dans.

[Haven Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from a giveaway by Goodreads, but it in no way shapes my view of the book.

I have always had a hard time getting into a good sci-fi book, but had incredibly high hopes for this one based on the plot description. I thought the author did a great job at the beginning of the book, but I absolutely hate cliff hangers!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the good reads first reads program. I found this book interesting, and it maintained my interest. Some elements of the plot and subplot were foreseeable, and others caught me completely off guard. This book left several paths that future books in the series may take.

[Alex Warden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book of this amazing trilogy starts out in a confusing way. Later however, the story starts to shape up into a pretty interesting story that dragged me all the way to the end. With such a solid ending of the first book the second book helped the whole trilogy bind together into one amazing story they kept me on the edge my seat the whole time I was reading.

[Daniel M. Moman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

The format didn't flow to well for me but it was a good audio book to listen to in the back ground while doing things around the house. It was a interesting story but seemed to keep repeating its self, we know you came from level 40 and your a surviver! Good overall I suppose see what book to brings.

[j bradshaw]

Cliff hanger

I hate cliff hangers. They should carry a warning on the cover. INCOMPLETE. STORY. The Story line was interesting and the characters were some what 1 dimensional but I would have enjoyed if it was a complete story