Rogue Stars: Purgatory

by Jaime Castle

Abandon ship, or go down in a blaze of glory.

Commander Predaxes, former Marine in the Lazaab military, has been recommissioned to Prison Station 12, known colloquially as Purgatory. On the outskirts of the Centridium, PS12 relies solely on a wormhole for contact with the government -- not to mention supplies.

His newest inmate, Samea Malik, is more than a bit of trouble. Son to the Minister of Justice, Malik is the target of both assassination and recovery. When the station is attacked and chaos rains down upon them all, those onboard must abandon their posts for the closest habitable planet, Faebos. With what little planning they could do, Predaxes and crew discover an old, defunct mining colony and quickly discover why the project was deserted.

Faebos is home to violent and nasty creatures, but also great beauty. Survival will mean cooperation between PS12’s captives and captors. But will it be enough?

Faced with hardship no one expected, needing to tap into old skills and new, Predaxes and Malik find themselves in their own form of Purgatory.

Rogue Stars is a brand new Military Space Opera series by #1 Audible and Washington Post bestseller Jaime Castle, creator of the Black Badge series. Perfect for fans of David Weber, Larry Correia, JN Chaney, and Rick Partlow.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction

430 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2024

About the author

Jaime Castle hails from the great nation of Texas where he lives with his wife and two children and enjoys anything creative. A self-proclaimed comic book nerd and artist, he spends what little free time he can muster with his art tablet.

Jaime is a #1 Audible Bestseller, Audible Originals author (The Luna Missile Crisis) and co-created and co-authored The Buried Goddess Saga, which includes the IPPY award-winning Web of Eyes.

Fantasy:

The Buried Goddess Saga:
Web of Eyes
Winds of War
Will of Fire
Way of Gods
War of Men
Word of Truth

Dragonblood Assassin:
Black Talon
Red Claw
Silver Spines
Golden Flames (2023/2024)

RAPTORS:
Sidekick
Superteam
Scions
Baron Steele

HARRIER (Raptors)
Justice
The Trench
Invasion

The Black Badge:
Dead Acre
Cold as Hell
Vein Pursuits
Ace in the Hole (2024)

Jeff the Game Master:
Manufacturing Magic
Manipulating Magic
Mastering Magic

Science Fiction:

This Long Vigil
The Luna Missile Crisis

ROGUE STARS:
Purgatory (2024)
Divine Intervention (2024)
Reclamation (2024)

Find out more at www.jaimecastle.com

Reviews

[Johnnm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big reader, but not of military science fiction. There’s nothing wrong with the genre, it’s just not something that I seek out deliberately. But when a friend recommended Mr. Castle as a writer, I took the opportunity to read this book and try something different.

I expected something simplistic. What I got was much more - a cross between the films NO ESCAPE (1994) and AVATAR. I loved it. Slam bang military action in TWO prisons, a thoughtful but not preachy exchange of ideas regarding the line between colonization and oppression, and an extremely well rendered ecological setting that may have been inspired by AVATAR but was not derivative of it.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this story goes…if you’re looking for something new, you could do a hell of a lot worse than to try this story (and series).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this plugged on Monster Hunter Nation, and figured I would give it a shot.

It's a good book, told from two points of view, a warden and an inmate. Some parts were a little hard to follow, but nothing too bad.

The story arc for the book, is a little limited, and there is a curve ball at the end that suggests the series is not going to focus on the conflicts introduced in the bulk of the book.

If I'm reminded of the series when I'm looking for a next book to read, I'll continue the series.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an original story line but a great excecution.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

New author to me and the start of a new series. It’s a pretty simple concept for a book, not completely a military science fiction book, but pretty close. You’ll pretty quickly also notice that the story revolves around two main characters, Commander Predaxes and Inmate Malik. Yes, I said “Inmate”. See Predaxes is in command of a military prison. The key point here is it’s a military prison where most of these guys were on the wrong side of a recent invasion. A lot of them belong to Colonial militia and were only defending their colonies when the Lenzaab’s attacked. Commander Benjamin Predaxes was a Lenzaaban Marine, but the war was over so he was given a new assignment. That new assignment was Prison Station 12 (PS-12) also known as Purgatory!

PS-12 was unique, though. It sat right out side of a giant wormhole that put it some 50-light years from the Centridium and home. Not much came through that wormhole except regularly scheduled supply runs and an occasional prisoner drop-off. Since the war had been over for a while, there hadn’t been a lot of new prisoners coming in. But, the ones that had were trouble enough. Most of the trouble was because the Lenzaaban Marine guards didn’t have much use for their prisoners. They did work details and other stuff which on PS-12 was a lot of sustainment and maintenance. This used to be a space station comprising of four habitation rings. It was to say the least, huge. Each ring was almost a small planet on its own. The prisoners raised crops and tended to animals which fed them during their stay. Problems arose when the Marines didn’t appreciate the attitudes of these ex-military type and refused to follow some orders. Commander Predaxes and his Executive Office Lieutenant Commander Martin Garza were seemingly running to some kind of riot or another disaster almost every day.

These problems were really the fault of one Lieutenant Volina and several hard-nosed Sergeants. They wanted to run this prison by the book with no slacking by the prisoners. Yet, Predaxes recognized that his prisoners were not any different than him or his charges, they had just lost the war. He tended to be a lot more lenient than any of his underlings. His reasoning was that with the situation with the prison, these prisoners had no where to run. They had to be almost self-reliant or they would all die. So most of them did their jobs and caused no trouble, but when goaded by bull-headed guards, they became a little unruly. Additionally, somethings on the prison station had started going haywire! His usually competent AI called ARA, was having problems and he didn’t know why.

Then again, he had no time to investigate when a huge ship just came through the wormhole. It wasn’t scheduled and only had one prisoner, a Samea Malik, the son of the Lenzaaban Minister of Justice! Turns out this guy was wanted by a still active rebel contingent. He was being moved from prison to prison since these rebels had a habit of attacking every place he goes trying to get him back. When Commander Predaxes first met Malik, he didn’t see anything surprisingly different in this prisoner than any others. But that was soon going to change. Malik was more than he appeared in several different ways.

But, as had happened, the rebels came for him and tore up PS-12 before their ship had been forced to retreat. PS-12 was just slightly able to defend itself, it was very capable, but after this last attack it was becoming almost inhabitable by so many prisoners and their guards. Then the wormhole just went away! So, no help coming, no resupplies, and no going home for anyone. Not good.

What Commander Predaxes decided to do from this point on will change the entire lives of everyone still living. They have to find some place, some where they can build a new life knowing that the Lenzaabs in the Centridium aren’t going to be in any hurry to rescue a bunch of prisoners they didn’t want anyway. I suppose more will be forthcoming in Book 2, “Divine Intervention” now available on Amazon.

[Andy Peloquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

TL;DR Review: Prison Break meets space marines…with a hint of Avatar thrown in for good measure.

Full Review:
Ben Predaxes just wanted a quiet, cushy administrative job following his retirement from the Lenzaab Navy, so being the head of a high-security space prison on the wrong side of a wormhole shouldn’t be too bad, right?
Well…unless your prisoners all happen to be former enemy special operators, infantrymen, and marines who don’t stop being highly competent badasses just because you lock them up.
And no, things couldn’t possibly get any worse when you add a high-value, high-risk, highly intelligent captured enemy—who just so happens to be personally responsible for some seriously deadly attacks on high-ranking Lenzaab officers and government officials—into the mix.
Purgatory, the first book in the Rogue Stars series, introduces us to Prison Station 12—affectionately nicknamed “Purgatory”—and the men and women on both sides of the cell bars. Right off the bat, we’re thrown into a high-octane escape attempt with enemies crashing (literally!) into the prison in an attempt to break out their freshly captured buddy.
But what makes this book so great is that the story you think you’re going to get in the beginning is very much NOT the story you actually end up getting.
The prison break attempt is just the beginning—from there, you’re taken on a wild ride to surviving in space inside a damaged spaceship prison, a desperate attempt to make landfall on a nearby planet, and the dangers of trying to colonize a planet where everything is out to eat you!
Before long, the book changes from Prison Break in flavor to more Avatar (the James Cameron movie), with a fascinating, breathtaking, epic sci-fi planet that is home to all sorts of amazing—and ultra-deadly—creatures, from giant rhino-bears to wyvern-like flying things to “spider-legs” that will trigger all your creepy crawly fear reflexes. Thankfully, there are machine-gunning, high-tech giant walking robot suits (a la Avatar or Titanfall) that give our fearless space marines (prisoners and guards) an edge in jungle combat.
This book is an absolutely insane action ride from start to finish. I never knew where it was going to go next—it ended up being delightfully unpredictable, with twists and turns that I could never have seen coming, and a story that just kept bobbing and weaving in all directions until finally it wrapped up in a climax that left me breathless and in need of a cold drink.
What really made it enjoyable for me was the razor-sharpness to every character. As former snipers, rangers, scouts, infantrymen, gunners, Marines, and hardcore combatants, all of our protagonists and (human) antagonists have this hyper-competence that makes them instantly engaging. The dialogue is so evocative of military banter and the use of jargon and slang feels so natural.
The character of Malik became my instant favorite. You know he’s a prisoner and there to do hard time for his very real crimes, but you can’t help but be drawn in by his charm, his competency, his cleverness, insightful nature, and intelligence. Then, when he goes on a rampage in a full mech suit and shows just how badass he is (repeatedly!), you’re absolutely sucked in.
Make no mistake: despite the high-octane pace, this book is not just about action. There’s plenty of intrigue and mystery, along with riveting insights into human nature on both sides of the line of morality.
A whole lot of fun, addicting characters, and a never-slow storyline—it’s everything I want in a sci-fi series!

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't typically read Sci-fi, as I choose to primarily ingest fantasy, but this book had an interesting enough premise that I had to give it a chance.

The story starts simple enough with a prisoner transfer to a prison station at the far reaches of the civilized universe. We already know something is up as the aforementioned prisoner has been moved to 4 separate prisons in as many months. The station is soon attacked by "rebels" and after enduring the attack the surviving staff members & prisoners are forced to migrate to a nearby planet while the prison station is repaired by some leftover staff members, and androids. The planet they move to was once a prospective mining planet to source materials, but eventually abandoned due to costs [transportation/supplies/etc.]. In addition, the local wildlife isn't too friendly.

What ensues is a story of the prisoners, and prison staff trying to balance survival needs with maintaining "order" in the form of wardens & prisoners; all the while trying to survive on a hostile planet. A touch of tension is injected as some of the wardens agree that survival is paramount, and they are just as much prisoners of the planet; while some wardens disagree under the belief that the prisoners are PRISONERS for a reason, so they should still be treated as such. Someone mentioned that it's like Avatar [The movie with the blue people], but I don't see it. Aside from the setting being an alien planet, and humanity trying to get resources off the surface back in the day this doesn't feel like the whole "colonize the savage world" story.

The only downsides I have to point out are:

The overarching government bodies in this universe of "The Lenzaaban" and "The Colonials" are hard to distinguish at first, as the term "The Collective" is intermittently used to refer to the Lenzaaban. Also you have Colonials that BECAME Lenzaaban after the war [lore; not something that happens in the book] that refer to their time as Colonials. It can be confusing so I would recommend just to push through the first couple chapters, and you'll start figuring it out.

Second thing I would mention is that the authors writing style is a little bit... erratic. I don't know if this is how he writes, or if it's isolated here. I can't name any distinct instances off the top of my head, but I'll try to give an example. Character in the scene will be doing something, or talking to someone about doing something then immediately cut to the character doing something else, or doing what they were telling the other person they were going to do without any segway. Alternatively there will be multiple characters talking; one person interjects, then another adds something else, but we don't know who said what, so you just imagine who said what, and move on. I would imagine both of these is to inject a sense of quickness to the story based on their circumstances.

Oh, and they use giant mech suits, and power armor, so that's a plus.

In the end this is a good enough book that I'll continue the series. See how it goes.

[Jennifer Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the best summary I can give for this book is “Hold on for dear life, and stay tuned for more.” This book opens with a bang, and doesn’t let off the gas much throughout the entire story.

It’s got all the proper themes of a good space opera: (1) a hostile planet full of horrible beasties, but with just enough beauty and grace thrown in to take the edge off, (2) really cool battles with advanced, but still realistic, space tech, (3) characters you desperately root for, and (4) a dash of political intrigue that keeps you guessing.

It starts on a prison ship in desolate outer space, and the inmates and guards wind up on a hostile planet fighting everything around them, including each other. This could easily lend itself to heavy sermons of colonization and incarceration - but the author doesn’t go there. He neatly walks around the topics, letting the characters and action progress in a natural way, so that nothing feels forced or heavy-handed. Deep discussions of oppression in all its forms happen off the page, in the mind of the reader.

The political background is revealed in stages, and there wasn’t a ton of time devoted to that backstory. The inmates are generally political dissidents, and it’s not completely clear if we’re meant to be rooting for or against them - which I appreciate. The pacing was quick but not rushed, and the characters grew in expected, and sometimes unexpected, ways. I especially appreciated that the battle scenes are choreographed in a natural way, and not too focused on describing the gear in infinitesimal detail.

Overall, this is a book I’d highly recommend. It gets all the stars from me.

[WyoGal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of military jargon and battles

This story has a great deal of military-speak woven throughout. The soldiers are constantly in fight mode against other soldiers or weird alien wildlife. There are a lot of weapons and gadgets.

The two POV characters are interesting, but Malik is the most compelling. However, he is described as a boy-man, but he knows way too much to be young. Regardless, his character is mysterious, and I want to know more about how he seems to know more than everyone else. I do wish that the author had stayed in Malik’s POV for most of the story. Maybe in the next book?

There is some character development, but it’s minimal. This story is more about survival against terrible odds than about interpersonal growth.

While the action scenes are intense, there are a few things that interrupt the immersive quality of the story: scattered typos, confusion as to who is speaking, and some confusing descriptions of who is where in the fights. Overall, though, the pacing is relentless, like a video game, and the tension builds nicely.

The author should do a bit more proofreading on this book and the next.

There is a lot of death in this book, and not all characters make it to the end. There is a theme of betrayal of a political party vs personal honor.

I might read the next book in the series, but I hope that the characters have a bit of downtime to recover!

[Melanie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purgatory? It's more like h*ll!

Great beginning to a series. I'm new to military SF, so the body count here is a bit dismaying but this is a war story, after all. Aside from blood and gore, there's lots to like here. The characters are well drawn, with personal, professional, and ideological issues that make them relatable. World building is top notch, full of the detailed tech and engineered environments necessary for life in space. Surprisingly, the alien planet and its native sentients also stand out despite the low-tech organic vibe. Fans of military SF will revel in the strategizing, the battles, the weaponry, and the depiction of the lifestyle and mindset of those who serve. I'm intrigued enough to pursue the next book in the series.

[Mixon Trammell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man what a ride this book is. Giving off vibes that will remind you of something between Battlestar Galactica and Avatar. Lots of action, lots of cool (but realistic) tech, and insanely interesting characters. The plot is well thought out and will keep you guessing, and then blasting yourself for missing the clues for what was coming.

When it comes to world building, author Jaime Castle has an eye for detail. It doesn't take long to feel like you've been familiar with this universe for years.

I can not wait for Divine Intervention to come out and continue this amazing story.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Aliens" without Hudson, "Rainbow Six" in space, full of action and characters worthy of carrying around Samuel L. Jackson's wallet from "Pulp Fiction." Castle gives us an engaging tale of prison intrigue blended with some bad ass Colonial Marines, a mishmash of plenty of other elements you will recognize from either of these, without being a carbon copy or seeming derivative. An absolute page-turning sensation from beginning to end.

[Aaron Nagy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like a way above average Military/Scifi??? that I got recommended with and...it was pretty darn good. It's certainly a wild setup with a bunch of lore setup and tension between the characters that got in the way believably between a bunch of military people. I'll need to see where this goes as a first book it was pretty good but also felt almost like a prologue/prequel for the rest of the story.

[Oliver Bogert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story but did seem to forget if the main character was wearing armor or not at times. It didn't take away from the story and was minor in the aspect of the overall story. This became one of the better sci-fi stories I have read recently. Looking forward to seeing what is next for Malik and Predaxes. Would highly recommend it to any Monster Hunter International fans. Would also see many of my friends who enjoyed the Frontlines Series by Marko Kloos enjoying this one.

[William Newbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intrigued but confused

This story was interesting but it lost be most of the way through. The connection between the native tribes and the convicts came ridiculously quick. And they could use all the modern weapons and everything so easily. They also seemed very avatarish. It just didn’t mesh even though it had possibilities.

[Space Cowgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything but the kitchen sink🚽 is thrown into this novel to stretch it out.
This is a three book series about prisoners on a prison space station. After a riot and attack, Some prisoners and guards escape to a planet to try to make a new life.
Haven't decided if I will read book two.

I got This e-book from amazon with kindle unlimited.

[Katy2.0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Science Fiction, a must read for true fans of SF.

Not Sci-Fi but true Science Fiction with futuristic technology, a strange dangerous world and plenty of interesting characters to meet.

Add in an interesting engaging aliens who have learned to live on a hostile planet and the scene is set for an excellent read.

[Christopher Morgan, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic prison military sci fi

So Mr castle strikes gold again with another hit after the success in fantasy and superheroes genre. Think of shawshank redemption in space I hope you enjoy it.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Scifi Read

This was a fun science fiction tale told from interesting perspectives and had some really cool scifi military themes that blended with many other elements to create a unique tale. I am looking forward to book 2!

[Colleen Kardasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It kept me interested

Good plot. Great characters. A little too "avatar" like. The universe has me intrigued. Who doesn't love giant mechs and powered armor.

[gloria marquardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

It had a good story line that wasn't difficult to follow but I truly got pretty bogged down in the battlescenes.

[Douglas Eble · Rating 2 out of 5]

8

[Bryan Nissen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. The entire universe was well thought out and cohesive throughout.
I liked it well enough that I went on to the next in the series.
Sci-Fi fans should not be disappointed.

[Ugo Nwokolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read. A lot of asskickery

Enjoyed the story. Lots of action. Mechs aliens, machinery . Love that. Am a simple man. The book ended with a decent cliffhanger.

[Vinícius Luz · Rating 3 out of 5]

minimamente interessante mas não vale a pena (o final tem um cliffhanger legalzinho mas enfim

[Timothy Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rogue Stars opens the story with high stakes and rough consequences on the other side of the galaxy. I loved the Jurassic Park in Space, Alien Space Marine hoorah and witty banter, etc. Castle draws up some brilliant pictures in this foreign jungle, with creatures far more interesting than what Dr Hammond could conjure. Predaxes was my favorite character because of his sacrifice of being with his family to help on this mission, but he's far from the only engaging character in this lot. I won't spoil anything, so let's just say the desire to see him succeed is strong. Book 2 is looking pretty sweet right about now.