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Starship Bandits #1
Starship Bandits
Two things hold our starship together.
Duct Tape and hate.
In the near future space debris around Earth has made it impossible to traverse our solar system. Or it would be, if not for prisoners sentenced to clearing that debris known as Orbital Garbage Removal Experts, or O.G.R.E. for short.
Former linguistics professor Dax has made it a habit of working aboard The Junkyard with a small crew, the conspiracy theorist, tech-savvy hacker Mark and the once decorated military hero turned war criminal, Kane.
One day a job goes badly when the "debris" turns out to be an alien ship with a deceased crew and an auto-pilot warp drive. The alien craft jumps with The Junkyard attached only to crash land on a desolate, alien world. A world home to insects the size of cars called Underbeasts and the native alien orc-like Dal'no who have been thrown back to the Iron Age.
Join Dax, Mark and Kane as they strike bargains with the formerly technologically advanced species, unravel the beginnings of a human written language and find out they aren’t the first humans to visit the strange planet.
Grab a copy of Junkyard Starship to see if this scraggly bunch of criminals can succeed where Conquistadors, Crusaders and even Navy Seals have failed. Their mission? Kill the Underbeast queen and save what’s left of the Dal’no race.
Duct Tape and hate.
In the near future space debris around Earth has made it impossible to traverse our solar system. Or it would be, if not for prisoners sentenced to clearing that debris known as Orbital Garbage Removal Experts, or O.G.R.E. for short.
Former linguistics professor Dax has made it a habit of working aboard The Junkyard with a small crew, the conspiracy theorist, tech-savvy hacker Mark and the once decorated military hero turned war criminal, Kane.
One day a job goes badly when the "debris" turns out to be an alien ship with a deceased crew and an auto-pilot warp drive. The alien craft jumps with The Junkyard attached only to crash land on a desolate, alien world. A world home to insects the size of cars called Underbeasts and the native alien orc-like Dal'no who have been thrown back to the Iron Age.
Join Dax, Mark and Kane as they strike bargains with the formerly technologically advanced species, unravel the beginnings of a human written language and find out they aren’t the first humans to visit the strange planet.
Grab a copy of Junkyard Starship to see if this scraggly bunch of criminals can succeed where Conquistadors, Crusaders and even Navy Seals have failed. Their mission? Kill the Underbeast queen and save what’s left of the Dal’no race.
- GenresScience FictionAudiobook
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2024
320 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Yanez
241 books566 followersInternational bestselling author, check.
USA Today bestselling author, check.
Writing wild tales since 2012, check, check.
I'm Jonathan, a husband, father, and writer. I write because that's what I was born to do and I love doing it. Because of the support from awesome people like you, I get to do it full-time.
Connecting with fellow lovers of the written word is important to me so please join the Pack via my website at www.jonathan-yanez.com where you can grab an exclusive story or hang out with us at www.facebook.com/groups/jonathansread...
Hope you decide to stay in touch,
Jonathan
USA Today bestselling author, check.
Writing wild tales since 2012, check, check.
I'm Jonathan, a husband, father, and writer. I write because that's what I was born to do and I love doing it. Because of the support from awesome people like you, I get to do it full-time.
Connecting with fellow lovers of the written word is important to me so please join the Pack via my website at www.jonathan-yanez.com where you can grab an exclusive story or hang out with us at www.facebook.com/groups/jonathansread...
Hope you decide to stay in touch,
Jonathan
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 13, 2024
OGRES, ORCS, BUGS THE SIZE OF VW's, GIANT GREEN ALIENS, BATTLE BONDED WARRIORS, & THREE TERRANS
Starship Bandits by Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell is a great sci-fi book that has it all. The action-packed, fast-paced, and fascinating storyline with well-defined characters that you will truly get a kick out of.
Dax, Kane, and Mark are criminals sentenced to be scrappers and find themself swept away to another part of our galaxy and team up with a native race of Orcs to rid their plant of a bug invasion that is stripping their resources and killing off the Dal'no on the planet Dal'no'nuur. There are a few twists and turns that will blow your mind.
Qoutes by Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell:
"The eight most terrifying words that any government could say is: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
"Only people in power you trust are the ones who didn't want any in the first place."
"You made an adult decision, now your opportunity to justvbe a kid is gone."
"When you give your word, you do not change it. You stick to the letter of that word until the job is done."
This is a very good book and a great start to what most likely will be a great new series. I really enjoyed this first book and have already started the second. I hope you, too, will enjoy reading this book.
Starship Bandits by Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell is a great sci-fi book that has it all. The action-packed, fast-paced, and fascinating storyline with well-defined characters that you will truly get a kick out of.
Dax, Kane, and Mark are criminals sentenced to be scrappers and find themself swept away to another part of our galaxy and team up with a native race of Orcs to rid their plant of a bug invasion that is stripping their resources and killing off the Dal'no on the planet Dal'no'nuur. There are a few twists and turns that will blow your mind.
Qoutes by Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell:
"The eight most terrifying words that any government could say is: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
"Only people in power you trust are the ones who didn't want any in the first place."
"You made an adult decision, now your opportunity to justvbe a kid is gone."
"When you give your word, you do not change it. You stick to the letter of that word until the job is done."
This is a very good book and a great start to what most likely will be a great new series. I really enjoyed this first book and have already started the second. I hope you, too, will enjoy reading this book.
May 3, 2025
A space garbage ship crew of criminal misfits accidentally salvages an alien ship that takes them back to a homeworld and an adventure worthy of their favorite sci-fi movie heroes. Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell were new to me authors, but one look at the blurb and their book and I signed on for a good-time alien space adventure and I got it in spades.
Starship Bandits is a love affair with alien, sci-fi and action series with its own original three-anti-hero cast who accidentally find themselves in a big alien action adventure that they gleefully embrace.
Dax, Mark, and Kane are condemned prisoners, but in this near future enlightened age, the prison system has come up with a way to help the earth and give prisoners a different way to die. A condemned prisoner can choose to sit in a death row solitary confinement cell and wait out their days staring at a wall or be trapped on a rickety ship orbiting earth collecting up all the space garbage that clutters earth’s orbit. With the poor equipment and uncaring overseer, death by faulty equipment is high.
Dax is a middle-aged former professor with a brilliant mind, Kane is an old former Marine, and Mark is a teenage computer hacker. It’s understood that what got them sentenced was not to be discussed, but Mark being young and full of hubris doesn’t care if they know he’s a conspiracy theorist eco-terrorist who planned to send all the nukes to the moon because, pfft, everyone knows there isn’t really colony of people there. He refuses to listen when Dax and Kane, who happens to be from the Moon, insist there is.
During their latest garbage retrieval, Dax is the one out in his suit latching onto a huge bit of debris when he realizes that he’s got a derelict alien vessel on his hands. All three of them explore and young, impetuous Mark can’t resist poking buttons.
And, that’s how they end up on an alien desert world peopled by an orc-looking race who are barely fending off a ravaging insectoid species. Can the three misfits from earth help the orcs save their world? Stay tuned…
Starship Bandits has that light, swashbuckling style I enjoy in space opera. Jax is the narrator of the story and he was engaging from the start. He’s got little to lose and the prison system boss has no idea that he lost what he cared about already. Only Kane, wise to the ways of fighting and death recognizes Jax is no one to be messed with. Kane’s gruff and his life was all military all the time until one incident ended his career and landed him with the others. Mark was a typical older teen who knows all, is actually quite skilled at technology and keeps their old ship together and their lives though he irritates the heck out of both older men while he’s doing it.
Slowly, these three misfits start to gel as a team and more especially once they are on the alien world where they encounter the Dal’no, who once had a vibrant world and advanced tech which somehow got wiped out and took them back to pre-spaceflight and tech society. They are fighting off the Underbeasts, ferocious insectoids. Dax and the others agree to help in exchange for help getting their ship repaired. The Dal’no have met humans before, but still have their own distinct culture.
It took awhile to get going, but the latter half is pretty exciting stuff and I enjoyed the camaraderie growing as the situation grew more dire. It’s not an intricate plot and doesn’t try to be more than it is- a light alien planet adventure. Starship Bandits finished this adventure, but left room for further adventures with The Junkyard and it’s crew. I am whole-heartedly on board for the rest of the series and recommend to light Space Opera fans.
Narrator Phil Thron was new to me, but his voice and narration style made it easy for me to slip into the story. With three separate main guy characters, he gave them distinct personality which gave further depth to the story. He caught the tone and pacing throughout and I really hope he is the one to further narrate the series.
I rec'd an audio digital from Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.
My full review will post at Books of My Heart on 4.30.25
Starship Bandits is a love affair with alien, sci-fi and action series with its own original three-anti-hero cast who accidentally find themselves in a big alien action adventure that they gleefully embrace.
Dax, Mark, and Kane are condemned prisoners, but in this near future enlightened age, the prison system has come up with a way to help the earth and give prisoners a different way to die. A condemned prisoner can choose to sit in a death row solitary confinement cell and wait out their days staring at a wall or be trapped on a rickety ship orbiting earth collecting up all the space garbage that clutters earth’s orbit. With the poor equipment and uncaring overseer, death by faulty equipment is high.
Dax is a middle-aged former professor with a brilliant mind, Kane is an old former Marine, and Mark is a teenage computer hacker. It’s understood that what got them sentenced was not to be discussed, but Mark being young and full of hubris doesn’t care if they know he’s a conspiracy theorist eco-terrorist who planned to send all the nukes to the moon because, pfft, everyone knows there isn’t really colony of people there. He refuses to listen when Dax and Kane, who happens to be from the Moon, insist there is.
During their latest garbage retrieval, Dax is the one out in his suit latching onto a huge bit of debris when he realizes that he’s got a derelict alien vessel on his hands. All three of them explore and young, impetuous Mark can’t resist poking buttons.
And, that’s how they end up on an alien desert world peopled by an orc-looking race who are barely fending off a ravaging insectoid species. Can the three misfits from earth help the orcs save their world? Stay tuned…
Starship Bandits has that light, swashbuckling style I enjoy in space opera. Jax is the narrator of the story and he was engaging from the start. He’s got little to lose and the prison system boss has no idea that he lost what he cared about already. Only Kane, wise to the ways of fighting and death recognizes Jax is no one to be messed with. Kane’s gruff and his life was all military all the time until one incident ended his career and landed him with the others. Mark was a typical older teen who knows all, is actually quite skilled at technology and keeps their old ship together and their lives though he irritates the heck out of both older men while he’s doing it.
Slowly, these three misfits start to gel as a team and more especially once they are on the alien world where they encounter the Dal’no, who once had a vibrant world and advanced tech which somehow got wiped out and took them back to pre-spaceflight and tech society. They are fighting off the Underbeasts, ferocious insectoids. Dax and the others agree to help in exchange for help getting their ship repaired. The Dal’no have met humans before, but still have their own distinct culture.
It took awhile to get going, but the latter half is pretty exciting stuff and I enjoyed the camaraderie growing as the situation grew more dire. It’s not an intricate plot and doesn’t try to be more than it is- a light alien planet adventure. Starship Bandits finished this adventure, but left room for further adventures with The Junkyard and it’s crew. I am whole-heartedly on board for the rest of the series and recommend to light Space Opera fans.
Narrator Phil Thron was new to me, but his voice and narration style made it easy for me to slip into the story. With three separate main guy characters, he gave them distinct personality which gave further depth to the story. He caught the tone and pacing throughout and I really hope he is the one to further narrate the series.
I rec'd an audio digital from Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.
My full review will post at Books of My Heart on 4.30.25
October 25, 2025
Non-sensible plot and many scenes made no sense at all, like huge chunks of prose were missing. Not enjoyable for me.
July 15, 2025
I didn't manage to turn down my brain functions far enough for the weak plot to pass me by.
The weapons testing scene on the Dalno/Orc planet gave me a headache with flashback to a MBT salvage attempt using IFV salvage equipment gone bad. One that I knew was fubar, said so and was ignored only for the attempt to be made with the result being negative.. As in happily the cable only scythed down a few young trees in its arcing trajectory.. There may have also been a few guys with stained undergarments afterward since being within 1-2 meters of being reaped may even induce such in people who've been stuck sustaining themselves on constipating meals for days.-End Anecdote-
The headache stayed with me the further along I got listening. The many specifically dated (for the setting) popular media references added to the immersion breaking aspects of the book. There were also a few poorly handled/ill conceived scenes that failed to make sense. I couldn't picture what was happening, no movie in my mind.
There is also some very questionable tell not show plot contrivance, after the fact, that makes no sense at all, blatantly so.
On the whole I think the story would have been better with one or more extra editors with a more critical bent who wouldn't pull their punches so to say.
HNF - 2+hours left audiobook.
PS. Audio narration is 5/5
The weapons testing scene on the Dalno/Orc planet gave me a headache with flashback to a MBT salvage attempt using IFV salvage equipment gone bad. One that I knew was fubar, said so and was ignored only for the attempt to be made with the result being negative.. As in happily the cable only scythed down a few young trees in its arcing trajectory.. There may have also been a few guys with stained undergarments afterward since being within 1-2 meters of being reaped may even induce such in people who've been stuck sustaining themselves on constipating meals for days.-End Anecdote-
The headache stayed with me the further along I got listening. The many specifically dated (for the setting) popular media references added to the immersion breaking aspects of the book. There were also a few poorly handled/ill conceived scenes that failed to make sense. I couldn't picture what was happening, no movie in my mind.
There is also some very questionable tell not show plot contrivance, after the fact, that makes no sense at all, blatantly so.
On the whole I think the story would have been better with one or more extra editors with a more critical bent who wouldn't pull their punches so to say.
HNF - 2+hours left audiobook.
PS. Audio narration is 5/5
November 8, 2024
This book has a slow start, which made me wonder if I had guessed wrong about these two new authors and the series I had decided gamble on at Amazon's recommendation. Thankfully, the wondering was put to an end and the contrast of the mundane start with the exciting real story line is stark. I assume the authors meant it this way. New and interesting characters who grow on you, even though I wondered about them at first also. The new characters introduced as the book went along struck me at first like the Tharks from Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs which I read as a kid. These characters are more three dimensional than the Tharks of Burroughs. One of them becomes an interesting character. Overall, the writing of todays space opera novels, at least the ones by new writers I have gambled on, is better than those of the early 1900s and 30s to 50s in the last century. This book proves the point.
this book has a slow start
this book has a slow start
June 3, 2024
Starship Bandits - a review by Rosemary Kenny.
While serving out part of their jail sentences clearing up space debris aboard the aptly-named Junkyard Starship, Dex, Mark and Kane are ordered to take on a task in the Antarctic ...which turns out to be a far scarier adventure than any of them foresaw.
Where do they encounter Orcs?
Jonathan Yanez and Ross Buzzell draw you seamlessly into the team's fight alongside the D'alno, against the so-called Underbeasts. All must undergo major battles for survival, after a blessing from the World Mother to strengthen them...even if not all may survive.
A must for fans of Stargate, read Starship Bandits today, to see what our intrepid new heroes will decide to do next!
June 22, 2024
Fun book and interesting characters
This was a fun book and had really interesting characters. The settings were detailed, the alien creatures nasty and violent which added to the action factor. The action at the end went quickly, but that is good as there would have been a lot more party problems if it had gone on longer due to the sizes of the bugs. I enjoyed seeing the party makeup at the end, that should make for fun future books. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.
This was a fun book and had really interesting characters. The settings were detailed, the alien creatures nasty and violent which added to the action factor. The action at the end went quickly, but that is good as there would have been a lot more party problems if it had gone on longer due to the sizes of the bugs. I enjoyed seeing the party makeup at the end, that should make for fun future books. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.
July 6, 2024
From the annals of Ancient Aliens
My favorite kind of sci-fi adventure story where “the system” works against the regular guys trying to do the right thing but the universe step in and turns things upside down and inside out. Throw in some ancient aliens fallen on hard times, giant bugs, and misunderstandings that lead to solid alliances, and you have a story full of surprises and laughs.
My favorite kind of sci-fi adventure story where “the system” works against the regular guys trying to do the right thing but the universe step in and turns things upside down and inside out. Throw in some ancient aliens fallen on hard times, giant bugs, and misunderstandings that lead to solid alliances, and you have a story full of surprises and laughs.
June 18, 2024
Wow! I really enjoyed this book. The interplay between the humans is spot-on for a soldier, a teacher and a nerdy kid. I also loved the orc people, how they'd fallen from their past brilliance and brought humans in to help them due to our viciousness. Besides, big bugs are always a good enemy. Can't wait for book 2!
September 29, 2024
A good read
A good read I really enjoyed. You learned about the main characters as you read through the story and not a few chapters at the start making it hard to start reading and wanting to read more. Interested now in the rest of the books to catch up on the characters and what they have been up to. Give it a go you could be surprised.
A good read I really enjoyed. You learned about the main characters as you read through the story and not a few chapters at the start making it hard to start reading and wanting to read more. Interested now in the rest of the books to catch up on the characters and what they have been up to. Give it a go you could be surprised.
August 10, 2025
narrated Phil Thorn
Phil Thorn is a great narrator
I have listened to other books that he narrates and enjoyed them.
this book was better than I expected.
a little bit of humor.
not laugh out loud like the book side kicks (also narrated by Phil)
looking forward to the rest of the series
Phil Thorn is a great narrator
I have listened to other books that he narrates and enjoyed them.
this book was better than I expected.
a little bit of humor.
not laugh out loud like the book side kicks (also narrated by Phil)
looking forward to the rest of the series
June 13, 2024
part fantasy and part sci/fi
This book is a mix of fantasy and sci-fi. I found it an entertaining mix. I’m looking forward to the next book.
This book is a mix of fantasy and sci-fi. I found it an entertaining mix. I’m looking forward to the next book.
July 15, 2024
A fun mix of Dune, Starship Troopers, and Tremors.
January 21, 2025
This book did not do it for me. The only female character was written to sound like a moron. Missions to kill the queen space bug. Its stale. Sorry.
October 5, 2025
Corny but entertaining enough.
October 31, 2025
I really don't know how this premise spawned ten books. Suspension of disbelief is sometimes hard, but you need a lobotomy to get through this one.
March 17, 2026
Fun. Diversity. Original.
I enjoyed the entire set. It is satisfying, with danger, adventures, and humor.
The characters are real to me. Love their interactions.
Thanks JY and RB
I enjoyed the entire set. It is satisfying, with danger, adventures, and humor.
The characters are real to me. Love their interactions.
Thanks JY and RB
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews