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Messenger Corps #1
Messenger Corps
After centuries of peace, the Cygnus Realm has changed.
And not in a good way.
Dash Sawyer, the original Messenger and humanity's champion in two brutal, star-spanning wars, is long gone. So are his most trusted colleagues, and with them, their noble and storied mechs, ancient, towering war-machines of unmatched power. They have long since been replaced by newer, flashier weapons under the control of officers who call themselves the Superba--genetically enhanced humans who arrogantly consider themselves the next step in humanity's evolution.
Obsessed with power, and pageantry, and the appearance of warriors, the Superba—led by Darius Spann—will stop at nothing to gain total control over the systems living under the Realm banner.
But on a backwater world covered with fields of grain, a young man makes a discovery that will change the universe forever—for he is no ordinary youth.
He is a direct descendant of The Messenger.
Lawson Oddsmaker awakens an ancient weapon, long hidden by the very people who built the Realm, and that weapon has a simple request of him.
Prepare for war. Rally the people.
And above all else, turn the Realm back into a place of true justice, and real peace.
Can Lawson heed the call?
Only the stars know. But soon,the Cygnus Realm will know as well, as the new Messenger begins his ascent to continue the wishes of noble people from the depths of time.
Prepare for war.
Lawson has one answer to that request.
Challenge accepted.
And not in a good way.
Dash Sawyer, the original Messenger and humanity's champion in two brutal, star-spanning wars, is long gone. So are his most trusted colleagues, and with them, their noble and storied mechs, ancient, towering war-machines of unmatched power. They have long since been replaced by newer, flashier weapons under the control of officers who call themselves the Superba--genetically enhanced humans who arrogantly consider themselves the next step in humanity's evolution.
Obsessed with power, and pageantry, and the appearance of warriors, the Superba—led by Darius Spann—will stop at nothing to gain total control over the systems living under the Realm banner.
But on a backwater world covered with fields of grain, a young man makes a discovery that will change the universe forever—for he is no ordinary youth.
He is a direct descendant of The Messenger.
Lawson Oddsmaker awakens an ancient weapon, long hidden by the very people who built the Realm, and that weapon has a simple request of him.
Prepare for war. Rally the people.
And above all else, turn the Realm back into a place of true justice, and real peace.
Can Lawson heed the call?
Only the stars know. But soon,the Cygnus Realm will know as well, as the new Messenger begins his ascent to continue the wishes of noble people from the depths of time.
Prepare for war.
Lawson has one answer to that request.
Challenge accepted.
- GenresScience Fiction
558 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2024
476 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
J.N. Chaney
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 24, 2025
Way back in 2020, I started reading a series titled, “The Messenger”. I read four books in that series and don’t know why I didn’t continue reading it. After reading my old reviews, I was pretty much into the series so I don’t know if the fifth book hadn’t been published or what, but I didn’t continue reading some very good books. Now it appears that a long, long time has passed and the Messenger(s) in those older books had died out not only in body but in original purpose.
It seems that the original Messenger, Newton Sawyer, a.k.a. “Dash” knew that his kind were not always going to run the show in his new realm. He had defeated all the current threats to the galaxy, but Dash knew that danger could come from within. So, he passed on his thoughts and a plan to his successor, Conover. You’ll read a little about him in the back of this book. That short story tells about what he did to execute Dash Swayer’s plan and how the role of the Messenger has now changed in ways Dash Sawyer specifically didn’t want but expected it to go.
So now we’re many, many hundreds of years beyond the original Dash Sawyer and the Messenger. The galaxy has changed and so have the people. There’s a new type of human that call themselves the Superba and they have in fact been genetically engineered to be better than the “Ordinaries”, or regular humans. Now a Superba, Darius Spann, had just been elected to the role of Messenger for the Empire by the ruling council. He was now in power, but he wanted more and one way to get that was through ruling the ruling council. All he had to do was make sure the majority was populated by Superbas like him. There was an old Ordinary that was seemingly near death and once that seat was vacated, Spann planned to put one of his cronies in that chair. Only problem was, the guy had a daughter, Serena Tremont, and she would be expected to fill that chair once her father passed.
Then word came that the elder Tremont had died. Now Darius Spann had to make sure that Serena Tremont never made it back to Kingsport and fill that vacant seat on the Council. He sent his minions to deal with her one way or another. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to two young men on Hustanal’s World, an agricultural planet. Lawson Sawyer and his friend Mustaf were out in the field looking for a long lost granary. They knew of a kind of hidden hill that they had seen on several occasions so they headed out towards it. Once they discovered the hidden hill was actually the old granary, they went inside only to find writings on the old walls that stated, “Remember the Five. Remember the one true.” This was alluding to the former original Messenger and his friends. It just so happens that Lawson Swayer is a distant relative of the original Newton (Dash) Swayer.
Lawson and Mustaf didn’t think much of the writings on the wall since that stuff was ancient history to them. The Messenger was now a political position and didn’t really have anything to do with the original Messenger. That original Messenger was viewed by young kids like Lawson and Mustaf as some kind of super hero doing good for the galaxy. Little did Lawson Sawyer know that he was kind of being lead to this location and would soon be finding his entire life changing.
As Lawson was stumbling through the old granary he tipped over a piece of metal sticking up from the dirt. He didn’t think anything of it until he heard this voice seemingly coming from the walls saying that he had tripped a trigger only a dependent of Newton Sawyer could have done. What he had stumbled upon was nothing other than the Sentinel. The Archetype that had been the mecha used by the original Dash Swayer when he was saving the universe. He now has the opportunity to meld with the Sentinel and become the new Messenger, the real Messenger. But will he do it. He’s just a farmer’s son and just out of high school. What does he know about any of this stuff.
Well, you’re about to find out that the Messenger is back and he’s going to be doing much the same as he has done in the past. There’s a lot of intrigue, fast pasted action and certainly war fighting in Lawson Sawyer’s future. I found this book very exciting and had a hard time putting it down each night.
I’m obviously looking forward to the next book, “Cold War”, now available on Amazon.
It seems that the original Messenger, Newton Sawyer, a.k.a. “Dash” knew that his kind were not always going to run the show in his new realm. He had defeated all the current threats to the galaxy, but Dash knew that danger could come from within. So, he passed on his thoughts and a plan to his successor, Conover. You’ll read a little about him in the back of this book. That short story tells about what he did to execute Dash Swayer’s plan and how the role of the Messenger has now changed in ways Dash Sawyer specifically didn’t want but expected it to go.
So now we’re many, many hundreds of years beyond the original Dash Sawyer and the Messenger. The galaxy has changed and so have the people. There’s a new type of human that call themselves the Superba and they have in fact been genetically engineered to be better than the “Ordinaries”, or regular humans. Now a Superba, Darius Spann, had just been elected to the role of Messenger for the Empire by the ruling council. He was now in power, but he wanted more and one way to get that was through ruling the ruling council. All he had to do was make sure the majority was populated by Superbas like him. There was an old Ordinary that was seemingly near death and once that seat was vacated, Spann planned to put one of his cronies in that chair. Only problem was, the guy had a daughter, Serena Tremont, and she would be expected to fill that chair once her father passed.
Then word came that the elder Tremont had died. Now Darius Spann had to make sure that Serena Tremont never made it back to Kingsport and fill that vacant seat on the Council. He sent his minions to deal with her one way or another. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to two young men on Hustanal’s World, an agricultural planet. Lawson Sawyer and his friend Mustaf were out in the field looking for a long lost granary. They knew of a kind of hidden hill that they had seen on several occasions so they headed out towards it. Once they discovered the hidden hill was actually the old granary, they went inside only to find writings on the old walls that stated, “Remember the Five. Remember the one true.” This was alluding to the former original Messenger and his friends. It just so happens that Lawson Swayer is a distant relative of the original Newton (Dash) Swayer.
Lawson and Mustaf didn’t think much of the writings on the wall since that stuff was ancient history to them. The Messenger was now a political position and didn’t really have anything to do with the original Messenger. That original Messenger was viewed by young kids like Lawson and Mustaf as some kind of super hero doing good for the galaxy. Little did Lawson Sawyer know that he was kind of being lead to this location and would soon be finding his entire life changing.
As Lawson was stumbling through the old granary he tipped over a piece of metal sticking up from the dirt. He didn’t think anything of it until he heard this voice seemingly coming from the walls saying that he had tripped a trigger only a dependent of Newton Sawyer could have done. What he had stumbled upon was nothing other than the Sentinel. The Archetype that had been the mecha used by the original Dash Swayer when he was saving the universe. He now has the opportunity to meld with the Sentinel and become the new Messenger, the real Messenger. But will he do it. He’s just a farmer’s son and just out of high school. What does he know about any of this stuff.
Well, you’re about to find out that the Messenger is back and he’s going to be doing much the same as he has done in the past. There’s a lot of intrigue, fast pasted action and certainly war fighting in Lawson Sawyer’s future. I found this book very exciting and had a hard time putting it down each night.
I’m obviously looking forward to the next book, “Cold War”, now available on Amazon.
December 2, 2024
This was decent enough. I love these two authors and what they bring to the indie scifi world, so I knew I'd like it. It's not my favorite, though. The main character is a little whiney - Jeffrey Kafer did an excellent job of portraying a teenager who gets put into one of those "save the world" situations. He's too young to do it, but all the adults insist that he do it. This reeks of classic YA where teenager has to defy all the big bad adults and do insurmountable things to save the world.
Ok, been there done that. I didn't expect that. And honestly, it does color my view somewhat.
However. It was a decent story with a bad guy - conveniently dispatched - and the build up to that had me paying attention. I can usually get through one of these in about 2 days - this took 2 weeks! But I was busy with a lot of things where I couldn't listen, so no fault of the book. I'll be interested to see how the series goes. I'll read the next book at least, and keep going if it lives up to expectations. I have high hopes.
Ok, been there done that. I didn't expect that. And honestly, it does color my view somewhat.
However. It was a decent story with a bad guy - conveniently dispatched - and the build up to that had me paying attention. I can usually get through one of these in about 2 days - this took 2 weeks! But I was busy with a lot of things where I couldn't listen, so no fault of the book. I'll be interested to see how the series goes. I'll read the next book at least, and keep going if it lives up to expectations. I have high hopes.
November 20, 2024
Golden
I thought this book started out kinda of slow, but I knew with these authors that it would be great. Golden it didn’t disappoint. You see the old characters in the new ones!
Lawson has his hands full being the new Messenger but he has plenty of support like Dash did.
Make sure you read the bonus short story at the end.
I’m impatiently waiting for the next book.
Enjoy!
I thought this book started out kinda of slow, but I knew with these authors that it would be great. Golden it didn’t disappoint. You see the old characters in the new ones!
Lawson has his hands full being the new Messenger but he has plenty of support like Dash did.
Make sure you read the bonus short story at the end.
I’m impatiently waiting for the next book.
Enjoy!
December 23, 2024
A Pleasant Surprise
The Messenger series was exciting and informative, and my first foray into Chaney/Maggert writing. I enjoyed the series and it was a refreshing experience to find this second series built off the original. Good character and background development, interesting plot, and an ending that resolves the immediate actions and leaves the future open for the next installment.
The Messenger series was exciting and informative, and my first foray into Chaney/Maggert writing. I enjoyed the series and it was a refreshing experience to find this second series built off the original. Good character and background development, interesting plot, and an ending that resolves the immediate actions and leaves the future open for the next installment.
February 7, 2025
Another great series variant publications
The was a long time coming for me.which of other series to finish before I got the chance to read this one. Like several of the other series it took a little while to get to the action in this first book, because of some needed world building but it was fast paced and action packed from there on.
The was a long time coming for me.which of other series to finish before I got the chance to read this one. Like several of the other series it took a little while to get to the action in this first book, because of some needed world building but it was fast paced and action packed from there on.
October 31, 2024
great read
Thoroughly enjoyed Messenger Corps, it’s a great follow on from the Messenger series, although stands well in its own. Definitely meets the high standard I’ve come to expect from these Authors.
Thoroughly enjoyed Messenger Corps, it’s a great follow on from the Messenger series, although stands well in its own. Definitely meets the high standard I’ve come to expect from these Authors.
November 6, 2024
Messenger Corps
The story line is very good, but the length of time it takes to read the back story is long. Which makes this one of the worse beginnings to a series that I have read in a long time. Not sure I will buy the next book.
The story line is very good, but the length of time it takes to read the back story is long. Which makes this one of the worse beginnings to a series that I have read in a long time. Not sure I will buy the next book.
November 17, 2024
Good read but it has issues
This really could have used several proof reads. Instead you get lots of missing "of", "to", "the", and other words that make it more readable. Started out really slowly with all the political maneuvering crap and took a while to pick up.
This really could have used several proof reads. Instead you get lots of missing "of", "to", "the", and other words that make it more readable. Started out really slowly with all the political maneuvering crap and took a while to pick up.
December 18, 2024
what a. delightful surprise
I was so surprised when I realized this was a continuation of another story! It’s generations later but with the same awesome mechs! Great return to this universe.
I was so surprised when I realized this was a continuation of another story! It’s generations later but with the same awesome mechs! Great return to this universe.
February 21, 2025
I liked this book from beginning to end. It was a well-balanced book. The characters felt like they were right there with you. In some of them, you just wanted to slap them hard.
I hope to start the next book soon.
I hope to start the next book soon.
March 17, 2025
An amazing start to a new series.
Absolutely brilliant military sci-fi action.
Great characters with realistic situations and lots of action.
I might have to go back and re-read the first series after reading the extra novella at the end.
I look forward to more from this series.
Absolutely brilliant military sci-fi action.
Great characters with realistic situations and lots of action.
I might have to go back and re-read the first series after reading the extra novella at the end.
I look forward to more from this series.
Read
November 7, 2024Great book, and I am sure this will be another great series by JN Channey!
January 1, 2025
Yuck
Absolute dreck. Star Wars meets Transformers and not in a good way. Don't waste your time. Couldn't finish it and won't be reading more of this.
Absolute dreck. Star Wars meets Transformers and not in a good way. Don't waste your time. Couldn't finish it and won't be reading more of this.
March 5, 2025
Very food read
Read this in one sitting . Good storyline and keep me turning the pages can not wat for the next one
Read this in one sitting . Good storyline and keep me turning the pages can not wat for the next one
March 22, 2025
Great follow up
Really liked how the story was told from multiple perspectives. It was a banger of a journey and written beautifully.
Really liked how the story was told from multiple perspectives. It was a banger of a journey and written beautifully.
April 4, 2025
Good Story
Frustrating lead sometimes. But that's only because I wanted to strangle him sometimes. Good grief. Not sure what I was expecting from a farm kid. Lol
Frustrating lead sometimes. But that's only because I wanted to strangle him sometimes. Good grief. Not sure what I was expecting from a farm kid. Lol
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews