There are reports that hijacked Star Watch personnel are released onto a jungle planet in the Beyond. There, New Men hunt them down like animals with high-powered rifles and killer dogs.
Captain Maddox would check that out, but he’s grounded on Earth and Galyan refuses to let anyone else use Starship Victory.
Valerie goes in a Patrol scout with Keith at helm and the newly young Riker as security.
They stumble onto an ancient conspiracy that started long before humanity was rooting around for tubers on Earth. Somehow, it’s related to what the New Men are doing on the jungle planet.
Valerie will do everything she can to save her hijacked crew from this evil, although she’s alone in the Beyond in an escape pod that is running out of air. If she fails, God help us all.
THE LOST WORLD is book 22 in the Lost Starship series, a star-spanning saga of deadly space war and planetary struggles as told by millions-bestselling author Vaughn Heppner.
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.
Valerie, Ryker & Keith are in the spotlight on this one!👍
This one was very different in that it circled mostly around Valerie, Ryker & Keith rather than Maddox, Galyan & the Victory crew. **Warning-Very vague but might be spoilers: There were some portions that bothered me in this one, like: Ryker going along on a Patrol mission, even though he *needed to make himself scarce on Earth, he simply doesn’t seem to be the best person to put on a *bridge, especially where you’d expect a science expert or scanner tech expert. I mean it’s a patrol ship going to new uncharted and dangerous places. I’d believe him in an ancillary position on the ship for something like security aboard ship and ground forays; but the bridge position where lots of tech & AI skills are needed…? Yeah, not so believable. And since when are ground searches done with a single person, no one to watch your back? Never! Yet, he’s required to do so. And this patrol ship is bigger than the Tinpin which carried up to 8, I think so this one has more space and should have had a marine detail., but we never see or hear anything about them or anyone else in the ship other than the bridge, one instance of a medical doctor and a science doctor, which again, I find to be weird. However, as usual, Ryker was extremely helpful but still the bridge detail was not & still is not his forte. The other conflict that stuck out to me was a discrepancy from book to book. In this one, Galyan claims to not be able to enter a spaceship until the hatch is open, yet we know from previous books that simply isn’t true as he has spied on many crew members of different ships while they were sealed inside their ships in space. Question— if you’re in outer space and routinely, or even rarely sending people to the surface of new, non-scouted planets then wouldn’t it be prudent to have decontamination procedures and a sensor alarm for detected foreign substance as post mission routine for those scout shuttles & crew returning after their mission? That just seems obvious. Right? I also found myself scanning words and sentences in this one, which I usually never do with this author/storyline. It happens to be one of those books that is extra wordy in places. Which I either don’t usually notice or this one simply has more word padding. At least in IMO. I do like the end and how it feels like Maddox may be trying to be less strict, less NewMan and more human, as well as outwardly showing his crew his appreciation. That’s all new territory for him but it’ll make the Victory crew stronger & it sounds like they’ll need it as forces from different directions-the New Men, Leviathan, Yon Soth & even from headquarters are building & scheming as threats to Maddox, the crew and humanity. But the crew of Victory is a family and they’ll stand strong and together to fight against evil and to protect humanity. Love these characters! Can’t wait for the next book! I’m anticipating some New Man conflict and payback.
This was an interesting story because it wasn't wholly about Captain Maddox. It was rather about the story's crew members, namely: L.C. Valerie Noonan, Keith Maker, and Sgt. Riker. Ven without the leadership and prowl of Captain Maddox, his subordinates seem have managed the handle thing well on their own. Surviving the pocket universe an the entity there, but the New Men and the being captured by the 'Bloodtooth' crew, they showed how capable they are without Captain Maddox. Great story!
The Lost Starship Series has finally confirmed what many of us have known from the start. Starship Victory may seem to be military based but in reality it’s much more like that of a ‘family!’ Each member of the men & women that serve to crew Victory plays an important role in this fantastic Sci-Fi series. Created by Vaughn Heppner, I recommend this Sci-Fi for all ages of Sci-Fi readers!
Ack! Who wrote this? The characters have the same names, but their simple-minded sophomoric interactions with each other and unnatural behavior mixes with a senseless plot like curdled milk. I have been a long time Vaughn Heppner fan and this does not feel like his writing to me. Just not a good read.
Slow and way out there creating an alternative reality in the first part of the book. It started to come together about halfway through. Then it pick up the pace and did a good job of bringing the story home.
I always enjoy the Lost Star ship books. This was especially fun to read with Valerie and Riker carrying so much of the story line. I excitedly await the next episode.
Did not like the split up of the crew. Yet the last twenty percent of the book was good with Victory. Riker story was kind of slow. This is probably my least favorite in the series.
My lowest rating of all Starship series. Writing and plot lines seemed disjointed not the norm for previous books. First 80% related to Valerie and Riker exploits with no interconnection. Windup after big battle was kinda a "huh". Not the best Heppner.
The story begins with Valerie, Keith and Riker on a patrol mission of their own. It devolves into the type of crisis we have come to expect in the beyond. Having escaped a strange pocket universe, they run into a New Man starship and are separated.
This is an amazing look into three of Maddox's trusted crew members. You get to learn more about Riker, Keith, and Valerie. A must-read for fans of 'Lost Starship Series' Looking forward to the xt epic adventure!
A slightly different spin on the saga with focus on a smaller team but then all brought together again. Great continuation of the Saga and looking forward to more independence from Earth for the crew.
This was a nice change of pace for the author Vaughn Heppner. I really enjoyed getting into depth with some of the other characters. This was a very satisfying iteration of the lost starship series. Thank you.
Thanks, Vaughn. I register your story of Captain !added and crew. I was pleased when the last 5 books showed up on my reader, ready to enraptured me again.