Retribution

by J.N. Chaney, Jonathan P. Brazee, Thomas Webb

The fight for Genesian independence rages on.

Following a brutal personal betrayal and a harrowing escape from the base of operations that also served as his home, Aiden Thorn, Genesian phalanx leader and newly minted ambassador of the Genesian people, is sent on a critical mission. Once there, he discovers that humanity has enlisted the aid of a ruthless military leader, one whose harsh and unrelenting tactics could threaten the Genesians’ very existence.

With a new commander revitalizing the forces arrayed against them, the Deimer, Genesian, and Vail alliance is on the defensive. As their enemies close in, the Genesian’s chances look slim… until a seemingly insignificant piece of intel points them in the direction of a critical target; one that could allow them to break the back of humanity’s latest offensive.

Aiden and his phalanx are immediately given a new and deadly assignment; a mission that will culminate in one of the most vicious and horrifying battles they have ever fought.

Experience the thrilling third installment in the bestselling series from J.N. Chaney, Jonathan Brazee, and Thomas Webb. If you're a fan of gritty military scifi action and characters who refuse to quit, you'll love this series.

361 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2025

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Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aiden Thorn and the rest of the Genesians were recovering from the awful discovery that one of their own had betrayed them. Magdalene Magri-Parker (MP) had been a Genesians from the beginning. She seemed to be like all the rest of them, happy to still be alive, but still getting used to being in a mostly metal body. Unfortunately, MP wasn’t feeling like every one thought. She hated her new body and really longed to be back in a real human body. Someone had told her that could be done and with that hope, she betrayed her fellow Genesians getting a lot of them needless killed. But they had found her out and had delta with her and now the few real friends she had were lamenting her loss in the local bar.

The Genesians were now totally dependent on the Deimers for practically everything they had. It was the Deimers that had initially rescued the Genesians from their bondage by the Lakshmi-Kitai Corporation on the planet Hathor, but in doing so, the Deimers had killed a lot of humans. These Deimers were all Androids, not any part of them were human or as they said, “meat”. Yet, they knew that the Genesians did contain parts of their bodies that were still human. They seemed to let that slide for now as long as the Genesians were available to aid in their pending war with all humans.

Aiden and his fellow Genesians didn’t necessarily want a war with humanity. They really just wanted to be left alone and treated with like humans that they felt they still were. Most of the troubles they had encountered were misread by the human population or reported wrong by the news agencies. It wasn’t known by Aiden or any of the other Genesians that the Deimers had orchestrated most of these terrible events that were blamed on the Genesians. But, now they couldn’t do anything about that even if they knew. The Deimers were very powerful and only giving Aiden glimpses of how much power they had. They didn’t have any qualms about going up against all humanity believing they could win a war and eradicate all humans if necessary. That kind of power stun Aiden, but from talking to Piotr, his Deimer liaison, he got bits and pieces of how powerful the Deimers really were.

And Aiden and his Genesians had been training to become a force for the Deimers. They had to in order to payback most everything the Deimers had given them. Now living on a huge destroyer, the *Goliath*, Aiden got the call that they had a mission again. The Deimers needed their assistance in rescuing a group of their own that had been captured. The *Goliath* and the contingency of Genesians were the closest unit to where the captives were being held so they were calling on the Genesians to go in and rescue their troops. Aiden knew he didn’t have much grounds to refuse a mission since they had to payback the Deimers for their continued support, so he rallied his troops under Soren Ten and took on this mission.

So, this mission didn’t seem to be too challenging give what intelligence he received from the Deimers. Once on the ground, the attack plan went as they expected, although they hadn’t expected to see some very capable Legionnaires of the Troupes de la République defending the buildings holding the Deimer captives. They were fighting very hard, much harder than normal troops and Aiden’s Genesians were having a hard time putting them down. Still, he managed to rescue the trapped Deimers and started back to the pickup point. That’s when the Deimer Navy called to tell him they were under attack and couldn’t come down to pick them up. This apparently this mission had turned into a trap!

Obviously, Aiden and his Genesians survived the mission and got back aboard the *Goliath*. There they continued to question why the mission had almost gone south and why the Deimers hadn’t provided more help. They got very few answers. Meanwhile, Aiden was in a serious relationship with Liz, another Genesian who he had met immediately after he had woke up in the hospital to find himself now in a metal body. They had fallen for each other and were now living together. Liz was one of the ranking Quorum Members, the governing council of the Genesians. She had access to everything that was going on with the Genesians and Dr. Sengupta, the one who figured out how to create the Genesian body as a means to saving lives. He and most of his staff had fled humanity with the Genesians because he saw them as humans and wanted to further their development. Liz had mentioned that Genesians could and did have children. She took Aiden down to the labs to show him some of the very first Genesian children or babies as they were now.

Ok, this is a part of the story where I get confused. Why in the world would Genesian babies have to be placed in a metal shell upon birth? This is ridiculous. By the description in this book, these babies are created by using DNA from each parent and then developed as embryos. They shouldn’t be any reason these “babies” wouldn’t be normal, healthy babies and not have gone through the traumatic experience as their parents did. I think this whole part of the book is just dumb! Of course Liz is going to pressure Aiden to agree to first get married and then to have a baby! This is all idiotic! The author just needs to get on with the story!

And he eventually does, but the more the Genesians go to war, the more they find out that the Deimers are not giving them the best intel about what they are going to face. It seems as if the Deimers don’t care if the Genesians are wiped out or their numbers drastically reduced, just as long as they do what they are told. But, Aiden manages to find other allies that the doesn’t tell the Deimers about until later. These allies have an uncanny knack of coming to the Genesians rescue at the most opportune time!

Ok, obviously this isn’t the last book in the series. Book 4, “Affliction”, is now available on Amazon and it’s on my reading list.
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[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]

[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still grim, but not as dystopian

A lot keeps happening to Aiden Thorn that nearly does him in. The growing signs of humanity hating them with the baseless & unreasoning vitriol seems to be building faster than they could expect. Even being aware of how many utter fabrications their enemies are making as they spin everything until not even a semblance of truth remains doesn’t explain it.

While suspicious of how much he isn’t telling him, Aiden is of course unaware of the nasty machinations Piotr is planning with his superiors. Obviously the reader is forced to guess about how horrible things may become before the Genesians can find out.

[Alun Roger Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here we go the truth always comes out in the end

Yes this story is still holding my attention and is a fascinating tale of perhaps the future of mankind. Looking forward to the next book and perhaps the Gennies finding technology to convert them back to human form Intetsting concept init

[Bill Lents · Rating 5 out of 5]

Androids and Half Meats ???

The story has brought out new allies and enemies. It keeps getting more interesting as it moves along. Keeping me guessing as to what is next in store for the Gennies.

[GREGG CORDELL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

This was another good book in the series. There was plenty of action and war against the humans . On the other side I call them half humans are still being used but I think they are starting to figure that out now. Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Michael Kuhno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I'm hooked.
Book 3 was great.

Already reading Book 4.

[Michael Hackerott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Story

This was a good story. However, i struggled at times with all the personal drama of the main characters. I am stilll looking forward to the next book in the series.