Ep.#3.14 - "Welcome to Paradise"

The Frontiers Saga Part 3꞉ Fringe Worlds #14

by Ryk Brown

Part 3: Episode 14

Singularity is expanding…
The Rangers are keeping busy…
The pirate clans are disappearing…
The Ghatazhak are forced to evolve…

Someone is cleaning up the badlands, removing the major pirate clans from the most developed worlds. Captain Scott and the Free Fleet must determine who is behind the liberations, and if they are an ally, or just another threat to humanity.

"Welcome to Paradise" is the 14th episode in Part 3 of the Frontiers Fringe Worlds.

Genres: Science Fiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2025

About the author

Born in 1960 and raised on an overdose of television, NASA, and science fiction, Ryk Brown has worked as a cook, rock guitarist, stage lighting technician, and paramedic. He currently resides in Northern California with his wife, daughter, and cat. By day he fixes computers, and by night he creates stories.
Having spent his entire life "thinking stuff up", the advent of digital publishing has finally given him an excuse to write it all down and share it with others. ("Others" meaning someone other than his poor wife and daughter.)
A long-time fan of all things science and space, his goal is to write and publish an on-going series of sci-fi adventures. To be set in his own version of humanity's future, his characters will explore the vast reaches of the galaxy, and perhaps even the universe. He invites you all to join him on this journey through his vivid imagination.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it

44 books in and it's still Great!
44 books in and it's still Great!
44 books in and it's still Great!

[Beau · Rating 4 out of 5]

something is off

I like this series and usually give 5 stars. This time the setup for the empire just doesn’t work for me. Everything that the free fleet and Synchronicity have been building in season 3 has been eclipsed by a dude with robots, who thinks he knows what everyone needs.

We need a good bad guy—-the Jung, the Dushanbe, the Alliance. But this one feels OP. We will have to see how it goes.

[Julie Kuhn · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this series!

I have loved this series from the very first book & just when you think that the story might become stale something huge happens and just like that you’re in the thick of chaos all over again, but it’s always different somehow.
There are some subtle hints that trouble is on the way. -‼️Warning! Do not read further with plot giveaways.
The Ghatzack ship and dire repairs needed seems to be leashing up to bad things to come fir the Ghatzack as well as the printing pod( the one the doc has still not been able to back reingeneer in order to reproduce another of its ilk fir the safety of all the people fighting. Which could mean very bad things to come for the a Ghatzack, especially. Losing the Ghatzack ship and all its capabilities would seem like a huge loss. Idk why they wouldn’t choose to repair it while transferring to another ship like the Araura. But I guess we’ll see.
But hers a big problem I have with the ending if this book.
(‼️‼️Again, Seriously… STOP 🛑 READING here!! Plot giveaways.!
To the author— Does Hannah really have no loyalty to the Free Fleet people who saved her life? Would she truly turn on those who have & did give their lives to protect her? But here’s the most confusing piece—what about Hannah’s chip? So I get about isolation and no AICC node to convey a signal when she first woke up and was isolated but now, she’s back in Alliance territory. There would have been AICC nodes way before ever landing on an Alliance planet and definitely once on a planet, so what the heck??? Why didn’t /isn’t her chip conveying realtime views before that landing & definitely before she ever went live with her reporting on the Alliance planet and the activity occurring there? And was she with that “unknown person” up until landing on the Alliance planet and again, why didn’t her chip begin showing that view to those back in the free Fleet (once within range of any AICC node, which would have been long before planet fall, more like as soon as they approached an Alliance gate, not just at the time of approach to a planet? Her chip should have sent a view back to Free Fleet long before she set foot on a planet. I’d imagine she was in the ship with “you know who” before landing and so once again, her chip should have sent what was in her sight “his identity “ back to the fleet.
In fact….all of those Galactic Empire drones, androids, etc all have to be able to communicate with one another so that means some kind of network, which means Hannah’s chip should have worked. So did the “unknown person” remove her chip and she doesn’t know it? Or does she know? The free Fleet friends all be hit hard by this huge betrayal. I just don’t understand the blackout from her chip. 🤷🏻‍♀️ and now…. We’ll have to wait til ~(?) October to find out what the hay is going on! Uuuug!🤦🏻‍♀️ That’s the hardest thing about reading a series as it goes versus waiting until it’s finished, because the latter gives you the opportunity to simply keep reading. There aren’t any waiting periods. But here’s the kicker with that thinking,… I don’t want this series to end. I can see this as limitless. This author is that good at coming up with new storylines, new adventures. Wild situations and ever-changing technology which truly makes for fun and exciting reading. And of course, we all are praying for a movie deal that will surely move to a series. We currently don’t have a tv series with spaceships and this kind of deep characters, storylines and technology on any networks. The fast action fighting scenes would all need to be cinematic. I know who would be a great josh- the Spider-Man actor from Iron man. Wouldn’t he be perfect? He isn’t necessarily the exact visual I have of Josh but I think he could pull off his personality. And that is a doozy. Lol. I wish October weren’t so far away. ☹️

[Mike Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Welcome to Paradise," the 14th in Ryk Brown's third series in the Frontiers Saga, Nathan, Jessica, Gen. Telles and the rest are working to build up their trading network in the Badlands outside Alliance control. They're experiencing a lull in the action, working to further develop linking outlying planets in the human diaspora and improving lives. Their Rangers have mopped up many pirate clans and eliminated quite a few threats to distant space. Yet, another player has entered the field. One that's determined to exterminate any threat of piracy. Ships appear in orbit over various planets with known pirate clans and expertly bomb all known pirate installations and homes belonging to those who work for the shady networks, leaving very little in collateral damage. Nathan's Free Fleet attempts to figure out the identities of the anti-piracy group, but little is discovered. This reads like a buildup, and it doesn't disappoint. Brown's got a big adventure in the works, and Hanna, the long lived journalist, looks like she's going to be playing a featured role.

[Trent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a time I wish there was a way to give 3.5 stars. It’s definitely better than the last book. A new enemy in the storyline is providing new and fresh drama and thank goodness too. I’m definitely intrigued about where this is going. One thing I do want to point out and this is just me nit picking. I’ve noticed in this book and previous books a phrase that keeps repeating itself and I do find it annoying. Whenever in a conversation and Nathan is fact checked or corrected, he always says “Good point”. I get it, he receives information or forgot something and acknowledges it but that phrase “Good point” always seems to be his response and it’s a bit cliche.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paradise indeed

The author has kept this tale spinning for 44 books, taking the reader along on a ride through an ever more complicated galaxy. Just when I think the series is becoming formulaic, a new problem arises, new tech, or a new villain shows up. And just like the other books in the series, it ends with things up in the air or rather up in space. I don't know how long it will take for book 45 to show up, but I will get it to see how Nathan, Jessica, Vlad, Josh, and Aurora handle this threat.

[Beach Bum · Rating 3 out of 5]

How many bad guys

Getting a tad ridiculous now
Appreciate the author has a lot invested in this universe, but in the end you need to accept a storyline has run it's course and move on
This time round a new Emperor appears out of nowhere, annexes numerous world's and then decides to take a shot at the Alliance , all whilst Nathan and the Free Fleet watch from the sidelines
If this were the first book in a series it would be good, unfortunately it's book 14 of a series, which is the 2nd or 3rd series about the same characters
Time to wind this up

[Sam Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Human events in the Galactic future

Ryk Brown is an excellent story teller and possible prognosticator of fantastic possibilities. I appreciate the near total absence of grammatical, sentence structure, and word choice errors, as found in so many ebooks, especially the self-published sort. Wrong homonym choices immediately come to mind. His character development and rational plot development are superior. I await the next episode with bated (not “baited”) breath.

[Leslie Baptiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story as always, unfortunately, it ended on a cliffhanger.

Stories is excellent as always. Characters are still being developed very well and the world building is still great, quite a few twist and turns in this book but from what the author says, it’s going to be finished in the next one. I’m only giving it four stars because it ended in a cliffhanger, I personally do not like cliffhanger.

[Bob Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars as a thank you to the author for many years of happy reading. That said, this series is really over. It's time to relegate it to the pantheon of space operas. What was unique years ago in the early days of Nathan's captaincy has long since become tedious. I'm sorry to say that this long time fan of Frontier Saga has had enough. Thank you, Ryk. I'm done.

[Mordecai · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Favourite Space Opera Returns!

Cheese, cheese, cheese on this one big time but none the less another riveting read.
There is a conversation that kinda makes everything has done pointless.
A new Empire with a new leader (that was cheese) & you know, just know no one is ready for this.
Let’s
See what the next book brings.

[George McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to Paradise

Welcome to Paradise (Frontier Saga Ep 3-14) is an interesting read. You feel as if the story of Captain Scott and his associates was coming to a close. Then the final pages reveal that there is more story yet to tell. Perhaps it is the Alliance Corporate Governance that is at an end.

[christopher kishel · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting twist

I wonder what will happen! I like the twist of the new empire, but I’m curious why he didn’t do this a long time ago. Also curious when we will start exploring other galaxies and encountering aliens! That could bring all the enemies together.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

As well written as every other entry, but lacked much of anything happening action-wise. Other than setting up the next book, this one didn't really carry much of the overall story forward.

That said. The next one feels like it'll be a rip-roaring entry.

[Ellis lee Knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like a cliff hanger

Ryk Brown has done it again! He's ramped up the odds c against the Free Fleet again! There seems to be no controlling this situation. Thank you for keeping me on the edge!!

[Gary Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Saga keeps getting better

5 stars for this exciting episode of Fringe Worlds. This series is one of my favorites and this episode is wild with a cliff hanger ending You will not see coming.

[Kimberly Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read...

It's always nice to be able to catch up with everybody on the Aurora. I always miss the Space Fighting scenes. And the back and forth between Jess and Nathan. Really with all the main characters on the Aurora.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring and questions abound

This has been my least favorite of the series. I hope the next one brings some more excitement. I think this book is full of questions for me. A lot of it doesn't make any sense because it really doesn't line up with the last few books.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

logic issues, like the core being hundreds of thousands of light years away when we already covered milky way is only 100kish light years wide, and random misgenderings seem odd. these honestly seem like AI mistakes.

[Tim Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book in the frontier saga. This one leaves alot toward the next one

[Shawn Traxler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anxiously waiting for the audio of the conclusion.

[Lkilbrith · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story line

Keeps the saga alive in a most interesting style . Can’t wait for the next installment in this long lasting thrill ride