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Wanted
Josh Gunn detests space pirates. He hunts them down and brings them to justice – one way or another. When he and his android partner Cherry Kang close in on one of the worst, the fireworks start. After the big explosion, they wake up in a different galaxy with their spaceship crashed on an asteroid and shot to smithereens. When they get a derelict spaceship ready to fly with parts from their ruined ship and escape, Josh finds something he hates worse than pirates. Josh Gunn and Cherry Kang intend to hunt every last one of them down and make sure they pay.
- GenresScience FictionAmazon
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 25, 2014
135 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 24, 2018
Wanted ~ Fabulous !!!
I am so hooked on science fiction novels, but I love them even more when there is humour thrown in (and this author does it so well with absolute comedic timing!), and when the characters have been richly developed ~ as they have been done so incredibly well in "Wanted".
Add to this the lovable characters seen here and you have a wonderful combination of a very rich read!
I also have to say that the story line itself is so well crafted and woven together into a complex and utterly compelling path of twists and surprises ~ it is an absolute Must Read for anyone wanting to experience a little bit of everything! Even time travel has a bit of a role to play.
Extremely Well Done!!!
I am so hooked on science fiction novels, but I love them even more when there is humour thrown in (and this author does it so well with absolute comedic timing!), and when the characters have been richly developed ~ as they have been done so incredibly well in "Wanted".
Add to this the lovable characters seen here and you have a wonderful combination of a very rich read!
I also have to say that the story line itself is so well crafted and woven together into a complex and utterly compelling path of twists and surprises ~ it is an absolute Must Read for anyone wanting to experience a little bit of everything! Even time travel has a bit of a role to play.
Extremely Well Done!!!
January 20, 2020
DNF at 34%
It wasn't horrible, but neither was it great. I just had too many problems with the writing style and grammar issues. "Where are you at?" rather than " Where are you? " is a prime example. Things like that drive me crazy but might not bother anyone else. As to the author's style, I had a bone to pick with respect to the dialog. If I am speaking with my daughter, I don't address her by her name every two seconds during our conversation. That's not how people communicate. Unfortunately, that's how the characters repeatedly spoke to each other. That became tedious in record time. In short, this just didn't work for me.
It wasn't horrible, but neither was it great. I just had too many problems with the writing style and grammar issues. "Where are you at?" rather than " Where are you? " is a prime example. Things like that drive me crazy but might not bother anyone else. As to the author's style, I had a bone to pick with respect to the dialog. If I am speaking with my daughter, I don't address her by her name every two seconds during our conversation. That's not how people communicate. Unfortunately, that's how the characters repeatedly spoke to each other. That became tedious in record time. In short, this just didn't work for me.
June 4, 2021
Not a bad read, but one thing did.bother us.
I would have given this 4 stars , but there is one thing that offended me. I don't like torture. I kinda expect it from some villains, but from the good guys? No. Yeah, I know that may seem to be a little naive, but that is my privilege. A little old fashioned perhaps, but I feel we need to return to to some of the values of the old days. We should expect our heroes to be better than the bad guys.
I did finish the book. Good character development, and plenty of action.
My wife tried to get through it, but she was unable to continue when the torture started.
I would have given this 4 stars , but there is one thing that offended me. I don't like torture. I kinda expect it from some villains, but from the good guys? No. Yeah, I know that may seem to be a little naive, but that is my privilege. A little old fashioned perhaps, but I feel we need to return to to some of the values of the old days. We should expect our heroes to be better than the bad guys.
I did finish the book. Good character development, and plenty of action.
My wife tried to get through it, but she was unable to continue when the torture started.
January 13, 2022
Different
This read was humorous intriguing dramatic and hero's found in the likelihood of crazy aliens and humanoids. The snake like creatures intrigued you the most. Have a new type of adventure. I like this storyline a lot. Terry Compton you rock.
This read was humorous intriguing dramatic and hero's found in the likelihood of crazy aliens and humanoids. The snake like creatures intrigued you the most. Have a new type of adventure. I like this storyline a lot. Terry Compton you rock.
January 17, 2019
Good read
Very good book. Hope it's on amazon prime or unlimited. Don't buy books but do use prime and unlimited. Failing that I'm off to our public library.
Very good book. Hope it's on amazon prime or unlimited. Don't buy books but do use prime and unlimited. Failing that I'm off to our public library.
November 6, 2019
Good sci-fi
Well written if a little sophomoric at times, with an interesting cast of characters. Drags a bit in places but overall a fun read
Well written if a little sophomoric at times, with an interesting cast of characters. Drags a bit in places but overall a fun read
January 5, 2024
Good story.
January 3, 2017
This is the first book I've read from Terry Compton. It's pretty light for a hard core science fiction story, but it seems to be targeted at a younger audience, say 10 to 14 years of age. If that is the author's target audience then it makes sense for the book to be light on theory and I'd say it is a 4 star book. However, the book is pretty long for a 12 year old to plow through. In addition, I'm considerably older than 14 so I'm holding to the book to a little higher standard. I assumed when reading this book that it was one of Mr. Compton's earlier works, but as I've done a bit of research it appears to be a sequel series to his Alcantaran series. If that's the case, then the writing hasn't improved all that much since "Alien Abduction (The Alcantarans Book 1)" was written three years earlier.
Pros:
I loved the concept of the story and the overall story-line. Because of the narrative approach to telling the story, it took a long time to emotionally connect with the characters, but once I did they helped to keep me engaged with the story.
Mr. Compton's writing level is simple enough for young readers, all except for the names he throws in. It might be a bit nit-picky but I can't imagine a ten year old trying to sound out and pronounce some of the more difficult names.
Some of the tech was pretty cool, even though it was seldom described in sufficient detail to convince me that it was really feasible from a scientific standpoint.
Cons:
I found quite a number of typographic errors which could have been taken care of with a more thorough edit. I also struggled with some of the grammar. I would have passed off one of my grammatical pet peeves as being the way the characters talked, but I don't think that was the case. First, multiple characters spoke in much the same voice and used exactly the same speech mannerism. Second, the book is written largely in narrative and the narrative uses the same speech mannerism. That being the case, I suspect Mr. Compton has fallen into the trap of writing in his western dialect/accent and like mine it is not always "correct" English. That's why self published authors pay for editors, and there are some issues that the editor(s) should have caught.
There were some events in the story line that received sufficient attention that it seemed they were or would become critical to the story-line. However, after reading all five books in the series, some of these plot elements were left hanging. As one example, Josh and Cherry find a large deposit of "rare earth" minerals worth "trillions" of credits. As the story-line progresses, they find themselves short of funds again and again. Rather than going to a known source of virtually limitless funds, the story tears off in other directions, sometimes relying on dues ex machina solutions. Why go to the effort of a high word count to develop a source of virtually unlimited funds and then never circle back to allow the protagonists to make use of the resource? Originally the find was left untapped to keep it secret from others. As the series progresses through five novels, friends and employees are given access to the asteroid cluster where the treasure resides. No effort is ever made to ensure the secrecy of the mineral cache and yet it is never discovered or used. Bottom line, the story-line arc is not the tightest.
The book relies heavily on the Alcantaran technology to bail the protagonists out of their difficulties. In many instances it provides a dues ex machina rescue that really doesn't hold up to scrutiny. When faced with difficulties the Alcantaran technology is gifted to the protagonists without allowing them to work and struggle for a solution.
I also struggled with a wide range of inconsistencies in regard to the space travel. Travel across the solar system was noted to take days, even when hyperspace jumps were involved. On the other hand, travel across the galaxy or even between galaxies would take place in as little as a day or two.
The other stylistic issue I struggled with was the way the narrative changes point of view, and even scenes, with absolutely no warning. There are a host of devices that can be used to signal a reader that they are about to enter a new scene or that the point of view is about to shift to a different character. Sadly, these cues were missing which made the read rather jarring at times.
Conclusions:
If I had judged this book and ongoing series solely on the story concept, I'd have given it/them five stars. That being said, the story-line is only one part of a book and this one lacked the polish to rise to "I really liked it" or "amazing" status. In spite of the weak points, I did purchase and read the other four books in this series. All were fun, if light science fiction, but all suffered from the detracting factors found in this first book. Younger readers will enjoy the books if their skills are advanced enough to plow through the length. Older readers will enjoy the book if they can set their skepticism aside sufficiently and can overlook editing issues.
Pros:
I loved the concept of the story and the overall story-line. Because of the narrative approach to telling the story, it took a long time to emotionally connect with the characters, but once I did they helped to keep me engaged with the story.
Mr. Compton's writing level is simple enough for young readers, all except for the names he throws in. It might be a bit nit-picky but I can't imagine a ten year old trying to sound out and pronounce some of the more difficult names.
Some of the tech was pretty cool, even though it was seldom described in sufficient detail to convince me that it was really feasible from a scientific standpoint.
Cons:
I found quite a number of typographic errors which could have been taken care of with a more thorough edit. I also struggled with some of the grammar. I would have passed off one of my grammatical pet peeves as being the way the characters talked, but I don't think that was the case. First, multiple characters spoke in much the same voice and used exactly the same speech mannerism. Second, the book is written largely in narrative and the narrative uses the same speech mannerism. That being the case, I suspect Mr. Compton has fallen into the trap of writing in his western dialect/accent and like mine it is not always "correct" English. That's why self published authors pay for editors, and there are some issues that the editor(s) should have caught.
There were some events in the story line that received sufficient attention that it seemed they were or would become critical to the story-line. However, after reading all five books in the series, some of these plot elements were left hanging. As one example, Josh and Cherry find a large deposit of "rare earth" minerals worth "trillions" of credits. As the story-line progresses, they find themselves short of funds again and again. Rather than going to a known source of virtually limitless funds, the story tears off in other directions, sometimes relying on dues ex machina solutions. Why go to the effort of a high word count to develop a source of virtually unlimited funds and then never circle back to allow the protagonists to make use of the resource? Originally the find was left untapped to keep it secret from others. As the series progresses through five novels, friends and employees are given access to the asteroid cluster where the treasure resides. No effort is ever made to ensure the secrecy of the mineral cache and yet it is never discovered or used. Bottom line, the story-line arc is not the tightest.
The book relies heavily on the Alcantaran technology to bail the protagonists out of their difficulties. In many instances it provides a dues ex machina rescue that really doesn't hold up to scrutiny. When faced with difficulties the Alcantaran technology is gifted to the protagonists without allowing them to work and struggle for a solution.
I also struggled with a wide range of inconsistencies in regard to the space travel. Travel across the solar system was noted to take days, even when hyperspace jumps were involved. On the other hand, travel across the galaxy or even between galaxies would take place in as little as a day or two.
The other stylistic issue I struggled with was the way the narrative changes point of view, and even scenes, with absolutely no warning. There are a host of devices that can be used to signal a reader that they are about to enter a new scene or that the point of view is about to shift to a different character. Sadly, these cues were missing which made the read rather jarring at times.
Conclusions:
If I had judged this book and ongoing series solely on the story concept, I'd have given it/them five stars. That being said, the story-line is only one part of a book and this one lacked the polish to rise to "I really liked it" or "amazing" status. In spite of the weak points, I did purchase and read the other four books in this series. All were fun, if light science fiction, but all suffered from the detracting factors found in this first book. Younger readers will enjoy the books if their skills are advanced enough to plow through the length. Older readers will enjoy the book if they can set their skepticism aside sufficiently and can overlook editing issues.
January 6, 2015
An interesting book. It was a bit hard to get into at the start, but later on I was enjoying it immensely. The only problem I have is that sometimes I got a bit confused with what and where, because things were not described as well (or as clearly) as they could have been.
Also, I picked this up as a solo book, but it seems to start right after a significant event, and have quite a bit of backstory I wasn't aware of, and just referenced in passing, but that may be bceause there were earlier books I was unaware of.
Overall though the book was a good read, and I look forward to reading more at some point in the future.
Also, I picked this up as a solo book, but it seems to start right after a significant event, and have quite a bit of backstory I wasn't aware of, and just referenced in passing, but that may be bceause there were earlier books I was unaware of.
Overall though the book was a good read, and I look forward to reading more at some point in the future.
October 28, 2015
A surprisingly good book
A very entertaining although slightly predictable story.
Good character development, great consistency in the story and, like in most memory loss stories, it helps you "remember" and learn things and situations as you progress on the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was not a page turner per se, but as I read it on a plane, I got to read essentially the whole thing in a single sitting.
Entertaining and enjoyable, a very good stand alone book and an intriguing start for a series.
A very entertaining although slightly predictable story.
Good character development, great consistency in the story and, like in most memory loss stories, it helps you "remember" and learn things and situations as you progress on the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was not a page turner per se, but as I read it on a plane, I got to read essentially the whole thing in a single sitting.
Entertaining and enjoyable, a very good stand alone book and an intriguing start for a series.
January 1, 2015
wanted
Just finished this book and realy enjoyed it. Couldn't put it down and can't wait to read more in the series.
Just finished this book and realy enjoyed it. Couldn't put it down and can't wait to read more in the series.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews