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Titan Hoppers #4
Black Cloaks
The Enemies of your enemies...
Iro has left the home fleet to join up with the Black Cloaks, eager for the power and the answers they've promised him. But danger lurks in every corner deep in the TITAN core, and some revelations are more than he can bear. What if he was never a Corsair?
War has come to the Home Fleet and the new Squad Four Home find themselves on the front lines over and over again. Emil fights for his friends and for his ship, but what if Fleet Command isn't trying to win the war?
A new threat lurks in the depths of the TITAN core. Monsters band together, all of them wearing a golden crown. Iro and Emil will soon learn some old enemies are not as dead as they believed.
Black Cloaks is book 4 of 6 of TITAN HOPPERS, an Epic Science-Fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Cradle, Iron Prince, and Star Wars.
Iro has left the home fleet to join up with the Black Cloaks, eager for the power and the answers they've promised him. But danger lurks in every corner deep in the TITAN core, and some revelations are more than he can bear. What if he was never a Corsair?
War has come to the Home Fleet and the new Squad Four Home find themselves on the front lines over and over again. Emil fights for his friends and for his ship, but what if Fleet Command isn't trying to win the war?
A new threat lurks in the depths of the TITAN core. Monsters band together, all of them wearing a golden crown. Iro and Emil will soon learn some old enemies are not as dead as they believed.
Black Cloaks is book 4 of 6 of TITAN HOPPERS, an Epic Science-Fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Cradle, Iron Prince, and Star Wars.
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 29, 2025
155 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Rob J. Hayes
44 books1,936 followersWinner of Mark Lawrence's 3rd Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) with Where Loyalties Lie
Rob J. Hayes has been a student, a banker, a marine research assistant, a chef, and a keyboard monkey more times than he cares to count. But eventually his love of fantasy and reading drew him to the life of a writer. He’s the author of the Amazon Best Selling The Heresy Within, the SPFBO-winning piratical swashbuckler Where Loyalties Lie, and the critically acclaimed Never Die.
Rob J. Hayes has been a student, a banker, a marine research assistant, a chef, and a keyboard monkey more times than he cares to count. But eventually his love of fantasy and reading drew him to the life of a writer. He’s the author of the Amazon Best Selling The Heresy Within, the SPFBO-winning piratical swashbuckler Where Loyalties Lie, and the critically acclaimed Never Die.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 5, 2025
A Disappointing Turn in the Series
This was, unfortunately, the weakest entry in the series so far—and a deeply disappointing read.
The story is bogged down by confusing and sometimes outright baffling decisions, both in plot and character development. Nearly every character feels untouchable, protected by plot armor that drains any real tension from the narrative.
What once was a tightly focused story—primarily told through Emil and Iro with the occasional alternate perspective—has now exploded into so many viewpoints that it’s hard to keep track. The result is a frustrating, disjointed experience that left me more exhausted than engaged.
Iro, once a standout character, now feels sidelined and strangely irritating, which is almost a relief given how unrecognizable he is. Emil didn’t fare much better. Honestly, Alfvin would’ve made a far more compelling protagonist this time around.
By the end, I wasn’t reading because I was enjoying it—I was just pushing through to finish. I’m not even sure what actually happened in this book, and that’s saying something.
A true shame, because I was incredibly excited for this installment. What a disappointment. Fingers crossed on the next one.
This was, unfortunately, the weakest entry in the series so far—and a deeply disappointing read.
The story is bogged down by confusing and sometimes outright baffling decisions, both in plot and character development. Nearly every character feels untouchable, protected by plot armor that drains any real tension from the narrative.
What once was a tightly focused story—primarily told through Emil and Iro with the occasional alternate perspective—has now exploded into so many viewpoints that it’s hard to keep track. The result is a frustrating, disjointed experience that left me more exhausted than engaged.
Iro, once a standout character, now feels sidelined and strangely irritating, which is almost a relief given how unrecognizable he is. Emil didn’t fare much better. Honestly, Alfvin would’ve made a far more compelling protagonist this time around.
By the end, I wasn’t reading because I was enjoying it—I was just pushing through to finish. I’m not even sure what actually happened in this book, and that’s saying something.
A true shame, because I was incredibly excited for this installment. What a disappointment. Fingers crossed on the next one.
September 27, 2025
Deeply disappointed
This series has, of course, had its issues like most more or less self published works do. But it has maintained a pace, growth, and concepts of limitations, trade offs, rather than resorting to brute plot armor and nonsense.
Until this book.
There is always difficulty for an author to contend with super powers, scope and scale and then stakes. Rob gets maybe a D in all of these on this book as he expanded the scope to bring us perspective from the 3 human forces and the obstacles they face. But that deeply diluted the pace and character growth.
The scale stumbled, especially in timeline, armies and environment. And the extreme plot armor, and abandoning any form of limitation for the sake of an overwhelming enemy that just... fizzles out in an anticlimatic moment.
The book sort of just jumps 3, maybe 6 months. And the antagonist just sorta... suddenly has this insane ability. No limitations. No weaknesses. No threshold. This gate 4 guy can dominate pinnacle monsters with their talent, instantly after the 1st one. And while the descriptions show he has to dominate one monster at a time, in 3 months to a year, he has 10s of thousands of monsters. All doubly strong. Creatures a 1st gate can kill, but at 3rd gate their strikes bounce off. Until they need to move the plot along and they are just handled.
The power just becomes extremely inconsistent, mostly convenient to the moment. So we've lost focus, which makes moves and combat just meaningless.
I think the greatest transgression, really, is having that domination talent without a single trade off, without a single limitation, it doubles the power of his minions, and miraculously he has an ENORMOUS army. It must have limitations or it becomes absurd and poorly contrived. It is in the moment that the conflict is insurmountable not because the moment is hopeless, but because the enemy has just been made too absurd to take seriously. Break all the boundaries all at once, and it breaks the immersion, which breaks the suspension of disbelief.
Ultimately, all of the issues with pacing could have been forgiven if there had been a shred of limitation given the antagonist the way every single other character of the exact same paths had severe limitations with any talent. Severe trade offs.
But the watering down of characters, abrupt sequences, plot bludgeoning just deeply harmed the quality of this entry, which had been greatly entertaining up until this point. Especially the last book. But once Rob expanded the scale to take us a step further into the mystery... he just kinda ditched it and we get a whisper of the ocer-arching conflict in favor of what feels like filler of a throw away generic overpowered villain and no real heroic moment and a very rushed climax into a very nonsensical cliff hanger.
It very much stumbled at the end. It did not plant a landing or give a moment of panic. I mean, the final couple pages just came across as a COMPLETELY different fight in a completely different area, and power scales were meaningless again as a 2 for 2 beats a 5 gate equivalent just through bum rushing it, but by all description could have just been a random large beast? The insertion was discointed, the description vague and nonsensical, then the reveal afterwards just poorly executed. The end. 1 line. Then a disjointed nonsensical monster sense perspective that was nonsense too. I guess to set up the next villain.
This definitely floundered. Rob will need to bring some serious focus to the main plot, focus on the characters without getting bogged down totally in their internal voice conflict and spend it more on how they fit into the plot while growing. We just got the weeds this time. I mean, the focus on Mia for 3 books for her to be a footnote all in her entirety here, while spending most of its time on how Emil hates not winning fights, and being ordered to defend. Too much planting, too much repetition, too little growth and character development. Wasting space on minutia
This series has, of course, had its issues like most more or less self published works do. But it has maintained a pace, growth, and concepts of limitations, trade offs, rather than resorting to brute plot armor and nonsense.
Until this book.
There is always difficulty for an author to contend with super powers, scope and scale and then stakes. Rob gets maybe a D in all of these on this book as he expanded the scope to bring us perspective from the 3 human forces and the obstacles they face. But that deeply diluted the pace and character growth.
The scale stumbled, especially in timeline, armies and environment. And the extreme plot armor, and abandoning any form of limitation for the sake of an overwhelming enemy that just... fizzles out in an anticlimatic moment.
The book sort of just jumps 3, maybe 6 months. And the antagonist just sorta... suddenly has this insane ability. No limitations. No weaknesses. No threshold. This gate 4 guy can dominate pinnacle monsters with their talent, instantly after the 1st one. And while the descriptions show he has to dominate one monster at a time, in 3 months to a year, he has 10s of thousands of monsters. All doubly strong. Creatures a 1st gate can kill, but at 3rd gate their strikes bounce off. Until they need to move the plot along and they are just handled.
The power just becomes extremely inconsistent, mostly convenient to the moment. So we've lost focus, which makes moves and combat just meaningless.
I think the greatest transgression, really, is having that domination talent without a single trade off, without a single limitation, it doubles the power of his minions, and miraculously he has an ENORMOUS army. It must have limitations or it becomes absurd and poorly contrived. It is in the moment that the conflict is insurmountable not because the moment is hopeless, but because the enemy has just been made too absurd to take seriously. Break all the boundaries all at once, and it breaks the immersion, which breaks the suspension of disbelief.
Ultimately, all of the issues with pacing could have been forgiven if there had been a shred of limitation given the antagonist the way every single other character of the exact same paths had severe limitations with any talent. Severe trade offs.
But the watering down of characters, abrupt sequences, plot bludgeoning just deeply harmed the quality of this entry, which had been greatly entertaining up until this point. Especially the last book. But once Rob expanded the scale to take us a step further into the mystery... he just kinda ditched it and we get a whisper of the ocer-arching conflict in favor of what feels like filler of a throw away generic overpowered villain and no real heroic moment and a very rushed climax into a very nonsensical cliff hanger.
It very much stumbled at the end. It did not plant a landing or give a moment of panic. I mean, the final couple pages just came across as a COMPLETELY different fight in a completely different area, and power scales were meaningless again as a 2 for 2 beats a 5 gate equivalent just through bum rushing it, but by all description could have just been a random large beast? The insertion was discointed, the description vague and nonsensical, then the reveal afterwards just poorly executed. The end. 1 line. Then a disjointed nonsensical monster sense perspective that was nonsense too. I guess to set up the next villain.
This definitely floundered. Rob will need to bring some serious focus to the main plot, focus on the characters without getting bogged down totally in their internal voice conflict and spend it more on how they fit into the plot while growing. We just got the weeds this time. I mean, the focus on Mia for 3 books for her to be a footnote all in her entirety here, while spending most of its time on how Emil hates not winning fights, and being ordered to defend. Too much planting, too much repetition, too little growth and character development. Wasting space on minutia
August 6, 2025
Eye opening for series fans
So as my title suggest if you’re a fan of this series, this is gonna be eye-opening for you. I won’t explain much else beyond that because I don’t wanna spoil anything, but you learn a lot more about this universe in this world and what shapes it. Naturally with any good book, you’re going to come away with more questions, but you will have some answers when you’re done. I did want to see a bit more character growth here more power. We didn’t get to see that you know I wanted some more gates to open that didn’t really happen but instead, we saw character growth, emotional growth. We saw the foundation for the series expand. You get to see more of the world or the ship. Overall great book can’t wait for the next. I will say this it does take a while for us to get a new book I wish they would come a little sooner from the author. I know they say you can’t rush greatness but you can’t blame a man for trying.
Message to the Author
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Last warning spoiler
I always write a message to the author for the books. I really enjoy. I enjoy this entire series so I have to say something to you about the book. First, I really enjoyed the story. It was really great to see this world grow. To see where others live to see where others come from or in the case of the Raiders to at least hear about where they Lived, and where they came from. At first, I was a little jarred, bouncing from perspective to perspective, but ultimately, I settled into the rhythm. A few things I have to comment on it was clear she was infected. That was almost too obvious. Once I heard it scratch it scratch one or two times I said she’s infected. What’s interesting is what or how she might be cured later even more interesting the specimen at the end I definitely want to know what it is he is that is romance. I’m torn about who I want him to be with. I actually would prefer Wave at the very least. I’m hoping she can rebuild her emotions by opening herself up. I’d hate for her to lose herself just because her talent gets an emotion killed. It was interesting to finally see. Uro discovered that anger was his biggest problem and I like the conviction at the end realizing the true enemy is those the top who need to be taken down so that everybody else can thrive and we can hopefully save the human race. Like I said above in my review man I wish we could get these books in our hands sooner I hate having to wait a year for the next one, but you can’t rush a good book. Thanks for the work of course I leave a review and I can’t wait to read the new series when it drops.
So as my title suggest if you’re a fan of this series, this is gonna be eye-opening for you. I won’t explain much else beyond that because I don’t wanna spoil anything, but you learn a lot more about this universe in this world and what shapes it. Naturally with any good book, you’re going to come away with more questions, but you will have some answers when you’re done. I did want to see a bit more character growth here more power. We didn’t get to see that you know I wanted some more gates to open that didn’t really happen but instead, we saw character growth, emotional growth. We saw the foundation for the series expand. You get to see more of the world or the ship. Overall great book can’t wait for the next. I will say this it does take a while for us to get a new book I wish they would come a little sooner from the author. I know they say you can’t rush greatness but you can’t blame a man for trying.
Message to the Author
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Last warning spoiler
I always write a message to the author for the books. I really enjoy. I enjoy this entire series so I have to say something to you about the book. First, I really enjoyed the story. It was really great to see this world grow. To see where others live to see where others come from or in the case of the Raiders to at least hear about where they Lived, and where they came from. At first, I was a little jarred, bouncing from perspective to perspective, but ultimately, I settled into the rhythm. A few things I have to comment on it was clear she was infected. That was almost too obvious. Once I heard it scratch it scratch one or two times I said she’s infected. What’s interesting is what or how she might be cured later even more interesting the specimen at the end I definitely want to know what it is he is that is romance. I’m torn about who I want him to be with. I actually would prefer Wave at the very least. I’m hoping she can rebuild her emotions by opening herself up. I’d hate for her to lose herself just because her talent gets an emotion killed. It was interesting to finally see. Uro discovered that anger was his biggest problem and I like the conviction at the end realizing the true enemy is those the top who need to be taken down so that everybody else can thrive and we can hopefully save the human race. Like I said above in my review man I wish we could get these books in our hands sooner I hate having to wait a year for the next one, but you can’t rush a good book. Thanks for the work of course I leave a review and I can’t wait to read the new series when it drops.
August 20, 2025
My least favorite in the series. Even if Iro and Emil do have a lot of character growth (which I loved to see), the book focuses a lot on their foils who are childish or entirely emotionally driven and feel flat in comparison. Sure they are kids but the bots are childish too and unlike previous books, there are rarely adults in the room.
The world loses some of its color and we continue to move away from the ships and focus more on what feels like a generic sci-fi fantasy setting. There's still some societal commentary but it doesn't work as well without the fleet and world falling apart around the main characters.
Unlike other books, the author decided to throw in some pop culture references like "my cabbages" which I find a bit annoying but in this case really undercut what was supposed to be an ominous reveal.
The world loses some of its color and we continue to move away from the ships and focus more on what feels like a generic sci-fi fantasy setting. There's still some societal commentary but it doesn't work as well without the fleet and world falling apart around the main characters.
Unlike other books, the author decided to throw in some pop culture references like "my cabbages" which I find a bit annoying but in this case really undercut what was supposed to be an ominous reveal.
July 30, 2025
Athe plot thickens and Iro gets some answers finally
Man what a ride! We get some old characters brought back, a huge looming threat, and some new problems! Iro better get some serious strength soon, and form the looks of it, he will! And let's not forget Team 4 Home! There's stuff going on with them too that will have repercussions going forward! Good stuff and I can't wait for the next one!
Man what a ride! We get some old characters brought back, a huge looming threat, and some new problems! Iro better get some serious strength soon, and form the looks of it, he will! And let's not forget Team 4 Home! There's stuff going on with them too that will have repercussions going forward! Good stuff and I can't wait for the next one!
August 20, 2025
The series keeps getting better and better. I found both Iro and Emil to be less irrational as they grow. It was nice meeting Iro's long-lost sister Neya, as well as getting information about what happened with Mia. Seeing the Black Cloaks was great, and am curious how much of them are left after the monster attacks. I found this book really brought back a lot of loose ends from earlier in the series to great effect.
July 31, 2025
Brilliant
By far his best book yet I love this series only hope the next book releases soon I definitely recommend to anyone who likes action with a hint of romance and a unique power system
By far his best book yet I love this series only hope the next book releases soon I definitely recommend to anyone who likes action with a hint of romance and a unique power system
August 27, 2025
Cannot say much without spoiling. You gotta get a copy. Excellent sequel to book 3! Keeps the energy, the action, and the mysteries coming! Thank you, Rob J. Hayes for another great read. You are an inspiration!!
February 5, 2026
Black Cloaks is the fourth book in Rob J. Hayes’ Titan Hopper series, and while this remains a series I love and will absolutely continue, this instalment left me with mixed feelings.
The writing is as strong as ever — accessible, fast-paced, funny, and highly engaging. However, I struggled at times with Iro. He often felt noticeably different from the character we’ve followed in the first three books, coming across more like a moody, confrontational teenager. Some of his choices were frustrating, particularly when he prioritised awkward social discomfort or nerding out over very real, dangerous situations involving people who had just risked their lives for him.
I also found some of the long-term buildup underwhelming in its payoff. After several books of tension and growth, key moments — including a rescue and a returning villain’s arc — felt anticlimactic, especially as they were quickly overshadowed by a new threat setting up the next book.
That said, there was plenty to enjoy. Emil’s continued growth was great to see, Justice’s internal struggle was compelling, and Toshiko’s storyline absolutely broke my heart 😭.
Despite my criticisms, Rob J. Hayes remains one of my favourite authors, and even a “mixed” entry in this series was still a fun and engaging read. I’m very much looking forward to what comes next.
The writing is as strong as ever — accessible, fast-paced, funny, and highly engaging. However, I struggled at times with Iro. He often felt noticeably different from the character we’ve followed in the first three books, coming across more like a moody, confrontational teenager. Some of his choices were frustrating, particularly when he prioritised awkward social discomfort or nerding out over very real, dangerous situations involving people who had just risked their lives for him.
I also found some of the long-term buildup underwhelming in its payoff. After several books of tension and growth, key moments — including a rescue and a returning villain’s arc — felt anticlimactic, especially as they were quickly overshadowed by a new threat setting up the next book.
That said, there was plenty to enjoy. Emil’s continued growth was great to see, Justice’s internal struggle was compelling, and Toshiko’s storyline absolutely broke my heart 😭.
Despite my criticisms, Rob J. Hayes remains one of my favourite authors, and even a “mixed” entry in this series was still a fun and engaging read. I’m very much looking forward to what comes next.
January 30, 2026
This was a pretty great entry to the series. Yes, Iro takes a little bit of a sideline, but that's because he was with Four Home and their POVs were included with his. Now that Iro is away from his squad, their POVs is crutial to the story. Everyone grows in their abilities and the story progresses nicely. There are some huge reveals, and some confustion but I'm sure those will be resolved in the last 2 books. Bring on book 5. So pumped!
July 29, 2025
The explanations of why the world is the way it is. I love that many of our questions were answered. I wish we could have seen more of Iro training his current though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2025
Another enjoyable entry
Interested to see where the story goes. Lots of unexpected developments. Not my favorite of the series but I'm looking forward to the next one.
Interested to see where the story goes. Lots of unexpected developments. Not my favorite of the series but I'm looking forward to the next one.
August 11, 2025
ACAB includes you, Emil.
September 9, 2025
Another cracking Titan Hoppers installment, loved it.
October 22, 2025
Titan Hoppers is one of my favorite on-going series that I look forward to reading every year. It’s beautifully imaginative, constantly pushes its characters to face progressively more compelling conflicts, has a fast-paced plot that never seems to have a dull moment, and… is just generally super-fun. I’ve almost always read the books right on the day they release (unless I received an ARC, in which case it was before).
However, I wasn’t able to get to Black Cloaks until much later this year. And damnit, I really wish I had read this sooner, because so much happens in this instalment that I slept later than usual every night that I was reading this book. It was simply un-put-down-able.
What I liked:
Okay, so I’m going to spoil everything for the series up until the end of Fleet Champions in the opening paragraphs. If you haven’t read it yet, go read those books then come back.
Iro joined the Black Cloaks in the end of the last book, Fleet Champions. Not only that, he also realizes that Arrow—one of the Black Cloaks who was spying on him during the Tournament—is actually his thought-to-be-dead sister Neya! And Black Cloaks starts off right from that moment. I really appreciate that Rob took the time to let us relish Iro’s relief. Pretty much the first 25-30% of the book is from Iro’s POV only, with the first few chapters just him reconnecting with his sister. The emotional reward of seeing these scenes play out, all the while having Mufar leading them back to the Black Cloaks headquarters was strangely cozy.
But it doesn’t stop there. We get answers, and holy hell those answers were so satisfying. Iro explores the Black Cloak community and culture, slowly learning more about the Titans, the nature of his Current, and human history. Often, books that indulge with world-building tend to meander away, leaving the plot feeling directionless. However, Rob beautifully weaves these world-building scenes into Iro’s story in a way that’s satisfying and rewarding. After three full books of mystery and intrigue, we get the answers we’re owed. Some were expected, others not really, but they definitely change the way you’ll see this series going forward. I’m not going to spoil those because I want you to experience them for yourself.
Continue reading on SFF Insiders…
However, I wasn’t able to get to Black Cloaks until much later this year. And damnit, I really wish I had read this sooner, because so much happens in this instalment that I slept later than usual every night that I was reading this book. It was simply un-put-down-able.
What I liked:
Okay, so I’m going to spoil everything for the series up until the end of Fleet Champions in the opening paragraphs. If you haven’t read it yet, go read those books then come back.
Iro joined the Black Cloaks in the end of the last book, Fleet Champions. Not only that, he also realizes that Arrow—one of the Black Cloaks who was spying on him during the Tournament—is actually his thought-to-be-dead sister Neya! And Black Cloaks starts off right from that moment. I really appreciate that Rob took the time to let us relish Iro’s relief. Pretty much the first 25-30% of the book is from Iro’s POV only, with the first few chapters just him reconnecting with his sister. The emotional reward of seeing these scenes play out, all the while having Mufar leading them back to the Black Cloaks headquarters was strangely cozy.
But it doesn’t stop there. We get answers, and holy hell those answers were so satisfying. Iro explores the Black Cloak community and culture, slowly learning more about the Titans, the nature of his Current, and human history. Often, books that indulge with world-building tend to meander away, leaving the plot feeling directionless. However, Rob beautifully weaves these world-building scenes into Iro’s story in a way that’s satisfying and rewarding. After three full books of mystery and intrigue, we get the answers we’re owed. Some were expected, others not really, but they definitely change the way you’ll see this series going forward. I’m not going to spoil those because I want you to experience them for yourself.
Continue reading on SFF Insiders…
January 30, 2026
I binge read this series, thankful that I had the time to do so. I've talked to my 34 y.o. son and he'd like to read the first book, also. He and I read a lot of the same books.
This book seemed more rushed to me, than the other books. Of course, it is set up with a cliffhanger ending as are a lot of books these days.
Highly recommend.
#bingedbook #TitanHoppersSeries #BlackCloaks #sciencefiction #scifi
This book seemed more rushed to me, than the other books. Of course, it is set up with a cliffhanger ending as are a lot of books these days.
Highly recommend.
#bingedbook #TitanHoppersSeries #BlackCloaks #sciencefiction #scifi
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews