What do you think?
Return to the Galaxy #4
Explore the Galaxy
Explore the Galaxy
The sky is on fire. Nuclear firestorms rip through towns and villages. Ranid Marines descend through the ash, armored mandibles slick with human flesh.
Admiral Velal Farn commands the last great Saret fleet. Every hesitation costs thousands of lives. Every mistake could doom millions when another Wild Colony burns. Attack too soon, and she may lose everything.
On the Orion frontier, Ewan Scott uncovers the truth. The lost colonies aren’t havens. They’re slave pits, hunting grounds, killing fields. To save them, he must fight enemies with spears and chariots… and enemies with dreadnoughts.
The Orion Federation is rising. The Ranid are hunting. Humanity stands in their path, untested, outnumbered, but unwilling to kneel.
If you love Jasper T. Scott’s alien wars, Craig Martelle’s space fleets, or Scott Bartlett’s high-stakes battles, Explore the Galaxy will be your next obsession. Packed with ruthless enemies, desperate survival, and characters you’ll never forget.
One-click now and join the fight.
The sky is on fire. Nuclear firestorms rip through towns and villages. Ranid Marines descend through the ash, armored mandibles slick with human flesh.
Admiral Velal Farn commands the last great Saret fleet. Every hesitation costs thousands of lives. Every mistake could doom millions when another Wild Colony burns. Attack too soon, and she may lose everything.
On the Orion frontier, Ewan Scott uncovers the truth. The lost colonies aren’t havens. They’re slave pits, hunting grounds, killing fields. To save them, he must fight enemies with spears and chariots… and enemies with dreadnoughts.
The Orion Federation is rising. The Ranid are hunting. Humanity stands in their path, untested, outnumbered, but unwilling to kneel.
If you love Jasper T. Scott’s alien wars, Craig Martelle’s space fleets, or Scott Bartlett’s high-stakes battles, Explore the Galaxy will be your next obsession. Packed with ruthless enemies, desperate survival, and characters you’ll never forget.
One-click now and join the fight.
- GenresScience Fiction
491 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 6, 2025
About the author
BA Gillies
12 books23 followersAbout the Author
Harry Potter Had It So Easy!
BA Gillies didn’t start life in a huge cupboard under the stairs like Harry Potter.
He had it tougher, he began life in a kitchen drawer. Literally.
With the only cot his family could afford claimed by his older sister, newborn Brian spent his first few weeks tucked inside a repurposed cutlery drawer. Occasionally, someone remembered to open it and feed him, though he prefers not to talk about the mess.
Growing up with four siblings taught him to fight for space. Perhaps that’s why he now writes about bigger battlefields. His stories are fast-paced, strategy-driven Military Sci-Fi and Space Opera, where elite soldiers, cunning commanders, and alien warlords clash across the galaxy.
Since escaping the cutlery drawer, BA Gillies has lived in four countries and travelled to over 80. A highlight was hitchhiking solo for months across America in his kilt aged 22. This earned him strange looks, good friends and great stories.
A lifelong student of history, he’s fascinated by how empires rise and fall. Whether it’s ancient Rome, Napoleon, or a star-spanning federation, one thing holds true. Good strategy wins.
Fans of David Weber’s tactical genius, Rick Partlow’s explosive action, or John Scalzi’s sharp wit will feel right at home in his universe.
He looks forward to seeing you there.
His books and stories have won multiple sci-fi awards.
The London Book Festival 2025 Winner
The Los Angeles Book Awards 2025 First Runner Up
The New England Book Festival 2024 Winner
Literary Titan Gold Award
Pinnacle Books Gold Award
Literary Global Gold Award
Literary Titan Silver Award
Firebird Book Award
Harry Potter Had It So Easy!
BA Gillies didn’t start life in a huge cupboard under the stairs like Harry Potter.
He had it tougher, he began life in a kitchen drawer. Literally.
With the only cot his family could afford claimed by his older sister, newborn Brian spent his first few weeks tucked inside a repurposed cutlery drawer. Occasionally, someone remembered to open it and feed him, though he prefers not to talk about the mess.
Growing up with four siblings taught him to fight for space. Perhaps that’s why he now writes about bigger battlefields. His stories are fast-paced, strategy-driven Military Sci-Fi and Space Opera, where elite soldiers, cunning commanders, and alien warlords clash across the galaxy.
Since escaping the cutlery drawer, BA Gillies has lived in four countries and travelled to over 80. A highlight was hitchhiking solo for months across America in his kilt aged 22. This earned him strange looks, good friends and great stories.
A lifelong student of history, he’s fascinated by how empires rise and fall. Whether it’s ancient Rome, Napoleon, or a star-spanning federation, one thing holds true. Good strategy wins.
Fans of David Weber’s tactical genius, Rick Partlow’s explosive action, or John Scalzi’s sharp wit will feel right at home in his universe.
He looks forward to seeing you there.
His books and stories have won multiple sci-fi awards.
The London Book Festival 2025 Winner
The Los Angeles Book Awards 2025 First Runner Up
The New England Book Festival 2024 Winner
Literary Titan Gold Award
Pinnacle Books Gold Award
Literary Global Gold Award
Literary Titan Silver Award
Firebird Book Award
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 30, 2026
Explore the Galaxy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
By BA Gillies
I continue to marvel at Gillies’ ability to take a common trope in science fiction—the space opera—and fill it full of intriguing, fresh concepts and new ideas.
Admiral Velal and her people face battles in Explore the Galaxy that demonstrate the greatest of heroism, superb strategy and especially, tactics. I am reminded of the battles in David Weber’s Honorverse. While the tactics are similar, as is the bravery and unflinching sacrifice, Gillies’ battles are condensed and more easily understood (at least by me). Otherwise, while Weber’s Honorverse is also a space opera, it is very different from Gillies’ Galaxy series. However, much as I love the Honorverse, overall I think Gillies’ writing quality is equal to Weber’s, just not its quantity!
On earth, Ewan and company continue plans to bring the Saret’s scientific advances into common use globally so that humans will be able to defend earth if/when the Ranid attack. They face increasing problems from countries who want control of these advances for their own use, control and profit.
Ewan and several others leave earth hoping to find other Saret colonies to aid in defending against the Ranid. They have many adventures before returning to serious trouble on earth. First, a new military recruit with PTSD who has been informed recently about some of SUS’s secrets bolted and ran to the Russian Embassy. Certain U.S. politicians intend to take SUS’s secrets for their own countries and SUS’s income for themselves.
Finally, intelligence agents from several nations have begun to suspect and fear alien involvement in earth’s affairs, and are determined to interrogate SUS’ top recruits/Ewan, basically whoever else they can kidnap.
While this series is very complex, with its large number of characters, multiple timelines, many locations, and multiple storylines, I always knew WHEN in relation to the rest of the story and WHERE a storyline was happening, WHAT was happening in each section, WHY and TO WHOM it was happening. I marvel at Gillies’ ability to conceive of this huge story, and then to organize it all to accomplish this successfully. It is nothing short of amazing.
I continue to believe BA Gillies’ Galaxy series is superior to any other new science fiction I’ve read in years. Its latest entry, Book 4: Explore the Galaxy, is even better than the previous novel, Seek the Galaxy. It has space battles, Saret-planted colonies, planets suitable for new colonies, conflicts, betrayals, and more.
I strongly recommend this series to everyone who likes speculative fiction. I suggest beginning with Book 1, Return to the Galaxy. It’s so good, that even those who haven’t tried science fiction that is realistic but generally hopeful might find it right up their alley, too. I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.
Booklover
By BA Gillies
I continue to marvel at Gillies’ ability to take a common trope in science fiction—the space opera—and fill it full of intriguing, fresh concepts and new ideas.
Admiral Velal and her people face battles in Explore the Galaxy that demonstrate the greatest of heroism, superb strategy and especially, tactics. I am reminded of the battles in David Weber’s Honorverse. While the tactics are similar, as is the bravery and unflinching sacrifice, Gillies’ battles are condensed and more easily understood (at least by me). Otherwise, while Weber’s Honorverse is also a space opera, it is very different from Gillies’ Galaxy series. However, much as I love the Honorverse, overall I think Gillies’ writing quality is equal to Weber’s, just not its quantity!
On earth, Ewan and company continue plans to bring the Saret’s scientific advances into common use globally so that humans will be able to defend earth if/when the Ranid attack. They face increasing problems from countries who want control of these advances for their own use, control and profit.
Ewan and several others leave earth hoping to find other Saret colonies to aid in defending against the Ranid. They have many adventures before returning to serious trouble on earth. First, a new military recruit with PTSD who has been informed recently about some of SUS’s secrets bolted and ran to the Russian Embassy. Certain U.S. politicians intend to take SUS’s secrets for their own countries and SUS’s income for themselves.
Finally, intelligence agents from several nations have begun to suspect and fear alien involvement in earth’s affairs, and are determined to interrogate SUS’ top recruits/Ewan, basically whoever else they can kidnap.
While this series is very complex, with its large number of characters, multiple timelines, many locations, and multiple storylines, I always knew WHEN in relation to the rest of the story and WHERE a storyline was happening, WHAT was happening in each section, WHY and TO WHOM it was happening. I marvel at Gillies’ ability to conceive of this huge story, and then to organize it all to accomplish this successfully. It is nothing short of amazing.
I continue to believe BA Gillies’ Galaxy series is superior to any other new science fiction I’ve read in years. Its latest entry, Book 4: Explore the Galaxy, is even better than the previous novel, Seek the Galaxy. It has space battles, Saret-planted colonies, planets suitable for new colonies, conflicts, betrayals, and more.
I strongly recommend this series to everyone who likes speculative fiction. I suggest beginning with Book 1, Return to the Galaxy. It’s so good, that even those who haven’t tried science fiction that is realistic but generally hopeful might find it right up their alley, too. I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.
Booklover
November 23, 2025
Series starts well......
This is a review of four books. (No spoilers)
I found the first two books well written, nicely paced and the storyline interesting. Book three however, whilst still enjoyable, wasn't as good. Themes arose that I found less palatable. Book four confirmed that direction and, frankly, although book five has just come out, I shall not be reading it.
I read for enjoyment, read sci-fi and fantasy to escape for a while modern life and political bs I don't appreciate being ambushed in my reading matter.
This is a review of four books. (No spoilers)
I found the first two books well written, nicely paced and the storyline interesting. Book three however, whilst still enjoyable, wasn't as good. Themes arose that I found less palatable. Book four confirmed that direction and, frankly, although book five has just come out, I shall not be reading it.
I read for enjoyment, read sci-fi and fantasy to escape for a while modern life and political bs I don't appreciate being ambushed in my reading matter.
October 14, 2025
Gripping with high danger
Thoroughly enjoyed, as usual. Can’t wait for the next book. How many worlds will we visit/colonize/battle over, & where in the metaverse will we reach, together?
Thoroughly enjoyed, as usual. Can’t wait for the next book. How many worlds will we visit/colonize/battle over, & where in the metaverse will we reach, together?
October 28, 2025
OK
Better than the last book but some parts were a little far fetched. On the whole it was an enjoyable read.
Better than the last book but some parts were a little far fetched. On the whole it was an enjoyable read.
February 3, 2026
Most Excellent
The only quibble I have is the Congressional hearing. They aren't Q and A. They are grandstanding. Still, a great book!
The only quibble I have is the Congressional hearing. They aren't Q and A. They are grandstanding. Still, a great book!
April 4, 2026
Pretty fun sci-fi
This series is a nice, light series to read. The plot is interesting. Characters are entertaining. I'm enjoying the series
This series is a nice, light series to read. The plot is interesting. Characters are entertaining. I'm enjoying the series
May 3, 2026
That's good
Love this author's Love this author's books But I wish he'd quit writing about so many people1 or 2 people I can understand5 or 6 not so much
Love this author's Love this author's books But I wish he'd quit writing about so many people1 or 2 people I can understand5 or 6 not so much
May 20, 2026
Better
It just gets better book after book.and I am always surprized when I get to the end of one, ho
It just gets better book after book.and I am always surprized when I get to the end of one, ho
June 7, 2026
A hidden gem of a series.
August 14, 2026
A very enjoyable read!
Very enjoyable, ready for the next.Best space opera Ive read in a while, some engaging characters and suitably evil foe.
Very enjoyable, ready for the next.Best space opera Ive read in a while, some engaging characters and suitably evil foe.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews