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Star Crusader #1
Hero of the Alliance
Nate has a talent for space combat after hundreds of victories in the Star Crusader videogame simulation. His skills are unique, enough to gain him a rare privilege. The chance to join five other Alliance cadets and escape the dull routine of the classroom. They will enter a fierce competition light-years away in the ancient Byotai Empire. Yet days after their arrival a rebellious faction begins a bloody mutiny that spreads like wildfire. The time for competition has ended; the time of war has begun. A handful of capital ships attempt to avoid the massacre, but only Relentless escapes. Nate and his friends are aboard, part of the few to make it out alive. Relentless is a heavily armoured assault ship, a relic from another age, but most of her crew members are dead or missing. Nate and his fellow cadets have to face the unthinkable. Under the guidance of Lieutenant Higgins, the ship's last fighter pilot, the six cadets have just days to practice operating the ship's fighters. There are no others. Only they can defend the ship, or face death at the hands of the enemy. Check out all the novels by Michael G. Thomas STAR CRUSADER SERIES Hero of the Alliance (Star Crusader Book 1) Knighthawk Squadron (Star Crusader Book 2) Operation Hellfire (Star Crusader Book 3) Battleship Furiosa (Star Crusader Book 4) Battle Fleet Victorious (Star Crusader Book 5) STAR MERCENARIES Lords of War (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 1) Ghost Soldiers (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 2) Flames of War (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 3) Battle for Karnak (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 4) Warzone (Star Crusades Mercenaries, Book 5) STAR CRUSADES NEXUS Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) Heroes of Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 3) The Great Betrayal (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 4) Prophecy of Fire (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 5) Call to Arms (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 6) Battle for Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 7) Wrath of the Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 8) The Black Rift (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 9) STAR CRUSADES UPRISING Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) Tears of Kerberos (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 2) Fires of Prometheus (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 3) Battle for Proxima (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 4) Fall of Terra Nova (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 5) Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6) All these books are available on Amazon.com and Audible Please visit my website for more starcrusader.com
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 2015
92 people are currently reading
145 people want to read
About the author
Michael G. Thomas
217 books130 followersMichael G. Thomas, is a writer, martial artist and military historian. He has written books on European martial arts and military history as well as Zombie Survival books and fiction. He is the co-founder of the prestigious Academy of Historical Fencing that teaches traditional armed and unarmed European martial arts. His specialist subject areas are teaching the use of the medieval two handed longsword and the German long knife in both the UK and other parts of Europe.
His academic background is as varied as his writing with degrees in Computing, Classical Studies and Machine Learning. In recent years he has undertaken substantial research in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence as well as Ancient Greek and Byzantine military history.
Michael is currently completing his Champions of the Apocalypse Series and Star Crusades science fiction series.
His academic background is as varied as his writing with degrees in Computing, Classical Studies and Machine Learning. In recent years he has undertaken substantial research in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence as well as Ancient Greek and Byzantine military history.
Michael is currently completing his Champions of the Apocalypse Series and Star Crusades science fiction series.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 13, 2021
Space Cadet🐺!🚀
This is a long book, but it's a good thing, because the real action doesn't start until about 38% of the way through the book..
Nate🐺, the hero, is a cadet🚀 trained for space combat solely on simulators. The first third of the book is all about that. Of course, after the battle ship's crew of fighter pilots are eliminated in a huge and fierce battle, the captain has to allow the no experience cadets to fill in!
ARC Provided by Prolific Works 📚
This ebook was $2.99 on Amazon at the time of this review.
Opinions expressed here are entirely my own fault.
I haven't read a space opera for a while and was disappointed that the world building🌍 was so lacking in this novel. The author tells us about a coalition of planets but never describes the Alien beings or their planets. He is all about the space battles. Period.
This is a long book, but it's a good thing, because the real action doesn't start until about 38% of the way through the book..
Nate🐺, the hero, is a cadet🚀 trained for space combat solely on simulators. The first third of the book is all about that. Of course, after the battle ship's crew of fighter pilots are eliminated in a huge and fierce battle, the captain has to allow the no experience cadets to fill in!
ARC Provided by Prolific Works 📚
This ebook was $2.99 on Amazon at the time of this review.
Opinions expressed here are entirely my own fault.
I haven't read a space opera for a while and was disappointed that the world building🌍 was so lacking in this novel. The author tells us about a coalition of planets but never describes the Alien beings or their planets. He is all about the space battles. Period.
Read
February 22, 2016I enjoyed the sharp, observant nature of Nate’s mind and the rivalry and friendships among the cadets. Each of the teens have unique strengths that make them a valuable team if they will work together. Before the end of this action packed story they will face the enemy and learn that they must use their skills together to be successful in their mission.
I picked this title as it reminded me of The Last Starfighter. Although it starts with the videogame the rest is a new story. The characters are distinct, if not fully developed, and the action is pretty much nonstop. When this started I thought it might be more suitable to a younger audience. However, as the work progressed I found that I liked the young, brave characters and was fully engaged. I realized after finishing this book that it is the first of four in the current series. Apparently there are older series with a prior generation that lead into Nate’s generation. For now, I will be lining up the current set through Audible but I’ll be eyeing those prior books when I need a good sci fi fix!
Audio Notes: Andrew B. Wehrlen did a very good job with the narration. He captures the youthful personality of the cadets and is still able to pull in the older characters too. I had no trouble following the thought processes and action. I fully enjoyed the audio listen.
I received this title from the narrator through Audiobook Blast, for an honest review.
Full review available at http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/...
I picked this title as it reminded me of The Last Starfighter. Although it starts with the videogame the rest is a new story. The characters are distinct, if not fully developed, and the action is pretty much nonstop. When this started I thought it might be more suitable to a younger audience. However, as the work progressed I found that I liked the young, brave characters and was fully engaged. I realized after finishing this book that it is the first of four in the current series. Apparently there are older series with a prior generation that lead into Nate’s generation. For now, I will be lining up the current set through Audible but I’ll be eyeing those prior books when I need a good sci fi fix!
Audio Notes: Andrew B. Wehrlen did a very good job with the narration. He captures the youthful personality of the cadets and is still able to pull in the older characters too. I had no trouble following the thought processes and action. I fully enjoyed the audio listen.
I received this title from the narrator through Audiobook Blast, for an honest review.
Full review available at http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/...
January 5, 2016
Frankly, this is not THAT well of a written book but it makes up for it in everything else. I've listened the audiobook version of it. The book tends to be a bit of a skeleton story, it skimps on pointless details and spams them where they matter. It is one GIANT BALL of Enthusiasm. It's story is told in a way that sounds like someone talking about how they imagine their greatest dream to be when it comes true. It is highly personalized in that manner. It skimps on the significance of deaths a little and has highly competent characters as it should be. Unlike most books with a young adult Main Character, there is no desperation in it of a loser becoming an ace and I could not be more happy about this. FINALLY a book where the main character is highly competent and deals with life the way it is, shit happens but you gotta move on. I genuinely liked this book, it had that enthusiasm that I often miss in books.
The narrator has a bit of a hard to listen to voice however. If I had to pin it on something, I'd say he narrates just a tad bit too fast and there is not enough time to let it sink in, which is needed when you're not reading it yourself as the reinforcement the visuals of the text itself are not present in audiobooks. I'd say 10% slower would do it, I recommend the narrator to listen to other audiobooks of similar genres and analyze them for their pacing.
Something I also liked was the take on the troop transport ship and drones. More often than not I have argued that windows in spacecraft are an un-necessary hazard and weakness since technology is capable of making believable and more advantageous viewing screens that can enlarge the image of things to visible sizes which is needed for the vast distances involved in space. It also allows for extra armor. A VR-headset would even allow for someone to look through the bottom of their ship. Alas it seems finding a book with ships that mirror this stance has made me drift of in my review. ^^ Keep up the good work Mr.Thomas, I cannot wait to see where your future Military Sci-fi books may lead.
I gave this book a 4/5 rating because whilst I really liked the book, It is not among the absolute best I've read. That said. It was a very satisfying and refreshingly told story and anything below 4/5 would have been unjust.
The narrator has a bit of a hard to listen to voice however. If I had to pin it on something, I'd say he narrates just a tad bit too fast and there is not enough time to let it sink in, which is needed when you're not reading it yourself as the reinforcement the visuals of the text itself are not present in audiobooks. I'd say 10% slower would do it, I recommend the narrator to listen to other audiobooks of similar genres and analyze them for their pacing.
Something I also liked was the take on the troop transport ship and drones. More often than not I have argued that windows in spacecraft are an un-necessary hazard and weakness since technology is capable of making believable and more advantageous viewing screens that can enlarge the image of things to visible sizes which is needed for the vast distances involved in space. It also allows for extra armor. A VR-headset would even allow for someone to look through the bottom of their ship. Alas it seems finding a book with ships that mirror this stance has made me drift of in my review. ^^ Keep up the good work Mr.Thomas, I cannot wait to see where your future Military Sci-fi books may lead.
I gave this book a 4/5 rating because whilst I really liked the book, It is not among the absolute best I've read. That said. It was a very satisfying and refreshingly told story and anything below 4/5 would have been unjust.
January 11, 2016
This book is part of a universe of books written by the same author and does a great job of starting a series of books without prior knowledge of the other books. The book starts at a fast pace as prospective civilian and military cadet fighter pilots compete for the opportunity to take part in a distinguished tournament training program. Unknown to the winners is that their training will go from simulation to the real thing faster than they expect. The stakes only increase for the cadets as the stability of peace shatters around them and they must push their training to keep themselves and those around them alive in an effort to make it home. As a fan of science fiction books I found this book to be quite satisfying from the space combat scenes to the universe the books takes place in.
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost for an honest and unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost for an honest and unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.
December 27, 2019
Starfarers.
It strikes me that there doesn't seem to be a explanation for the stars that are given. So I thought I'd start giving my take on it.
1 horrible no redeeming qualities.
2 there are redeeming qualities.
3 good worth reading, or well written but not my cup of tea.
4 great but there's something off.
5 loved it.
A good beginning for a series. I can't wait for more of this, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't go into it.
I've recently had several conversations with people that have said that one of the things they'd like to see in a review is if I'd read/listen to it again. So I'm now adding that to my reviews.
Yes I'd listen again.
The narrator brings the story to life.
Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Wonderful characters, Great world building, Unpredictable, Original, Easy-to-read, Entertaining, Action-packed.
Bookshelves/tags:
adventure, aliens, fighting-war, futuristic, nonhuman, open-ended, outer-space, recorded, saga, science-fiction, series, ships, teens, young-adult.
This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.
It strikes me that there doesn't seem to be a explanation for the stars that are given. So I thought I'd start giving my take on it.
1 horrible no redeeming qualities.
2 there are redeeming qualities.
3 good worth reading, or well written but not my cup of tea.
4 great but there's something off.
5 loved it.
A good beginning for a series. I can't wait for more of this, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't go into it.
I've recently had several conversations with people that have said that one of the things they'd like to see in a review is if I'd read/listen to it again. So I'm now adding that to my reviews.
Yes I'd listen again.
The narrator brings the story to life.
Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Wonderful characters, Great world building, Unpredictable, Original, Easy-to-read, Entertaining, Action-packed.
Bookshelves/tags:
adventure, aliens, fighting-war, futuristic, nonhuman, open-ended, outer-space, recorded, saga, science-fiction, series, ships, teens, young-adult.
This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.
January 12, 2018
Great military scifi
If you are into military sci-fi I highly recommend this series. Really great action with interesting characters in none stop page turner. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.
If you are into military sci-fi I highly recommend this series. Really great action with interesting characters in none stop page turner. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.
March 24, 2018
A good "beginning" book, concentrating on introducing characters and situations. Sets up the foundations of a potentially good series. Does need to develop characters further, but that may happen in later volumes.
April 3, 2018
Cadets rule
Excellence story about a group of Alliance Cadets and their accidental emmersion into an interstellar conflict. Made and his fellow cadets learn to fly in reality rather than in a game.
Excellence story about a group of Alliance Cadets and their accidental emmersion into an interstellar conflict. Made and his fellow cadets learn to fly in reality rather than in a game.
March 8, 2017
read the Kobo e-book, seems a few spelling mistakes and wrong words being used in chapters (8)9-11.
July 11, 2017
Action packed from start to end, good read, looking forward to the next in the series.
August 22, 2017
A lot of typos and misspellings
July 22, 2019
Good reading. Didn’t want to put it down.
May 30, 2021
Rollicking good come.-of age story
Sure that you are ready for a good read? This is a day pleasure for Summer I think. Best to be awake for it.
Sure that you are ready for a good read? This is a day pleasure for Summer I think. Best to be awake for it.
February 17, 2017
Good read
A brilliant read I couldn't put it down .its well thought through and really good read gust have your coffee first. Wolf
A brilliant read I couldn't put it down .its well thought through and really good read gust have your coffee first. Wolf
February 24, 2017
Truly wow
I got to tell you , I can't wait to get the next book! Starting out young like Enders game. You can imagine growing up there right along with the book. Crushes, fights, and all. Got to tell you I loved this book.
I got to tell you , I can't wait to get the next book! Starting out young like Enders game. You can imagine growing up there right along with the book. Crushes, fights, and all. Got to tell you I loved this book.
January 29, 2024
Audiobook: I was entertained by this story, but the beginning was rather slow. Nate was great at videogame simulations, so he and five other cadets were given the privilege of entering an actual competition, when a rebellion erupted, and things became real. There was a lot of time spent on setting everything in motion, but the tale ended on a strong action-filled event. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Andrew B. Wehrlen's narration was fine, and his performance kept my attention. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.
June 15, 2015
Could not put down
From start to finish this story never had a lull. Not the usual shock and awe of Thomas's previous books but a great story of descendent a hero of those stories become a hero in his own.
From start to finish this story never had a lull. Not the usual shock and awe of Thomas's previous books but a great story of descendent a hero of those stories become a hero in his own.
June 22, 2015
This is an entertaining book. I'm pleasantly surprised by its level of polish compared to many other offerings in the Kindle store. While the plot is relatively standard fare about a young pilot coming into a war, the universe is fleshed out and the interactions are never too contrived.
July 7, 2015
Great Space Saga begins
Military Academy Cadets, fanatical gamers: what happens when it all becomes real. Terrific story with lots of action! Well written story with interesting characters. I can't wait for a sequel.
Military Academy Cadets, fanatical gamers: what happens when it all becomes real. Terrific story with lots of action! Well written story with interesting characters. I can't wait for a sequel.
June 28, 2020
The story has some old tropes and clichés, and it often falls into infodumps. Otherwise is a pretty solid story, it breaks some serious clichés in some of the decisións of the characters and their actions on the final battle.
Will have to read the following to see where it goes.
Will have to read the following to see where it goes.
December 30, 2015
Not a bad story, but could use some decent editing. Looking forward to the sequel, hopefully it won't be as straight forward.
July 12, 2015
Enjoyable
I enjoyed this book. The story flows well and keeps you engaged. I look forward to the next book in the series.
I enjoyed this book. The story flows well and keeps you engaged. I look forward to the next book in the series.
May 7, 2020
A good read, lots of action and maybe a little more character development would have gotten it 4 stars. It was good enough to read the next in the series.
April 29, 2017
Great story Very hard to put down
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews