Elite: Lave Revolution: An Official Elite Dangerous Novel

Elite: Dangerous #5

by Allen Stroud, Bruce Myers (Illustrator), Liam Rafferty (Illustrator)

AD 3174 - One man's world.

AD 3265 - Not any more.

Lave.

A single planet, orbiting a dying star. For centuries, spacefarers have visited, docked at the space station and left, with no thought for the people on the planet below.

Bad luck at cards means bad luck all round for Pietro Devander, who journeys half way across human controlled space to this ancient planet, whose name is barely remembered.

What he finds is resistance. What it becomes, is revolution.

The second edition of Elite: Lave Revolution. This version, published by HWS Press, comes with more than eleven thousand words of additional material from the appendices produced for the Kickstarter.

"Stroud has a rare way with words that really engages and disarms the reader."
- Antony Jones: SFBook.com

10% of the cover price on any purchase of this book will go to EDS UK which is a charity that helps, advises and informs people with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and actively campaigns, educates and supports research on their behalf. EDS is a genetic connective tissue disorder that can have a debilitating and disabling affect on peoples lives.

Quotes from reviews of the first edition:

"cracking piece of science fiction." - B. Sugden.
"a taut, coherent, excellently written political adventure thriller in the Elite Sci Fi universe." - Twrchuk
"the first of the new generation of books that lives up to the legacy of The Dark Wheel." - Kandere.
"This book totally delivered on everything: gripping story, wonderfully vivid characters and enough detail about the Elite universe to enhance the story without boring the reader." - Jon Baker
"If you like Elite you'll love this - if you like Sci Fi then you'll love it more!" - Ben Woodward.
"Absolutely love this book." - Darren Healy.

Genres: Science Fiction

411 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2015

About the author

I am Assistant Professor (Research) Defence and Security Futures in the Centre for Peace and Security at Coventry University.

I was Chair of the British Science Fiction Association between 2019 and 2025.

In 2017, I completed my Ph. D. in "Worldbuilding Techniques and Writing Structures in Science Fiction and Fantasy".

My Official Elite: Dangerous novel, Elite: Lave Revolution was published in May 2014. I am also the official novelist for Julian Gollop's new game 'Chaos Reborn', released in 2016. I also wrote 'The Last Tank Commander', which was first published by Newcon Press and went on to be included in 'The Year's Best Military SF and Adventure Stories 2016' by Baen Books.

In 2017, Luna Press published my novel, 'The Forever Man', a weird fiction/urban fantasy. In 2018, I was featured in the Clarke Award/Newcon Press anthology celebrating 100 years since the birth of Arthur C. Clarke.

I was also the co-lead writer for the computer game, Phoenix Point which was published in 2019. You can find a collection of the short stories here - https://phoenixpoint.info/archives/

In 2020, Flame Tree Press published my Science Fiction novel, Fearless.

“Stroud raises fascinating questions about the politics of space exploration.”- Publisher’s Weekly

“Rigorous hard SF with a powerful but flawed protagonist and a fascinating historical background, Fearless is a treat for just about any Analog reader.” AnalogSF

“Fast-paced, gripping hard SF with death in hard vacuum waiting at every turn.” Adrian Tchaikovsky

After Fearless, we have the sequel, Resilient (2022) then the episodes: Europa (2023), Ceres (2023) Lagrange Point (2023), Terra (2023), Luna (2024) and Jezero (2024). Also, the third novel, Vigilance came out in 2024.

Reviews

[Simon Winnard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well paced romp through the elite universe's system of Lave and its change from a dictatorship to a democracy.

The author certainly knows his subject material and keeps you well informed during the book, the plot is subtle enough with enough twists to keep you turning pages till the end. Pietro Devander is a charactor you get behind and the whole plot leads to a rip roaring finale, which really needs to be read to give justice to.

Anyone who is interested in Science fiction, and or the Elite universe on which this book is based should pick up this book and start reading it today.


...

[Michael C · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any interest at all in the Elite Dangerous game, you must read this book.

That said, Allen tells a great story, so even if you've never heard of this Elite game, you should enjoy reading about Lave's revolution.

I'm not sure if Historical Science Fiction is real genre, but in my mind that's what this book is. A little Elite history is littered throughout, which adds good depth and background to the revolution.

Spoiler...maybe....


Another reviewer mentions that the on-world revolutionaries don't have much part in the story - I agree with that...to a point. You could also come away with the feeling that the revolution itself happened a bit too quickly.

But, the book seems like it was meant to be an historical account of how the revolution happened - the events that lead up to it - rather than any on-world fighting action that you might expect to happen in a revolution.

[Dave Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because it's an Elite book and I enjoy Allen's podcasts on the game. Once I started reading though I was absolutely immersed in the game world which Allen has captured brilliantly.

The story centres around a revolution on Lave but there's so much other stuff going on that you pretty much hang on and enjoy the ride. And great fun that ride is!

I did at times feel slightly confused as to why some things were happening but I'm going to blame that on using my phone as a e-book reader. And then I'm going to re-read it because I'm sure all the clues are there! It is after all a story about secrets and revolution so the reader should expect to have to put a bit of effort in

[Shaun Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, I'm a backer of this book, in the sense that when this was just a gleam in the author's eye I was one of the backers when this was just a kickstarter project. I mention this because I /try/ to be objective and fair, to the book, the author, the reader of this review and myself.

That out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. The story is a great science fiction adventure story with some nice characterisation, a couple of the main characters really stood out to me, Bertrum the administrator of Lave's main city and Pietro the protaganist of the story. The former I was surprised to feel some affinity for, the latter is that archetype I'm quite fond of that a story like this needs.

I particularly enjoyed the pacing of the story which kept a nice stride throughout and ramped up towards the end. I got 4 hours sleep the night before I finished it and gave up at a point where I felt there was enough story left to get me back into the mood the next day and give me a chance to still get SOME sleep. Fortunately my plan worked.

The writing was well done and you can tell the author has experience in his craft.

I always try to include things I didn't like or felt could be done better in a review, whatever my personal feeling towards a project or the author and I had to think hard to come up with something negative...

Lave Revolution. Lave. If there is one weakness in the story it's that I didn't feel the actual revolutionaries themselves were THAT active. Let's be clear the 'revolutionaries' I mean are the inhabitants of Lave itself. The problems of the revolutionaries (particularly those on planet) are to a large extent handled by luck (I always expect a little of that and what I call 'story coincidence') and Outsiders. Whether it was Pietro, Admiral Jander, Ambassador Godwina or Gebriel I felt these revolutionaries at this point didn't entirely 'deserve' their revolution. Nor did I find them entirely sympathetic. And having to have their point explained to them by a newly arrived 15 year old who has to try and sell them to the general populace didn't help there. I think part of that is screen time with the author not giving a lot of history directly (though a lot is hinted at indirectly) about the revolution and the revolutionaries.

That's a story point and probably a personal nitpick (which I only came to after some hard 'I have to think of /something/' negative). I enjoyed the book immensely and the highest praise I can bestow is I read it. In ebook format, which I find very hard to do, looking forward to my paperback!

I think we need a sequel to give the citizens of Lave their time in the sun.

Thanks Allen for a story I'm proud of and really enjoyed!

[Nik Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tale of the Revolution at Lave that stopped calamity and restored balance in a sector of the Elite universe.

What the calamities were and how the balance was achieved is the story, which has been told with characters that full of detail, but allow the reader to fill in some details in their own minds, much like the original game of Elite. This book has a brusque pace and epic battles that make it a good read.

Another book by Allen Stroud that was over to quickly.

[Flavio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book that is a must read if you are going to play Elite Dangerous but if you just want an excellent story set in the future, this is one to read.
Even though it is set on worlds that are distant from Earth, all the protagonists are human.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the many books that have been written for the new computer game, Elite: Dangerous. Elite is slated to be released late in 2014 and is currently (as of June 2014) in Pre-Beta testing. If you've ever played any of the old Elite or Frontier games from 1984 on, then you should seriously consider this read.

The story jumps between (roughly) five points of view of the short period of time where Lave, a solar system with a Communist dictatorship, becomes subject to rebellion and an uprising against a regime by one individual who has been in power for over one hundred years. At times you're left on the edge of your seat as you move to the next point of view. It is a fast read that really delves into the politics of the region. Characters are developed through the story, bringing them to life and making you want to continue to follow them. The book wraps up with a cliffhanger on a few of the characters. There is discussion about making this part of a trilogy. Allen Stroud's writing ability certainly calls for more stories.

[Psykokow Madkow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am slowly getting back into reading fiction and WHAT A BOOK to do it with.

Hooked from the start and when I hit the 80% mark I struggled to read fast enough..

I think its fair to put this story into the EPIC category and I loved the twists and turns and the feeling of utter hopelessness throughout.

Awesome READ

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This didn't need the Elite tag to be a highly enjoyable work of sci-fi in it's own right. Right on Commander.

[Lagamemnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent plot, sloppy editing

Fun story set in the world of Elite: Dangerous video game. Gives an early history/background of the Lave system. Touches on many of the adjacent systems but is set primarily in/on Lave and on board various ships. Recommend for those who love the game.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good, but wordy. Good if you were a big fan of old-school Elite.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-constructed piece of fiction, from a technical point of view. An intriguing mystery which slowly unravels itself, bringing together several characters and storylines, and of course a good dose of pew pew thrown in too :)

The two biggest letdowns for me were the characters and the spelling/grammar/typos! This keeps coming up with modern ebook releases. Does "internet publishing" mean "who cares about quality"?! As for the characters, very few of them are memorable, let alone likeable, which is a problem when they have slightly unusual names. There are a few obvious exceptions e.g. the cripple and the girl with the purple hair, but I was disappointed at the lack of e-ink given to the descriptions of Pietro Devander and Heldaban Kel, who are kind of crucial to the story. Took me a while to remember which was which!

Credit must be given though, as the book stands on its own as a work of fiction that can be enjoyed even if you've never played any of the Elite games.

Overall, a decent read. I would give this 3.5 stars if I could. I originally gave it 3 stars, which is what I gave Elite: Mostly Harmless, but that seems a bit harsh on reflection, so I've upped it to a slightly-too-generous 4 :)

[James Alston · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and extremely well-researched romp through the Elite (and Elite:Dangerous) computer game galaxy, and in particular Lave - one of its most famous planets. This is a great book for any Elite player who wants to add background and atmosphere to this terrific game. I did find the pace a little slow to begin with but it picked up nicely in the second half of the book. A slight annoyance (maybe only to me, grammar OCD) was the use of a comma where traditionally one would use a full stop and start a new sentence (or maybe a semi-colon). E.g. turning to a random page, "Their entrance vector is too shallow, the ship won't survive." And that happens a lot in this book. Perhaps a proof-reading oversight.

[Phoenix_dfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent story full of twists and turns and that's before we get to the starship combat. A story about a planet known to anyone who played the original elite game, how Lave was duped and suppressed and the struggle of those who want to be free. I wasn't sure who was you were supposed to be cheering for to begin with but once the story began to unfold, I was along for the ride.

I'd recommend this one for fans of the elite games, sci if and space opera fans.

[Paul Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally when I read a book I'll read a chapter or two at a time then put it down for a month or so. It was impossible to do that with this book, its a page-turner in the strongest sense. The story is brilliantly paced and written in such a way that you will not want to put it down.

If you are a fan of the Elite Universe, this book should be considered essential reading. If you are not, it is still a brilliant piece of work in its own right.

[Karim Kronfli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully paced and cinematic in its feel, Elite: Lave Revolution gripped me early with a tight storyline excellent action and feeling like it was rollercoaster romp of an adventure. I am a fan of the Elite game of old and this peek into the history of the iconic planet of Lave is enlightening and fleshes out an important corner of the Elite universe.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic!

I read this over the space of a week, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Allen manages to capture the broad action and consequences leading up to Lave's revolution superbly while showing us the development of a range of significant characters. The use of accompanying historical documents adds to the immersion.

Will there be more from Lave? I certainly hope so!

[Scott James Remnant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable though without enough to truly keep you hooked reading it. I had some trouble keeping the stories straight as they often overlapped in details.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book with some great characters. Ending felt a little rushed though, and I would have like to have learnt more about the core characters in the resistance on Lave.

[John Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable. Of no importance except to players of the game.