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The Silence #1
Forsaken Skies
From the dark, cold void came an unknown force. Their target a remote planet, the home for a group of people distancing themselves from mankind and pursuing a path of piety and peace. If they have any chance at survival a disparate group of pilots must come together to fight back any way they can. But the best these aces can do might not be good enough.
608 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
September 11, 2017
I don't like to say it is a Seven Samurai (SS) or Magnificent Seven (MS) in space, although it is easy to consider SS/MS as the inspiration. First of all, there are only SIX pilots, not seven. As far as I know, SS, MS 1960 version, and MS 2016 version, all three have the same pattern. With only 6 pilots in this story, my petty personality cannot accept this story as a 'Magnificent Seven in Space'.
I cannot help myself comparing the six pilots with the SS or MS characters. To make it easier, I only use MS of 1960 version for further reference. I consider the comparison as spoilers:
Besides the similarities in characters, the story still has a lot of new things than just following SS/MS story. For example, the enemy is mysterious, and the center government (The Navy) has more significant role than in SS/MS.
There are a lot of space battle scenes, I admit that. This is the main attractions of the book. The fighting is properly balance between giving readers a pleasure battle scenes but not overly written to become a porn. Every battle pushes the plot further.
Not a five star book, but it is a fun read, 3.5 star. Just be careful at the first half, there are some rather-boring chapters, but they are necessary for character development.
I cannot help myself comparing the six pilots with the SS or MS characters. To make it easier, I only use MS of 1960 version for further reference. I consider the comparison as spoilers:
Besides the similarities in characters, the story still has a lot of new things than just following SS/MS story. For example, the enemy is mysterious, and the center government (The Navy) has more significant role than in SS/MS.
There are a lot of space battle scenes, I admit that. This is the main attractions of the book. The fighting is properly balance between giving readers a pleasure battle scenes but not overly written to become a porn. Every battle pushes the plot further.
Not a five star book, but it is a fun read, 3.5 star. Just be careful at the first half, there are some rather-boring chapters, but they are necessary for character development.
October 10, 2016
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/10/10/...
It’s Seven Samurai set to a backdrop of a rollicking space opera in D. Nolan Clark’s (pseudonym of horror writer David Wellington) Forsaken Skies, the first book of The Silence series. This is the kind of science fiction story I love listening to in audio, so I was grateful to be offered the audiobook version to review.
From the depths of space comes a new enemy, and their first victim is a remote planet called Niraya, home to colony of peaceful farmers and religious exiles. In a desperate gambit, Elder McRae and Aspirant Roan stowaway on a freighter bound for the Hexus space hub in the hopes of finding help. When the two women arrive though, it’s to apathy and apologetic shrugs. Worse, they are even swindled by an unscrupulous officer named Lieutenant Maggs, who would have gotten away with his scam too had it not for the intervention of two good Samaritans, legendary pilot Aleister Lanoe and orbital traffic controller Tannis Valk.
Lanoe had happened to be on the Hexus after pursuing a suspected murderer to the space hub. The fugitive, a young man named Thom, had indeed killed his own father, but purportedly in self-defense. Feeling for the kid, Lanoe decides to take him under his wing. No one had any clue though, that the boy’s actions would precipitate a chain of events culminating into an adventure of such epic proportions, because struck by Elder McRae and Roan’s plight, Lanoe also decides to come to the aid of the Nirayans. He immediately recruits the help of a couple more buddies from back in the war, including his old flame Bettina Zhang as well as a Marine named Ehta. With Maggs, Valk, and Thom also on board, their group makes for a pretty ragtag crew, but with years of battle experience and piloting skills between them, Niraya may yet have a chance against their cold, ruthless foes.
For the first book of a new series, Forsaken Skies sure knows how to kick things off with style. It is an action-filled space adventure, and yet the story is notable for its extremely detailed look at its group of characters. This is one of the main reasons why the book runs so long. While the author presents a scenario where a helpless planet is under an imminent threat, he also wants the readers to really get to know his heroes, so the story takes its time shining a light on each of our key players.
For character-oriented readers who are looking for more than just a wham-bam adventure, this may be the best thing about this book. Hands down, my favorite part was the intro, watching the tangled lives of all the characters gradually converge. The introduction to each person may seem rather slapdash at first—everyone was so different, and events felt randomly thrown out and disjointed—but rest assured, everything will ultimately come together like pieces of a puzzle. Once the connections started to form, and the relationships began to make sense, I was hooked.
If you want things to move quickly though, then this might not be a book for you. While it has its fair share of space battles and disaster sequences, this isn’t exactly a story where heart-thumping action sequences will come flying at you around every corner either. Instead, much of it is given to developing the characters and their relationships, examining their backstories and how their pasts have shaped who they are now. Like I said, this is very much a novel that focuses on characters. It likes to slow down every now and then to build on them, and I won’t lie, as much as I love character development, there were times I just wanted things to move along. I concede, maybe this book could have been edited down a little. It made me glad I was reviewing the audio edition though, since any parts that dragged were probably offset by the fact I was listening and not reading the physical print.
And speaking of the audio format, the narration for the audiobook of Forsaken Skies is excellent. For a book with this many characters, my main concern for the audio was whether or not I could distinguish who was speaking, but narrator Jack Hawkins laid my worries to rest almost immediately with his deft handling of dialogue. He had a distinct voice for everyone—Lanoe had a certain accent, for example, and Maggs had a cocky inflection that was perfect for his character—and there was never any confusion who was talking, even in scenes where multiple people were gathered and having a conversation. Hawkins may have been another new-to-me narrator, but going forward, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for his future performances.
Final verdict? When I first saw the runtime of Forsaken Skies, it did strike me as a bit long compared to similar offerings in the same genre. I later came to realize it was because so much of the book was about giving a thoroughly detailed picture of all the characters—and there are quite a few of them. This does draw things out and slows down the pace, robbing the situation of its urgency somewhat, but if you like space operas that are more than just plain action though, featuring characters you get to know and care about, this might be worth a read. The audiobook and Jack Hawkin’s talented narration also adds an extra layer of humanity to the characters, so if you are considering the audio edition, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
It’s Seven Samurai set to a backdrop of a rollicking space opera in D. Nolan Clark’s (pseudonym of horror writer David Wellington) Forsaken Skies, the first book of The Silence series. This is the kind of science fiction story I love listening to in audio, so I was grateful to be offered the audiobook version to review.
From the depths of space comes a new enemy, and their first victim is a remote planet called Niraya, home to colony of peaceful farmers and religious exiles. In a desperate gambit, Elder McRae and Aspirant Roan stowaway on a freighter bound for the Hexus space hub in the hopes of finding help. When the two women arrive though, it’s to apathy and apologetic shrugs. Worse, they are even swindled by an unscrupulous officer named Lieutenant Maggs, who would have gotten away with his scam too had it not for the intervention of two good Samaritans, legendary pilot Aleister Lanoe and orbital traffic controller Tannis Valk.
Lanoe had happened to be on the Hexus after pursuing a suspected murderer to the space hub. The fugitive, a young man named Thom, had indeed killed his own father, but purportedly in self-defense. Feeling for the kid, Lanoe decides to take him under his wing. No one had any clue though, that the boy’s actions would precipitate a chain of events culminating into an adventure of such epic proportions, because struck by Elder McRae and Roan’s plight, Lanoe also decides to come to the aid of the Nirayans. He immediately recruits the help of a couple more buddies from back in the war, including his old flame Bettina Zhang as well as a Marine named Ehta. With Maggs, Valk, and Thom also on board, their group makes for a pretty ragtag crew, but with years of battle experience and piloting skills between them, Niraya may yet have a chance against their cold, ruthless foes.
For the first book of a new series, Forsaken Skies sure knows how to kick things off with style. It is an action-filled space adventure, and yet the story is notable for its extremely detailed look at its group of characters. This is one of the main reasons why the book runs so long. While the author presents a scenario where a helpless planet is under an imminent threat, he also wants the readers to really get to know his heroes, so the story takes its time shining a light on each of our key players.
For character-oriented readers who are looking for more than just a wham-bam adventure, this may be the best thing about this book. Hands down, my favorite part was the intro, watching the tangled lives of all the characters gradually converge. The introduction to each person may seem rather slapdash at first—everyone was so different, and events felt randomly thrown out and disjointed—but rest assured, everything will ultimately come together like pieces of a puzzle. Once the connections started to form, and the relationships began to make sense, I was hooked.
If you want things to move quickly though, then this might not be a book for you. While it has its fair share of space battles and disaster sequences, this isn’t exactly a story where heart-thumping action sequences will come flying at you around every corner either. Instead, much of it is given to developing the characters and their relationships, examining their backstories and how their pasts have shaped who they are now. Like I said, this is very much a novel that focuses on characters. It likes to slow down every now and then to build on them, and I won’t lie, as much as I love character development, there were times I just wanted things to move along. I concede, maybe this book could have been edited down a little. It made me glad I was reviewing the audio edition though, since any parts that dragged were probably offset by the fact I was listening and not reading the physical print.
And speaking of the audio format, the narration for the audiobook of Forsaken Skies is excellent. For a book with this many characters, my main concern for the audio was whether or not I could distinguish who was speaking, but narrator Jack Hawkins laid my worries to rest almost immediately with his deft handling of dialogue. He had a distinct voice for everyone—Lanoe had a certain accent, for example, and Maggs had a cocky inflection that was perfect for his character—and there was never any confusion who was talking, even in scenes where multiple people were gathered and having a conversation. Hawkins may have been another new-to-me narrator, but going forward, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for his future performances.
Final verdict? When I first saw the runtime of Forsaken Skies, it did strike me as a bit long compared to similar offerings in the same genre. I later came to realize it was because so much of the book was about giving a thoroughly detailed picture of all the characters—and there are quite a few of them. This does draw things out and slows down the pace, robbing the situation of its urgency somewhat, but if you like space operas that are more than just plain action though, featuring characters you get to know and care about, this might be worth a read. The audiobook and Jack Hawkin’s talented narration also adds an extra layer of humanity to the characters, so if you are considering the audio edition, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
January 2, 2017
The other goodreads reviews of this point out the similarities to the Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven and that's a fair assessment.
Mankind has been an interstellar species for two centuries and colonized over a hundred solar systems due to wormhole technology and terraforming. But the human society of this time is one of constant minor wars between the corporations that control everything. A small, barely viable planet in the process of being terraformed comes under attack by a mysterious force and they ask for help from their parent corporation. Being a corporation, the bottom line says that defending the colony would be unprofitable and the colonists have to look elsewhere for help.
Enter retired Navy pilot Aleister Lanoe and a group of pilots that he cobbles together partly through blind chance and partly through old loyalties. The handful of pilots with a handful of starfighters are all that stands between a fleet of approaching unknowns and one hundred thousand people of the planet Niraya.
This particular story where a group of veterans and one or two rookies defend innocents against an overwhelming attacking force can be done in several ways. Often you see it where each of defenders fits a particular archetype and really don't get much more characterization than that (a cardinal sin of the old SF movie on this theme Battle Beyond the Stars). There's a little bit of that in Forsaken Skies, in that each of the defender characters are different blades of the Swiss army knife, but all of them get their own satisfying stories. That's partly the reason that this is such a long book, because all of these characters get solid arcs and good characterization.
Solid characters aren't the only reason for reading this though, as the world-building is fantastic and the attacking force is really interesting as well. The author gives a lot of detail where it's needed, only hinting at a lot of the wider galaxy and its history. I'm very much looking forward to uncovering more of it.
One final note is that the cover on this is gorgeous and attracted my attention to the book. As of writing the second book had not been released, but the cover has, and if anything it's nicer than this one.
Mankind has been an interstellar species for two centuries and colonized over a hundred solar systems due to wormhole technology and terraforming. But the human society of this time is one of constant minor wars between the corporations that control everything. A small, barely viable planet in the process of being terraformed comes under attack by a mysterious force and they ask for help from their parent corporation. Being a corporation, the bottom line says that defending the colony would be unprofitable and the colonists have to look elsewhere for help.
Enter retired Navy pilot Aleister Lanoe and a group of pilots that he cobbles together partly through blind chance and partly through old loyalties. The handful of pilots with a handful of starfighters are all that stands between a fleet of approaching unknowns and one hundred thousand people of the planet Niraya.
This particular story where a group of veterans and one or two rookies defend innocents against an overwhelming attacking force can be done in several ways. Often you see it where each of defenders fits a particular archetype and really don't get much more characterization than that (a cardinal sin of the old SF movie on this theme Battle Beyond the Stars). There's a little bit of that in Forsaken Skies, in that each of the defender characters are different blades of the Swiss army knife, but all of them get their own satisfying stories. That's partly the reason that this is such a long book, because all of these characters get solid arcs and good characterization.
Solid characters aren't the only reason for reading this though, as the world-building is fantastic and the attacking force is really interesting as well. The author gives a lot of detail where it's needed, only hinting at a lot of the wider galaxy and its history. I'm very much looking forward to uncovering more of it.
One final note is that the cover on this is gorgeous and attracted my attention to the book. As of writing the second book had not been released, but the cover has, and if anything it's nicer than this one.
May 17, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was a solid, though not particularly special space opera. There was some interesting world building in terms of politics and technology. However, I found the characters to be a little flat. If you are looking for an underhyped space opera, this is one you might want to check out.
This was a solid, though not particularly special space opera. There was some interesting world building in terms of politics and technology. However, I found the characters to be a little flat. If you are looking for an underhyped space opera, this is one you might want to check out.
November 6, 2016
Now I’m a sucker for a good space adventure in book form and Forsaken Skies worked on many levels for me – I fell for all the characters, loved the world building and this had enough action to shake a stick at without losing sight of the story and the people.
So a planet in trouble, nobody is coming to save them because, well, politics, just not worth it. Cue a motley crew of pilots deciding (or in one case having not an awful lot of choice) that they’ll just pootle over and save the day. But of course its not that easy especially when they ARE rather motley and not always in agreement. So shenanigans.
What I loved about this one was the slow but sure build up of information about the world(s) these guys inhabit, about the mysterious and seemingly unstoppable force that suddenly threatens them and about all the things that have lead them to this point. It is gripping and fascinating, this is a tome of a novel but I found that it flew by. Descriptively it is gorgeous, an imaginative and intense sense of place and time and a perfect mix of action and contemplation.
As the start of a series Forsaken Skies works very well. We get a lot of information but there is a lot still to learn, I’m very very much looking forward to the next instalment, I’m especially interested in watching the group dynamic grow. A lot of my love for this one was based on the way their relationships worked, ebbed and flowed, changed as I read. And boy there were some thrills and spills along the way too – genuinely very good indeed.
Highly Recommended for SciFi fans.
So a planet in trouble, nobody is coming to save them because, well, politics, just not worth it. Cue a motley crew of pilots deciding (or in one case having not an awful lot of choice) that they’ll just pootle over and save the day. But of course its not that easy especially when they ARE rather motley and not always in agreement. So shenanigans.
What I loved about this one was the slow but sure build up of information about the world(s) these guys inhabit, about the mysterious and seemingly unstoppable force that suddenly threatens them and about all the things that have lead them to this point. It is gripping and fascinating, this is a tome of a novel but I found that it flew by. Descriptively it is gorgeous, an imaginative and intense sense of place and time and a perfect mix of action and contemplation.
As the start of a series Forsaken Skies works very well. We get a lot of information but there is a lot still to learn, I’m very very much looking forward to the next instalment, I’m especially interested in watching the group dynamic grow. A lot of my love for this one was based on the way their relationships worked, ebbed and flowed, changed as I read. And boy there were some thrills and spills along the way too – genuinely very good indeed.
Highly Recommended for SciFi fans.
October 15, 2020
When I read a space opera, I expect first and foremost to connect with the characters and to be drawn in to their interpersonal relationships. That's the kind of stuff that keeps a book in this genre alive despite the crazy & often hilariously fun background of SPACE! ALIENS! ROCKET SHIPS and AIs!
There are characters in this book...I just didn't connect with any of them. They all seemed to act as supports to prop up the main character, Aleister Lanoe, who seemed to be a Gary Stu type of gruff and manly "morally conflicted" author fantasy. The way the characters all come together is far too convenient & rushed. Half the characters seem to have inter-character backstory, but you almost never feel that except between Aleister & his romantic interest Bettina Zhang. There's no explanation for any of Lanoe's motivations until about 80% of the way into the book, and even then it's vague and an eye-rollingly obvious stereotype.
The alien antagonists were the only interesting part, but only to the extent that I feel like I've watched this Stargate episode before. Except a little cooler, I'll give Clark (pseudonym for author David Wellington) that much credit.
Lastly, this book passes the Bechdel Test by the absolute skin of its teeth. Not that passing the Bechdel test confirms or denies whether a piece of media is 'feminist' or 'good', but it's something to take into consideration.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!
February 28, 2024
Despite the comic book premise of Forsaken Skies I ended up enjoying the hell out of it. I am not going to even address the Seven Samurai / Magnificent Seven analogue here (although it is glaringly obvious and the author doesn’t deny it). The numbers don’t add up: our hapless heroes here don’t even add up to an effective seven I believe, and they are not up against a band of marauding ne’er-do-wells, but an entire invading army. Needless to say, you are going to have to adjust your expectations accordingly.
Bonus: there is a minor character with the surname Wallach.
What makes this book work, and this is often the case when it comes to this sort of thing, is the technology that the author employs to even the odds. More specifically, the fighter ships that the protagonist and his merry crew have access to (called Cataphracts). Kudos to any author that leaves you wanting one of their destructive toys.
I found the action scenes very competently written and lots of fun to read. The novel (arguably) doesn’t aspire to a heck of a lot, other than just being a grand old last stand adventure in space. Having said that, I found it pretty colourful, and it does present another interesting take on Fermi’s paradox. Also, there are some nice reveals toward the latter end of the novel, just to keep things twisty.
I wasn’t expecting too much when I started this, but it turned out to be exciting enough that I have now ordered the rest of the Silence trilogy from Amazon.
As a side note, the cover design is really cool.
Bonus: there is a minor character with the surname Wallach.
What makes this book work, and this is often the case when it comes to this sort of thing, is the technology that the author employs to even the odds. More specifically, the fighter ships that the protagonist and his merry crew have access to (called Cataphracts). Kudos to any author that leaves you wanting one of their destructive toys.
I found the action scenes very competently written and lots of fun to read. The novel (arguably) doesn’t aspire to a heck of a lot, other than just being a grand old last stand adventure in space. Having said that, I found it pretty colourful, and it does present another interesting take on Fermi’s paradox. Also, there are some nice reveals toward the latter end of the novel, just to keep things twisty.
I wasn’t expecting too much when I started this, but it turned out to be exciting enough that I have now ordered the rest of the Silence trilogy from Amazon.
As a side note, the cover design is really cool.
August 2, 2019
Good (if derivative) mil-sf space opera. I'll refer you to Kate's fine review for the details:
https://forwinternights.wordpress.com...
There's not much here that's original, but the execution is very good, with a few caveats. This is a humans meeting a hostile machine-civilization story, with modern cosmology, standard mil-SF trappings, standard-archetype characters, and space-battle scenes that are thrilling, but sometimes feel padded. First contact is with fearsome "Lander" mecha-warriors that are strong, very hard to kill and single-minded. Their programming is simple: "Walk around in circles. Look for anything living. Stab it until it isn't living anymore. Repeat."
Vol. 1 is 568 pp.[!] but it moves quickly and is reasonably self-contained. I read it in two sittings, and am likely to continue in the series. The author has read and absorbed the sf classics he builds on, and is a fine storyteller. I'd prefer leaner prose, but I'm a fast reader and can power through the padding. Recommended comfort-read.
https://forwinternights.wordpress.com...
There's not much here that's original, but the execution is very good, with a few caveats. This is a humans meeting a hostile machine-civilization story, with modern cosmology, standard mil-SF trappings, standard-archetype characters, and space-battle scenes that are thrilling, but sometimes feel padded. First contact is with fearsome "Lander" mecha-warriors that are strong, very hard to kill and single-minded. Their programming is simple: "Walk around in circles. Look for anything living. Stab it until it isn't living anymore. Repeat."
Vol. 1 is 568 pp.[!] but it moves quickly and is reasonably self-contained. I read it in two sittings, and am likely to continue in the series. The author has read and absorbed the sf classics he builds on, and is a fine storyteller. I'd prefer leaner prose, but I'm a fast reader and can power through the padding. Recommended comfort-read.
November 22, 2016
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF @ 39%. I'm just not connecting with the characters or the plot. Surprised about this, too, since David Wellington is a favorite of mine (D. Nolan Clark is a pen name). I did enjoy the space battles and the potential is great, so I may come back to this one at another time.
DNF @ 39%. I'm just not connecting with the characters or the plot. Surprised about this, too, since David Wellington is a favorite of mine (D. Nolan Clark is a pen name). I did enjoy the space battles and the potential is great, so I may come back to this one at another time.
November 30, 2020
Magnificent Seven in space, fighting against: aliens!
And that tells you pretty much all you need to know about this straight-up fun alien invasion action story.
You’ve got the grizzled veteran who’s always looking for his next battle in Lanoe. His trusty and way, way smarter second-in-command, Bettina Zhang. The disabled former hero who stands for justice. The untried youth running from his past. The pilot/soldier suffering from debilitating PTSD who can’t fly anymore. The debt-ridden officer who’s also a dazzling fighter once he gets into a cockpit. The elder and her apprentice asking for help in a hopeless situation.
Add in a planet, early in its terraforming, owned by a massive corporation, and finally, aliens no one can talk to and that are seemingly unstoppable. The massive corp also did the calculations, and figures it’s cheaper to let the terraformers and farmers on the planet die than render any aid.
This just screams Western, in space!
And it was fun! Long, but fun, and much of the length was to establish the characters and the stakes, and then it was action, regroup, action, bad news, action, regroup, with each success followed by bigger, worse odds against the super small band of defenders.
I do wish the author hadn’t killed my favourite character, cuz, honestly, I just didn’t care that much about the grizzled leader.
But, there are enough interesting possibilities left at the end of book one that I have to know what happens next.
And that tells you pretty much all you need to know about this straight-up fun alien invasion action story.
You’ve got the grizzled veteran who’s always looking for his next battle in Lanoe. His trusty and way, way smarter second-in-command, Bettina Zhang. The disabled former hero who stands for justice. The untried youth running from his past. The pilot/soldier suffering from debilitating PTSD who can’t fly anymore. The debt-ridden officer who’s also a dazzling fighter once he gets into a cockpit. The elder and her apprentice asking for help in a hopeless situation.
Add in a planet, early in its terraforming, owned by a massive corporation, and finally, aliens no one can talk to and that are seemingly unstoppable. The massive corp also did the calculations, and figures it’s cheaper to let the terraformers and farmers on the planet die than render any aid.
This just screams Western, in space!
And it was fun! Long, but fun, and much of the length was to establish the characters and the stakes, and then it was action, regroup, action, bad news, action, regroup, with each success followed by bigger, worse odds against the super small band of defenders.
I do wish the author hadn’t killed my favourite character, cuz, honestly, I just didn’t care that much about the grizzled leader.
But, there are enough interesting possibilities left at the end of book one that I have to know what happens next.
January 14, 2020
Interesting characters trying to save a planet from an unknown, horrific enemy. Good world building, but predictable. Still, it would have been a lot of fun if it had been about 1/2 to 3/4 of the length. It went on for too long & kept peppering me with convenient inconsistencies. It tore itself apart.
Mostly, the physical world changes to heighten the tension were just too much to bear. A moon has no atmosphere most of the time, but it's thick in another scene. There are also ludicrous space battles & the final one went on for far too long. (Extend the original Star Wars final battle with the Death Star until you just wish it would end, even if Luke died.) There's a lot of maneuvering that either they were flying in atmosphere or had unlimited fuel for maneuvering jets, which they didn't whenever it was convenient. Distances & travel time were similarly malleable. Yuck.
Well narrated, but I can't recommend this one.
Mostly, the physical world changes to heighten the tension were just too much to bear. A moon has no atmosphere most of the time, but it's thick in another scene. There are also ludicrous space battles & the final one went on for far too long. (Extend the original Star Wars final battle with the Death Star until you just wish it would end, even if Luke died.) There's a lot of maneuvering that either they were flying in atmosphere or had unlimited fuel for maneuvering jets, which they didn't whenever it was convenient. Distances & travel time were similarly malleable. Yuck.
Well narrated, but I can't recommend this one.
September 7, 2016
Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
I wanted to like this novel. I really did. But I just could not finish it and had to abandon ship. The ideas were awesome. The characters were fun. The writing style was great. The execution of it all – not so much.
The premise is great. Aliens are coming to attack a small planet that no one cares about. A small group of rag-tag pilots is determined to fight despite the impossible odds. The trope is common for a space opera but how it was set up was exciting.
I adored the way the book began. A pilot, Aleister Lanoe, is in pursuit of another runaway pilot who is wanted for murder. The chase involves almost crashing into a space hub and other craziness. How this resolves was fricken awesome. If only the remainder of what I read could have been that well done.
The characters were lovely. My favorites:
Aleister Lanoe – pilot, war hero, crafty planner, the leader
Tannis Valk – pilot, air traffic controller, super smart, quirky guy whose story made me want to finish the book, oh and was the enemy of Lanoe in the previous war
Ensign Caroline Ehta – pilot, lovely strong powerful woman, made mistakes but keeps on going
Bettina Zhang – pilot, former second-in-command for Lanoe, the ideas behind some of the space technology she used were unique
Aspirant Roan – young girl from beleaguered planet, impressionable, seemingly strong core, fun
The worldbuilding was well done. I thought the military aspects of the novel were particularly nice. I liked all the different types of ships, the structure of how the navy was used, the technology of the space suits, etc. The author seemed to have spent a lot of time developing the world and its backstory. The politics present were not overwhelming but did add a nice patina to the overall story.
Okay so far wonderful. The problem then? Pacing. So so so slow. Despite all the good things in the novel, it was just a slog. I was fighting through every page. The concepts made me happy. The execution did not. The action sequences were great. The stuff around them not so much. The potential of the story is there, I just wish it had been trimmed. A lot.
With so many books on the horizon, I just gave up. I want me reading to make time seem to disappear, not to accentuate every second passing. I am sad, but I couldn’t fight the tide.
If ye want to read another take on this novel that is more in depth, check out this review by drew @ TheTattooed Book Geek - https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...
Side Note: D. Nolan Clark is a pseudonym for an acclaimed author who has previously published several novels in different genres. I wonder who it is!
So lastly . . .
Thank you Orbit Books!
If ye want to see me other reviews, visit https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
I wanted to like this novel. I really did. But I just could not finish it and had to abandon ship. The ideas were awesome. The characters were fun. The writing style was great. The execution of it all – not so much.
The premise is great. Aliens are coming to attack a small planet that no one cares about. A small group of rag-tag pilots is determined to fight despite the impossible odds. The trope is common for a space opera but how it was set up was exciting.
I adored the way the book began. A pilot, Aleister Lanoe, is in pursuit of another runaway pilot who is wanted for murder. The chase involves almost crashing into a space hub and other craziness. How this resolves was fricken awesome. If only the remainder of what I read could have been that well done.
The characters were lovely. My favorites:
Aleister Lanoe – pilot, war hero, crafty planner, the leader
Tannis Valk – pilot, air traffic controller, super smart, quirky guy whose story made me want to finish the book, oh and was the enemy of Lanoe in the previous war
Ensign Caroline Ehta – pilot, lovely strong powerful woman, made mistakes but keeps on going
Bettina Zhang – pilot, former second-in-command for Lanoe, the ideas behind some of the space technology she used were unique
Aspirant Roan – young girl from beleaguered planet, impressionable, seemingly strong core, fun
The worldbuilding was well done. I thought the military aspects of the novel were particularly nice. I liked all the different types of ships, the structure of how the navy was used, the technology of the space suits, etc. The author seemed to have spent a lot of time developing the world and its backstory. The politics present were not overwhelming but did add a nice patina to the overall story.
Okay so far wonderful. The problem then? Pacing. So so so slow. Despite all the good things in the novel, it was just a slog. I was fighting through every page. The concepts made me happy. The execution did not. The action sequences were great. The stuff around them not so much. The potential of the story is there, I just wish it had been trimmed. A lot.
With so many books on the horizon, I just gave up. I want me reading to make time seem to disappear, not to accentuate every second passing. I am sad, but I couldn’t fight the tide.
If ye want to read another take on this novel that is more in depth, check out this review by drew @ TheTattooed Book Geek - https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...
Side Note: D. Nolan Clark is a pseudonym for an acclaimed author who has previously published several novels in different genres. I wonder who it is!
So lastly . . .
Thank you Orbit Books!
If ye want to see me other reviews, visit https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
May 4, 2018
http://delivreenlivres.blogspot.fr/20...
Malgré un gros passage à vide au milieu ou je me suis ennuyée, j'ai finalement bien apprécié cette lecture. On est dans de la science-fiction d'aventure assez classique basée sur les personnages et ça reste une lecture agréable avec un final assez épique.
On est sur une histoire du type des 7 samouraïs. Je ne sais pas si c'est vraiment repris (une ré-écriture) vu que je ne connais pas l’œuvre originale mais même si ça n'est pas le cas c'est vraiment le même genre de scénario.
Et malgré le coté batailles et les rangs des personnages on n'est pas dans de la SF militaire.
La planète Niraya a été attaquée par un éclaireur d'un ennemi inconnu. L'aspirante Roan et L'Ancienne McRae partent donc vers l'une des stations les plus actives de la zone pour chercher de l'aide. En effet, dans ce monde contrôlé par des grandes sociétés, leur planète perdue, qui sert de refuge pour ceux qui veulent s'éloigner de la société, n'est pas jugée suffisamment rentable pour bénéficier d'une aide, ni pour évacuer, trop risqué. Du coup leur seuls espoirs reposent dans le Lieutenant Maggs qui leur promet l'assistance d'une force importante contre une somme tout aussi importante.
Mais en fait Maggs est un escroc, il n'a aucune force sous la main et en plus il est déserteur. Et ça Aleister Lanoe, grand pilote de légende à la retraite le remarque tout de suite et décide de jouer le bon samaritain et d'aider les deux femmes en poursuivant Maggs pour leur rendre leur argent, aidé par Tannis Valk, le contrôleur aérien de la zone, ancien ennemi de Lanoe, aussi un pilote et aussi à la retraite.
Une fois l'escroc rattrapé, les deux hommes entendent l'histoire de l'invasion prochaine et Lanoe décide de prêter main forte aux deux femmes. Il réquisitionne ce qu'il reste de ses anciens camarades, force la main de Valk et de Maggs et c'est ainsi un petit groupe de 6 personnes plus les 2 suppliantes qui se dirige vers Naraya pour essayer de faire de son mieux pour sauver la planète.
Si vous cherchez un livre plein d'action, de retournements de situations, ou on ne s'ennuie pas une seule seconde embarqué dans une histoire qui va a 100 à l'heure, vous risquez fort d'être déçu ici.
Par qu'une fois ce départ bien pêchu terminé, on prend enfin le temps pour bien poser la situation, pour enquêter et penser aux autres habitants de la planète.
Doit-on les prévenir au risque de créer la panique? Les rares employés (mineurs et ingénieurs) de la grande entreprise qui possède la planète peuvent-ils être évacués? Doit-on enrôler de force les habitants pour la défense ou juste les protéger?
Ce sont une partie des questions qui se posent durant toute la partie qui suis.
Et pour ma part j'avoue que j'ai trouvé le temps extrêmement long. Je pense que ça vient surtout du fait qu'au tout début il semble vraiment y avoir une urgence, il faut partir tout de suite de la station, pas le temps de recruter plus du monde ou ça sera terminé sans eux ...
Mais en fait une fois arrivé, d'un coup tout redevient calme pendant bien 200 pages ou on ne fait qu'attendre et discuter des problèmes logistiques. Sans parler de l'obligatoire romance entre les deux personnages les plus jeunes qui se voit venir à 100km qui était un peu lourde à mon gout.
Heureusement durant cette période calme il y avait quand même une partie de l'intrigue qui m’intéressait et c'était tout ce qui concerne le recueil de données concernant les adversaires.
On se demande d’où ils viennent, on analyse leur technologie, on calcule leur trajectoire, on spécule sur leur formation et le rôle de chaque type de vaisseau ... Sont-ils des renégats, des pirates, une autre des grandes société concurrente qui essaye de déstabiliser secrètement son adversaire, des extraterrestres? Et la c'est un point qui me parle, ça créée de l'anticipation et j'avais hâte que ça avance pour en savoir plus.
Un fois tout ce passage lent terminé (ouf!), j'avoue que j'ai pris bien plus de plaisir dans la lecture de la suite.
La vrai défense de la planète se met en place, on discute stratégie, on met en place des pièges, bref on repart dans un récit bien plus dynamique qui a su capter mon attention.
Et d'autant plus que l'intrigue ne repose pas uniquement sur l'arrivé imminente de la force inconnue, elle repose aussi sur les différentes histoires des personnages, sur leur passé, sur leurs interaction. En gros sur le coté humain des personnages. Et j'ai trouvé le tout bien équilibré. Il y a d'ailleurs à ce sujet certains retournements de situation que je n'avais pas du tout vue venir et qui m'ont bien touché.
Il m'a fallu du temps pour vraiment accrocher aux personnages, j'ai même failli abandonner au milieu, mais une fois que c'était fait j'ai passé un excellent moment.
L'action reprend le dessus sur la fin de l'histoire et on a un final vraiment épique que j'ai bien apprécié. Il était bien dosé, aussi bien basé sur l’héroïsme des personnages ou leur sacrifice que sur les actions bien coordonnées et les ressources bien gérées. Le tout dans un passages qui semble assez chaotique et ou rien ne se passe comme prévu, bien entendu.
Au final je dirais que ma lecture de ce livre a vraiment eu deux phases. Malgré un début punchy je me suis longuement ennuyée ensuite, surtout vers le milieu, j'étais même à deux doigts d'abandonner. Mais je suis contente d'avoir persévéré parce que la seconde parti m'a vraiment bien plu et que j'ai passé finalement un excellemment moment. Les personnages ont su me toucher et cette histoire qui est au final aussi bien basé sur les personnages que sur l'attaque en elle même a su gagner mon attention et me tenir jusqu'au bout.
15.5/20
Malgré un gros passage à vide au milieu ou je me suis ennuyée, j'ai finalement bien apprécié cette lecture. On est dans de la science-fiction d'aventure assez classique basée sur les personnages et ça reste une lecture agréable avec un final assez épique.
On est sur une histoire du type des 7 samouraïs. Je ne sais pas si c'est vraiment repris (une ré-écriture) vu que je ne connais pas l’œuvre originale mais même si ça n'est pas le cas c'est vraiment le même genre de scénario.
Et malgré le coté batailles et les rangs des personnages on n'est pas dans de la SF militaire.
La planète Niraya a été attaquée par un éclaireur d'un ennemi inconnu. L'aspirante Roan et L'Ancienne McRae partent donc vers l'une des stations les plus actives de la zone pour chercher de l'aide. En effet, dans ce monde contrôlé par des grandes sociétés, leur planète perdue, qui sert de refuge pour ceux qui veulent s'éloigner de la société, n'est pas jugée suffisamment rentable pour bénéficier d'une aide, ni pour évacuer, trop risqué. Du coup leur seuls espoirs reposent dans le Lieutenant Maggs qui leur promet l'assistance d'une force importante contre une somme tout aussi importante.
Mais en fait Maggs est un escroc, il n'a aucune force sous la main et en plus il est déserteur. Et ça Aleister Lanoe, grand pilote de légende à la retraite le remarque tout de suite et décide de jouer le bon samaritain et d'aider les deux femmes en poursuivant Maggs pour leur rendre leur argent, aidé par Tannis Valk, le contrôleur aérien de la zone, ancien ennemi de Lanoe, aussi un pilote et aussi à la retraite.
Une fois l'escroc rattrapé, les deux hommes entendent l'histoire de l'invasion prochaine et Lanoe décide de prêter main forte aux deux femmes. Il réquisitionne ce qu'il reste de ses anciens camarades, force la main de Valk et de Maggs et c'est ainsi un petit groupe de 6 personnes plus les 2 suppliantes qui se dirige vers Naraya pour essayer de faire de son mieux pour sauver la planète.
Si vous cherchez un livre plein d'action, de retournements de situations, ou on ne s'ennuie pas une seule seconde embarqué dans une histoire qui va a 100 à l'heure, vous risquez fort d'être déçu ici.
Par qu'une fois ce départ bien pêchu terminé, on prend enfin le temps pour bien poser la situation, pour enquêter et penser aux autres habitants de la planète.
Doit-on les prévenir au risque de créer la panique? Les rares employés (mineurs et ingénieurs) de la grande entreprise qui possède la planète peuvent-ils être évacués? Doit-on enrôler de force les habitants pour la défense ou juste les protéger?
Ce sont une partie des questions qui se posent durant toute la partie qui suis.
Et pour ma part j'avoue que j'ai trouvé le temps extrêmement long. Je pense que ça vient surtout du fait qu'au tout début il semble vraiment y avoir une urgence, il faut partir tout de suite de la station, pas le temps de recruter plus du monde ou ça sera terminé sans eux ...
Mais en fait une fois arrivé, d'un coup tout redevient calme pendant bien 200 pages ou on ne fait qu'attendre et discuter des problèmes logistiques. Sans parler de l'obligatoire romance entre les deux personnages les plus jeunes qui se voit venir à 100km qui était un peu lourde à mon gout.
Heureusement durant cette période calme il y avait quand même une partie de l'intrigue qui m’intéressait et c'était tout ce qui concerne le recueil de données concernant les adversaires.
On se demande d’où ils viennent, on analyse leur technologie, on calcule leur trajectoire, on spécule sur leur formation et le rôle de chaque type de vaisseau ... Sont-ils des renégats, des pirates, une autre des grandes société concurrente qui essaye de déstabiliser secrètement son adversaire, des extraterrestres? Et la c'est un point qui me parle, ça créée de l'anticipation et j'avais hâte que ça avance pour en savoir plus.
Un fois tout ce passage lent terminé (ouf!), j'avoue que j'ai pris bien plus de plaisir dans la lecture de la suite.
La vrai défense de la planète se met en place, on discute stratégie, on met en place des pièges, bref on repart dans un récit bien plus dynamique qui a su capter mon attention.
Et d'autant plus que l'intrigue ne repose pas uniquement sur l'arrivé imminente de la force inconnue, elle repose aussi sur les différentes histoires des personnages, sur leur passé, sur leurs interaction. En gros sur le coté humain des personnages. Et j'ai trouvé le tout bien équilibré. Il y a d'ailleurs à ce sujet certains retournements de situation que je n'avais pas du tout vue venir et qui m'ont bien touché.
Il m'a fallu du temps pour vraiment accrocher aux personnages, j'ai même failli abandonner au milieu, mais une fois que c'était fait j'ai passé un excellent moment.
L'action reprend le dessus sur la fin de l'histoire et on a un final vraiment épique que j'ai bien apprécié. Il était bien dosé, aussi bien basé sur l’héroïsme des personnages ou leur sacrifice que sur les actions bien coordonnées et les ressources bien gérées. Le tout dans un passages qui semble assez chaotique et ou rien ne se passe comme prévu, bien entendu.
Au final je dirais que ma lecture de ce livre a vraiment eu deux phases. Malgré un début punchy je me suis longuement ennuyée ensuite, surtout vers le milieu, j'étais même à deux doigts d'abandonner. Mais je suis contente d'avoir persévéré parce que la seconde parti m'a vraiment bien plu et que j'ai passé finalement un excellemment moment. Les personnages ont su me toucher et cette histoire qui est au final aussi bien basé sur les personnages que sur l'attaque en elle même a su gagner mon attention et me tenir jusqu'au bout.
15.5/20
August 31, 2016
Forsaken Skies gets 3.5 stars. This is the first book by D. Nolan Clark so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found it long and complex and far more than I expected in a first novel. This is a standalone with a soft cliffhanger for what will be at least one more book in a series. This story is violent and not for sensitive readers.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It isn't your traditional space opera, but will appeal to readers who prefer hard core SciFi. At first the characters are hard to relate to and I had to force myself to keep reading. But I'm glad that I did. After awhile, I became invested in the characters as well as wanting to see who/what they were fighting.
Niraya is a small, poor planet in the middle of nowhere. It was set up as a colony of some minor religion. Centrocor, one of the major polys (corporations), took on responsibility for its development and set up a mining operation there.
The Elders on Niraya sent a notice of distress to Centrocor after a strange machine landed on their planet and started killing anyone it encountered. Some type of fleet was also detected heading their way and due to arrive in a few weeks. Having done a risk-benefit calculation, neither Centrocor or the Navy wanted to spend the money defending a planet with only 100,000 inhabitants.
Elder MacRae and Roan spent twelve days locked in a cargo container while they traveled to find help. They found that help just not how they imagined it. Join a small rag-tag and very mismatched group who reluctantly pull together to try to save the planet. Lanoe, Zhang, Ehta, Valk, Maggs, and Thom will do their best when fighting an enemy unlike any they have every encountered before. Will they succeed or are they and the planet doomed? And just who is this enemy they are fighting? There are enough twists and turns to keep readers interested. It definitely kept me reading.
I look forward to reading more of this adventure when the next book in the series is published. I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It isn't your traditional space opera, but will appeal to readers who prefer hard core SciFi. At first the characters are hard to relate to and I had to force myself to keep reading. But I'm glad that I did. After awhile, I became invested in the characters as well as wanting to see who/what they were fighting.
Niraya is a small, poor planet in the middle of nowhere. It was set up as a colony of some minor religion. Centrocor, one of the major polys (corporations), took on responsibility for its development and set up a mining operation there.
The Elders on Niraya sent a notice of distress to Centrocor after a strange machine landed on their planet and started killing anyone it encountered. Some type of fleet was also detected heading their way and due to arrive in a few weeks. Having done a risk-benefit calculation, neither Centrocor or the Navy wanted to spend the money defending a planet with only 100,000 inhabitants.
Elder MacRae and Roan spent twelve days locked in a cargo container while they traveled to find help. They found that help just not how they imagined it. Join a small rag-tag and very mismatched group who reluctantly pull together to try to save the planet. Lanoe, Zhang, Ehta, Valk, Maggs, and Thom will do their best when fighting an enemy unlike any they have every encountered before. Will they succeed or are they and the planet doomed? And just who is this enemy they are fighting? There are enough twists and turns to keep readers interested. It definitely kept me reading.
I look forward to reading more of this adventure when the next book in the series is published. I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 19, 2016
Humanity has colonized about a hundred star systems, and found no signs of intelligent alien life. Now a low-value colony on a barely-terraformed world, Niraya, is under attack, and the "poly" (corporation) that owns it has decided it's simply not worth defending from whatever other poly is attacking it. Its inhabitants aren't ready to lay down and die, yet, though, and they dispatch Elder McRae and Aspirant Roan to Hexus, the nearest major space station, to seek help.
They first make contact with a Navy officer, Auster Maggs, who promises he can bring them help. Unfortunately, he can't, and doesn't intend to. He has a different agenda.
At this point, Hexus traffic control officer Tannis Valk, and Aleister Lanoe, a legendary retired Navy fighter pilot who came here chasing a young pilot fleeing for his own reasons, accidentally become involved. It's not long before Lanoe, Valk, Maggs, the young pilot Thom, and old comrades from Lanoe's past are on their way to Niraya with McRae and Roan. They've got four pilots and an engineer to fight off an unknown attacker with far greater resources.
And they don't even have a clue yet what they're really up against. They're about to have their first contact with alien minds.
This is servicably done space opera. There could be more background on past interactions among characters we know have lots of history together, but the basic character development is pretty good. The plot moves well overall, and what's really going on is, I think, pretty interesting. The Maggs sublplot I felt fell a little flat.
What happens with the Valk subplot is very, very interesting.
Overall, a good, solid read that will not likely be nominated for any major awards. It is the first of a trilogy, but it does come to a real and satisfying end for this story.
If any site I'll be posting this on allowed half-stars, I'd give it 3.5 stars.
I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
They first make contact with a Navy officer, Auster Maggs, who promises he can bring them help. Unfortunately, he can't, and doesn't intend to. He has a different agenda.
At this point, Hexus traffic control officer Tannis Valk, and Aleister Lanoe, a legendary retired Navy fighter pilot who came here chasing a young pilot fleeing for his own reasons, accidentally become involved. It's not long before Lanoe, Valk, Maggs, the young pilot Thom, and old comrades from Lanoe's past are on their way to Niraya with McRae and Roan. They've got four pilots and an engineer to fight off an unknown attacker with far greater resources.
And they don't even have a clue yet what they're really up against. They're about to have their first contact with alien minds.
This is servicably done space opera. There could be more background on past interactions among characters we know have lots of history together, but the basic character development is pretty good. The plot moves well overall, and what's really going on is, I think, pretty interesting. The Maggs sublplot I felt fell a little flat.
What happens with the Valk subplot is very, very interesting.
Overall, a good, solid read that will not likely be nominated for any major awards. It is the first of a trilogy, but it does come to a real and satisfying end for this story.
If any site I'll be posting this on allowed half-stars, I'd give it 3.5 stars.
I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
January 3, 2018
Thoroughly entertaining SF first contact adventure! Part 1 of a new series - very glad there's more to come.
August 30, 2016
Well it's 2.5 but Goodreads doesn't do half stars!
As always my fellow bookish peeps this review along with other cool stuff can also be found on my blog: TheTattooedBookGeek.wordpress.com
I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Forsaken Skies is the first book in The Silence trilogy. It’s space opera but on a more intimate scale than epic featuring a smaller cast of characters and predominantly the fate of a single planet though there’s definitely the chance for things to happen on a grander scale and scope in the sequel. The book starts with the main character of the book, the legendary Aleister Lanoe in pursuit of another space craft being piloted by Thom. This is the set up and catalyst to meeting the rest of the core cast of characters for the whole book. During the pursuit both space crafts have to pass through the Hexus (a massive space hub). After causing trouble for the operator of the hub (Orbital traffic controller Tannis Valk) on the pursuit Lanoe lands to sort out what’s going on. Lanoe fought for the Polys (massive corporations) and Earth during the Establishment Crisis years before and Tannis Valk for the enemy The Establishment, with Valk being a symbol of hope and courage amongst the Establishmentarians and being known as the Blue Devil. The relationship that develops between the two through the book is a nice addition as it gives some history and shows to fighters who used to be enemies become comrades and friends. While on the Hexus, Lanoe sees one of his old squad Ensign Caroline Ehta who after being asked by Lanoe gets caught up in the affairs going on. When Lanoe’s and the other ship passed through the Hexus a cargo carrier had to be diverted by Valk to avoid a catastrophic collision, it was a cargo carrier and shouldn’t have had humans on board but Valk got a message saying that the move he had advised would cause distress to the passengers, passengers on a cargo freighter, mystery! Valk investigates and finds inside the carrier Elder McRae and Aspirant Roan from the planet Niraya. They have come to the Hexus to meet Lieutenant Auster Maggs who has promised to help them with Niraya’s problem, an attack by an unknown source. Maggs isn’t who he seems though and is out to swindle the Elder and Aspirant for money to pay of debts he owes. But, Lanoe agrees to help the Elder protect Niraya and the Nirayans, roping Valk, Ehta and also Bettina Zhang – his old second in command who he contacts for ships and help. Thus, after this rather convenient way of connecting the group together, the core group heads of to defend the fate of the planet against the unknown enemy force.
That’s a very rudimentary explanation of the story but as I try to avoid spoilers I can’t really elaborate any more as it would ruin the actual story for those who are likely to read the book. Though I will say that there are some slight spoilers ahead in this review (namely the unknown enemy threat – but it’s space Opera so I’m sure you can already guess what that threat turns out to be anyway) as they are the only way that I can make my point about the book.
The world or should that be space building in the book is really good, the Hexus, Niraya and Aruna are all well-developed and individual places. The spacecraft’s are all well designed. The history and lore are also in-depth bringing a sense of what has happened in the wars before and it feels like the author has put a lot of effort into creating the setting for his space opera to take place in.
Unfortunately while the world building is really good the character building isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the character building itself is decent enough it’s just that the actual characters themselves aren’t all that likeable. Someone should have told the author that to really care about the characters fates you need to care about the characters themselves. Lanoe isn’t the most enigmatic choice for a lead protagonist, he’s very generic as a gruff and grizzled veteran. It took me ages to actual like him but by the end he had grown on me enough for me to say that overall he is a decent character but he’s not captivating or charismatic and while he will grow on you it’s a slow process until you see some real emotion out of him and understand his motives for wanting to defend the planet about three-quarters of the way through the book. That emotion Lanoe shows towards Zhang comes across as genuine and is apart from anger is the only time we see any real feeling from him throughout the entire book. Also, his reason behind helping the Nirayans when you learn it is very stereotypical. I really didn’t like Elder McRae or most of the Nirayans either, if someone agreed to help save your planet then you would be grateful for that help no matter how big the odds of success. Being honest, in the realm of the hypothetical, if I had gone to help defend/save a planet and the inhabitants were like the Nirayans, especially the Elders there’s a good chance I would simply have left them to their own fates. I didn’t like Maggs either, but that’s the type of character he is so the author did a good job of his characterisation and making him unlikable, he has some redeeming moments but most of the time you just want to give him a wallop in the face. Ehta was a rather bit part character who I neither really minded or didn’t mind. I did like Zhang and thought she added a lot to the group and helped you like Lanoe more as you learn more about their history and back story and the only time that Lanoe shows any real feeling and emotion throughout the book is to do with Zhang. I liked Valk to, he was overall a well-developed and rounded character.
My two favourite characters in the book were Thom and Aspirant Roan. I have only mentioned Thom’s name once before to avoid spoilers but he during the book he turns into one of the better characters as he struggles to deal with his own inner feelings and tries to help aid the defence of Niraya. Aspirant Roan is probably the best character in the book, she’s only a secondary character to, that tells you all you need to know about the main group of characters. During the book she shows the most character development and growth, maturing into a decent but smaller part character contributing to one significant moment in the story.
The unknown enemy that is heading towards Niraya after much debating amongst the main characters until they finally find out for themselves in the book turns out to be aliens. Yes, it’s space opera so you the reader probably guessed after reading about the first attack in the book who the enemy was but are oh so clever characters take absolutely ages to figure this out!
The defence of Niraya and then Aruna (a moon orbiting Garuda, a planet near Niraya) when the group move there is generally well written and the author does a great job of writing the space battles making them exciting and action packed. Those battles are arguably the main highlight of the book. The alien armada contains various different ships (Landers, Orbiters, Interceptors, Swarmships and a Queenship) and is a menacing and ominous threat but, we don’t see any actual aliens, though very late on near the end we do get to learn what they look like and their goal. What we get instead is an armada of drones sent out by the aliens. Now, as I wrote previously they are a menacing threat and the ships number in the hundreds/thousands which is overwhelming odds for our group of saviours to defeat. However, the drones only have very simplistic programming and thus the group of pilots can easily defeat a vast amount of the enemy fleet, due to their flying prowess and it’s only the numbers that happen to turn the battles and finally overwhelm the group during the last stand. But, the problem with this is and it left me thinking. That if Lanoe had managed to get a proper squadron or fleet of space craft and fighters together then they would have easily been able to defeat the drone armada. I feel it would have improved the book if the author had done a better job of creating a feeling of dread at the scale of the armada, yes, you feel dread when on Niraya with the armada getting closer but when the small number of pilots start laying waste to vast amounts of drones you just think, oh well, if there was more fighters then they would have easily turned the armada back and saved Niraya. When the odds do get too much near the end, help comes from an unlikely source in the form of a character who leaves part way through the book, returning just in time to help save the day. Just like with the group converging on the Hexus at the books beginning, it seemed another rather convenient and contrived plot twist to save the day and it also felt quite rushed.
The writing of the book, well, I have to mention that it is a long read, it is 570 page in hardback sized paperback and you feel through every one of those pages. At times it is well written with some really good sections, segments and action scenes thrown in by the author but overall the writing comes across as overly descriptive, blocky and clunky. In the end you struggle to find the well written parts buried within the mass of prose.
One thing that really annoyed me with the writing was that when Elder McRae was talking to the other characters she would say M.Lanoe or M.Valk, it seemed unnecessary and pointless and it just didn’t flow. Another thing was, most of the time when the group destroys drones they did just that, destroyed them but a couple of times the author wrote that they had killed them. Now, I know some of you may think that I’m being very pernickety here, but humans kill other humans, drones kill humans and humans destroy drones. For me, I thought it was technically impossible for drones to be killed as they aren’t sentient?!?!
While the overall story itself is good and the alien threat and their intentions are interesting the actual book lacks much emotion and any real humour. Also, dare I say it, the book could have done with being editing down in length. For me the author could have easily shaved off a hundred pages or more making the story faster paced and far more enjoyable as in it’s current length the book feels bloated and drags taking ages for anything significant to happen.
I’m sorry to say that after reading Forsaken Skies, while I enjoyed parts of it, unless you are an avid sci-fi fan looking to add another book to your collection that I unfortunately cannot recommend it. There are some good points and redeeming qualities to the book but overall the flaws far out weigh them. I’m not sure myself if I will read the sequel, yes, I’m quite interested to see where the story goes but with the writing style and lack of engaging characters I really don’t know what my decision will be about continuing with the trilogy. I would suggest that unless you are a fan of the genre that you stay away from this book.
As always my fellow bookish peeps this review along with other cool stuff can also be found on my blog: TheTattooedBookGeek.wordpress.com
I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Forsaken Skies is the first book in The Silence trilogy. It’s space opera but on a more intimate scale than epic featuring a smaller cast of characters and predominantly the fate of a single planet though there’s definitely the chance for things to happen on a grander scale and scope in the sequel. The book starts with the main character of the book, the legendary Aleister Lanoe in pursuit of another space craft being piloted by Thom. This is the set up and catalyst to meeting the rest of the core cast of characters for the whole book. During the pursuit both space crafts have to pass through the Hexus (a massive space hub). After causing trouble for the operator of the hub (Orbital traffic controller Tannis Valk) on the pursuit Lanoe lands to sort out what’s going on. Lanoe fought for the Polys (massive corporations) and Earth during the Establishment Crisis years before and Tannis Valk for the enemy The Establishment, with Valk being a symbol of hope and courage amongst the Establishmentarians and being known as the Blue Devil. The relationship that develops between the two through the book is a nice addition as it gives some history and shows to fighters who used to be enemies become comrades and friends. While on the Hexus, Lanoe sees one of his old squad Ensign Caroline Ehta who after being asked by Lanoe gets caught up in the affairs going on. When Lanoe’s and the other ship passed through the Hexus a cargo carrier had to be diverted by Valk to avoid a catastrophic collision, it was a cargo carrier and shouldn’t have had humans on board but Valk got a message saying that the move he had advised would cause distress to the passengers, passengers on a cargo freighter, mystery! Valk investigates and finds inside the carrier Elder McRae and Aspirant Roan from the planet Niraya. They have come to the Hexus to meet Lieutenant Auster Maggs who has promised to help them with Niraya’s problem, an attack by an unknown source. Maggs isn’t who he seems though and is out to swindle the Elder and Aspirant for money to pay of debts he owes. But, Lanoe agrees to help the Elder protect Niraya and the Nirayans, roping Valk, Ehta and also Bettina Zhang – his old second in command who he contacts for ships and help. Thus, after this rather convenient way of connecting the group together, the core group heads of to defend the fate of the planet against the unknown enemy force.
That’s a very rudimentary explanation of the story but as I try to avoid spoilers I can’t really elaborate any more as it would ruin the actual story for those who are likely to read the book. Though I will say that there are some slight spoilers ahead in this review (namely the unknown enemy threat – but it’s space Opera so I’m sure you can already guess what that threat turns out to be anyway) as they are the only way that I can make my point about the book.
The world or should that be space building in the book is really good, the Hexus, Niraya and Aruna are all well-developed and individual places. The spacecraft’s are all well designed. The history and lore are also in-depth bringing a sense of what has happened in the wars before and it feels like the author has put a lot of effort into creating the setting for his space opera to take place in.
Unfortunately while the world building is really good the character building isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the character building itself is decent enough it’s just that the actual characters themselves aren’t all that likeable. Someone should have told the author that to really care about the characters fates you need to care about the characters themselves. Lanoe isn’t the most enigmatic choice for a lead protagonist, he’s very generic as a gruff and grizzled veteran. It took me ages to actual like him but by the end he had grown on me enough for me to say that overall he is a decent character but he’s not captivating or charismatic and while he will grow on you it’s a slow process until you see some real emotion out of him and understand his motives for wanting to defend the planet about three-quarters of the way through the book. That emotion Lanoe shows towards Zhang comes across as genuine and is apart from anger is the only time we see any real feeling from him throughout the entire book. Also, his reason behind helping the Nirayans when you learn it is very stereotypical. I really didn’t like Elder McRae or most of the Nirayans either, if someone agreed to help save your planet then you would be grateful for that help no matter how big the odds of success. Being honest, in the realm of the hypothetical, if I had gone to help defend/save a planet and the inhabitants were like the Nirayans, especially the Elders there’s a good chance I would simply have left them to their own fates. I didn’t like Maggs either, but that’s the type of character he is so the author did a good job of his characterisation and making him unlikable, he has some redeeming moments but most of the time you just want to give him a wallop in the face. Ehta was a rather bit part character who I neither really minded or didn’t mind. I did like Zhang and thought she added a lot to the group and helped you like Lanoe more as you learn more about their history and back story and the only time that Lanoe shows any real feeling and emotion throughout the book is to do with Zhang. I liked Valk to, he was overall a well-developed and rounded character.
My two favourite characters in the book were Thom and Aspirant Roan. I have only mentioned Thom’s name once before to avoid spoilers but he during the book he turns into one of the better characters as he struggles to deal with his own inner feelings and tries to help aid the defence of Niraya. Aspirant Roan is probably the best character in the book, she’s only a secondary character to, that tells you all you need to know about the main group of characters. During the book she shows the most character development and growth, maturing into a decent but smaller part character contributing to one significant moment in the story.
The unknown enemy that is heading towards Niraya after much debating amongst the main characters until they finally find out for themselves in the book turns out to be aliens. Yes, it’s space opera so you the reader probably guessed after reading about the first attack in the book who the enemy was but are oh so clever characters take absolutely ages to figure this out!
The defence of Niraya and then Aruna (a moon orbiting Garuda, a planet near Niraya) when the group move there is generally well written and the author does a great job of writing the space battles making them exciting and action packed. Those battles are arguably the main highlight of the book. The alien armada contains various different ships (Landers, Orbiters, Interceptors, Swarmships and a Queenship) and is a menacing and ominous threat but, we don’t see any actual aliens, though very late on near the end we do get to learn what they look like and their goal. What we get instead is an armada of drones sent out by the aliens. Now, as I wrote previously they are a menacing threat and the ships number in the hundreds/thousands which is overwhelming odds for our group of saviours to defeat. However, the drones only have very simplistic programming and thus the group of pilots can easily defeat a vast amount of the enemy fleet, due to their flying prowess and it’s only the numbers that happen to turn the battles and finally overwhelm the group during the last stand. But, the problem with this is and it left me thinking. That if Lanoe had managed to get a proper squadron or fleet of space craft and fighters together then they would have easily been able to defeat the drone armada. I feel it would have improved the book if the author had done a better job of creating a feeling of dread at the scale of the armada, yes, you feel dread when on Niraya with the armada getting closer but when the small number of pilots start laying waste to vast amounts of drones you just think, oh well, if there was more fighters then they would have easily turned the armada back and saved Niraya. When the odds do get too much near the end, help comes from an unlikely source in the form of a character who leaves part way through the book, returning just in time to help save the day. Just like with the group converging on the Hexus at the books beginning, it seemed another rather convenient and contrived plot twist to save the day and it also felt quite rushed.
The writing of the book, well, I have to mention that it is a long read, it is 570 page in hardback sized paperback and you feel through every one of those pages. At times it is well written with some really good sections, segments and action scenes thrown in by the author but overall the writing comes across as overly descriptive, blocky and clunky. In the end you struggle to find the well written parts buried within the mass of prose.
One thing that really annoyed me with the writing was that when Elder McRae was talking to the other characters she would say M.Lanoe or M.Valk, it seemed unnecessary and pointless and it just didn’t flow. Another thing was, most of the time when the group destroys drones they did just that, destroyed them but a couple of times the author wrote that they had killed them. Now, I know some of you may think that I’m being very pernickety here, but humans kill other humans, drones kill humans and humans destroy drones. For me, I thought it was technically impossible for drones to be killed as they aren’t sentient?!?!
While the overall story itself is good and the alien threat and their intentions are interesting the actual book lacks much emotion and any real humour. Also, dare I say it, the book could have done with being editing down in length. For me the author could have easily shaved off a hundred pages or more making the story faster paced and far more enjoyable as in it’s current length the book feels bloated and drags taking ages for anything significant to happen.
I’m sorry to say that after reading Forsaken Skies, while I enjoyed parts of it, unless you are an avid sci-fi fan looking to add another book to your collection that I unfortunately cannot recommend it. There are some good points and redeeming qualities to the book but overall the flaws far out weigh them. I’m not sure myself if I will read the sequel, yes, I’m quite interested to see where the story goes but with the writing style and lack of engaging characters I really don’t know what my decision will be about continuing with the trilogy. I would suggest that unless you are a fan of the genre that you stay away from this book.
March 30, 2017
From the first moment I saw it, this book grabbed hold of my attention. This is the first part of a series (three books announced so far) called The Silence and I'd classify it as space opera with a definite military sci-fi vibe and a good dose of hard sci-fi. I think it's a very well-balanced mix that many fans of these genres will enjoy. It's quite long but is wonderfully easy to read and the story kept me engaged easily, not exactly on the edge of the seat, but firmly locked in nonetheless.
The author (well-known horror author David Wellington using a pseudonym) says: "Ever since I saw Star Wars as a child...why I wanted to write in the first place...my whole life and career was leading me to write this book." Well, he's done a bloody good job of it, I must say. You can sense the Star Wars influence in there, from the vastness of galactic society to the full-on space war. Just on that, I did find some the big main battle a little bit long and began to tire of it before it's conclusion. However, I often say that so I guess big battles are just not my thing, but if they're yours then you're probably going to love the shooting and explosions in this. There's lots of them!
The character depth is great by my standards, not too much but still enough to be able to make a firm decision whether you like them or not, each character having at least one unique quality about them that you will either love or dislike. I found myself liking most of them and able to identify with all of them to some degree. There are some slight romantic interests between a few of the characters, but these aren't dominant yet play an important part in events. Once again, a good balance for a reader like me.
The world building is top notch, I enjoyed hugely the descriptions of the planets, moons, vehicles and space stations along with the wormholes that link them all together. A particular favorite of mine is the Navy headquarters planet with it's Saturn-like rings which are actually artificial, formed of countless stations, habitats and orbitals. Awesome stuff, tickling my sense of awe that is one of the major keys to good science fiction for me. The eventual reveal of the alien invaders which comes late in the book is fascinating and hints at some real interesting things in book two (due late April 2017).
Overall it's a wonderfully satisfying book, a great action story and setup for what I hope is an equally satisfying series. I'm glad the author decided to try his hand at producing science fiction because he's very good at it.
4/5 for concept
5/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4.7 out of 5
The author (well-known horror author David Wellington using a pseudonym) says: "Ever since I saw Star Wars as a child...why I wanted to write in the first place...my whole life and career was leading me to write this book." Well, he's done a bloody good job of it, I must say. You can sense the Star Wars influence in there, from the vastness of galactic society to the full-on space war. Just on that, I did find some the big main battle a little bit long and began to tire of it before it's conclusion. However, I often say that so I guess big battles are just not my thing, but if they're yours then you're probably going to love the shooting and explosions in this. There's lots of them!
The character depth is great by my standards, not too much but still enough to be able to make a firm decision whether you like them or not, each character having at least one unique quality about them that you will either love or dislike. I found myself liking most of them and able to identify with all of them to some degree. There are some slight romantic interests between a few of the characters, but these aren't dominant yet play an important part in events. Once again, a good balance for a reader like me.
The world building is top notch, I enjoyed hugely the descriptions of the planets, moons, vehicles and space stations along with the wormholes that link them all together. A particular favorite of mine is the Navy headquarters planet with it's Saturn-like rings which are actually artificial, formed of countless stations, habitats and orbitals. Awesome stuff, tickling my sense of awe that is one of the major keys to good science fiction for me. The eventual reveal of the alien invaders which comes late in the book is fascinating and hints at some real interesting things in book two (due late April 2017).
Overall it's a wonderfully satisfying book, a great action story and setup for what I hope is an equally satisfying series. I'm glad the author decided to try his hand at producing science fiction because he's very good at it.
4/5 for concept
5/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4.7 out of 5
Want to read
April 13, 201813 April 2018: $0.99 on Kindle
August 6, 2017
A tale of military adventure in a universe of star spanning colonies.
It starts with a pilot chasing a frightened young man in a yacht, and a near collision with a freighter, and after an ice giant. Untangling this brushes on the history of Earth and other planets, the fights known as the Establishment Crisis, and a con man. What unfolds out of this is that a poor planet is under attack -- it's not clear from whom -- and the poly (read: corporation) that nominally controls the system thinks it's not worth the expense. The pilot organizes some support, two old squadmates, the con man, and a pilot from the other side of the fight, to try.
Things thicken from there. It includes questions of how much to reveal to people, a strip mine that is new, a rousing speech, the possibility of building guns, post-traumatic stress and improvising, startling revelations, and much more.
It starts with a pilot chasing a frightened young man in a yacht, and a near collision with a freighter, and after an ice giant. Untangling this brushes on the history of Earth and other planets, the fights known as the Establishment Crisis, and a con man. What unfolds out of this is that a poor planet is under attack -- it's not clear from whom -- and the poly (read: corporation) that nominally controls the system thinks it's not worth the expense. The pilot organizes some support, two old squadmates, the con man, and a pilot from the other side of the fight, to try.
Things thicken from there. It includes questions of how much to reveal to people, a strip mine that is new, a rousing speech, the possibility of building guns, post-traumatic stress and improvising, startling revelations, and much more.
September 17, 2016
This book reminded me of an episode of Stargate SG-1 (which I absolutly love)! It had a great storyline with interesting characters. The only downfall of this book was the length. I did feel like it was a little longer than it needed to be. Overall, I give this book 4 stars.
September 13, 2016
Loved this Space Opera. From the striking cover, to the rip-roaring start all the way to the end. If you are a fan of Star Wars, The Expanse, Battlestar Gallactica....this is for you. Great book.
September 14, 2016
The short version is: It's the Magnificent Seven.... in SPPAAAAAACE!
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/0...
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/0...
October 22, 2016
3.5 STARS
“Flying down a wormhole was like throwing yourself into the center of a tornado, one where if you brushed the walls you would be obliterated down to subatomic particles before you even knew it happened.”
So begins Forsaken Skies, the first installment in a new space opera by D. Nolan Clark (a pseudonym for the horror author David Wellington). And if that first line doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what will.
Premise :
“You can’t just let drones do their own thinking. They’re not smart enough to know when they’ve got something wrong.”
A mysterious fleet of drones attacks a small colony of religious Separatists on the desolate planet called "Niraya." No one seems willing to help the Nirayans fight the dangerous drones. But what do the aggressors want, anyway? Who sent them?
And who can stop them?
Published September 2016 by Orbit.
Thoughts : The beginning of Forsaken Skies is all action and juicy conflict as it brings together the cast of characters.
A naïve pair of Transcendentalists from the victimized planet of Niraya seek military assistance from an ex-navy conman named Maggs; but rather than helping the desperate women, Maggs steals their money and runs. Unluckily for him, the Naval hero and famed commander Lanoe is in town from another planet, trying to chase down a young runaway named Thom. Commander Lanoe captures both men and, after hearing about the attack on the Nirayans, he pulls together all the help he can muster: the two criminals; an ex-rebel-pilot named Valk, who currently works space traffic control on the planet where Lanoe noisily chased down his quarries; and two women from Lanoe's old squad. One of these squadmates, Ehta, is an ex-pilot-turned-marine with PTSD about flying ships; the other is Lanoe's old flame and second-in-command, Zhang.
Some of the character arcs blew me away and some of them didn’t. Valk’s arc is particularly fantastic, but I also really enjoyed two of the women’s arcs. On the other hand, two character arcs fell short, for me: (1) after the author hung his hat on the mysterious motivations of the conman, Maggs, during most of the book, that arc ended up falling short, for me; and (2) one of the women serves only as a prop for one of the men’s character arcs before she’s killed off. I suppose she’ll be a Mockingjay for the new fleet of warriors on their next mission.
Still, I enjoyed getting to know most of these characters.
After bringing together the crew, the author slowly and carefully doles out clues to the mystery that drives the plot: who is attacking the barren planet of Niraya—and why? The pacing is perfect and I read along quite happily and willingly, even as the tight, teasing setup transitioned into more plot-specific action.
One specific worldbuilding qualm surfaced as I read: the planets in this universe never seem to go to war. (Unlike modern countries.) Instead, corporations do all the fighting.
“The polys always find another reason to fight…because they make money off the fighting.”
That doesn’t make a lot of sense, to me. I don’t think corporations are the main causes of war right now, so why would that change? It seems logical that different planets—like today’s different countries—would find reasons to go to war. Call me a skeptic, but if we can't manage world peace now, I doubt we'll be able to manage it in the intergalactic age.
But other than this worldbuilding qualm*, I found the planet, cultures and settings fully-realized and quite entertaining.
So basically, this book was a lot of fun! I was hooked from page one. Line one, even. I did find my mind wandering during certain scenes, like those detailing the religious politics of Niraya, or other scenes that focused primarily on revealing the soul of the commander hero.
But the big reveals, during the final battle, definitely live up to the epic-sized expectations built up during the setup.
Overall : Readers very familiar with the genre may not find a lot of original stuff here, but I suspect even veterans will find something to like—and readers new to sci-fi are in for a treat! The beginning of the book is so strong, you’ll be hooked before you know it. I really enjoyed Forsaken Skies and am definitely planning to read vol. 2!
Recommended To : Readers in search of a decent new space opera.
Many thanks to D. Nolan Clark, Orbit and Netgalley for my free review copy of Forsaken Skies!
*In a great interview over at MYLIFEMYBOOKSMYESCAPE , Clark/Wellington expounds upon the planets and the polys: polys have taken over the planets in our galaxy (except for earth) and currently run them to make a profit; but they also keep trying to defeat earth’s navy and ultimately add earth to their list of conquests. So that explains why corporations, not planets, go to war. I still have a hard time thinking that polys would make more money by going to war than through business or trade, but I can certainly see corporations getting behind the push for intergalactic expansion–and even owning planets. Intriguing idea.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog, here.
“Flying down a wormhole was like throwing yourself into the center of a tornado, one where if you brushed the walls you would be obliterated down to subatomic particles before you even knew it happened.”
So begins Forsaken Skies, the first installment in a new space opera by D. Nolan Clark (a pseudonym for the horror author David Wellington). And if that first line doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what will.
Premise :
“You can’t just let drones do their own thinking. They’re not smart enough to know when they’ve got something wrong.”
A mysterious fleet of drones attacks a small colony of religious Separatists on the desolate planet called "Niraya." No one seems willing to help the Nirayans fight the dangerous drones. But what do the aggressors want, anyway? Who sent them?
And who can stop them?
Published September 2016 by Orbit.
Thoughts : The beginning of Forsaken Skies is all action and juicy conflict as it brings together the cast of characters.
A naïve pair of Transcendentalists from the victimized planet of Niraya seek military assistance from an ex-navy conman named Maggs; but rather than helping the desperate women, Maggs steals their money and runs. Unluckily for him, the Naval hero and famed commander Lanoe is in town from another planet, trying to chase down a young runaway named Thom. Commander Lanoe captures both men and, after hearing about the attack on the Nirayans, he pulls together all the help he can muster: the two criminals; an ex-rebel-pilot named Valk, who currently works space traffic control on the planet where Lanoe noisily chased down his quarries; and two women from Lanoe's old squad. One of these squadmates, Ehta, is an ex-pilot-turned-marine with PTSD about flying ships; the other is Lanoe's old flame and second-in-command, Zhang.
Some of the character arcs blew me away and some of them didn’t. Valk’s arc is particularly fantastic, but I also really enjoyed two of the women’s arcs. On the other hand, two character arcs fell short, for me: (1) after the author hung his hat on the mysterious motivations of the conman, Maggs, during most of the book, that arc ended up falling short, for me; and (2) one of the women serves only as a prop for one of the men’s character arcs before she’s killed off. I suppose she’ll be a Mockingjay for the new fleet of warriors on their next mission.
Still, I enjoyed getting to know most of these characters.
After bringing together the crew, the author slowly and carefully doles out clues to the mystery that drives the plot: who is attacking the barren planet of Niraya—and why? The pacing is perfect and I read along quite happily and willingly, even as the tight, teasing setup transitioned into more plot-specific action.
One specific worldbuilding qualm surfaced as I read: the planets in this universe never seem to go to war. (Unlike modern countries.) Instead, corporations do all the fighting.
“The polys always find another reason to fight…because they make money off the fighting.”
That doesn’t make a lot of sense, to me. I don’t think corporations are the main causes of war right now, so why would that change? It seems logical that different planets—like today’s different countries—would find reasons to go to war. Call me a skeptic, but if we can't manage world peace now, I doubt we'll be able to manage it in the intergalactic age.
But other than this worldbuilding qualm*, I found the planet, cultures and settings fully-realized and quite entertaining.
So basically, this book was a lot of fun! I was hooked from page one. Line one, even. I did find my mind wandering during certain scenes, like those detailing the religious politics of Niraya, or other scenes that focused primarily on revealing the soul of the commander hero.
But the big reveals, during the final battle, definitely live up to the epic-sized expectations built up during the setup.
Overall : Readers very familiar with the genre may not find a lot of original stuff here, but I suspect even veterans will find something to like—and readers new to sci-fi are in for a treat! The beginning of the book is so strong, you’ll be hooked before you know it. I really enjoyed Forsaken Skies and am definitely planning to read vol. 2!
Recommended To : Readers in search of a decent new space opera.
Many thanks to D. Nolan Clark, Orbit and Netgalley for my free review copy of Forsaken Skies!
*In a great interview over at MYLIFEMYBOOKSMYESCAPE , Clark/Wellington expounds upon the planets and the polys: polys have taken over the planets in our galaxy (except for earth) and currently run them to make a profit; but they also keep trying to defeat earth’s navy and ultimately add earth to their list of conquests. So that explains why corporations, not planets, go to war. I still have a hard time thinking that polys would make more money by going to war than through business or trade, but I can certainly see corporations getting behind the push for intergalactic expansion–and even owning planets. Intriguing idea.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog, here.
March 12, 2018
Okay, this is a little bit like The Seven Samurai, in space. A ragtag handful of mostly military spacecraft pilots try to defend an impoverished colony planet against an implacable invader. I gave it five stars because it had excellent pacing and some nice twists. One unexpected turn of events was sublimely satisfying. Highly readable, and while the rest of the series will likely be excellent, go ahead and read this one now; it works well by itself.
March 5, 2019
Plutôt 3.5 /5
September 12, 2016
Love Sci-Fi! Love it. This offering is along the lines of fantasy more than science, but still is a good offering.
If the author and editor would remove about 200 pages, this would be an excellent offering rather than just good.
I like the idea of getting to know Lanoe and the other characters through their actions and their thoughts, but with no transitions between head hopping, it makes for disjointed and rather jerky prose instead of a smooth flow.
This is a good story, with good writing, and an empathetic outlook for a lonely planet on the edge of nowhere. One thing that is not brought out is the danger to civilized space. The blase' reaction to a planet's invasion is not believable. Especially because of the mining operation on the planet and possible precious ore on another planet in the system. So there are some problems with this novel that do not allow complete satisfaction with the whole.
Each character is well developed, even the minor characters have some depth to them, which is a bit unusual. However, for this book, perhaps there are too many character viewpoints. To move the story along, an author should keep story flow in mind rather than bogging down in way too much backstory. I think that's why this story is too long. Another thing is that the build-up to the climax is way too long. Because the engineer is such a minor character, the whole "romance" thing between her and another character is unnecessary and a story blocker. It's like Clark threw in this "interlude" just to have some sex-spice to the story. We already know this other character is a rat... why over emphasize that?
For some reason, sci-fi and fantasy authors have a tendency to put too much backstory in (myself included) to develop characters. It is a bit overwhelming to readers, and a great deal of work that is unnecessary for authors.
All in all, though, this is a good story. Great space battles that are very easily followed. Complex, but not unfathomable as described, and that is hard for an author to achieve! Intriguing end. Overall it gets 4 stars from me. Especially because I'm hungry for good space operas!
If the author and editor would remove about 200 pages, this would be an excellent offering rather than just good.
I like the idea of getting to know Lanoe and the other characters through their actions and their thoughts, but with no transitions between head hopping, it makes for disjointed and rather jerky prose instead of a smooth flow.
This is a good story, with good writing, and an empathetic outlook for a lonely planet on the edge of nowhere. One thing that is not brought out is the danger to civilized space. The blase' reaction to a planet's invasion is not believable. Especially because of the mining operation on the planet and possible precious ore on another planet in the system. So there are some problems with this novel that do not allow complete satisfaction with the whole.
Each character is well developed, even the minor characters have some depth to them, which is a bit unusual. However, for this book, perhaps there are too many character viewpoints. To move the story along, an author should keep story flow in mind rather than bogging down in way too much backstory. I think that's why this story is too long. Another thing is that the build-up to the climax is way too long. Because the engineer is such a minor character, the whole "romance" thing between her and another character is unnecessary and a story blocker. It's like Clark threw in this "interlude" just to have some sex-spice to the story. We already know this other character is a rat... why over emphasize that?
For some reason, sci-fi and fantasy authors have a tendency to put too much backstory in (myself included) to develop characters. It is a bit overwhelming to readers, and a great deal of work that is unnecessary for authors.
All in all, though, this is a good story. Great space battles that are very easily followed. Complex, but not unfathomable as described, and that is hard for an author to achieve! Intriguing end. Overall it gets 4 stars from me. Especially because I'm hungry for good space operas!
August 29, 2016
Actual rating is 3 1/2 stars.
In Forsaken Skies a small group of ragtag characters are enlisted to help fight a dangerous, unknown force that threatens a nearby planet. It's full of many of the things that I enjoy in a science fiction book: a plethora of spaceships, a massive underdog scenario, new planets with different cultures to explore, and, of course, an unfamiliar threat that must be dealt with.
The beginning started off a bit slow for my taste and it took be about a quarter of the way through the book to really get into the story. Part of my problem was I had trouble connecting with the characters at first. They definitely grew on me after a while, but it took some time for me to really care about what happened to these people. Once that happened, I became so much more invested and interested in the story.
I also thought the space battles were a little too long. In a story like this, one obviously expects to have some pretty epic fights in space-that's a given. But when the battles rage on for pages and pages, it starts to feel a bit excessive. I wanted more character development and interactions, rather than so many drawn out battles. There was some character development and I enjoyed the relationships that developed, but I would have liked to see even more of a focus on the characters themselves instead of the battles they fought.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to fans of space/alien books. It was definitely worth a read and I'm interested to see where the story goes next.
In Forsaken Skies a small group of ragtag characters are enlisted to help fight a dangerous, unknown force that threatens a nearby planet. It's full of many of the things that I enjoy in a science fiction book: a plethora of spaceships, a massive underdog scenario, new planets with different cultures to explore, and, of course, an unfamiliar threat that must be dealt with.
The beginning started off a bit slow for my taste and it took be about a quarter of the way through the book to really get into the story. Part of my problem was I had trouble connecting with the characters at first. They definitely grew on me after a while, but it took some time for me to really care about what happened to these people. Once that happened, I became so much more invested and interested in the story.
I also thought the space battles were a little too long. In a story like this, one obviously expects to have some pretty epic fights in space-that's a given. But when the battles rage on for pages and pages, it starts to feel a bit excessive. I wanted more character development and interactions, rather than so many drawn out battles. There was some character development and I enjoyed the relationships that developed, but I would have liked to see even more of a focus on the characters themselves instead of the battles they fought.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to fans of space/alien books. It was definitely worth a read and I'm interested to see where the story goes next.
September 16, 2016
I wrestled with this book, especially considering the number of current reviews that have been published already. However, I strongly feel that this is solid start to a series, and I would be interested in reading the second book.
Things that stood out to me:
Instead of the main character being a young, upstart, going against authority whenever possible, we have someone who's retired, and was a hero long ago. I enjoyed this change.
The length -- most of the Space opera's I have read recently were short, maybe 3 to 4 hours, while this was far closer to 7.
Well developed world -- Built upon the ideas that we have currently, but no "new" technology that suddenly changed the course of history.
Avoided most cliches of the genre.
Where I feel the book struggled:
The length -- My goodness so much happened in this book, and yet I think it covered three weeks total? I really did struggle with some of the things. The author could look at the pacing and maybe cut down some of the details.
The other characters: While others have mentioned that they feel the other characters in this book are truly there to only support the main character, I do have to agree to a certain point. Where I struggled was the lack of empathy for any of these characters who may or may not be part of the team by the end...no one's seems to care that they are gone.
Overall, for the genre, I considered this a decent enough book that kept me interested.
I was provided a copy of the book for free/reduced price by NetGalley.
Things that stood out to me:
Instead of the main character being a young, upstart, going against authority whenever possible, we have someone who's retired, and was a hero long ago. I enjoyed this change.
The length -- most of the Space opera's I have read recently were short, maybe 3 to 4 hours, while this was far closer to 7.
Well developed world -- Built upon the ideas that we have currently, but no "new" technology that suddenly changed the course of history.
Avoided most cliches of the genre.
Where I feel the book struggled:
The length -- My goodness so much happened in this book, and yet I think it covered three weeks total? I really did struggle with some of the things. The author could look at the pacing and maybe cut down some of the details.
The other characters: While others have mentioned that they feel the other characters in this book are truly there to only support the main character, I do have to agree to a certain point. Where I struggled was the lack of empathy for any of these characters who may or may not be part of the team by the end...no one's seems to care that they are gone.
Overall, for the genre, I considered this a decent enough book that kept me interested.
I was provided a copy of the book for free/reduced price by NetGalley.
November 28, 2016
It's 400 years in the future, and corporations rule everything. Which means decisions are made based on whether it's profitable or not.
So when two people travel across space to ask for help after their planet's been attacked, they're told no. It's cheaper to just lose the planet than to send help. But hope is not lost. Lanoe, an ex military hero and his ragtag bunch of ace pilots are willing to help. If it sounds like Space Seven Samurai, that's because it is.
Despite traversing the galaxy through wormholes, humanity has never encountered an alien race. Until now. Lanoe and his crew do everything they can to save this planet, and find out more about the alien threat--and themselves.
The best thing about Forsaken Skies is the characters. They're complex, and believable, and heartbreaking, and strong, and weak, and...well, I just enjoyed spending time with them, and that's what every authors strives for, right?
But if you like your space opera with a healthy dose of space combat, you won't be disappointed either. There are battles aplenty.
D. Nolan Clark is a pseudonym for horror author David Wellington. I wondered if he'd be able to make the jump from horror to science fiction, but he nailed it. Forsaken Skies is definitely a little long, and a little slow in parts, but that's because we're spending a lot of time with these terrific characters. That's the sort of trade-off I can generally live with. I'll eagerly wait for the next book in the trilogy--though I wouldn't mind if it was 150 pages shorter than this one...
So when two people travel across space to ask for help after their planet's been attacked, they're told no. It's cheaper to just lose the planet than to send help. But hope is not lost. Lanoe, an ex military hero and his ragtag bunch of ace pilots are willing to help. If it sounds like Space Seven Samurai, that's because it is.
Despite traversing the galaxy through wormholes, humanity has never encountered an alien race. Until now. Lanoe and his crew do everything they can to save this planet, and find out more about the alien threat--and themselves.
The best thing about Forsaken Skies is the characters. They're complex, and believable, and heartbreaking, and strong, and weak, and...well, I just enjoyed spending time with them, and that's what every authors strives for, right?
But if you like your space opera with a healthy dose of space combat, you won't be disappointed either. There are battles aplenty.
D. Nolan Clark is a pseudonym for horror author David Wellington. I wondered if he'd be able to make the jump from horror to science fiction, but he nailed it. Forsaken Skies is definitely a little long, and a little slow in parts, but that's because we're spending a lot of time with these terrific characters. That's the sort of trade-off I can generally live with. I'll eagerly wait for the next book in the trilogy--though I wouldn't mind if it was 150 pages shorter than this one...
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