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Void Wraith #1
Destroyer
Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it.
Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in search of answers. They encounter a technologically superior foe unlike anything humanity has ever seen, one bent on the destruction of all sentient life. After 26,000 years the mythical Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication.
Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage Tigris.
One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.
“It’s like Battlestar Galactica and Mass Effect had a baby, and that baby was raised by Starcraft. I read this book in one sitting, and immediately looked for the next.”- The author’s totally biased friend.
Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in search of answers. They encounter a technologically superior foe unlike anything humanity has ever seen, one bent on the destruction of all sentient life. After 26,000 years the mythical Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication.
Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage Tigris.
One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.
“It’s like Battlestar Galactica and Mass Effect had a baby, and that baby was raised by Starcraft. I read this book in one sitting, and immediately looked for the next.”- The author’s totally biased friend.
296 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 28, 2016
285 people are currently reading
546 people want to read
About the author
Chris Fox
87 books672 followersBy day I am an iPhone developer architecting the app used to scope Stephen Colbert’s ear. By night I am Batman. Ok maybe not. One can dream though, right?
I’ve been writing since I was six years old and started inflicting my work on others at age 18. By age 24 people stopped running away when I approached them with a new story and shortly thereafter I published my first one in the Rifter.
Wait you’re still reading?
Ok, the facts I’m supposed to list in a bio. As of this writing I’m 38 years old and live just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful town of Mill Valley. If you’re unsure how to find it just follow the smell of self-entitlement. Once you see the teens driving Teslas you’ll know you’re in the right place.
I live in a tiny studio that I can cross in (literally) five steps and don’t own an oven. But you know what? It’s worth it. I love developing iPhone apps and if you want to work in San Francisco you accept that rent for a tiny place costs more than most people’s mortgage.
If you and about 2 million other people start buying my books I promise to move out of Marin to a house in the redwoods up in Guerneville. No pressure. Wait that’s a lie. Pressure.
I’ve been writing since I was six years old and started inflicting my work on others at age 18. By age 24 people stopped running away when I approached them with a new story and shortly thereafter I published my first one in the Rifter.
Wait you’re still reading?
Ok, the facts I’m supposed to list in a bio. As of this writing I’m 38 years old and live just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful town of Mill Valley. If you’re unsure how to find it just follow the smell of self-entitlement. Once you see the teens driving Teslas you’ll know you’re in the right place.
I live in a tiny studio that I can cross in (literally) five steps and don’t own an oven. But you know what? It’s worth it. I love developing iPhone apps and if you want to work in San Francisco you accept that rent for a tiny place costs more than most people’s mortgage.
If you and about 2 million other people start buying my books I promise to move out of Marin to a house in the redwoods up in Guerneville. No pressure. Wait that’s a lie. Pressure.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
June 10, 2016
Nothing new here. It looks like the author recycled every science fiction trope and forced it together. If this is your first science fiction book and haven't played halo or mass effect then this will be an awesome new adventure. For everyone else the thin plot is easy to figure out in the first chapter and the dialogue is childish and uninspired.
April 30, 2016
I must say, I was invested in this novel from the get-go due to the remarkable way the book was written. I looked over the shoulder (virtually) of Chris Fox every day he was writing this via his video series - the 21 day challenge. That blistering time schedule included editing and releasing the book. So I pre-ordered a copy and devoured it upon publication.
Chris Fox is a personable author. This comes across in his videos and gets us emotionally invested in him as well as his characters. In Destroyer, he has invented a setting that has some familiar tropes, but also some fresh twists that make the story very different to your usual fare. There are several races woven into the story: humans (of course), the Primo civilisation, the Tigris (a feline race) and the dread 'Void Wraith.' There's some great world-building in there, including a different projection for space travel called 'Helios gates.' This makes a refreshing change from cryo-sleep inventions or hyperspace. There's an integrity to the fictional technology, from the Tigris methods of space combat to VI chips that can bridge the gap between organic forms of life and ship computers. I also liked the way that the history of the different civilisations was drip-fed into the story so that the reader isn't swamped with info-dump at the beginning.
The Void-Wraith and their army of 'Judicators' are antagonists to strike fear into every heart. They are suitably strange and threatening, with a pseudo-predator mode of cloaking their visibility. As such, they gave a horror element to the tale, which is always music to the ears of yours truly.
The characters are more than cardboard cut-outs too. The MC, Nolan is well-rounded and doesn't come across as an invincible Han Solo-esque superhero. He has his weaknesses and flaws, making him a worthy vehicle to invest in over the coming volumes in this trilogy. There is, of course, a love interest in the form of Katherine, daughter of the federation's head honcho and she plays a pivotal role in the political intrigue that builds through the chapters.
It strengthened the character base having several strong female characters such as
Hannan and Juliard - combatant and bridge personnel respectively. They act with agency along with a truly original supporting Tigris character - Lena, who belongs to the female of the species. I also loved Mills the sniper, who was an understated enigma. These personalities were fleshed out well with their quirks and foibles. Again, the author gave us insights into how he outlined and developed his characters in the 21 day challenge videos he produced (well worth checking out on YouTube btw.)
Destroyer is an easy read in the best sense of the word. The pace is set to max with short, gripping chapters, very much akin to the author, James Patterson's approach. As if the plot isn't rich enough, you also get a 'whodunnit' flavour re. the Void Wraith, as initially we don't know who or what is devastating whole colonies of Tigris and humans.
For me, the story had a YA feel to it so there's no profanity or overtly sexual references. There's also undertones of Star Wars and Star Trek, but not in a plagiaristic way - more like nods to a favourite genre. The combat scenes are well written and make the reader feel they're in the scene and that the outcome is genuinely uncertain.
The Tigris as a race grow on you. There are different sub-species from lion types to tigers to snow leopards. It makes me wonder if they might have evolved in a similar fashion to the ship's cat on Red Dwarf! There may be other authors who have used the feline ethos, but none I've read that mixed it with science fiction.
So the strengths of Fox's book are the plot, characterisation and readability. The author is economical with words and there was no occasion where I felt lost with the flow of the story or the plot. If I have a criticism, then it is that sometimes the nitty gritty of the battle scenes could be slimmed down on the technical detail. There's a tendency to over-explain which puts the odd speed bump in the reading towards the end, together with a smattering of 'on the nose' dialogue. But these are minor gripes and possibly represent a slight compromise resulting from the speed with which the novel was written.
My overall verdict is that this is a thoroughly entertaining read, and punches well above its weight for a novel that's round about the 65,000 word mark. I believe the next volume in the series is out in a few weeks time and I'll certainly be snapping up a copy.
Chris Fox is a personable author. This comes across in his videos and gets us emotionally invested in him as well as his characters. In Destroyer, he has invented a setting that has some familiar tropes, but also some fresh twists that make the story very different to your usual fare. There are several races woven into the story: humans (of course), the Primo civilisation, the Tigris (a feline race) and the dread 'Void Wraith.' There's some great world-building in there, including a different projection for space travel called 'Helios gates.' This makes a refreshing change from cryo-sleep inventions or hyperspace. There's an integrity to the fictional technology, from the Tigris methods of space combat to VI chips that can bridge the gap between organic forms of life and ship computers. I also liked the way that the history of the different civilisations was drip-fed into the story so that the reader isn't swamped with info-dump at the beginning.
The Void-Wraith and their army of 'Judicators' are antagonists to strike fear into every heart. They are suitably strange and threatening, with a pseudo-predator mode of cloaking their visibility. As such, they gave a horror element to the tale, which is always music to the ears of yours truly.
The characters are more than cardboard cut-outs too. The MC, Nolan is well-rounded and doesn't come across as an invincible Han Solo-esque superhero. He has his weaknesses and flaws, making him a worthy vehicle to invest in over the coming volumes in this trilogy. There is, of course, a love interest in the form of Katherine, daughter of the federation's head honcho and she plays a pivotal role in the political intrigue that builds through the chapters.
It strengthened the character base having several strong female characters such as
Hannan and Juliard - combatant and bridge personnel respectively. They act with agency along with a truly original supporting Tigris character - Lena, who belongs to the female of the species. I also loved Mills the sniper, who was an understated enigma. These personalities were fleshed out well with their quirks and foibles. Again, the author gave us insights into how he outlined and developed his characters in the 21 day challenge videos he produced (well worth checking out on YouTube btw.)
Destroyer is an easy read in the best sense of the word. The pace is set to max with short, gripping chapters, very much akin to the author, James Patterson's approach. As if the plot isn't rich enough, you also get a 'whodunnit' flavour re. the Void Wraith, as initially we don't know who or what is devastating whole colonies of Tigris and humans.
For me, the story had a YA feel to it so there's no profanity or overtly sexual references. There's also undertones of Star Wars and Star Trek, but not in a plagiaristic way - more like nods to a favourite genre. The combat scenes are well written and make the reader feel they're in the scene and that the outcome is genuinely uncertain.
The Tigris as a race grow on you. There are different sub-species from lion types to tigers to snow leopards. It makes me wonder if they might have evolved in a similar fashion to the ship's cat on Red Dwarf! There may be other authors who have used the feline ethos, but none I've read that mixed it with science fiction.
So the strengths of Fox's book are the plot, characterisation and readability. The author is economical with words and there was no occasion where I felt lost with the flow of the story or the plot. If I have a criticism, then it is that sometimes the nitty gritty of the battle scenes could be slimmed down on the technical detail. There's a tendency to over-explain which puts the odd speed bump in the reading towards the end, together with a smattering of 'on the nose' dialogue. But these are minor gripes and possibly represent a slight compromise resulting from the speed with which the novel was written.
My overall verdict is that this is a thoroughly entertaining read, and punches well above its weight for a novel that's round about the 65,000 word mark. I believe the next volume in the series is out in a few weeks time and I'll certainly be snapping up a copy.
August 18, 2016
I'm sorry for this non-review, but not only did I not finish the book, but I didn't get very far in the book.
When I started this book, the prose seemed awkward and the dialogue clunky. The actions taken by the captain during his exec's first time on a warship, while potentially admirable in trying to express confidence and help him gain experience, seem irresponsible and foolish. After all, he's toying with hundreds (presumably) of people's lives for the purpose of seeing how one officer fresh out of the academy can handle the pressure. He's really willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crew for that? Absurd! Then, the killer. The enemy ship is shaped almost like an arrow, so that its front end comes to a sharp point. Why? Because this alien race likes to ram their opponent's ships, board them, and engage in hand to hand combat. As cool as that may sound, think about that. What's the likely outcome of two warships traveling fast, very fast, typically at the speed of light, hitting each other -- and surviving? Yeah, they would blow themselves to hell. There would be a nuclear-sized explosion that would leave neither ship in anything but tiny little pieces. There would be no boarding, no hand to hand combat. You don't ram two ships at light speed and survive. It's ridiculous to even consider that. With that said, I closed this book and put it away permanently, chalking this up to another inexperienced sci fi author who needs to rethink his tactics. Of course, the last time I wrote a review like this, the author emailed me and attacked me and when I responded politely defending my position, he proceeded to relentlessly attack me on a personal level, over and over again, until I blocked him. Nothing like immature writers who can't take criticism. My hope is that Chris Fox can take criticism. As an experienced writer myself, I've learned that everyone gets criticized no matter how good or bad they are, no matter how well known they are -- everybody. It comes with the territory. So, Mr. Fox, if you read this, it's nothing personal. I just think the book had some weaknesses that I couldn't get past, so I chose not to continue reading it. With that said, not recommended.
When I started this book, the prose seemed awkward and the dialogue clunky. The actions taken by the captain during his exec's first time on a warship, while potentially admirable in trying to express confidence and help him gain experience, seem irresponsible and foolish. After all, he's toying with hundreds (presumably) of people's lives for the purpose of seeing how one officer fresh out of the academy can handle the pressure. He's really willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crew for that? Absurd! Then, the killer. The enemy ship is shaped almost like an arrow, so that its front end comes to a sharp point. Why? Because this alien race likes to ram their opponent's ships, board them, and engage in hand to hand combat. As cool as that may sound, think about that. What's the likely outcome of two warships traveling fast, very fast, typically at the speed of light, hitting each other -- and surviving? Yeah, they would blow themselves to hell. There would be a nuclear-sized explosion that would leave neither ship in anything but tiny little pieces. There would be no boarding, no hand to hand combat. You don't ram two ships at light speed and survive. It's ridiculous to even consider that. With that said, I closed this book and put it away permanently, chalking this up to another inexperienced sci fi author who needs to rethink his tactics. Of course, the last time I wrote a review like this, the author emailed me and attacked me and when I responded politely defending my position, he proceeded to relentlessly attack me on a personal level, over and over again, until I blocked him. Nothing like immature writers who can't take criticism. My hope is that Chris Fox can take criticism. As an experienced writer myself, I've learned that everyone gets criticized no matter how good or bad they are, no matter how well known they are -- everybody. It comes with the territory. So, Mr. Fox, if you read this, it's nothing personal. I just think the book had some weaknesses that I couldn't get past, so I chose not to continue reading it. With that said, not recommended.
March 26, 2017
I'm going to say this was closer to 3.5 stars in my opinion, but ultimately was a good read. It had high action and really kept the pace moving well. One thing that really kept it from being 4 stars (for me) was that the character motives were fairly predictable, and none of the characters particularly stood out for me. Fairly standard space soldier stuff. The Tigris were a pretty cool race, and a nice addition, but made the book a little too "cute" for me in a YA way. The science that some other reviewers complained about wasn't too bad, but the big battleships moving around in just seconds (rather than the minutes or hours it would likely take to move big battle cruisers around) seemed disjointed. I haven't read a ton of space battle books so maybe that's standard fare and, as I mentioned before, probably necessary to keep the pace moving.
If you like high action without a burdensome plot, this one is for you. I recommend it and will check out book two in the future.
If you like high action without a burdensome plot, this one is for you. I recommend it and will check out book two in the future.
June 25, 2016
Note: Author provided Audible version for free in exchange for review.
Normally, I don't give One Star reviews. I try to find something nice to say about every book I read since writing a novel takes a lot of time and effort, blood and sweat and tears, and I respect the work an author does even if it isn't the greatest story ever told. All I ask is that the author takes the time to make sure the formatting is good, the spelling and grammar is correct, and the story is coherent. If you get that done, you've at least got a 3 Star review.
So what could be the issue with this book to make it deserve a 1 Star Review?
Destroyer: The Void Wraith is a blatant retelling of the Mass Effect video game series, specifically Mass Effect 1 and 2.
It's understandable some authors are influenced by other works. Some authors pay tribute. Some authors borrow. However, ripping off the overarching plot to one of the most beloved video games franchises in history is downright offensive and borders on the edge of plagiarism.
That's not to say Chris Fox didn't add his own personal touches. If he'd borrowed from common science fiction troupes, it would have been okay. However, in most areas Fox took a little of X and a little of Y, directly from Mass Effect, and created Z.
For example., he took the backstory of the Turian race with their First Contact war against humanity, the size and power of the Krogan race along with their aggressive, strength, respecting nature, and applied it to his own race of giant cat people.
Another example, his primary antagonists, The Void Wraiths, are basically the Reapers, following a cycle of disappearing for a long time and then returning back with plans to destroy the space faring races. Except in this case, they're doing the stuff which the Collectors did in Mass Effect 2 like kidnapping colonies of people to turn them into something else. Oh yeah, The Primo have the back story of the Protheans to boot.
Final example, the "Mind Control Slug" in one of the chapters. It's a somewhat original explanation for the Void Wraith being able to control people which wasn't lifted from the video game, but it was only because he couldn't flat out adapt the Indoctrination aspect from the Reapers of Mass Effect. At least he tried to be original in that area so he gets a little credit for it.
There are several more examples of this blatant borrowing but I'm not going to go any further into it because I'd be writing way more than I need to get my point across. If you've ever played Mass Effect, you'll immediately understand my point.
Since I listened to the Audiobook version, I'll have to give my compliments to the narrator, Ryan Kennard Burke. He read clearly and his voice work was awesome. This review in no way bears on him. He did great.
Instead of buying this book, do yourself a favor and go and play the REAL story which Destroyer: The Void Wraith is actually based upon.
Normally, I don't give One Star reviews. I try to find something nice to say about every book I read since writing a novel takes a lot of time and effort, blood and sweat and tears, and I respect the work an author does even if it isn't the greatest story ever told. All I ask is that the author takes the time to make sure the formatting is good, the spelling and grammar is correct, and the story is coherent. If you get that done, you've at least got a 3 Star review.
So what could be the issue with this book to make it deserve a 1 Star Review?
Destroyer: The Void Wraith is a blatant retelling of the Mass Effect video game series, specifically Mass Effect 1 and 2.
It's understandable some authors are influenced by other works. Some authors pay tribute. Some authors borrow. However, ripping off the overarching plot to one of the most beloved video games franchises in history is downright offensive and borders on the edge of plagiarism.
That's not to say Chris Fox didn't add his own personal touches. If he'd borrowed from common science fiction troupes, it would have been okay. However, in most areas Fox took a little of X and a little of Y, directly from Mass Effect, and created Z.
For example., he took the backstory of the Turian race with their First Contact war against humanity, the size and power of the Krogan race along with their aggressive, strength, respecting nature, and applied it to his own race of giant cat people.
Another example, his primary antagonists, The Void Wraiths, are basically the Reapers, following a cycle of disappearing for a long time and then returning back with plans to destroy the space faring races. Except in this case, they're doing the stuff which the Collectors did in Mass Effect 2 like kidnapping colonies of people to turn them into something else. Oh yeah, The Primo have the back story of the Protheans to boot.
Final example, the "Mind Control Slug" in one of the chapters. It's a somewhat original explanation for the Void Wraith being able to control people which wasn't lifted from the video game, but it was only because he couldn't flat out adapt the Indoctrination aspect from the Reapers of Mass Effect. At least he tried to be original in that area so he gets a little credit for it.
There are several more examples of this blatant borrowing but I'm not going to go any further into it because I'd be writing way more than I need to get my point across. If you've ever played Mass Effect, you'll immediately understand my point.
Since I listened to the Audiobook version, I'll have to give my compliments to the narrator, Ryan Kennard Burke. He read clearly and his voice work was awesome. This review in no way bears on him. He did great.
Instead of buying this book, do yourself a favor and go and play the REAL story which Destroyer: The Void Wraith is actually based upon.
April 28, 2016
This book took me back to my summers reading Sci-Fi by the box load between college semesters. Diverse characters, fast paced, cutting edge science possibilities, double dealings and you're never sure who is on your side from chapter to chapter. If you want a book to keep your attention from the moment that you pick it up then this is your next addiction. Book 1 ended too quick. Book 2 cannot come soon enough.
January 30, 2017
Huh
I gave it two stars because it's not badly written but I can only give it two stars because the story is to obviously a copy of Mass Effect. Throw in poorly researched science and I can't rate it any higher.
I gave it two stars because it's not badly written but I can only give it two stars because the story is to obviously a copy of Mass Effect. Throw in poorly researched science and I can't rate it any higher.
July 22, 2018
Amature writing by Fox and annoying narration by Burke.
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October 24, 2025Rating: minus 12 on a scale of minus 15 to plus 5.
This is typically terrible US military science fiction. I remember little about the book and failed to finish it. I doubt that anyone will read this, as I revise.
Before I begin I must visit the YouTube. This is made possible by Doctor Who/Never Cruel or Cowardly - Ozar, NCMI, Anark, fig tree, Just a Confused Brit, Sarah C M Paine, Red Glasgow, Tale Foundry, Keffals, Welcome to Ukraine, Postmodern Jukebox, Brigitte Empire, AllShorts, Books N Things, Vasya in the Hay, Emily Michelle, Sailing Melody, Bren Booth-Jones, Veritas et Caritas, Ro Ramdin, Kings and Generals, Tully Slings,
The New Enlightenment with Ashley, Omeleto, LuckyBlackCat, RevolutionarythOt, Belinda Strnad, Prose and Petticoats, Yanis Varoufakis, Inside Russia, Dr Fiona Hill, Welcome to Ukraine, Kyiv Independent, Jen the Librarian, The Kavernacle, Jess Owens, Owen Jones, FAFO, KernowDamo, ATP Geopolitics, Cambrian Chronicles, Munecat, ScaredKetchup, Revolutionary Communists of America,
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A member of the Village Idiot Movement whilst insulting an essayist I mention, complained to her that I list other trans creators. The Snowflake (proudly ignorant, self-important US male) no longer shocks me. A trigger warning then.
The channels which I list include archaeologist, German, cis, WOC, blond, socialist, bi, physicist, tall, queer, autist, redhaired, military historian, trans, artist, communist, married, pensioner, culture critic, Finnish, primatologist, lesbian, boater, architect, older, writer, intersex, mathematician, musician, Irish, physically challenged, asexual, political commentator, language historian, military boardgamer, sewist, miniatures modeller, cosplayer and other creators known as Women.
Almost as threatening to smug arrogance are the other BIPOC, Australian, married, anthropologist, anarchist, military modeller, ginger, Scottish, other neurodivergent, slim, hobbyist, short, philosopher, fashion historian, other LGBTQI+, book reviewer, French, science educator, miniatures collector, stout, boater and other creators recognised (outside the USA) as Human Beings.
Should the voices persist, seek emergency therapy, learn a language, perhaps English and/or repeat several times daily "I will not be a bellend today".
My feelings towards these clods parallel those of the 13 Ukrainian marines defending Snake Island when their surrender was demanded by the Russian navy. Their response, "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself". Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the Heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.
Unto the book, dear friends. I vaguely remember it. The one unusual bit is that the writer might know what a destroyer is. I wonder if a destroyer would serve a purpose if there is no space version of a submarine or small attack craft. I have given thought to that in my own world building.
I am thinking that a cruiser makes more sense as an independent unit. I only noticed ship designation because these military science fiction writers often have no clue about ship classes, their roles, their functions.
There are aliens but nothing is done with them. The book about the lone, not very capable warship as hero ship, is boring and overused. These writers never build a substantial background universe. With no developed characters, human or otherwise, the book becomes as unmemorable as the rest.
I assume that every crew person has an Anglo surname and presumed US american in lieu of personality. There are other problems but in the end, my rating described my reaction. I have since ended my Unlimited sub.
I began watching YouTube about four years ago. The number and variety of channels surprised me. The best discovery was that of Book Tube. 😍 These channels host communities of readers who are curious, courteous (in the main), lovers of all that is bookish. The environments created are far different to that of whatever Goodreads have become.
This next was made possible by YouTube Doctor Who/Never fail to be Kind -Slyfer2812,
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Anna from Ukraine, Silicon Curtain, Samantha Lux, Steve Shives, LydLoves, Jordaline Reads, Tennessee Brando, The Serf Times, Chris Norlund, Soggyrice3, Jen's Reading Life, gemma dyer, Fiona Tanya, captured in Words, ConeOfArc, Queer Eye Australia, Raw News and Politics, AllShorts, JustAli, NowHere Channel, Chris and Shell, Cruising Crafts, Well Deck Diaries, Caerhl Irey, Alyssa and the Books,
Ana Fern, Amie's Literary Empire, Dropkick Murphys, Nomadic Crobot, Bobbing Along, Dead Domain, Anti-Social Studies, WokeGardener, SolarpunkAlana, roughhouserosie, Claire Fenby-Warren, Just in Time Worldbuilding, Anna Cramling, Arbitrarium Games, Words in Time, JuLingo, Armoured Archivist, Artur Rehi, Asturia Quartet, Duo Vagari, Sally's Economics,
Enter the Book, Autistic AF, Back from Burnout, Nerdy Kathi, Gaelic with Jason, Irish Medieval History, Bernadette Banner, Jack Edwards, Ellen Catherine, Business Basics, Andrew Watson, Shannon Makes, I Draper, Boylei Hobby Time, JammiDodger, Abby Cox, Snappy Dragon, PPR Global, Strange Lucidity, Engineering Knits, Rebecca Watson, Rachel Maksy, Plaid Cymru, Amodelwhosread,
Maggie Mae Fish, Books From My Bookshelf, Turn Left, NYTN, A Brush with Bekah, Revolutionary Communist Party, Planet Critical.
Consider treating this as a hostile site. 🤔
Goodreads do not encourage discourse. As example, I wrote my last original review and received my last comment storm with Powers of the Earth. That book was a sorry, pathetic salute to the psychotic January 6, 2021 hero. The plot was glorification of a rich twat wanting to not pay taxes on his inheritance enlisting the military to overthrow the US government. I found the book dangerous and disturbing.
The writer is Travis Corcoran who self-described as libertarian (now anarcho capitalist without the millions) and advocate for the return of chattel slavery (popular stance in the US, already implemented in prison labour with ongoing legislative drives to extend the practice), veteran, employee of an unnamed US agency, supporter of Putin (popular stance among many in the USA and government).
The writer and six fellow patriots took exception. There followed a year long demand for a response to comments, among them was noted my narcissistic personality as I declined to engage, judgement of intelligence, strange interpretations of History, etc.
The layers of irony were painful.
I had hoped that, I might also have answers to Etruscan origins. I did not. Such is life.
The final comment was delivered by Claes Rees Jr aka cgr710 now ka Clayton R Jesse Jr (who seems no longer to self-identify as a Nazi).
He declared that They had "won" (?), after referencing the contents of my last message to a Goodreads friend. I discovered that They had launched a year long flood of anti-working class, racist, misogynistic and ableist comments against apparently every female creator which I listed (some in my name and it continues still).
They failed to impress the historian, midteen boater or her mother, mathematician, science educator or other women.
They did increase the world's overabundance of ugliness and delivered an accurate self-portrait of the Snowflake (vicious, arrogantly ignorant US baby-man) to a multinational audience.
It seems this was Victory. Goodreads provide refreshing reader exchanges ??
There are a number of safer, more useful reader sites to which BookTubers may direct you.
Ominous music begins. 😊 Few BookTubers address the issue of the comment gangs. They are not one-off but loosely organised groups of free speechers, seemingly US membership led or inspired. They seem fairly widespread across Romance and Speculative fiction.
Their activity is not limited to nasty comments. They include the doxxing, stalking, threatening and I myself have been target of a hacking attempt. Amazon have never acknowledged these incidents nor disciplined members, punished writers when involved with same or dismissed sociopathic employee enablers.
My ultimate harassment from Amazon/KIndle was the giving over of my very limited message history to these disturbed persons. This made possible a request through Pine Gap Centre for Australian Security to interrogate the one friend whom I occasionally messaged.
The attempt at my personal history failed, though it left two outraged customers. Only after we shared this experience did Amazon become concerned. Suddenly all lurkers whom I had not previously been Allowed to remove disappeared, my page format and options were returned to normal, etc. No apology, no explanation. I would suggest that Amazon explore new customer service practices. 🙂
A seventh ex-employee of EBay was sentenced for harassment of a couple whose small ecommerce site was deemed unkind to EBay. The couple were awarded millions and that ex-employee had been Chief of EBay Global Security or something like.
The above all occurred before the present immunity awarded to US data firms.
I suggest a few precautions. Remove personal information from profile and avoid messaging. Remove lurkers, those who never post. Those friends are likely monitors for gangs or employee created dummies, not admirers.
Given Amazon's cavalier attitude towards customer data and safety, the screenshots of the odd, ugly and threatening are truly invaluable. For Goodreads, these should be sufficient.
Kindle are the more dangerous. Do Not use Kindle Files, Calendar, Email or Contacts. My 15 minute test email was removed with some small difficulty and password changed immediately after. Some six months later, I received a Kindle message that They were unable to Sign Into my email (?).
Do Not "purchase" Kindle ebooks. You own only the device and your "purchased" titles may be removed at Amazon's whim. I am embarrassed to admit that I unfortunately misjudged corporate behaviour before having already purchased several hundred titles.
There are BookTubers to direct you to alternative vendors of ebooks and devices. They also discuss alternatives to e-book purchase.
Silk searches should obviously be innocuous and non-critical.
The national culture actually thrives on violence and attack on the non-conforming individual. The normalisation of rape, forced sterilisation and other torture by US Border Patrol, has for decades been known and reported.
Obama (the wonderful), Trump (proud white supremacist) and Biden (decades long leader of legislative attacks on the working class, BIPOC and women) have each ignored the practice.
Border Patrol have causally admitted in televised interviews that They do not even keep records of deaths occurring in custody. There was no national upheaval, scandal or outrage.
The extent, depth and indifference to US cruelty is that which Conservative and Reform have only dreamed. These are the predominant segment of Anglophone Goodreads and are US patriots.
I discovered a quote by US President Lyndon Johnson. "Tell the lowest white man that he is superior to the best black man and he will never notice you picking his pocket. Hell, give a poor white man someone to look down on, he'll empty his pockets for you."
Sadly something similar seems applicable to Britain. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be safe and may we all find Good Reading. 🤗
Some of my favourite channels.
NCMI, Bobbing Along, Ben and Emily, The Leftist Cooks, AllShorts, Mrs Betty Bowers, Some More News, EarleWrites, Books with Chloe, Zoe Baker, Juice Media, Philosophy Tube, Christy Anne Jones, Atun Shei Films, Dr Becky, Art by Annamarie, Viva La Dirt League, Lady knight the brave, Art Deco, Media Death Cult,
Fundie Fridays, TVP News, Serena Skybourne, Spacedock, NFKRZ, A clockwork Reader, Kris Atomic, Cruising Crafts, Cruising the Cut, Ship Happens, Cruising Alba, Jean's Thoughts, Roomies Digest, Maggie Mae Fish, Scotland History Tours, 16 Feet, 6UPTabletop Gaming, A Brush with Beka, A Time of Eagles, A Very Casual Librarian, SciFi Scavenger,
The Brothers Gwynne, What Vivi did next, 2Cellos, Sunny Book Nook, Erin Janda Creative, We're in Hell, Ben and Emily, Adult Wednesday Addams -2 seasons, Ryan McBeth, Think That Through, Sort of Interesting, Activist Witch, aidan knight, The Mindful Narrowboat, The Paranormal Scholar, The Great War, Julie Nolke,
Grace McGuire, Austin McConnell, Sort of Interesting, Winging it on a Budget, OrangeRiver, Adelaide Beeman-White, Kady 2.0, Maiorianus, Real Time History, Kings and Generals, Black Lodge Games, Blackboot Official, Girls and Tanks, Bardcore, Aliensrock, allie_202, Lindsey Stirling, Squire, Ukraine Matters, Eleanor Morton, Smack the Pony,
Rowan J Coleman, Books with Chloe, Scallydandling About the Books, Jabzy, Mandy, Books with Emily Fox, Boat Time, Brandon Fisichella, Stevie Emerson, Vlad Vexler, Novara Media, Alice Cappelle, Natasha's Adventures, Lady of the Library, Petrik Leo, Fran Blanche, Tibees, Whitenoiz,
The Lorna Jane Adventures, The Shades of Orange, Battle Order, Jake Broe, Alex Fleev, Alt Shift X, Engineering with Rosie, Lucy Darling, Hej Sokoly, Depressed Russian, Crecganford, Then & Now, Russian Dude, Amie's Literary Empire, Luciana Orlandi, SciFi Odyssey, DW News, Zoe Bee, Historia Civilis, LIbrary Ladder, Swell Entertainment, OliviaReadsaLatte, Gingers are Black, Alyssa Matesic.
I wish you a lovely morning, a lazy afternoon, a relaxing evening, an exciting night and may we all continue learning.
Hope springs constantly, as well as eternally.
William Wallace
This is typically terrible US military science fiction. I remember little about the book and failed to finish it. I doubt that anyone will read this, as I revise.
Before I begin I must visit the YouTube. This is made possible by Doctor Who/Never Cruel or Cowardly - Ozar, NCMI, Anark, fig tree, Just a Confused Brit, Sarah C M Paine, Red Glasgow, Tale Foundry, Keffals, Welcome to Ukraine, Postmodern Jukebox, Brigitte Empire, AllShorts, Books N Things, Vasya in the Hay, Emily Michelle, Sailing Melody, Bren Booth-Jones, Veritas et Caritas, Ro Ramdin, Kings and Generals, Tully Slings,
The New Enlightenment with Ashley, Omeleto, LuckyBlackCat, RevolutionarythOt, Belinda Strnad, Prose and Petticoats, Yanis Varoufakis, Inside Russia, Dr Fiona Hill, Welcome to Ukraine, Kyiv Independent, Jen the Librarian, The Kavernacle, Jess Owens, Owen Jones, FAFO, KernowDamo, ATP Geopolitics, Cambrian Chronicles, Munecat, ScaredKetchup, Revolutionary Communists of America,
Matriarchetype, Hoots, Mallen Baker, Lucy Lumen, The Serf Times, Roisin's Reading, Raw News and Politics, Leena Norms, Reese Waters, Turn Left, Lynn Saga, The Leftist Cooks, Puddles Pity Party, Jessie Gender, Think Ukraine, Emilie's LIterary Corner, Your True Shelf, Reads with Rachel, Fit 2B Read, Eugenia from Ukraine, Shades of Orange, Library Unbounded, Princess Weekes, Sarah Millican, Mandy, Kopke613,
The Gaze, Jay Exci, Broken Peach, Joe Webb, Operator Starsky, Silicon Curtain, JohnTheDuncan, Oceanliner Designs, Dark Brandon, Kazachka, HBomberguy, E W Baylis Toy Soldiers, Dungeons and Discourse, Paul Stanley, May, Foster on the Spectrum, NerdForge, Just in Time Worldbuilding, Veritas et Caritas, Dr Fatima, DUST, Refashioned Hippie, No Justice, Supertanskiii, Toby Rose Lonesome,
Jen the Librarian, Katie Halper, Riverboat Jack, Aid Thompsin, Tibees, Unlearning Economics, Uncivilized, Perun, Queen Penguin, Lady of the Library, Blooms & Greens by Chloe, Deerstalker Pictures, Dr Becky, Seizure Girl, TallGirl6234, Let's Talk Tabletop, Ministry of Miniatures, Parkrose Permaculture, The Slaggy Book Club, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Shakos and Sprues, Midlander Gaming,
Waterstones, Living the Skye Life, TimeGhost History, Jessica Craven, Morning Mercury, Carolina Pinglo, Haunts Wargaming, Paperback Journeys, Wanderness, Beth Stelling, Jessica Craven, Ellen Catherine, Julie reads her bookshelf, Greg Terry Experience, Charlotte McDonnell, White Cockade, Katie Montgomerie, Diane Jennings, CiCi Zhu, Ksenia Turkova, Ms Modeller, Barry's Economics. Guard the Leaf.
A member of the Village Idiot Movement whilst insulting an essayist I mention, complained to her that I list other trans creators. The Snowflake (proudly ignorant, self-important US male) no longer shocks me. A trigger warning then.
The channels which I list include archaeologist, German, cis, WOC, blond, socialist, bi, physicist, tall, queer, autist, redhaired, military historian, trans, artist, communist, married, pensioner, culture critic, Finnish, primatologist, lesbian, boater, architect, older, writer, intersex, mathematician, musician, Irish, physically challenged, asexual, political commentator, language historian, military boardgamer, sewist, miniatures modeller, cosplayer and other creators known as Women.
Almost as threatening to smug arrogance are the other BIPOC, Australian, married, anthropologist, anarchist, military modeller, ginger, Scottish, other neurodivergent, slim, hobbyist, short, philosopher, fashion historian, other LGBTQI+, book reviewer, French, science educator, miniatures collector, stout, boater and other creators recognised (outside the USA) as Human Beings.
Should the voices persist, seek emergency therapy, learn a language, perhaps English and/or repeat several times daily "I will not be a bellend today".
My feelings towards these clods parallel those of the 13 Ukrainian marines defending Snake Island when their surrender was demanded by the Russian navy. Their response, "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself". Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the Heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.
Unto the book, dear friends. I vaguely remember it. The one unusual bit is that the writer might know what a destroyer is. I wonder if a destroyer would serve a purpose if there is no space version of a submarine or small attack craft. I have given thought to that in my own world building.
I am thinking that a cruiser makes more sense as an independent unit. I only noticed ship designation because these military science fiction writers often have no clue about ship classes, their roles, their functions.
There are aliens but nothing is done with them. The book about the lone, not very capable warship as hero ship, is boring and overused. These writers never build a substantial background universe. With no developed characters, human or otherwise, the book becomes as unmemorable as the rest.
I assume that every crew person has an Anglo surname and presumed US american in lieu of personality. There are other problems but in the end, my rating described my reaction. I have since ended my Unlimited sub.
I began watching YouTube about four years ago. The number and variety of channels surprised me. The best discovery was that of Book Tube. 😍 These channels host communities of readers who are curious, courteous (in the main), lovers of all that is bookish. The environments created are far different to that of whatever Goodreads have become.
This next was made possible by YouTube Doctor Who/Never fail to be Kind -Slyfer2812,
NCMI, WhoCulture, Lily Simpson, Capital Lumber Log Yard, The Knitting Cult Lady, Kirkpattiecake, Brittany Page, Sophie Games, Legendary Tactics, Revenant Reads, Rose and Rosie, Lilly's Life, Verilybitchie, Double Down News, Simply Resilient Me, The Historian's Craft, Times Radio, Amanda and Shaye,
Gittemary Johansen, Leora Aileen, this tiny life, Noella Reacts, FAFO, Yarmak, Inside Russia, Tristan and the Classics, Ukraine Calling, Katia Pavlov Art, Reads with Rachel, Suris, The Shitty Book Club, Cindy's Villa, Joe Blogs, YourbestieMisha, Off JaWagon, DIEM25, Plant based Bride, Mercado Media, Honest Government Ads, Brianna Sarovski, Sally's Economics, Dark Side of Russia, Sarah Todd Hammer,
Emma Thorne, Ukraine Calling, Told in Stone, Unfiltered Stories, Paul Warburg, Operator Starsky, The Russian Dude, Sanctioned Ivan, Malling Film, Anka Daily News, Liz Webster, Professor Gerdes Explains, AllShorts, ScaredKetchup, The Gaze, Supertanskiii, Yankee Farm Wife, Admiral Sea Bass, twinshangout kenya, Read with Susmitha, The Ritual Kitchen with Laura May, Board Game Sanctuary,
More Perfect Union, The DiceKeep, Between the Lines, Feral Historian, BaldBookGeek, Kozak Siromaha, JmmyTheGiant, RFU News, Feral Historian, Business Basics, Patrick(H)Willem, EarleWrites, The Military Show, Ellie Dashwood, Jack in the Books, danainspired, Tizzy Ent, What Rae Reads, Marianne Williamson, Aisha rae, Unlearning Economics, Roomies Digest, Gina Stanyer Books, 7th Sons, Gary's Economics,
Amanda Rae, New Buckenham Historical Wargamers, Diane Jennings, Book Furnace, ThatDaneshGuy, Keith Edwards, Noella reacts, aidan knight, Aid Thompsin, PPR Global, Willow Talks Books, Upon Reflection, Real Vintage Dolls House, Then & Now, History with Kayleigh, Planarwalker, Claire Fenby-Warren,
Bean Thinking, Larry & Paul, Gutsick Gibbon, Ember Green, Mom on the Spectrum, kgb detected, YuGopnik, Anti-Social Studies, Ancient Americas, Hoots, Council of Geeks, Sophie Games, Caerhle Irey, Book and Hearth, Cruising Alba, Boat Time, Jake Broe, Leena Norms, No Justice, Jessie Gender, Biracial Voices,
Anna from Ukraine, Silicon Curtain, Samantha Lux, Steve Shives, LydLoves, Jordaline Reads, Tennessee Brando, The Serf Times, Chris Norlund, Soggyrice3, Jen's Reading Life, gemma dyer, Fiona Tanya, captured in Words, ConeOfArc, Queer Eye Australia, Raw News and Politics, AllShorts, JustAli, NowHere Channel, Chris and Shell, Cruising Crafts, Well Deck Diaries, Caerhl Irey, Alyssa and the Books,
Ana Fern, Amie's Literary Empire, Dropkick Murphys, Nomadic Crobot, Bobbing Along, Dead Domain, Anti-Social Studies, WokeGardener, SolarpunkAlana, roughhouserosie, Claire Fenby-Warren, Just in Time Worldbuilding, Anna Cramling, Arbitrarium Games, Words in Time, JuLingo, Armoured Archivist, Artur Rehi, Asturia Quartet, Duo Vagari, Sally's Economics,
Enter the Book, Autistic AF, Back from Burnout, Nerdy Kathi, Gaelic with Jason, Irish Medieval History, Bernadette Banner, Jack Edwards, Ellen Catherine, Business Basics, Andrew Watson, Shannon Makes, I Draper, Boylei Hobby Time, JammiDodger, Abby Cox, Snappy Dragon, PPR Global, Strange Lucidity, Engineering Knits, Rebecca Watson, Rachel Maksy, Plaid Cymru, Amodelwhosread,
Maggie Mae Fish, Books From My Bookshelf, Turn Left, NYTN, A Brush with Bekah, Revolutionary Communist Party, Planet Critical.
Consider treating this as a hostile site. 🤔
Goodreads do not encourage discourse. As example, I wrote my last original review and received my last comment storm with Powers of the Earth. That book was a sorry, pathetic salute to the psychotic January 6, 2021 hero. The plot was glorification of a rich twat wanting to not pay taxes on his inheritance enlisting the military to overthrow the US government. I found the book dangerous and disturbing.
The writer is Travis Corcoran who self-described as libertarian (now anarcho capitalist without the millions) and advocate for the return of chattel slavery (popular stance in the US, already implemented in prison labour with ongoing legislative drives to extend the practice), veteran, employee of an unnamed US agency, supporter of Putin (popular stance among many in the USA and government).
The writer and six fellow patriots took exception. There followed a year long demand for a response to comments, among them was noted my narcissistic personality as I declined to engage, judgement of intelligence, strange interpretations of History, etc.
The layers of irony were painful.
I had hoped that, I might also have answers to Etruscan origins. I did not. Such is life.
The final comment was delivered by Claes Rees Jr aka cgr710 now ka Clayton R Jesse Jr (who seems no longer to self-identify as a Nazi).
He declared that They had "won" (?), after referencing the contents of my last message to a Goodreads friend. I discovered that They had launched a year long flood of anti-working class, racist, misogynistic and ableist comments against apparently every female creator which I listed (some in my name and it continues still).
They failed to impress the historian, midteen boater or her mother, mathematician, science educator or other women.
They did increase the world's overabundance of ugliness and delivered an accurate self-portrait of the Snowflake (vicious, arrogantly ignorant US baby-man) to a multinational audience.
It seems this was Victory. Goodreads provide refreshing reader exchanges ??
There are a number of safer, more useful reader sites to which BookTubers may direct you.
Ominous music begins. 😊 Few BookTubers address the issue of the comment gangs. They are not one-off but loosely organised groups of free speechers, seemingly US membership led or inspired. They seem fairly widespread across Romance and Speculative fiction.
Their activity is not limited to nasty comments. They include the doxxing, stalking, threatening and I myself have been target of a hacking attempt. Amazon have never acknowledged these incidents nor disciplined members, punished writers when involved with same or dismissed sociopathic employee enablers.
My ultimate harassment from Amazon/KIndle was the giving over of my very limited message history to these disturbed persons. This made possible a request through Pine Gap Centre for Australian Security to interrogate the one friend whom I occasionally messaged.
The attempt at my personal history failed, though it left two outraged customers. Only after we shared this experience did Amazon become concerned. Suddenly all lurkers whom I had not previously been Allowed to remove disappeared, my page format and options were returned to normal, etc. No apology, no explanation. I would suggest that Amazon explore new customer service practices. 🙂
A seventh ex-employee of EBay was sentenced for harassment of a couple whose small ecommerce site was deemed unkind to EBay. The couple were awarded millions and that ex-employee had been Chief of EBay Global Security or something like.
The above all occurred before the present immunity awarded to US data firms.
I suggest a few precautions. Remove personal information from profile and avoid messaging. Remove lurkers, those who never post. Those friends are likely monitors for gangs or employee created dummies, not admirers.
Given Amazon's cavalier attitude towards customer data and safety, the screenshots of the odd, ugly and threatening are truly invaluable. For Goodreads, these should be sufficient.
Kindle are the more dangerous. Do Not use Kindle Files, Calendar, Email or Contacts. My 15 minute test email was removed with some small difficulty and password changed immediately after. Some six months later, I received a Kindle message that They were unable to Sign Into my email (?).
Do Not "purchase" Kindle ebooks. You own only the device and your "purchased" titles may be removed at Amazon's whim. I am embarrassed to admit that I unfortunately misjudged corporate behaviour before having already purchased several hundred titles.
There are BookTubers to direct you to alternative vendors of ebooks and devices. They also discuss alternatives to e-book purchase.
Silk searches should obviously be innocuous and non-critical.
The national culture actually thrives on violence and attack on the non-conforming individual. The normalisation of rape, forced sterilisation and other torture by US Border Patrol, has for decades been known and reported.
Obama (the wonderful), Trump (proud white supremacist) and Biden (decades long leader of legislative attacks on the working class, BIPOC and women) have each ignored the practice.
Border Patrol have causally admitted in televised interviews that They do not even keep records of deaths occurring in custody. There was no national upheaval, scandal or outrage.
The extent, depth and indifference to US cruelty is that which Conservative and Reform have only dreamed. These are the predominant segment of Anglophone Goodreads and are US patriots.
I discovered a quote by US President Lyndon Johnson. "Tell the lowest white man that he is superior to the best black man and he will never notice you picking his pocket. Hell, give a poor white man someone to look down on, he'll empty his pockets for you."
Sadly something similar seems applicable to Britain. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be safe and may we all find Good Reading. 🤗
Some of my favourite channels.
NCMI, Bobbing Along, Ben and Emily, The Leftist Cooks, AllShorts, Mrs Betty Bowers, Some More News, EarleWrites, Books with Chloe, Zoe Baker, Juice Media, Philosophy Tube, Christy Anne Jones, Atun Shei Films, Dr Becky, Art by Annamarie, Viva La Dirt League, Lady knight the brave, Art Deco, Media Death Cult,
Fundie Fridays, TVP News, Serena Skybourne, Spacedock, NFKRZ, A clockwork Reader, Kris Atomic, Cruising Crafts, Cruising the Cut, Ship Happens, Cruising Alba, Jean's Thoughts, Roomies Digest, Maggie Mae Fish, Scotland History Tours, 16 Feet, 6UPTabletop Gaming, A Brush with Beka, A Time of Eagles, A Very Casual Librarian, SciFi Scavenger,
The Brothers Gwynne, What Vivi did next, 2Cellos, Sunny Book Nook, Erin Janda Creative, We're in Hell, Ben and Emily, Adult Wednesday Addams -2 seasons, Ryan McBeth, Think That Through, Sort of Interesting, Activist Witch, aidan knight, The Mindful Narrowboat, The Paranormal Scholar, The Great War, Julie Nolke,
Grace McGuire, Austin McConnell, Sort of Interesting, Winging it on a Budget, OrangeRiver, Adelaide Beeman-White, Kady 2.0, Maiorianus, Real Time History, Kings and Generals, Black Lodge Games, Blackboot Official, Girls and Tanks, Bardcore, Aliensrock, allie_202, Lindsey Stirling, Squire, Ukraine Matters, Eleanor Morton, Smack the Pony,
Rowan J Coleman, Books with Chloe, Scallydandling About the Books, Jabzy, Mandy, Books with Emily Fox, Boat Time, Brandon Fisichella, Stevie Emerson, Vlad Vexler, Novara Media, Alice Cappelle, Natasha's Adventures, Lady of the Library, Petrik Leo, Fran Blanche, Tibees, Whitenoiz,
The Lorna Jane Adventures, The Shades of Orange, Battle Order, Jake Broe, Alex Fleev, Alt Shift X, Engineering with Rosie, Lucy Darling, Hej Sokoly, Depressed Russian, Crecganford, Then & Now, Russian Dude, Amie's Literary Empire, Luciana Orlandi, SciFi Odyssey, DW News, Zoe Bee, Historia Civilis, LIbrary Ladder, Swell Entertainment, OliviaReadsaLatte, Gingers are Black, Alyssa Matesic.
I wish you a lovely morning, a lazy afternoon, a relaxing evening, an exciting night and may we all continue learning.
Hope springs constantly, as well as eternally.
William Wallace
Read
May 20, 2019What I say here applies to both the sequels which comprise the Void Wraith trilogy and all three books of the Ganod Wars trilogy; which is a near direct continuation of the first.
This was a fun and easy read with a simple straightforward plot that did exactly what i wanted it to do. That being a week long break between more involved and intensive books.
Characters, world and plot are all familiar to anyone who has a mild knowledge and experience of SF books and games. It cost very little indeed and was fun for a week which I have no issues with.
This was a fun and easy read with a simple straightforward plot that did exactly what i wanted it to do. That being a week long break between more involved and intensive books.
Characters, world and plot are all familiar to anyone who has a mild knowledge and experience of SF books and games. It cost very little indeed and was fun for a week which I have no issues with.
January 16, 2021
Good old-fashioned pulp-fiction sci-fi. A fun light read!
August 15, 2018
Was hoping it to be an adventure space opera but it ended up as action military sci-fi instead.
April 8, 2016
This book was a ton of fun and I can't wait for more! It's military science fiction but it's easily the most entertaining military sci-fi novel I've ever read. I haven't read much because I find they're usually boring books. This story just moved and it was very fun and engaging.
There were no scenes where characters were sitting around talking and pondering philosophical or political things like I've read in other military science-fiction. There were no abstruse complicated sentences about the technology. No expounding on what this future science could realistically be like and I appreciated that. Everything was described well so I understood how the science worked, but the story wasn't about the science. It was about the adventures and conflicts which in my opinion makes for a much more enjoyable read. Instead I got a ton of awesome action scenes. I got a behind closed doors meeting scene where terrible secrets were discovered by eavesdropping good guys. I got some really cool science fiction style Indiana Jones scenes where characters flew to planets and explored ancient ruins to try and uncover some terrifying mysteries about an alien race.
One thing that makes a book a favorite to me is when I don't get bored reading it and that was the case with this book. It was fantastic. Even though it had great world building, interesting technologies, and super cool alien races I loved I don't remember ever getting assaulted with a huge info dump to tell me all about it. As you get to see these alien races and human characters go through all kinds of trials you discover more about them and the technology around them.
I particularly liked the Tigris. They are a catlike alien race that reminded me of the Kilrathi from one of my favorite old space fighting games Wing Commander. I loved how the movement of their tails was often used to show their mood. These aliens are cunning and intelligent but they are also vicious brutal fighters with an amazing amount of strength. Their sharp claws and teeth were scary. I loved how human characters thought that they creepy when they smiled. They came across as terrifying warriors which was cool. It also made for a fun juxtaposition when these tigress characters were happy and would sometimes purr. I love that and thought it was awesome.
There are two other ancient alien races. They were really great too but I'm not explaining them because I don't want to spoil anything in the story. I also liked how the Helios Gates worked for long distance space travel. They were a cool idea that were well executed.
I loved how all of the characters were ones that I've never met before but they had a lot of interesting backstory. Just enough was given for me to know their motivations and appreciate them as well rounded fleshed out characters with a history. I would say the story focuses more on plot and character but the author did a great job creating living breathing characters that I enjoyed going on adventures with. I'm excited to learn more about them by reading the prequel Exiled.
I would say that this novel was like Wing Commander meets Indiana Jones. It was a whole heck of a lot of fun and you should go buy it right now so you can get to reading it. I know I'm glad I picked this one up and is soon as I'm done writing this review I'm going to go read the prequel. I can't wait for the sequel to come out.
There were no scenes where characters were sitting around talking and pondering philosophical or political things like I've read in other military science-fiction. There were no abstruse complicated sentences about the technology. No expounding on what this future science could realistically be like and I appreciated that. Everything was described well so I understood how the science worked, but the story wasn't about the science. It was about the adventures and conflicts which in my opinion makes for a much more enjoyable read. Instead I got a ton of awesome action scenes. I got a behind closed doors meeting scene where terrible secrets were discovered by eavesdropping good guys. I got some really cool science fiction style Indiana Jones scenes where characters flew to planets and explored ancient ruins to try and uncover some terrifying mysteries about an alien race.
One thing that makes a book a favorite to me is when I don't get bored reading it and that was the case with this book. It was fantastic. Even though it had great world building, interesting technologies, and super cool alien races I loved I don't remember ever getting assaulted with a huge info dump to tell me all about it. As you get to see these alien races and human characters go through all kinds of trials you discover more about them and the technology around them.
I particularly liked the Tigris. They are a catlike alien race that reminded me of the Kilrathi from one of my favorite old space fighting games Wing Commander. I loved how the movement of their tails was often used to show their mood. These aliens are cunning and intelligent but they are also vicious brutal fighters with an amazing amount of strength. Their sharp claws and teeth were scary. I loved how human characters thought that they creepy when they smiled. They came across as terrifying warriors which was cool. It also made for a fun juxtaposition when these tigress characters were happy and would sometimes purr. I love that and thought it was awesome.
There are two other ancient alien races. They were really great too but I'm not explaining them because I don't want to spoil anything in the story. I also liked how the Helios Gates worked for long distance space travel. They were a cool idea that were well executed.
I loved how all of the characters were ones that I've never met before but they had a lot of interesting backstory. Just enough was given for me to know their motivations and appreciate them as well rounded fleshed out characters with a history. I would say the story focuses more on plot and character but the author did a great job creating living breathing characters that I enjoyed going on adventures with. I'm excited to learn more about them by reading the prequel Exiled.
I would say that this novel was like Wing Commander meets Indiana Jones. It was a whole heck of a lot of fun and you should go buy it right now so you can get to reading it. I know I'm glad I picked this one up and is soon as I'm done writing this review I'm going to go read the prequel. I can't wait for the sequel to come out.
March 6, 2017
A caveat first - this is not a genre I would generally choose. I read the book because I followed the author's series of videos where he drafted and edited the book in 21 days flat. Very impressive. I therefore read the book to see what the end result was like.
So as a non reader of this genre with a Trekkie husband, this book read felt like something similar to Star Trek. I enjoyed the underlying plot about the discovery of the ancient races and their history and wars. That was probably my favourite aspect of the novel.
The page turning action kept me moving forward. The action scenes were sharp and pacy.
Perhaps lacking in character development and nuances due to the fast pace - I'd have liked to know what happened to Kathryn. But as a trilogy I assume that information comes in the next instalment.
Nice to see equal roles for men and women. And Tigris ;)
A fun read.
So as a non reader of this genre with a Trekkie husband, this book read felt like something similar to Star Trek. I enjoyed the underlying plot about the discovery of the ancient races and their history and wars. That was probably my favourite aspect of the novel.
The page turning action kept me moving forward. The action scenes were sharp and pacy.
Perhaps lacking in character development and nuances due to the fast pace - I'd have liked to know what happened to Kathryn. But as a trilogy I assume that information comes in the next instalment.
Nice to see equal roles for men and women. And Tigris ;)
A fun read.
July 19, 2025
You could read this book for free by going to GPT and typing "write Mass Effect but by a writer that doesn't like Science Fiction" I could have just replayed Mass Effect.
Anyway you know what I think would be really interesting?
If I talked about his book, and gave you examples of how to spot when the author is actually chat GPT at the same time, not to accuse the author of using AI, or anything.
Okay so the most blatant way you're going to determine if GPT is the author is the sheer quantity the author puts out, if an author had for some reason written at time of writing according to goodreads, 88 books since 2014? That... that might be something to look out for. That would be a great way to determine if an author had a literally inhuman output. Especially if they had an impressive output before GPT became publicly available, then once GPT-3 drops they write nine books in a year. Then, next year, proceed to begin a 7 book series that is completed three years, four of which came out in 2022. Wonder if that might say something about Chris Foxs writing methods.
Another great way of detecting GPT as an author is when it uses descriptors that jump out at you but then never clarifies them. It's never just "A southern drawl" it's "a **strange** southern drawl" like in the opening Chapter to Destroyer, never clarifying exactly what is strange about it. GPT does this because it can't write but it knows what writing looks like. So it's just trying to do what a writer would do. A human might write something like "a slow southern drawl" or "a thick southern drawl".
You will see GPT do this in other cases. It will use a descriptor that makes you double take and then never clarify why it sticks out because it doesn't understand its using adjectives that demand elaboration.
The second tell that does it for me?
>The fact that it was even possible to escape a sun's gravitational pull was nothing short of miraculous, but the Helios Drives made it commonplace. They simply harnessed the sun's energy.
GPT really likes to hint at worldbuilding, which is especially important, if not required in sci-fi/fantasy, it is kind of the point. But coherent worldbuilding especially of tech requires memory GPT just doesn't have. So it's tech and magic are really briefly glossed over and not elaborated on.
Compare and contrast with Lightsabers. We know in Old EU they're powered by a plasma current going through a kyber crystal, sith choose red not because they have superior taste, but their crystals are artificial. Jedi must hold a monopoly on Kyber mines or something. This is a surface level of the technobabble behind lightsabers but if you ask GPT to actually remember it, over time it will change and add anf remove things.
And here's the third tell. AI cannot visualise how stupid it's writing is.
Think about it like this, an alien ship is shaped like an arrow in this book, because the alien race likes to take the enemy at ramming speed so they can board and engage in hand to hand combat. Except they're doing it at light speed. So they're course correcting to force a collision at a speed where things happen instantly. GPT doesn't understand how bonkers the reaction time would need to be, but a human would. So the presence of this kind of shit is a red flag for AI.
And a fourth tell, which is really where I feel GPT shows it's hand. GPT is trained on writing that's already been written. I know there's nothing original under the sun, but there's even less under GPTs shadow.
Let me make this much clear, this book is Mass Effect.
Chris Fox takes the Turian First contact war, combines them with the size, strength and brutal nature of the Krogan, and just rolls it into a race of Tiger people.
The Void Wraiths are a species that's a combination of the Reapers and the Collectors, a Reaper slave construct race from Mass Effect 2.
Rather than emitting a signal to subtly influence the psyche of other species like the Reapers, Mass Effects indoctrination is represented as just dropping a mind control slug into people's ears. You might think "Hey, at least they aren't directly copying Mass Effect" until you remember the Brain Worm from Wrath of Khan.
I also noticed some stuff I suspected may be lifted from Wing Commander and Halo but I was never a major fan of either of those so I won't speak as if I'm an authority.
And here's where I admit something to you. I don't actually believe it's AI. It can't be, allegedly. I don't know Amazon's rule for self published authors setting the date, but it says it came out in 2016. GPT launched in 2018 and wouldn't be capable of fooling most people until 2020.
However that's really why I have to say this is the worst book I've read in the science fiction genere. It is wholly unoriginal, it's poorly thought out, it feels like it was written to chase trends, and finally, why would I read this when I could just ask GPT to plagiarise Mass Effect and have roughly the same experience?
Yes I compare it heavily to AI, specifically to illustrate that this book is bad enough that it could be GPT, regardless of the authors suspicious output. It's not GPT, it's just really fucking good at pretending.
This is the first book I ever threw in the recycling bin, and that's the kindest thing I can say about it. Because if the paper is recycled, it might get used for something else.
Anyway you know what I think would be really interesting?
If I talked about his book, and gave you examples of how to spot when the author is actually chat GPT at the same time, not to accuse the author of using AI, or anything.
Okay so the most blatant way you're going to determine if GPT is the author is the sheer quantity the author puts out, if an author had for some reason written at time of writing according to goodreads, 88 books since 2014? That... that might be something to look out for. That would be a great way to determine if an author had a literally inhuman output. Especially if they had an impressive output before GPT became publicly available, then once GPT-3 drops they write nine books in a year. Then, next year, proceed to begin a 7 book series that is completed three years, four of which came out in 2022. Wonder if that might say something about Chris Foxs writing methods.
Another great way of detecting GPT as an author is when it uses descriptors that jump out at you but then never clarifies them. It's never just "A southern drawl" it's "a **strange** southern drawl" like in the opening Chapter to Destroyer, never clarifying exactly what is strange about it. GPT does this because it can't write but it knows what writing looks like. So it's just trying to do what a writer would do. A human might write something like "a slow southern drawl" or "a thick southern drawl".
You will see GPT do this in other cases. It will use a descriptor that makes you double take and then never clarify why it sticks out because it doesn't understand its using adjectives that demand elaboration.
The second tell that does it for me?
>The fact that it was even possible to escape a sun's gravitational pull was nothing short of miraculous, but the Helios Drives made it commonplace. They simply harnessed the sun's energy.
GPT really likes to hint at worldbuilding, which is especially important, if not required in sci-fi/fantasy, it is kind of the point. But coherent worldbuilding especially of tech requires memory GPT just doesn't have. So it's tech and magic are really briefly glossed over and not elaborated on.
Compare and contrast with Lightsabers. We know in Old EU they're powered by a plasma current going through a kyber crystal, sith choose red not because they have superior taste, but their crystals are artificial. Jedi must hold a monopoly on Kyber mines or something. This is a surface level of the technobabble behind lightsabers but if you ask GPT to actually remember it, over time it will change and add anf remove things.
And here's the third tell. AI cannot visualise how stupid it's writing is.
Think about it like this, an alien ship is shaped like an arrow in this book, because the alien race likes to take the enemy at ramming speed so they can board and engage in hand to hand combat. Except they're doing it at light speed. So they're course correcting to force a collision at a speed where things happen instantly. GPT doesn't understand how bonkers the reaction time would need to be, but a human would. So the presence of this kind of shit is a red flag for AI.
And a fourth tell, which is really where I feel GPT shows it's hand. GPT is trained on writing that's already been written. I know there's nothing original under the sun, but there's even less under GPTs shadow.
Let me make this much clear, this book is Mass Effect.
Chris Fox takes the Turian First contact war, combines them with the size, strength and brutal nature of the Krogan, and just rolls it into a race of Tiger people.
The Void Wraiths are a species that's a combination of the Reapers and the Collectors, a Reaper slave construct race from Mass Effect 2.
Rather than emitting a signal to subtly influence the psyche of other species like the Reapers, Mass Effects indoctrination is represented as just dropping a mind control slug into people's ears. You might think "Hey, at least they aren't directly copying Mass Effect" until you remember the Brain Worm from Wrath of Khan.
I also noticed some stuff I suspected may be lifted from Wing Commander and Halo but I was never a major fan of either of those so I won't speak as if I'm an authority.
And here's where I admit something to you. I don't actually believe it's AI. It can't be, allegedly. I don't know Amazon's rule for self published authors setting the date, but it says it came out in 2016. GPT launched in 2018 and wouldn't be capable of fooling most people until 2020.
However that's really why I have to say this is the worst book I've read in the science fiction genere. It is wholly unoriginal, it's poorly thought out, it feels like it was written to chase trends, and finally, why would I read this when I could just ask GPT to plagiarise Mass Effect and have roughly the same experience?
Yes I compare it heavily to AI, specifically to illustrate that this book is bad enough that it could be GPT, regardless of the authors suspicious output. It's not GPT, it's just really fucking good at pretending.
This is the first book I ever threw in the recycling bin, and that's the kindest thing I can say about it. Because if the paper is recycled, it might get used for something else.
April 8, 2016
Fun book, quick read. Lots of action, cool space battles.
I look forward to the next in the series.
I look forward to the next in the series.
July 6, 2017
Can't finish it, makes no sense.
November 27, 2020
This book did not make a good impression on me. If there's one thing I loathe, it's perfect protagonists and Nolan is very much that. Or at least starts out that way. Spoilers ahead, I guess? I don't really consider it spoilers because this all happens or is revealed pretty much immediately, the book completely unable to keep anything close to the vest.
Spoiler: Nolan's first act in command of the Johnston is to win a battle against overwhelming odds with nothing but his wit after his Captain leaves him the bridge in an emergency, to which he firmly protests.
When I first read this part, I fully expected this whole thing to just be a VR training mission or similar because the notion that he pulled a smooth victory out of his ass that way was just ridiculous. Some would probably argue that it wasn't perfect, there were casualties and blah blah blah. But, for someone more or less straight out of school, I'd say he performed his duties perfectly.
And I don't like perfect. I hate perfect protagonists. Nolan is flawless. There's some humdrum about his past action landing him the gig in a place where the space navy puts their rejects but that's quickly revealed to be nothing but a wet, pathetic squib since he, of course, covered up for someone else for noble reasons. Gag, don't make me throw up.
There's more complaints too. If you've played Mass Effect, nothing in the plot should surprise you. I'll cut out the fluff for you: regularly (on a galactic scale) a machine-race comes out of hiding and harvests the dominating organic lifeforms. In this case, that would be humans, tigris and primo. There's skepticism such a race could exist, traitors who are actually working for them and a cliffhanger that serves as a "this is just the beginning".
But, and here's the thing, if you're like me, I suggest simply overlooking these things. Not gonna lie, the first 50 pages or so were hard to read. On the final pages, Chris Fox thanks you for reading his book and says it was his first sci-fi book and you can tell. I don't say this to be evil, everyone starts somewhere and this one is rough. His inspirations are barely hidden (Mass Effect, Wing Commander, Starcraft) and all the characters serve their tropes to a fault. There's a marine squad that is picked off one by one until only the important one remains (importance here is rank), there's alliances made across old battlescar and so forth. I was all set to hate this book and what was worse was that I had already bought more of Fox' writing. Not to mention that I kickstarted the RPG based on one of his other franchises.
I was feeling incredibly duped here.
Then something happened and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe the first pages were a clever ruse to set me up to fail or perhaps Fox' writing just evolved at such a quick pace that the quality of the book changed as it progressed. At some point I realized I cared. And I cared a lot. To the point where every death I witnessed somehow become painful to read. Even characters that had just barely been introduced suddenly felt near and dear to my heart. The turning point probably came around the time that the character Lena was introduced to the story and the characters began working to mend wounds caused by a not so long ago war.
Or perhaps it was when the tigris, a race of warrior cat aliens, started playing a bigger role than just a thorn in the side of the protagonist. As a hardened cat lover, this is probably the best gift I could get and I instantly started shipping the various humans with tigris. Dammit, if not one half human, half tigris baby is made by the end of the trilogy, I will be driven insane.
Towards the end, it became nearly impossible to put the book down and I had to use all my willpower to put it down in the middle of the night and dispel all thoughts of "It's only 100 more pages, you can knock that out before sleeping." Nolan never grew on me, out of the cast present in the end, he was easily the least interesting character of them all. Even Khar, a tigris who only started playing any sort of role towards the end of the book, had endeared himself to me more than Nolan. Hopefully, as the books progress, Nolan grows as a character and is revealed to be more than a shining example of humanity. Because, again, perfect is boring.
I'm already online, looking to buy the next two books in the series (I mistakenly bought the fourth book, thinking it was a different franchise) and I'm unsure I feel like reading anything else until they arrive. It's like Mass Effect all over again.
Spoiler: Nolan's first act in command of the Johnston is to win a battle against overwhelming odds with nothing but his wit after his Captain leaves him the bridge in an emergency, to which he firmly protests.
When I first read this part, I fully expected this whole thing to just be a VR training mission or similar because the notion that he pulled a smooth victory out of his ass that way was just ridiculous. Some would probably argue that it wasn't perfect, there were casualties and blah blah blah. But, for someone more or less straight out of school, I'd say he performed his duties perfectly.
And I don't like perfect. I hate perfect protagonists. Nolan is flawless. There's some humdrum about his past action landing him the gig in a place where the space navy puts their rejects but that's quickly revealed to be nothing but a wet, pathetic squib since he, of course, covered up for someone else for noble reasons. Gag, don't make me throw up.
There's more complaints too. If you've played Mass Effect, nothing in the plot should surprise you. I'll cut out the fluff for you: regularly (on a galactic scale) a machine-race comes out of hiding and harvests the dominating organic lifeforms. In this case, that would be humans, tigris and primo. There's skepticism such a race could exist, traitors who are actually working for them and a cliffhanger that serves as a "this is just the beginning".
But, and here's the thing, if you're like me, I suggest simply overlooking these things. Not gonna lie, the first 50 pages or so were hard to read. On the final pages, Chris Fox thanks you for reading his book and says it was his first sci-fi book and you can tell. I don't say this to be evil, everyone starts somewhere and this one is rough. His inspirations are barely hidden (Mass Effect, Wing Commander, Starcraft) and all the characters serve their tropes to a fault. There's a marine squad that is picked off one by one until only the important one remains (importance here is rank), there's alliances made across old battlescar and so forth. I was all set to hate this book and what was worse was that I had already bought more of Fox' writing. Not to mention that I kickstarted the RPG based on one of his other franchises.
I was feeling incredibly duped here.
Then something happened and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe the first pages were a clever ruse to set me up to fail or perhaps Fox' writing just evolved at such a quick pace that the quality of the book changed as it progressed. At some point I realized I cared. And I cared a lot. To the point where every death I witnessed somehow become painful to read. Even characters that had just barely been introduced suddenly felt near and dear to my heart. The turning point probably came around the time that the character Lena was introduced to the story and the characters began working to mend wounds caused by a not so long ago war.
Or perhaps it was when the tigris, a race of warrior cat aliens, started playing a bigger role than just a thorn in the side of the protagonist. As a hardened cat lover, this is probably the best gift I could get and I instantly started shipping the various humans with tigris. Dammit, if not one half human, half tigris baby is made by the end of the trilogy, I will be driven insane.
Towards the end, it became nearly impossible to put the book down and I had to use all my willpower to put it down in the middle of the night and dispel all thoughts of "It's only 100 more pages, you can knock that out before sleeping." Nolan never grew on me, out of the cast present in the end, he was easily the least interesting character of them all. Even Khar, a tigris who only started playing any sort of role towards the end of the book, had endeared himself to me more than Nolan. Hopefully, as the books progress, Nolan grows as a character and is revealed to be more than a shining example of humanity. Because, again, perfect is boring.
I'm already online, looking to buy the next two books in the series (I mistakenly bought the fourth book, thinking it was a different franchise) and I'm unsure I feel like reading anything else until they arrive. It's like Mass Effect all over again.
May 11, 2017
Destroyer is just what you expect from a Military Space Opera series, lots of excellent action, great characters and an enemy to be feared.
Fox has done a brilliant job of taking a plotline that is not exactly original, and making it his own, giving it some original tweaks and twists to make it different, and being creative enough with the bits that aren’t (ragtag crew taking on a powerful enemy against all hope), to make this a stand out and a fantastic read.
The story follows several different characters, Nolan, an exec officer who has been basically exiled to the 14th fleet and a ship called the Johnston, out on the outer edges of space. His Captain, Dryker, is a legend from a war with a ferocious species called the Tigris, but the Tigris and Humanity are now under a fragile peace treaty, seen over by a 3rd, much more powerful race, the Primos.
After an incident with the Tigris, Nolan and Dryker realise that something is going on, and that all elements of their Government and Military have been compromised. This then leads to a thrilling action story, (without giving away spoilers), as the crew of the Johnston must overcome overwhelming odds to not only save themselves, but to save many other planets and potentially the galaxy.
Fox has created a wonderful universe to play in, with some exciting technology. His characters are exceptional and add an extra level to an already exciting and brilliant story.
It is not just the main characters, but the secondary characters, especially the Tigris characters that make this such an entertaining and engaging read. Fox has put so much detail and time into the other races and their back stories, giving them so much depth, making the story so much better. There are some characters that are barely in the story, but have their own tale, and it just adds so much to the story.
The ship combat scenes are utterly amazing, the descriptions are brilliant, you feel like you are on the bridge, or in an observation bubble at times it is so life like.
Overall though, it is the great story telling, that is a lot of fun and totally enjoyable to read. This is exactly what Sci-Fi should be in every form, and if you are a fan of Sci-Fi, this is definitely for you!
This is well worth the read, I have already bought parts 2 and 3, and picked up exile from the Author’s website.
Fox has done a brilliant job of taking a plotline that is not exactly original, and making it his own, giving it some original tweaks and twists to make it different, and being creative enough with the bits that aren’t (ragtag crew taking on a powerful enemy against all hope), to make this a stand out and a fantastic read.
The story follows several different characters, Nolan, an exec officer who has been basically exiled to the 14th fleet and a ship called the Johnston, out on the outer edges of space. His Captain, Dryker, is a legend from a war with a ferocious species called the Tigris, but the Tigris and Humanity are now under a fragile peace treaty, seen over by a 3rd, much more powerful race, the Primos.
After an incident with the Tigris, Nolan and Dryker realise that something is going on, and that all elements of their Government and Military have been compromised. This then leads to a thrilling action story, (without giving away spoilers), as the crew of the Johnston must overcome overwhelming odds to not only save themselves, but to save many other planets and potentially the galaxy.
Fox has created a wonderful universe to play in, with some exciting technology. His characters are exceptional and add an extra level to an already exciting and brilliant story.
It is not just the main characters, but the secondary characters, especially the Tigris characters that make this such an entertaining and engaging read. Fox has put so much detail and time into the other races and their back stories, giving them so much depth, making the story so much better. There are some characters that are barely in the story, but have their own tale, and it just adds so much to the story.
The ship combat scenes are utterly amazing, the descriptions are brilliant, you feel like you are on the bridge, or in an observation bubble at times it is so life like.
Overall though, it is the great story telling, that is a lot of fun and totally enjoyable to read. This is exactly what Sci-Fi should be in every form, and if you are a fan of Sci-Fi, this is definitely for you!
This is well worth the read, I have already bought parts 2 and 3, and picked up exile from the Author’s website.
November 1, 2021
For a cheap sci fi adventure story if you read no other sci fi books, perhaps. Perhaps! it might be good?
For those who have read any other sci-fi books especially military sci-fi then it's horrible.
Let's start with a Captain who leaves his bridge in combat just to 'test' his new XO, Commander what ever. Which literally gets people killed while he treats it as no big deal? And he's a hero captain? Ya no.
Then we get a Sargent who assaults her subordinate because they show a lack of respect to a officer? Ya no again. What is this , a group of pirates or a military organization.
Then this 'fleet' officer for some reason goes on a ground mission. A ground mission where they take the only Squad of marines, yes just one, from a whole ship onto the ground. One where when they encounter enemies they don't inform the ship about it.
The main female character goes from distrusting this inexperienced commander to trusting him with her life and letting him command at the drop of the hat after he makes one smart call, one smart call is all it takes, which isn't really smart.
He literally just says we found a scout, lets defend this place , more will be coming. Of course he has no clue how many is more, even though a whole colony went silent and he wants to defend with 5 marines instead of ...say scout the enemy coming or pull back and scout. Fleet Tatics doesn't translate to ground tatics, that's just stupid.
Okay so Characters flip flop, they are undisciplined and mix Fleet and Ground operations. Surely the tech is great?
So they have ships that can stand the pressure of a star and warp between stars but they still find plasma guns to be amazing high tech and get blown up with rail guns hitting a meteor unable to dodge it. It's like one one hand they have flint lock pistols while driving flying cars. The tech makes no sense..
Maybe the story itself is worth it but from my view it was pretty generic. Without at least one of these things outstanding, I can't recommend it unless you want some mindless entertainment without substance, like a popcorn flick.
For those who have read any other sci-fi books especially military sci-fi then it's horrible.
Let's start with a Captain who leaves his bridge in combat just to 'test' his new XO, Commander what ever. Which literally gets people killed while he treats it as no big deal? And he's a hero captain? Ya no.
Then we get a Sargent who assaults her subordinate because they show a lack of respect to a officer? Ya no again. What is this , a group of pirates or a military organization.
Then this 'fleet' officer for some reason goes on a ground mission. A ground mission where they take the only Squad of marines, yes just one, from a whole ship onto the ground. One where when they encounter enemies they don't inform the ship about it.
The main female character goes from distrusting this inexperienced commander to trusting him with her life and letting him command at the drop of the hat after he makes one smart call, one smart call is all it takes, which isn't really smart.
He literally just says we found a scout, lets defend this place , more will be coming. Of course he has no clue how many is more, even though a whole colony went silent and he wants to defend with 5 marines instead of ...say scout the enemy coming or pull back and scout. Fleet Tatics doesn't translate to ground tatics, that's just stupid.
Okay so Characters flip flop, they are undisciplined and mix Fleet and Ground operations. Surely the tech is great?
So they have ships that can stand the pressure of a star and warp between stars but they still find plasma guns to be amazing high tech and get blown up with rail guns hitting a meteor unable to dodge it. It's like one one hand they have flint lock pistols while driving flying cars. The tech makes no sense..
Maybe the story itself is worth it but from my view it was pretty generic. Without at least one of these things outstanding, I can't recommend it unless you want some mindless entertainment without substance, like a popcorn flick.
January 8, 2023
Yes, the criticisms I've read are mostly valid. There is not much in terms of original ideas in this book. The main plot hook has Mass Effect written all over it. The Tigris are a rip-off of Wing Commander's Kilrathi. The enemy soldiers have heavy Halo Covenant vibes. The characters stay mostly flat throughout the 300 pages of this first book, but at least none of them is an ass or an idiot. The English is on the simple side, but I did not find the dialogue "painful", as some called it. I am usually not into (reading) military sci-fi, and this is as military as it gets. The world is barely fleshed out, we learn next to nothing about human society in... whenever this is set. We learn very little about the Primo, but that may be intentional. We learn a tiny bit more about the Kilrathi, I mean Tigris. They are Klingons with fur. Good. I like cats. Chapters are super short, obviously tailored to a Tik-Tok compatible attention span? That would also contribute to explain the shallowness of it all.
So having said all this, I still give this 3 stars, meaning it was alright. Why? Because the auther does a number of things right: The pacing is good. The action scenes pack punch. The POV is always where the most interesting things happen. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief at points, but the stunts the characters pull are still entertaining. And I was passably entertained. Enough to finish the book in 4 days and get the second one. That's something. Is it a masterpiece for me? Hell no. I expect to have forgotten about it a year down the road. But it's harmless and fun enough for a short interlude between meatier books.
So having said all this, I still give this 3 stars, meaning it was alright. Why? Because the auther does a number of things right: The pacing is good. The action scenes pack punch. The POV is always where the most interesting things happen. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief at points, but the stunts the characters pull are still entertaining. And I was passably entertained. Enough to finish the book in 4 days and get the second one. That's something. Is it a masterpiece for me? Hell no. I expect to have forgotten about it a year down the road. But it's harmless and fun enough for a short interlude between meatier books.
October 29, 2024
You can immediately tell where Fox is just lifting ideas from. He does not do anything new with them or even tries to transform them. He just takes parts from other media and slaps them together. Most of the plot is torn right out of Mass Effect 1 and 2. He really liked Wing Commander so the he just straight up stole the Kilrathi and gave them a brain dead cat themed naming conventions. Another Alien race is clearly just the Covenant from Halo mixed with the Salarians from Mass Effect. Also there is a whole sub plot with evil human Admirals that use brain controlling parasites that's ripped right out of an episode of Star Trek.
I wouldn't even call this Military Scifi as at least those kind of novels spend a lot of time focusing on how engagements work, how tech functions, and battle tactics. Not here, everything feels very video gamy. Like it's only here because the author saw it in a video game and he doesn't really understand the concepts or logic behind this stuff so it all just feels nebulous and bland.
Couple all this with just some baffling creative choices too. For example the pilot of a human military vassal is called "Emo", why is he called "Emo"? because he dresses like an Emo! Is this his nickname or did his parents doom their child at birth? Why is he allowed to wear emo face paint and dress like an emo while serving on a military vassal? Why is Emo still a thing hundreds of years into the future when not even a thing now? Never explained, he just disappears from the book at some point... I think he died.
I wouldn't even call this Military Scifi as at least those kind of novels spend a lot of time focusing on how engagements work, how tech functions, and battle tactics. Not here, everything feels very video gamy. Like it's only here because the author saw it in a video game and he doesn't really understand the concepts or logic behind this stuff so it all just feels nebulous and bland.
Couple all this with just some baffling creative choices too. For example the pilot of a human military vassal is called "Emo", why is he called "Emo"? because he dresses like an Emo! Is this his nickname or did his parents doom their child at birth? Why is he allowed to wear emo face paint and dress like an emo while serving on a military vassal? Why is Emo still a thing hundreds of years into the future when not even a thing now? Never explained, he just disappears from the book at some point... I think he died.
January 15, 2021
Captain Dryker and Commander Nolan command the UFC Johnston
The Primo enforce a cease fire between the Human and Tigris. Neither is allowed to enter the other's sphere of influence. The Johnston is investigating disappearing colonies. All the missing colonies are located on planets with Primo Genitus ruins. There is no evidence of foul play, no bodies, no damage, just empty buildings and missing colonists. Dryker and Nolan, investigating the Primo ruins, discover a Primo data cube which contains information about the Void Wraiths and the connection to the missing colonists. What they discover drives them to enter Tigris space. Alone. No backup. A suicide mission to convince the Tigris of a danger to all life in the galaxy.
I'm glad I read the Void Wraith Origins Series before starting this. I know the lead characters intimately and can't wait to start the action. It wasn't a long wait - the action started almost immediately. I love these characters and can't wait to see what they're going to come up with next! I already knew the background, so no long periods of adjustment - just dive right into the action. No flotation devices. Dive in head first and stir up the muck on the bottom until you see a way through. The storyline is outstanding. The characters are bigger than life and more colorful too! I'm going to love continuing this series! I know you will too!
The Primo enforce a cease fire between the Human and Tigris. Neither is allowed to enter the other's sphere of influence. The Johnston is investigating disappearing colonies. All the missing colonies are located on planets with Primo Genitus ruins. There is no evidence of foul play, no bodies, no damage, just empty buildings and missing colonists. Dryker and Nolan, investigating the Primo ruins, discover a Primo data cube which contains information about the Void Wraiths and the connection to the missing colonists. What they discover drives them to enter Tigris space. Alone. No backup. A suicide mission to convince the Tigris of a danger to all life in the galaxy.
I'm glad I read the Void Wraith Origins Series before starting this. I know the lead characters intimately and can't wait to start the action. It wasn't a long wait - the action started almost immediately. I love these characters and can't wait to see what they're going to come up with next! I already knew the background, so no long periods of adjustment - just dive right into the action. No flotation devices. Dive in head first and stir up the muck on the bottom until you see a way through. The storyline is outstanding. The characters are bigger than life and more colorful too! I'm going to love continuing this series! I know you will too!
January 23, 2018
The legendary Captain Dryker, hero of the Tigris War, has been sent to find out what happened to the colonists on Mar Kona. In doing so they discover the debris of a Tigris research vessel and suddenly find themselves facing their old enemy. Dryker sends a team planetside and suddenly the game changes as a new enemy arises out of the ashes of legend, the mythical Void Wraith.
Having rescued a Tigris anthropologist from the planet, Dryker and his crew of misfits head into hostile territory to find out what’s going on. Fleet Command refuses to confirm anything that Dryker and his crew has uncovered and the Tigris are keeping tightlipped about the whole thing. Something is going on and Dryker and his second in command, Commander Nolan, are going to find out what and why. In doing so they become wanted criminals by both forces. It’s a race against time as Dryker and crew travers space searching for clues.
Chris Fox has put together an exciting space adventure story that is fast paced. Fox’s word painting will implant clever imagery upon the reader’s imagination. Make sure you put this on your must read list because this is truly a grand adventure of the highest caliber.
Having rescued a Tigris anthropologist from the planet, Dryker and his crew of misfits head into hostile territory to find out what’s going on. Fleet Command refuses to confirm anything that Dryker and his crew has uncovered and the Tigris are keeping tightlipped about the whole thing. Something is going on and Dryker and his second in command, Commander Nolan, are going to find out what and why. In doing so they become wanted criminals by both forces. It’s a race against time as Dryker and crew travers space searching for clues.
Chris Fox has put together an exciting space adventure story that is fast paced. Fox’s word painting will implant clever imagery upon the reader’s imagination. Make sure you put this on your must read list because this is truly a grand adventure of the highest caliber.
July 16, 2019
Good story but...
The issue I had with this book is that the race of catlike brings humanity has been fighting, the Tigris, are like Star Trek aliens. The name is silly, they mostly act like Klingons in cat suits, and the individual names are a bit cat-derived too. They might as well refer to humans as Monkyes.... (spelling intentional)The characters are fairly 2 dimensional also. Every race understands the other including customs and how to read the other's language. Considering how poorly we do that currently on one planet with multiple countries and languages, how likely is it we will be able to do that with beings from other planets. What a strange coincidence that they breathe the same atmosphere, have the same gravitational force to live in, and are close enough in size and proportion to wear the same space evacuation suits. Star Trek aliens in cat suits...
Other than that, it was a fairly entertaining story.
The issue I had with this book is that the race of catlike brings humanity has been fighting, the Tigris, are like Star Trek aliens. The name is silly, they mostly act like Klingons in cat suits, and the individual names are a bit cat-derived too. They might as well refer to humans as Monkyes.... (spelling intentional)The characters are fairly 2 dimensional also. Every race understands the other including customs and how to read the other's language. Considering how poorly we do that currently on one planet with multiple countries and languages, how likely is it we will be able to do that with beings from other planets. What a strange coincidence that they breathe the same atmosphere, have the same gravitational force to live in, and are close enough in size and proportion to wear the same space evacuation suits. Star Trek aliens in cat suits...
Other than that, it was a fairly entertaining story.
September 1, 2020
As a budding indie author myself, I had discovered Chris through that part of the world. I initially tried the Tech Mage book and really didn't enjoy it. However, upon signing up to his mail list and reading Planet Strider I decided to take a punt and try the Void Wraith series. Needless to say, I enjoyed this far more than Tech Mage. The slightly predictable clichéd dialogue is still there, but it's a really fun page turner that is really interesting. For me, the races and the technology was the best part. I really like the differences between them and how Chris gave them all a cultural identity. The characters were a bit 'meh' but again they fulfilled their job. I'm only just starting to get into sci-fi, so if you're looking for a nice fun easy read in the genre I would recommend this. It's not perfect, but sometimes it's just nice to enjoy a story. It's been a while since I've done so.
February 24, 2019
I came across this book after watching several 'writing technique' videos on Youtube by Chris Fox. I decided to see the techniques utilised in action. I was not disappointed. Destroyer was riveting from the first page. I felt myself beginning to fidget with the 'next page' button of my Kindle, desperate to read more and more of this Space Opera! I finished Destroyer that day. Then I downloaded the next book...and then the next...Within three days I had finished the first trilogy (there is a second trilogy which deals with a different set of circumstances but the same characters)! Chris Fox has proven over his multiple series that he is a master worldbuilder, and the Void Wraith series is no different. If you pick up a copy of Destroyer, you better be ready to say goodbye to your weekend 'cause you will be aboard the UFC Johnston!
September 21, 2017
This is a good sci fi title that mixes in humans, aliens, and future technology you can wrap your arms around. I did find it confusing sometimes with the different aliens at times which made me have to stop and think just who was who. The action scenes were fairly creative and thought out, and you felt like you were right there in the middle of the story. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
I picked this up for free using my Kindle Unlimited borrow vs. the book’s normal price of $2.99: I certainly received more than $2.99 worth of entertainment value out of this one. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series to see where the journey leads.
I picked this up for free using my Kindle Unlimited borrow vs. the book’s normal price of $2.99: I certainly received more than $2.99 worth of entertainment value out of this one. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series to see where the journey leads.
July 16, 2020
Excellent Start to The Void Wraith series. From page one, I was pulled in. I found the main characters immediately likeable and relatable. Nolan and Dryker both reminded me of types of people I've known in the military through the years. As the cast is introduced and the plot moves forward, you come too care about each character for different reasons and quickly begin to dislike the antagonists of the story. A great read that i recommend to anyone who enjoys science fiction with a military bend, and characters that are realistic even in a futuristic setting. The characters carry the story and even in another setting, this story would be worth the read.
February 5, 2017
An outstanding series
I am a SLOW reader but this "Void Wraith" trilogy is so fast paced and was so much fun to read I finished all three books plus the novella in a little under 24 hours. Is isn't about how fast I read. It's about how readable "Void Wraith" is. It's an excellent series and anyone who enjoys reading sci-fi will love this story. Actually, I wouldn't mind another in this excellent set of books!
I am a SLOW reader but this "Void Wraith" trilogy is so fast paced and was so much fun to read I finished all three books plus the novella in a little under 24 hours. Is isn't about how fast I read. It's about how readable "Void Wraith" is. It's an excellent series and anyone who enjoys reading sci-fi will love this story. Actually, I wouldn't mind another in this excellent set of books!
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