Anstractor: Vestalia

The New Phase #1

by Greg Dragon

Remember when?

Commander Rafian VCA the most gifted Space Marine in the Anstractor Alliance remembers nothing.

Waking up with no recollection of his life before becoming a Jumper recruit, he falls in love, joins a rebellion, and focuses his efforts on overthrowing a government. But as his memory slowly returns, he recalls his original mission. Rafian now has a new goal: find his way home, make things right with the love of his life, and avenge the aliens who invaded his planet. But first, the Jumpers must pay, pay for ruining his life.

Alternate-Cover Edition for ASIN B00HP8MQFM

Genres: Science Fiction, Amazon

314 pages, ebook

First published January 5, 2014

About the author

Greg Dragon brings a fresh perspective to fiction by telling human stories of life, love and relationships in a science fiction setting. This unconventional author spins his celestial scenes from an imagination nurtured from being an avid reader himself. His exposure to multiple cultures, multiple religions, martial arts, and travel lends a unique dynamic to his stories. You can enjoy excerpts from his work by visiting his website at https://gregdragon.com.

Join Greg's mailing list for free stories/books & new releases: http://gregwrites.co
Facebook: http://facebook.com/anstractor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hobdragon

Reviews

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anstractor by Greg Dragon is an interesting read. It grabbed your attention right away. Even in parts that were slow I kept reading to see what was going to happen next. Rafia is an orphan from the planet Vestalia. His father was killed when the Geralos invaded his planet. His mother died in transit to the planet Genese where he found himself a prisoner. The prisoners were dying of malnourishment. He escaped when a battle was raging. Someone put him on a ship then were killed. He was found as a stowaway. Offered a chance which he accepted he learned under the tutorage of Captain Samoo, a refugee from Vestalia, where he was a farmer, now a war hero. He suffered many beatings and tough physical therapy and he proved himself worthwhile. They accepted him as a cadet with the lowest rating. He passed all the tests with flying colors. But he really pushed himself. He wanted to be a pilot. His first mission was a huge success. He had his share of female partners. He settled on Cammie as they were both called up for spy work which was called jumping. He met Arn head of the jumper academy. Arn gave him his first mission and sabotaged Rafia mission. He jumped and landed on a planet was told to infiltrate the rebels and assist them. Arn took his memory away. Rafia met an enemy princess who he defeated and they fell in love. He and Marian got married. Tayden twinked the crystals and Rafia's memory returned as well as his mission. He brought Marian back with him. When they returned to the academy, Tayden filled him in on his 3 missing years. Tayden was second in command under Arn. They planned a coupe. Discover how successful they were and how Rafia met the Makers and whether they can prevent the Geralos from taking over the anstractor galaxy. This is a first reads win and I have given an honest opinion.

[H. Duby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how authors these days are blending genres in their novels. One of the more common blends is paranormal romance, and it is also one of the most popular. However, there are several authors who have also blended science fiction and romance to good effect. And Greg Dragon is one of them. His novel, Anstractor: Vestalia tells the story of a boy who finds himself on a space vessel after escaping from almost certain death. Orphaned and alone, Raffian rises through the ranks of the cadets to become an ace pilot. Much of the tale of Raffian’s training reminded me strongly of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game which is one of the highest compliments I can pay it.

The romance portions of the novel are not as emphasized as the science fiction portions, but the novel follows many romance novel conventions, so I do not have a problem at all considering it sci-fi romance. My heart went out to Raffian’s first real love as complications arose and I felt myself really rooting for Cammie. There were portions of the story that may have been stretched out a bit too long simply to fill pages, but that is really the only complaint I have about the book. The love scenes are not extremely explicit and the violence is well-handled, so I would say the book is acceptable for anyone 16+.

The book ended in a way that this book is an excellent stand-alone or the author can pick up the story and continue the saga of the Anstractor galaxy. I am of two minds about which the author might choose because I enjoyed the book well enough to want another, but I also hate when authors write sequels simply to write sequels. So I may have to get my fix by searching out something else by Greg Dragon.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-written and has a good use of imagery. I was quickly enveloped in the story. The author didn't waste any time getting right to a dilemma for his main character.
For being Sci-Fi, this book is easy to get into even if you're not a hardcore Sci-Fi reader, which is nice. The author doesn't drown you in technical jargon on space travel and what not. He does create unique names of individuals, planets, and species of aliens that cause some stumbling when you're trying to read at a fast pace to see what happens next. The author also created new swear words and intermingled them with regular swear words, which I didn't think made much sense.
Over all, the book was a good read and well-written. The reason I gave it 3 rather than 5 stars is because I wasn't on board with some of the content. The death of children...not a fan of that. And all the sex. Granted, it wasn't descriptive sex like you would see in an erotic novel, but there was still sex throughout much of the book. It held no weight for the overall story other than to depict the main character as an enormous horn dog. The story could be easily done without the sex and still been a strong story. I would not recommend this book for younger audiences.

[Delta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy a good sci-fi and a good romance, but I guess I don't like a romantic sci-fi. The story was pretty good and I liked the characters, especially the strong female characters. But the romantic scenes took me out of the sci-fi action. On the other hand, the sci-fi scenes seemed much too violent for a romance. I'm sure there are many people that would really enjoy this type of novel.

I listened to the audio version and Anisha Dadia did an excellent job. Her soft voice and British accent fit well in both the sci-fi and romance genre. Her pacing was excellent.

An epic, romantic sci-fi.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this book, the characters and story line were well thought out and written. I'm really interested to find out what's going to happen with Rafian and his women. Mr. Dragon has really come up with a good start to a series (hopefully) and I'd gladly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good Science Fiction story.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry. I wanted to give this book a fair shot, since it seems to be going somewhere potentially interesting, but it is just *soooo* clumsily written. There may be a good story in there, but so far it feels like it was written by a grade school kid or something. If it actually was, then I'm kind of impressed, but if not, then, well, the dude needs to work on his writing a bit more.

[C Dove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good things in the book. However feels as if should be 2books not one. Lots of characters and various lrvels of personal development!

[Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had great potential. It is a grouping of memory segments of a young man who has had his memory erased and manipulated to turn him into a super warrior. It is a bit confusing at times but leads you to the end of how he grew up, was trained and became the leader of the group trying to recover their worlds from alien invaders.

The story line was decent and had a lot of action as well as a rather chaotic romantic life for the young man.

The narration leaves something to be desired though. The reader goes too fast and has a high nasal voice that at times is irritating.

This book was provided free of charge with the expectation of an honest review.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twists

This book of an unknown galaxy with unknown adversaries and with a child who has been wrongfully treated is an interesting commentary on life. It was an enjoyable read and one that kept the reader’s attention as one went from point to point. Having the love life of the young man interspersed made it different but an interesting read nonetheless.

[David Murray · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book could have had so much going for it. An orphan child, brought up as a warrior, defying the odds to make it to the top. Fighting an unstoppable foe, then then introduction of what could be called magic, multi universal.
It does not deliver. poorly written, weak characters & plot. I'm surprised I actually finished the book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rafrain and ophan taking on to a starship and train by Sam to be strong and learn to listen. His training help him become one of many kids to be a fighter and flying a ship. To grow up and have many different women along the way. Like marital art and training rafrain had plus many Galaxy and finally a jumper. A great Galaxy and over coming a war.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anstractor: Vestalia by Greg Dragon Set in a future universe, humans have been waring with each other and with an alien reptilian species. Now, the humans have consolidated their powers by force and a cat and mouse cold war exists between them and the reptiles. Rafian, as a small orphaned boy, is a casualty of all this chaos. He grows up in the system, being broken down and built up time and again until he is a superb pilot and killer.
The book started off strong and promising. I really enjoyed how the foundation for Rafian’s character was laid out as it explained many of his actions later on. Also, he’s not the only one who has gone through such harshness. Rather, the author built in characters with a variety of backgrounds. This made the plot even more interesting. In addition, there is plenty of cool tech, something I always look for in scifi. Once Rafian joins up with the spy program (which happens just past the halfway mark but is noted in the book blurb so I feel no guilt mentioning it), we get some pretty cool Matrix like stuff going on. The spy program isn’t at all what Rafian was expecting. The story is told through a series of memories, so I never really feared that Rafian would end up dead. He does have some pretty close calls though, so there is some good suspense.
Rafian also has a softer side he saves for the ladies. Indeed, he has several relationships throughout this book. The first couple added to the plot and gave Rafian’s character depth. But then things got a bit repetitive (for instance, he tends to date one drama queen after another) and more and more of the book was given over to Rafian’s love life. As less and less of the book was about the plot and the scifi universe, I became less interested in the story. Plus, Rafian is never at fault in any of these relationships and all of the women are extremely jealous of him spending any time with another female. Then we get into the whole forced promiscuity thing and it read more like a playboy’s fantasy than a scifi story. Yep, in the end I was left wanting more substance and less relationship drama.
However, the book is a fun military romance science fiction story if you aren’t looking for depth. I truly appreciated that women were equals in this tale and the author didn’t feel the need to point that out. We had women at every level in the command structure and serving as equals side by side with Rafian.
I received this audiobook from the author (via the Audiobook BlastNewsletter) at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
The Narration: Anisha Dadia has a lovely British accent that she reads the entire book in. At first, I questioned why the author picked a female narrator when the main focus of the story is a man, but after the first hour, I felt Dadia was a good fit. Plus, the story is told in 3rd person, as an outsider looking in and recording all these events. Dadia had decent voices for the men and a variety of voices for the ladies. On the technical side, there sometimes was a change in volume and occasionally there was a small thump or other extraneous noise. Neither were enough to irritate me into turning off the audiobook.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a future universe, humans have been waring with each other and with an alien reptilian species. Now, the humans have consolidated their powers by force and a cat and mouse cold war exists between them and the reptiles. Rafian, as a small orphaned boy, is a casualty of all this chaos. He grows up in the system, being broken down and built up time and again until he is a superb pilot and killer.

The book started off strong and promising. I really enjoyed how the foundation for Rafian’s character was laid out as it explained many of his actions later on. Also, he’s not the only one who has gone through such harshness. Rather, the author built in characters with a variety of backgrounds. This made the plot even more interesting. In addition, there is plenty of cool tech, something I always look for in scifi. Once Rafian joins up with the spy program (which happens just past the halfway mark but is noted in the book blurb so I feel no guilt mentioning it), we get some pretty cool Matrix like stuff going on. The spy program isn’t at all what Rafian was expecting. The story is told through a series of memories, so I never really feared that Rafian would end up dead. He does have some pretty close calls though, so there is some good suspense.

Rafian also has a softer side he saves for the ladies. Indeed, he has several relationships throughout this book. The first couple added to the plot and gave Rafian’s character depth. But then things got a bit repetitive (for instance, he tends to date one drama queen after another) and more and more of the book was given over to Rafian’s love life. As less and less of the book was about the plot and the scifi universe, I became less interested in the story. Plus, Rafian is never at fault in any of these relationships and all of the women are extremely jealous of him spending any time with another female. Then we get into the whole forced promiscuity thing and it read more like a playboy’s fantasy than a scifi story. Yep, in the end I was left wanting more substance and less relationship drama.

However, the book is a fun military romance science fiction story if you aren’t looking for depth. I truly appreciated that women were equals in this tale and the author didn’t feel the need to point that out. We had women at every level in the command structure and serving as equals side by side with Rafian.

I received this audiobook from the author (via the Audiobook Blast Newsletter) at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Anisha Dadia has a lovely British accent that she reads the entire book in. At first, I questioned why the author picked a female narrator when the main focus of the story is a man, but after the first hour, I felt Dadia was a good fit. Plus, the story is told in 3rd person, as an outsider looking in and recording all these events. Dadia had decent voices for the men and a variety of voices for the ladies. On the technical side, there sometimes was a change in volume and occasionally there was a small thump or other extraneous noise. Neither were enough to irritate me into turning off the audiobook.

[Bookwyrm Speaks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given the Audible credit in return for an honest review, so here goes. To me, the story started out promising, with the main character living on the streets, having escaped the planet of his birth during an alien invasion, and escaping to a warship, where he is accepted into the academy which trains into future officers. Sounds like a rags to riches Ender's Game, and reads that way too, which isn't a bad thing. He becomes a successful pilot, and all around kick ass soldier. He does have a LOT of drama in his love life, more than I would have expected, but I was OK with it. Then the story takes a turn for the weird, when Rafian and his current Lady are recruited by the Network, which is a shadowy spy organization that is not mentioned once in the book until they got their invitations, which I thought was jarring. The training was reprehensible, where the students are basically forced to have sex with each other on pain of death, to learn not to form attachments of feeling with sex, and they are trained to kill, back stab and manipulate others. They are then sent on their first missions, to earn the right to gain the basic rank of Person. Before that, though, they are mindwiped to forget their memories of self, retaining only technical knowledge. Rafian is dumped in a universe where he is to join a rebellion and overthrow the government. He does this, while also falling for a Noble Lady Soldier, who he marries. He returns to the order after being gone for 3 years, only regaining his memories at the last minute. he then has to resolve the conflict between himself, his now wife, and the other woman he loves. Plus, all the other women he is going to keep having sex with. The last part of the book involved them taking back their home planet from the invading aliens. It felt rushed at the end, as if the storyline was jammed in place to fit regardless. Rafian's ability to rationalize having sex with all these different women, while his wife was raised to believe in a monogamous culture, was really jarring and really made me think of him as an unlikable jerk in that respect. It was overall an ok read, with some good bits in the combat scenes, buit the personal interactions and drama were offputting. I won't recommend against reading it, but it doesn't seem like a book that will be getting a re-read. The narrator was mediocre, being a bit monotoned, with a lot of background noise during her reading. She does not have much variety in her voice for differnt characters, so overall, 3 stars.

[Scotts Kindle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Story but. . . .

I enjoyed this book in the end. I was not happy with the path. There were a couple of places were things were almost to slow. If it wasn't for my interest in the characters i would have stopped reading. I did skip many paragraphs when I was nearing the limits of my tolerance and patients. Be informed.

[CrazyOnBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome sci-fi read!

This is definitely a treat for all sci-fi fans! It has a very big story-line, spanning from the time when the lead character Rafian was just a young teenager with very raw talent until his eventual ascent to lead a new group of super-elite fighters called Phasers. I was initially taken by surprise at the fast pace of the story but it turned out rather well -- every segment has an interesting story that will keep readers entertained. And to think this is just Book One in the series.

Rafian, orphaned and left for dead, was rescued and given a new lease on life onboard the Helysian starship. He took advantage of this, was sent for intensive military training and slowly rose up the ranks to the top. The story seemed straightforward, but it is the various different adventures he encountered that will make you glued to the book, page after page. And straightforward as the story seemed, Rafian's love life certainly was not. Won't say further to prevent spoilers.

The big storyline does have a consequence in that some of the happenings transpired rather too fast. I would've preferred more details and perhaps more dialogue to better depict the chemistry or the emotions flowing between the characters. I wouldn't even mind if the author split the entire story into 3 (or more) books, and it would still make for a very interesting trilogy in itself.

In any case, I still like the author's writing style. He showed his mastery and craft in painting a totally new world, new galaxy and well into the edges of the universe. Yet despite the heavy sci-fi terminologies, the author was able to write it in a way that connects with the audience and made it an easy read even for non sci-fi readers.

I certainly believe this book is not just for fans of the sci-fi genre; it is also a book that most readers will enjoy in general. I would not mind reading other books by this author.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not on ku so probably from one of my freebie book sites. The usual and the not so usual sci-fi, part 1 of 3 btw so no not fully fleshed out yet. Interesting read, though.

[Mike Veitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two dimensional characters and a smattering of fantasy and sci-fi

While the story itself had some potential, the two dimensional characters failed to engage. The love interests of the main character just do not work and act as a distraction rather than adding to the story. The story is trying to be all things to everybody, it fails in its attempt to unsuccessfully mix of fantasy, sci-first, romance, sex, and violence

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty Good Book

I thought the story line was good. It had my attention from the beginning. Some tweaking with the editing would have made it a five star read, but overall it's a good book. Lots of action, aliens, ground fighting, air fights, training to the nth degree.
I say give it a go.

[Marie L Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

Well plotted with sympathetic characters.. Worth your time to read.. Good author. I will be looking forward to new work.