Renegade

The Spiral Wars #1

by Joel Shepherd

One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity's new homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity's most powerful industrial family, is framed for his murder. Assisted by Phoenix's marine commander Trace Thakur, Erik and Phoenix are forced to go on the run as they seek to unravel the conspiracy behind their captain's demise, pursued to the death by their own fleet. What they discover about the truth behind the wars and the nature of humanity's ancient alien allies will shake the sentient galaxy to its core.

Reviews
I thought this was going to be yet another cookie-cutter space opera, boy was I wrong! This was fantastic. ...it hits the sweet spot between hard-science and imaginary scifi science. The hard science is very hard, from the perils of centrifugal spin-gravity in combat spacecraft to the destructive potential of ultra-fast kinetic energy weapons. The scifi science is made-up, but it has the key properties which all-too-often are Internal Self-Consistency and Attention To Unintended Consequences. This makes the scifi science semi-hard as well... ...The characters are memorable and engaging... ...I have read this series out to book #6. It just keeps getting better and better. Buy these books. Winchell D Chung
Founder, Atomic Rockets Website

Amazon Review, September 25, 2019

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Fiction, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space

469 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

Joel Shepherd is an Australian science fiction author. He moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family when he was seven, where he later studied film and television arts at Curtin University. He now lives in Adelaide.

Reviews

[Joel Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given that I wrote it, I'd say it's excellent!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Renegade by Joel Shepherd is a space opera tailor made to my likes. This is the first book in the Spiral War Trilogy. I will summarize this review with my 5 reasons why you too should read this book.

1. the female lead character is kick-ass and unforgettable.

Trace Thakur is a marine commander who like all Marines is genetically and surgically enhanced to be an even more lethal soldier. Trace also happens to be fearless and incredibly focused. She made me want to keep reading as she is a very unique and interesting individual. Trace is another amazing woman who fits right in with the Israelian elite soldier Adira from Greig Beck's Alex Hunter series or my very favorite female soldier Devi Morris from Rachel Bach's Paradox series.

2. Renegade is a political science fiction space opera

One of the best things about this book is the depth of the world building and the complexity of the political of the many species of aliens. Shepherd has created a deep and complex backstory and he fills us in on many of the details as the story progresses. I loved all of the different aliens. The historical back stories made this book a real page turner. The danger and the tension of politics gone bad fuel the action and the outcome of this book one.

3. Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande is a competent protagonist with a heavy burden on his shoulders.

I enjoyed Erik and his backstory and easily identified with his motivations and why he is so driven. I like that he grows a great deal in this book and lives up to the position that he inherits. Erik is a man destined to be more and a natural leader.

4. the writing is very good.
Joel Shepherd throws us into a space opera that is more a game of politics than it is a science fiction. He crafts a complex world without overwhelming the reader. I found myself not wanting to put the book down.

5. the fact that it is more.
Renegade is just book one in the Spiral War Trilogy with much more to come. The combination of two amazing leads plus a fabulous world make this a must read for fans of the genre.


"Jokono frowned. “But without legal authority…” “There’s no such thing,” Trace said firmly. “The legal authority you’re talking about exists because people think it exists. It’s data on a chip, it’s a piece of paper, it’s an idea in people’s heads. My marines on this ship also have an idea in their heads, and it’s that their loyalty to me and each other now drastically outweighs their loyalty to Fleet since Fleet tried to screw us. Whose idea of legal authority is superior?” “You’re saying you’re going to just make your own laws?”"


This is a well done space opera that is light in the science department and very heavy in the political games department.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of an epic military SF series from one of my favourite Australian authors.

After over a century at war humanity is preparing to celebrate peace in their part of the galaxy. Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande is third in command of one of the most advanced and powerful warships in human space, the Phoenix. When visiting the new human Homeworld (Earth has been destroyed) he gets caught up in intrigue when he's framed for the murder of the Phoenix's captain. After Phoenix's legendary marine commander Trace Thakur rescues him, Phoenix goes on the run from the rest of Fleet and into the beginnings of both more interstellar conflict and a brewing human civil war.

This has taken me ages to get to, and I'm simultaneously kicking myself for not getting to these sooner and congratulating myself for forbearance enough that I can do six books in a relatively short period of time.

The best thing about this in my opinion is the lived in galaxy that's postulated here. There's immediate history with the war against the Tavalai, mid-term history with the destruction of Earth and the genocide of the krim and ancient history of the Fathers and the hacksaw AIs. There's complexity at every level, interstellar alliances and warfare, species differences, intra-societal conflicts (and not just with humans) and inter-personal as well. And even with the deep world-building, there's plenty of action for a military SF novel.

As I'm writing this I'm already enjoying the next one. Recommended.

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.35 ***

What an awesome start to this military/political Sci-fi! It grabbed me from the start and kept me engaged throughout! We have political intrigue, we have Space Marines, we have multiple alien species, we have mystery, and we have the start of a rag-tag, slapped together group of outlawed individuals, who have no idea what they have stumbled into... What more can a person ask for???!!!

So excited to get on this space adventure with one of the most kick-ass female Marines I have come across lately! Yay!😃👍

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I was put off by the tedious infodump at the start, but once it got moving, it pushed a lot of my buttons. Deep history of a well-used and long inhabited galaxy, with the humans as a newcomer species who narrowly escaped extinction — the Earth was destroyed, and the race was, at one point, down to 100 million people. But we’ve made a good comeback, and are now, after a long war, if not the top dogs, near the top…..

OK, let’s see if I can work out why I didn’t like it more. It’s a compulsively readable book — I read it in a day. And I liked the elder-races and deep-history stuff, a lot. But Shepherd kept writing stuff that challenged my willing suspension of disbelief — how likely is it that the LC, the new commander of the Phoenix, would curse out the Commander in Chief of the Fleet in the latter’s private office, with no backup? Or that the Warrior-Nun Marine Commander would rescue the LC from prison by slaughtering a bunch of noncombatant guards? (She does feel bad about it) Or that ….
Mind, none of this stuff is fatal, but the sloppiness might explain why he self-published the book. And I did (mostly) enjoy it. But good Lord, there’s a LOT of flabby infodumps and lazy writing here. Weak 3 stars from me.

I liked his Cassandra Kresnov books a lot. And these books have gotten a lot of praise too. So I might someday read Spiral Wars #2. And you should read Lindsay’s review, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... for a more positive take on it.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started reading this on the recommendation of a friend.

Writing is workmanlike. Descriptive writing is better than the dialog, which is unremarkable. I immediately had an issue with the internal dialog devoted to the world building. A lot of the story is an interminable, pedantic history and future technology lesson. This unneeded detail only serves to bloat the story by increasing the page count.

Characters were very thin, depending on stereotype more than any true development. For example, LC Erik Debogande is Luke Skywalker with Major Trace Thakur his Obi Wan.

The plot is a twining of well-worn tropes inside a MIL-SF wrapper. Its a variant of the Paragon Always Rebels trope with The Leader they may very well become and An Officer and a Gentleman spin. And don't forget The Space Marines!

World building was extremely elaborate and detailed. Although, there was much the reader really didn't need to know. In general it reminded me a lot of the Babylon 5 universe. The tech was likewise detailed, but also credible. Its on par with James S A Corey's The Expanse series. Note, it was not terribly original or imaginative. The author also trips himself up in his fetish for detail. For example, he goes to the length of describing the light fixtures in a station compartment hundreds of years in the future as being flouresent tubes. That technology is currently being superseded by LEDs. He might as well have written the compartment was candle lit.

This story felt very unbalanced. It was too long. It should have been ruthlessly edited down to 350-pages. It was also too derivative to be more than ordinary. The author spent an inordinate amount of prose on building an elaborate history and detailed, MIL-SF, space opera-ish set. He then embedded the simplest of story's into it with a lot of shooting. The characters and plot felt secondary to the world building and the carnage.

I will not be reading the next book in the series Drysine Legacy, even though the series promises to only be a trilogy. Life is too short, and reading time too precious to spend on mediocre space opera.

Readers that are interested in a better MIL-SF influenced space opera may enjoy Christopher Hinz's Liege-Killer first book of the Paratwa Saga. Its a little 'long of tooth', but still good.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

FANDOM Wiki page for SPIRAL WARS!
https://spiral-wars-shepherd.fandom.c...

I really like where the author is taking this upbeat and yet seriously engrossing series. 3rd person POV (my favorite) space opera involving humans, aliens, and cybernetics in the distant future at various planets in the Milky Way. Likable and textured characters! Lots of action, including military battle scenes (but not too much battle, which can get boring to me).

Excellent dialogue and characterization. Strong plot, with a suspenseful peeling-the-onion feeling as "the truth" is gradually uncovered. There's also politics and team bonding/friendship and philosophy (especially via the Marine who practices zen Bhuddist decision-making and meditation).

I will go on to the next book. And I would recommend this book to anyone, if language doesn't bother you. No sex, but plenty of swearing (mostly F-bombs by Marines, which felt natural). No religious cussing, which I appreciate. Lots of bloody gore, but not gratuitous.

Quibbles: Some secondary characters need consistency. For example, Private Roland is of male gender in chapter 11 but referred to as “she” in chapter 12. She remains female. Sometimes the author sacrificed storytelling and pace for a little too much description, or tedious technical exposition about how space-flight works, or how the landing platform is structured, etc. However, it's not too bad, and some people like that. I appreciated the "bottom of a gravity well" analogy.

[Muzzy Ch · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want substance and a rich, well-written wartime space opera, this is not it. This is a story about what happens after the fact. The war is over, there is minimal action and the story trundles along at a snails pace with plenty of filler. If you like shady back-room politics and a murder mystery. This is for you.

I read the next in the series hoping the arc would change my perspective but it hasn't.

[Vleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

They really need to make this into a movie (or an HBO series)!! World building was amazing and you know the story/characters/action was really great if I loved it without a romance. I sometimes got lost in the military ship descriptions but could grasp enough that I was awestruck. On to the next!

[Red Tide]

Rating: minus 5

I am revising all my reviews in order that they be more organised and clear to myself and anyone else who chances to read this. Less than 10% of the books on my read shelf are worth even one star, especially the science fiction. If you have not tried this book and want an honest evaluation, this might be worth your time to read. If you are a fan of this writer, you should not bother. If you claim to have read it and are searching reviews for unacceptable opinions, get help. After almost five years of unwanted nasty, juvenile and vaguely threatening comments, I no longer have the inclination to attempt courtesy to the unwanted commenter. If curious about my general opinion of members and certain disturbed US males, see my review of Powers of the Earth by Travis for the bizarre chronology.

Before I begin this I will need some head clearing time. This section was brought to you by YouTube channels - Doctor Who/They Break Break My Heart - RecklessGirl100, Anna from Ukraine, TVP World, Some More News, Military History Visualized, Welcome to Ukraine, Dr Fatima, Bobbing Along, Cruising Crafts, Johnny FD, Sci-Fi Odyssey, ATP Geopolitics. Bobbing Along, AllShorts, Mia Mulder, Times Radio, Invicta, Chess Vibes, Joe Blogs, OrangeRiver, Serena Skybourne, Emma Thorne, Alina Gingertail, Suchominus, Jessica Kellgren Fozard, Biz Barclay, Paola Hermosin, Chris and Shell, Cruising Alba, Kris Atomic, Vaerko, The Depressed Russian, Rachel Oates, Up and Atom, Elina Charatsidou, Bookslike Whoa, The Good Place, Jay Exci, World Anvil Worldbuilding, The Little Platoon, BlackAdder, Jed Herne, Templin Institute, Dr Octavia Cox, History with Kayleigh, Amanda the Jedi, History with Cy, The Clockwork Reader, Jean's Thoughts, Ukraine the Latest, Emmie, Karolina Zebrowska, Mrs Betty Bowers, The Military Show, Dream Dimensions Productions, Snappy Dragon, J Draper, Shannon Makes, Fall of Civilisations, Physics Girl, Battle Order, Dr Alexander Clarke, Truth to Power, Travelling K, Natasha's Adventures, Answer in Progress, Dark Docs, Viva La Dirt League, Lily Simpson.

I now look at the world building rather than any other element because without a solid background universe nothing else matters. I have had readers attempt to persuade me otherwise but I pray for them. 😇

The economic life of humanity is a blank. There is no described economic organisation and no description of the the flow of commerce, banking or manufacturing. There is no mention of currency or resource allocation. All manufacturing seems to occur planetside. It seems that mining and raw materials processing also occur only on planet. That none is performed in space was odd.

There is no described or even suggested political system. All Government seem to be the Fleet. There are no bureaucracy, legal system or tax system. There does not seem to be any administration.

The aliens are interesting both in their social organization and cross species interactions. The humans, not so much. For the humans the understandings of social structure, war and economics is the present day Neoliberal narrative of how society works or should work in a well ordered universe. He put in a major effort in describing the aliens. I am certain that it would have made the story much stronger if he had done the same for humanity.

This world has no human history, though there is an attempt to add depth to the alien cultures. While a military dictatorship may exist for a time, I can not remember a single example of a long-term stable one. This is made more unstable when the planetary populations are coerced to provide support for and ground troops to the Fleet. The relationship can best be described as "Cooperate otherwise we will kill you by orbital bombardment".

The main character has no personality but we are told that he is a tough captain of a super deadly, heavily armoured warship called a Combat Carrier. This deadly warship has an embarked 200 marine ground force in the 600 strong ship's complement, as the ship's main offensive armament. That there are no missile batteries, no kinetic weapons emplacements, no energy weapons on a warship is odd. The use of marines in ship to ship actions did not make sense to me and hopefully will not to many other readers.

I have earned another hot tea and sandwich, possibly followed by hot chocolate and possibly a slice of pie to accompany a visit to the YouTube. This next was made possible by - Acollierastro, Tibees, Deerstalker Pictures, The Juice Media, ThePrimeChronus, May Moon Narrowboat, Ukraine the Latest, Andrewism, Between the Wars, Dr Ben Miller. Biz Barclay, Told in Stone, Female Warriors -Teresatessa, Fortress of Lugh, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Eleanor Morton, Tom Nicholas, Dark Seas, The Science of Science Fiction, Ana Psychology, Ro Ramdin, MWG Studios, Kazachka, I'm Rosa, Nikki Howard, The Welsh Viking, Mauler, Verilybitchie, Red Wrench Films, Amanda Rae, Discourse Minis, TVP World, May, Sailing Melody, Boat Time, Widebeam and Wellingtons, Sound of Music Flashmob, World of Antiquity, Abney Park, The Military Show, MechWest Show, Professor Gerdes Explains, France 24, Cinzia Dubois, Perun, Noah Samsen, Julie Nolke, World War Two, The Great War, Wizards and Warriors, Dungeons and Discourse, Dungeon Dad, The Grungeon Master, The Closet Historian. Ponderful, Cecilia Blomdahl, NerdForge, Archer, Robot Chicken, Double Down News, DUST, Kate Robson, Lady of the LIbrary, Part Time Hobbit, It's Black Friday, Cambrian Chronicles, The Bands of HM Royal Marines, Books with Chloe, Books and Lala, Leeja Miller, Sarah Millican, Engineering Knits, Ash L G, Break N Remake.

The premier and only Capital Ship is the Combat Carrier/Battleship.

- The "Combat" Carrier does not seem to have a "non-Combat" Carrier sister, so the ship type classification is stupid, No? The Combat "Carrier" does not carry small attack craft, so the title makes less sense.

- The Combat Carrier has no armament identified, except the marine contingent. The marines have no utility unless this Capital ship is tasked with boarding an enemy ship or close assault on a space platform. Fleet squadron leaders (Combat Carrier) are not tasked with boarding actions.

The Combat Carrier is too small for dining space for the crew, lacking any galley.
- The ship's crew eat their meals in corridors and no mention is made of sanitation facilities.
- The ship does not have a briefing room large enough for a small bridge crew.
- The ship may have no sleeping quarters
- The crew have no morale issue on months long deployments.

The Combat Carrier has one pilot, who is also the captain.
- The ship is without a commander while the ship is underway.
- Command questions are apparently put aside until the captain is less busy.

There is no other ship type in this Fleet.
- There are no Battleships, which are Real Capital ships.
- There are no Heavy or Battle Cruisers acting as independent deep space patrols.
- There are no Light or specialty Cruisers for convoy protection or other duties.
- There are no Destroyers or Frigates for close defence against missiles or small attack craft.
- There are no Corvettes or Patrol Craft for convoy duty or in-system patrols.
- There are no Attack Craft Carriers.

There are no non-combat support ships:
- Mine sweepers, Hospital ships, Supply and Ammunition ships, Engineering ships, Troop Transports, Assault Transports, other specialty support ships.

Most of low quality military science fiction is based on the most hyped, bad films or the most unrealistic but popular first person shooter.

Halo is suspect number one for a description of warfare. There are others but the purpose of those games is different to the novel's. Games are the adrenaline rush and deliver a solid rush complete with explosions and crazy immersion. Writers who shamelessly copy products from another medium developed for a different purpose can not be said to be professional writers. That is not completely true since publishers, Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads and other distributors determine what we are limited to if we are to read science fiction. A close look at Goodreads recommendations will give the reader a picture of a sales platform, not a readers forum. Compare the 4.5 star ratings against books you know to be substandard and you are allowed to be surprised.

If you suspect that there is a weird dominance of single person winged Starships among these books, you are correct. You probably realise that these writers know so little of science, science fiction and film history that they copy two Star Wars designs. Those are Luke Skywalker's X-Wing and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon. Between Han Solo and "Firefly" every freighter in space has no cargo space, can fit less than six crew, has one deck and is armed. I am sure that is the description of every hero ship you have read by a low quality science fiction reader.

These writers are ignorant about their topic but they make no effort to do basic research. I did a lot in military history but it was Napoleonic warfare. I am more familiar than most of these writers with warfare but have brushed up on current practice and weapons for more than a year to begin writing my own book. It is sad how little pride these writers have in their work and how the related genres are reduced to bad romance books in fantasy costumes, the main character always escaping from terrible traps that he should have been able to anticipate, the main character having the character depth of Han Solo (a boys adventure hero but definitely not a Quartermain). You find those and other obviously ridiculous story elements are repeated from children's movies, first person shooter games, technobabble filled weak backgrounds (a La Star Trek). That does not lead me to believe these writers have even a passing familiarity with science fiction. More importantly they are lazy and are the preferred writers for US publishing houses.

As a guilty pleasure, have at it but when members swamp reviews because they are offended by a judgment of the writing, that is mental. Little outrage gangs exist on this site and I have seen many other reviewers besides myself, subjected to their American man-child tantrums. Those weird members are not poorly socialized teen boys, they are 30+ years old professionals in most cases. That reaction disgusts me. Like what gives you pleasure or escape from the daily routine but there is no sane reason to demand agreement that these books are award winning (I have seen that), to suggest that a female reviewer is reacting to her recent anal rape (I have seen that) and I do not want to remember other examples.

To the writers. War is not a video game and soldiers and sailors are not cartoon supermen or superwomen. If you write a story about them whether it takes place next year or a thousand years from now, you might consider treating the characters and setting with respect. A cavalier attempt at writing about war bothers me. Too many of these writers do just that.

With the above said, this writer has some little imagination and his book does show an effort. That effort is uneven though. He did not devote time to research or give thought to the overall structure of a society or the moving parts that comprise the system that is a society. He failed to study how his own country is governed. He put no effort into the prosecution or history of war before writing a space combat novel. The writer attempted to address the problems arising from a warship designed for rotating ring gravity and there a few. A little more attention to the other aspects of the engineering and crew requirements would have made the book stronger.

To not devote attention to the depth of the setting, bothered me and I write this on the off chance that it also does not appeal to you. If it does appeal, One - Should you still be reading this, Two hopefully you will enjoy the book but please do not harass the readers who are seeking a different writing style and story.

That he was published indicates an agenda-driven publisher decision. I will not suggest that over the last two decades, US publishers do not allow good science fiction into print because the current crop of drivel dulls reader imaginations. Further that it denies the science fiction tradition of the big idea, examination of human behaviour, morality, values, challenges, technology in future settings. if it were true, I would find the limiting of a reader's horizons to be reprehensible. Of course, I did not suggest that was the case or did I? 🤔

This quality of writing has been exclusively pushed by US publishers at the low end of US science, for a number of years. US science fiction seems to have several requirements for publishing. The manuscripts must adhere to the minimal representation of non-cis, non-white males or not identified as of English descent (though the odd Scottish, Irish or Welsh surnamed characters may provide diversity) and the occasional female character may also be included provided that she is devoid of reason, lacks agency and/or displays extreme anti-social behaviour. The development of character, character growth and dialogue appropriate to adults in the setting are forbidden. There must be no editorial review. Plot logic and plot consistency are discouraged as required by the "It is just science fiction" rule. Lastly the manuscript may not appear to present a narrative rooted in a well thought out, unique or coherent universe.

I admit to watching most of my fiction for the first time. Bad fiction as a staple might actually drive a reader away from print. At the very least it threatens to dull the imagination and based on Goodreads ratings does seem to have succeeded. The streaming services deliver a better and/or more entertaining product. The short film channels of YouTube deliver seem to always provide very good and often great stories.

I began using YouTube for science fiction news and commentary more than 2 years ago, because Goodreads recommendations, ratings and reader reviews were depressingly useless. I found the lifestyle, educational, documentary, hobby and essay channels next. The biggest surprise were the book channels. 😍 The variety and focus of these cover everything that would warm a book lover's heart. The reader communities are thoughtful, sophisticated and excited by all bookish things. They are an experience directly opposite to that of Goodreads. I began listing interesting YouTube channels in the hopes that some readers might find the writing and book channels helpful or entertaining. They clarified my expectations from all fiction and provided the concepts explaining the reasons for my satisfaction or dissatisfaction with many books. Having the words to understand my own reactions was wonderful. My disgust with the misogynist, racist, anti--working class, anti-human themes and plot arcs had already been developed by age twelve.

My YouTube picks up the moment.
LuckyBlackCat, iWriterly, Second Thought, Alexa Donne, Sci-Fi Odyssey, Renegade Cut, New Economic Thinking, Battle Order, Kings and Generals, Vlad Vexler, Philosophy Tube, Red Plateaus, Hello Future Me.

As for Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads, I urge you to consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 😑

Ominous music begins. 😊 This site does not only tolerate but have actively supported little gangs of comment thugs. They are those truly disturbed male American members with the entitlement which allows those animals to correct Wrong judgements of books by any means possible. US patriotism feels very like the Third Reich and the Russian Mir. Fascism may be popular but it is not a good look.

My first scan of reviews close to five years ago was for discussion of the relative merits of various ebook editions of the Tao Te Ching. I was stunned. The first-ever review which I read, was a racist mockery of one the most widely read and influential works in history. The comments were worse. A gaggle of middle class undergraduates supported the review by repeatedly using their new favourite word "tautology". Besides the self-congratulatory racism, the scale of their ignorance was frightening in the way that only that certain type of American manages. I did not read another Goodreads review for about two years.

See my review of "Dark Horse", a good novel by Diener or Powers of the Earth, a pathetic salute to the January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran, for a glimpse into what Amazon consider acceptable customer treatment. Powers is a complete chronology which I will continue to update.

I suggest that the reader might consider the need to minimise profile information on Kindle and Goodreads, to not store personal data on Kindle -calendar, contact list, email or files, to avoid Goodreads messaging and to screenshot the odd and the ugly. It would be good to realise that these very disturbed members and employees do not tend to non-Randian morality and are very American. Ominous music ends. 😊

May we all find Good Reading! 🤗

I am hardly an expert as regards the highest quality YouTube channels (only having recently learned what "Shipping" means) but these are some of my favourite channels.

UATV, Red Plateaus, Tom Nicholas, DUST, Some More News, Second Thought, Fall of Civilisations, Mia Mulder, Paleo Analysis, Chloe Stafler, Munecat, Shoeonhead, Lady knight the Brave, Books with Emily Fox, Dr Becky, Noah Samsen, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Kings and Generals, Then & Now, Alt Shift X, Sarah Z, Narrowboat Chef, Sci-Fi Scavenger, Annie's Literary Empire, The Pen and the Sword Reflections, Double Down News, Bobbing Along, Dr Ben Miller, Vlad Vexler, Owen Jones, Philosophy Tube, Prime of Midlife, Jake Broe With Olivia, I'm Rosa, Jean's Thoughts, Karolina Zebrowska, Alice Cappelle, Jessica Gagnon, Snappy Dragon, Omeleto, Cruising Alba, Narrowboat Pirate, The Templin Institute, GateWorld, Storyworldling, Real Engineering, 2 Cellos, The Juice Media, TVP News, Book Odyssey, Renegade Cut, Traveling K, Zoe Baker, Three Arrows, Real Time History, Engineering with Rosie, Linguoer Mechanic, Chris Animations, Kathy's Flog in France, Jack in the Books, Event Horizon, AlysOtherLife, Between the Wars, The Cold War, Mary Jane Wilcox, Adult Wednesday Addams - 2 season web series, Savage Daughter, Kalaripayattu, Mandy, Philomena Cunk, All Shorts, The Piano Guys, Tulia, Spacedock, Abby Cox, Weltgeist, Jill Bearup, Meidas Touch, Tara Mooknee, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Book Furnace, TVP World, The Snake Charmer, Adam Something, Novara Media, The Researcher, The Science of Science Fiction, Sabine Hossenfelder, The Tale Foundry, Kyiv Post, Alizee, Up and Atom.

I wish you a cosy morning, a splendid afternoon, a pleasant evening, a wonderful night and may we all continue learning.

If you allow Another to speak for you unchallenged, you adopt Another's sins.
My Catholic grandmother, neither moral philosopher nor academic

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, though I skimmed several pages of run-on descriptions. I look forward to more of this series. 2019 re-read: A good story, still.

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review of Renegade – A Solid 3-Star Farewell

Well, I finished Renegade. And you know what? I’m glad—mostly because now I can start a new book. This one wasn’t bad exactly. The writing? Competent. The battles? Plenty of them. The world? Vast, detailed, and full of techy goodness. And yet… I felt nothing. Like eating a meal that’s perfectly cooked but just not to my taste.

The pacing was a mixed bag. It picked up in places, but then we’d pause for extensive discussions on ship layouts, weapons, and hyperspace mechanics. I like detail, but I don’t need a spaceship owner's manual mid-story. The characters were fine—some even interesting!—but I never fully connected with them. It’s like being at a party where the music is good, the snacks are decent, but you’re still checking your watch.

I get why others love this series. It has all the hallmarks of great military sci-fi: action, strategy, and political intrigue. But for me? It lacked that spark that makes me want to dive into book two. So, I’ll give it a respectable three stars, wave goodbye to Renegade, and set course for my next read. Onward! 🚀

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. For me, it had a bit of everything I like in a good military science fiction story - great characters, great space battles, great ground combat, and an intriguing overall plot. This story had such a great mix of fleet action and marine action that kept things interesting. But the real gem of this book was the great characters and their struggles. Although the captain dies in the first part of the book, I loved his character by the end of the story. How did that happen?! The two main protagonists are compelling and just a little outside of what one would consider cliche, especially the marine commander. I loved how their conflict was as much internal as it was external. They both had to wrestle with their beliefs and their decisions and consequences of those decisions. And the supporting cast of characters was excellent. There were enough characters to make the story feel full and real without being overwhelming. If there was one thing that I did struggle with it was trying to figure out the different species and history. Things came together a bit more at the end but for the first while I was trying to recall who was on which side. However, this really didn't detract from the story that much. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good military science fiction read. I hope there are more to come in this series as I'll be first in line to find out what happens!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific military SF, a little slow starting up but in both choreography and pacing some of the best action scenes I've ever read. I did think that Erik and Trace gave up their loyalty to Fleet too quickly--particularly in the absence of any convincing corroboration that the captain's murder, etc, was due to rot at the command level rather than some sort of larger maneuvering in the face of a complex galactic political situation. Also, the marines and Phoenix in general seemed to have inexhaustible quantities of ammunition--I kept waiting for some acknowledgement that supplies were running low, and it never came. Still, high marks for writing, banter, chemistry among the major players (well, the bad admirals are pretty cardboardy, but they don't actually appear all that much), and plot. Great stuff and I'm definitely putting myself down for future episodes.

Memorable lines:

"Try not to kill or impregnate anyone while you're waiting."

"It's a well known fact that female marines don't shave."

"Terez summarised everyone's feelings. 'Fuck,' he said."

[Zad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, this book was a surprise. In this book, Shepherd merges good space opera with good military sci-fi. I quite enjoy both of these, but until now I haven't read anything that merged the two this artfully. It has the detailed story world and deep characters you'd expect from a space opera, but the usually slow flow of space opera is augmented with fast paced action, which makes the whole story more dynamic.

This is a must read for every sci-fi fan.

[E.J. Fisch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start out by saying how absolutely terrible I feel about how long it took me to finish this book. According to Goodreads, I started it February 24, which actually wasn't as long ago as I feared. It really WAS excellent, and the last 30% or so really flew by because I was actually able to devote a proper amount of focus to it.

I had never heard of this series or even of Joel Shepherd until some friends recommended this book. I read the blurb and was immediately hooked by the whole on-the-run-after-being-framed-for-murder thing. I downloaded it and then it gathered dust on my Kindle for a couple of months before I decided I should go ahead and read it or I'd never get it done.

I'm really glad I did.

I can't really explain it, but there was something about the characters that had be absolutely hooked from the beginning. Nothing was really even happening, aside from establishing the setting and backstory, but they somehow still seemed totally real and I was very drawn to them. A lot of other reviews for this book have mentioned the characters as well. And despite the (very) large cast, there are still only 3 POV characters -- one of which has significantly fewer scenes than the other two -- so you don't feel totally overwhelmed. We have Erik Debogande, lieutenant commander of the battle ship Phoenix, Major Trace Thakur, leader of the marine company aboard Phoenix, and Erik's sister Lisbeth, an engineering student who gets caught up in the action when Erik and Trace are on the run with Phoenix after Erik is framed for the murder of their captain. Despite the fact that these characters are interacting regularly, the military man, the warrior, and the civilian all have very differing perspectives and I thought that made for a great dynamic. The racial diversity among all the characters was interesting and really well done too.

While not combat trained, Erik can still hold his own in the chaos. He's determined and intelligent, and his skills as a pilot are unmatched. His growth throughout the book was great too; he started out as a reluctant subordinate and ended up really embracing his role, transforming into a fearless leader by the end. The banter and interactions between him and Trace was great and had me laughing out loud on a couple of occasions. Trace is a freakin' badass and has definitely found herself on my list of Favorite Female Characters. Despite the fact that she's kind of an indestructible super soldier, she still has very human moments throughout the book that make her believable. I absolutely loved the interactions between her and the rest of her marines; the camaraderie and respect among them was SO well done. Between her combat skills and her relationships with her soldiers, she's my Commander-Shepard-headcanon incarnate. Next time I play Mass Effect, I'm totally making a Shep based on her.

Lisbeth and the rest of the Phoenix crew are a little harder to discuss just because they weren't in the spotlight as often and therefore weren't as developed. I admit to having trouble keeping track of all the different marines (a dramatis personae for this book would be great!), but names definitely became familiar enough that I felt like I sort of knew the people. That made for fun reading.

And speaking of Mass Effect, I loved all the ME vibes I was getting from the galactic structure and political history in this story. There are numerous alien species, some of which are allies to humans, some of which are allies to each other, some of which are enemies to all, and...some of which were thought to be extinct. The combat, both in space and on the ground, is really well-written, and although there's a lot of it, it doesn't get old. The fight scenes are lengthy and thorough without being repetitive, which is something I've always struggled with as a writer.

As the Phoenix crew evade their pursuers and fight for survival, they discover clues that hint at cover-ups and conspiracies involving those at the very top of the (human) galactic government. While this book had a reasonably happy ending, the real battle is just beginning, and I'm definitely picking up book 2.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am confessing right up front that I'm taking away a star for formatting issues. I don't know how it happened but the gaps between sentences were really variable and it jolted me out of the reader flow multiple times. In addition I found one word with an English English spelling while most of the rest as American English, that jolted me too. The author is Australian and I don't know what spellings they use if it's English English or a looser type like American. But whatever pick one or the other and leave it there. Those minor things kept bothering me enough through the whole book and made the reading slower than it should have been, so ding one star.

Otherwise I did enjoy the story. It is very much in the space opera style of adventure. We follow a few primary characters around from one POV to the another, but it's broken up by chapters making the transitions easy. The story is sweeping in scope and shows good imagination. This book does feel like part of a series and not a stand alone story though. So be prepared to read more if you ended up liking this one.

There is very little in the way of character growth or arcs. The Lieutenant Commander person seems to adapt to his new role with very little struggle. He was thrust into a wildly different situation than any he could have expected but weathers that with only a minor amount of struggle before fully embracing it. That seems a little shallow.

Most of the other characters don't show any growth or change at all, with the exception of the Marine Major who seems to be breaking down from a person who was once rigidly in control of her emotions and motivations to one with a growing uncertainty. However none of her behaviors change as a result of this inner change so... again it's very shallow.

None of that is really unexpected in a space opera so I won't remove stars for any of that. The action sequences are well done, but the space combat, and the ground combat scenes. The pacing is quite good and the mystery of why they are thrust into the situation they are in is revealed in well portioned chunks. All in all a four star story for me, with a ding for the horrible formatting. I will read the next one though. :)

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the HELL out of this book
I grabbed it because it sounded
kinda cool I sorta like Shepherd
but
damn it really surprised me
Not just the believable and intense
scenes of space warfare

But the deeply intriguing characters
though flawed and very human
still amazingly compelling

It left me itching
for the sequel

[Jon Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent first book in what promises to be a great space opera. Nicely different in that the two main characters, one male, one female, share the stage as the "hero(ine)". Most books of this type seem to feature one leading character, albeit often with a supporting cast. Ms. Shepherd's characters have depth, to go with a good plot.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:

After Endymion, this was a bit of a let down. Cool ideas but the execution was simple. I think the last quarter of the book was a gigantic battle that lost the glory of battle before the fight finished. I would have tighten up the story and cut about 1/3 of the book.

[Allyn Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic from start to finish. Well written, great characters and a solid well thought out plot. Highly recommend for all science fiction junkies.

[Kaladin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Spiral Wars is off to a good start. 👍As it so happens my local book store had a copy of book 2. Surprise find :)

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/201...

[Karsten Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brillant.

Really nice story setting, oddly enough the background story reminded me of C.J. Cherryh's Chanur novels, which is a good thing. If someone would dissect the story for all the parts and try to find something exceptionally different compared to other stories, there's nothing much to find. The basic ingredients are solid, but nothing out of the ordinary. But the blending, my...

It's basically a space opera, mix in some ancient alien conspiracy (but who conspires against whom? Or even - why?), a war won long ago, but not forgotten (and not nearly as over as anybody thought it was) and basic day-to-day paranoia. Allies trying to kill you while your enemies are protecting you - that sort of thing. Government screws up, as usual, but which part of the government does the screwing up is almost as exciting as to uncover the why of it.

Making #1 on my "Write faster, I'd like to read more"list in no time at all,

[David P. Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, Entertaining SciFi-A Pleasant Surprise

Book 1 of "The Spiral Wars-Renegade," turned out to be a pleasant surprise-it's actually a decent SciFi eBook.

The storyline centers around far-future humanity, in conflict with each other, Spacer vs Worlder, alien races and AI civilizations. The action moves quickly, writing is crisp and editing adequate.

There are flaws-one dimensional villains, questionable science and engineering, curious obsessions with racial skin tones-but, not enough to derail an "old school" space saga, action-packed romp.

After suffering through so many dismal SciFi eBooks, it's a pleasure to both read and recommend a good one. Hope future installments are as good or better.

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Military Sci-Fi can be entertaining, I really enjoyed Jack Campbell’s Lost fleet series, which shares some similarities with this one, but Renegade simply did not make it for me.

First of all there’s something off with the way it’s written, many times I had to retrace the beginning of sentences to make sense of what I was reading.

Secondly it’s predictable and explains obvious things, often in an strange inner monologue way.

I noticed that many stellar reviews were based on the audiobook version narrated by John Lee, so if I’m ever going to pick up the next chapter of this trilogy, I might try that.

[Lois Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Sci-Fi readers, this book has it all: aliens, tensions between “spacers” and “worlders,” decades of war, and the oh too human interplay of military, money, and politicians. Trusts are broken and innocents set up to take the fall. There’s an intense battle in space toward the end of the book where the author is very creative in showing what a single ship, a daredevil commander, and some dedicated Marines can do. Fun, easy read. Moving on to book #2.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has elements of both military SF and space opera, and while not perfect, it’s surprisingly entertaining. I was reminded (in a good way) of Walter Jon Williams' Praxis novels. My only big complaint is that this needed another line editing pass to fix some really obvious errors and what feels like a metric ton of comma splices (pet peeve), but aside from that this was very enjoyable. I'm definitely planning to read the second book soon. 3.5 stars.

[Steffan · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars

[Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the hell out of this. Quite excited to see what happens next.