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The Shadow Order #2
The First Mission
Seb and Sparks were given a choice: Join the Shadow Order or rot in a prison cell.
As Seb touches down for his first mission, he wonders if he’s made the right call.
The First Mission (Book Two of The Shadow Order) is a fast-paced, planet-hopping, space opera adventure.
As Seb touches down for his first mission, he wonders if he’s made the right call.
The First Mission (Book Two of The Shadow Order) is a fast-paced, planet-hopping, space opera adventure.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2016
198 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Michael Robertson
98 books206 followersMichael Robertson is an author and blogger. He has had several short stories published, including one with HarperCollins. He is the author of Crash - http://michaelrobertson.co.uk/crash--...
You can connect with Michael on Twitter at @MicRobertson, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRober... and you can also contact him through his website at www.michaelrobertson.co.uk
You can connect with Michael on Twitter at @MicRobertson, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRober... and you can also contact him through his website at www.michaelrobertson.co.uk
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 30, 2021
'"Our saviour,” she said, the reek of waste riding her words. “The son of the special one. You have the gift.'
Seb, sparks, SA and gurt take on their fist mission for the Shadow Order.
They face off against the Crimson Countess and her guard.
We really see the quad grow as a team and we see Seb become a lot more of a team player.
His abilities seem to be growing as well. I'm looking forward to seeing who he is and what he can do.
Brilliant story
Brilliant characters
As always 👍🏻
(Think I'm a tad biased 🤣)
'His mother had given him something special and it felt like he had much more to come.'
Seb, sparks, SA and gurt take on their fist mission for the Shadow Order.
They face off against the Crimson Countess and her guard.
We really see the quad grow as a team and we see Seb become a lot more of a team player.
His abilities seem to be growing as well. I'm looking forward to seeing who he is and what he can do.
Brilliant story
Brilliant characters
As always 👍🏻
(Think I'm a tad biased 🤣)
'His mother had given him something special and it felt like he had much more to come.'
May 18, 2019
After the introduction of ‘Sparks’ in the first book and them joining the Shadow Order, I hoped this would mean some development in the way the stories are written. However this book again starts with a thug trying to goad Seb into a fight and his obsession with how badly everything smells.
The book is centred on Seb and unfortunately the more I read the less I like him. To make matters worse the Shadow Order turned out to be ridiculous.
I’m afraid I won’t be reading the next book in the series.
The book is centred on Seb and unfortunately the more I read the less I like him. To make matters worse the Shadow Order turned out to be ridiculous.
I’m afraid I won’t be reading the next book in the series.
July 26, 2017
The world building is a little better but still needs a lot of work. Character development is starting to come together but the author's fascination with excrement and noxious smells is juvenile at best. I will continue to read this series to see if he gets better but at this time I do not hold out much hope.
December 21, 2017
Still perils of Pauline
Seb has not garnered my empathy. He is whiney and always in pain or nauseous. Let's see what happens in Crimson wars. If the price is right. To the author Seb needs to man up and while being vulnerable not sound like a wuss.
Seb has not garnered my empathy. He is whiney and always in pain or nauseous. Let's see what happens in Crimson wars. If the price is right. To the author Seb needs to man up and while being vulnerable not sound like a wuss.
July 18, 2017
This was a brilliant second book in the series. Seb and Sparks have joined the Shadow Order, a secret organisation that is set up to help those with special needs. The Order is made up of a bunch of different aliens, all with unique talents, and Seb, with his gift for fighting, and Sparks with her abilities for anything technical and her flying skills, fit right in.
The two of them join with Gurt, a Mandulu with an incredible shooting ability, and Silent Assassin, a female humanoid who has an affinity with throwing knives, who can move like a silent wind and kill before you have realised you are dead. She is not just an Assassin though, she is also able to get in and out of places without anyone knowing.
The book starts with a lot of the introduction of the team and training, before it moves into the First Mission.
Their Mission is to rescue a rich person who has been captured by an evil ruler called the Crimson Countess.
This Countess has her own world, her own personal army, and is brutally savage with her subjects.
This book is a step up from the first, having moved past introducing the characters, the story has now moved into telling the story of the team.
This story not only covers the characters on their first Mission, we get to see a lot more of them in action, their abilities, and we get to learn more about the ‘Shadow Order’. This is also where we get to learn that Seb is more than what he appears, and that his Mother maybe gave him more than just his gift. This is not just a story about a guy that has a special fighting ability, this is a story about a guy who may be a lot more special. This is also the story about this incredible team.
This book is pretty violent in parts as the team comes up against the Countess and her forces, as well as discovers what the Countess has done to her subjects. The Countess is a brutal ruler, not just to her troops, but to the entire population of the planet she rules. To really give you a feel for this, Robertson has gone into some detail of the atrocities that have occurred on the planet. Needless to say, this does not go down well with our team of heroes.
The character work is again, exceptional, the characters are in-depth (well apart from Gurt, who is really just a large Rock Ape who likes to shoot things), with a lot of personality, and Robertson has spent a lot of time over the two books developing them. As previously stated, the brutal nature of what they encounter on their first mission is covered incredibly well, with each of the characters responding in their own way, but with properly defined emotional responses that showed a bit of effort on the part of the Author.
With each of the two books, he has also spent a lot of time creating and crafting his worlds so that they are incredibly well defined and very intricate in the details that are included. This really engages the reader, so that you feel that you are walking with the Main Characters, looking at the sights, smelling the environment, and feeling the surrounds.
Overall this is a fantastic sequel, and if you haven't picked up this series yet, you really should get into it. Whether you like Mil Sci-Fi, Action, or just a good read, this is worth it.
The two of them join with Gurt, a Mandulu with an incredible shooting ability, and Silent Assassin, a female humanoid who has an affinity with throwing knives, who can move like a silent wind and kill before you have realised you are dead. She is not just an Assassin though, she is also able to get in and out of places without anyone knowing.
The book starts with a lot of the introduction of the team and training, before it moves into the First Mission.
Their Mission is to rescue a rich person who has been captured by an evil ruler called the Crimson Countess.
This Countess has her own world, her own personal army, and is brutally savage with her subjects.
This book is a step up from the first, having moved past introducing the characters, the story has now moved into telling the story of the team.
This story not only covers the characters on their first Mission, we get to see a lot more of them in action, their abilities, and we get to learn more about the ‘Shadow Order’. This is also where we get to learn that Seb is more than what he appears, and that his Mother maybe gave him more than just his gift. This is not just a story about a guy that has a special fighting ability, this is a story about a guy who may be a lot more special. This is also the story about this incredible team.
This book is pretty violent in parts as the team comes up against the Countess and her forces, as well as discovers what the Countess has done to her subjects. The Countess is a brutal ruler, not just to her troops, but to the entire population of the planet she rules. To really give you a feel for this, Robertson has gone into some detail of the atrocities that have occurred on the planet. Needless to say, this does not go down well with our team of heroes.
The character work is again, exceptional, the characters are in-depth (well apart from Gurt, who is really just a large Rock Ape who likes to shoot things), with a lot of personality, and Robertson has spent a lot of time over the two books developing them. As previously stated, the brutal nature of what they encounter on their first mission is covered incredibly well, with each of the characters responding in their own way, but with properly defined emotional responses that showed a bit of effort on the part of the Author.
With each of the two books, he has also spent a lot of time creating and crafting his worlds so that they are incredibly well defined and very intricate in the details that are included. This really engages the reader, so that you feel that you are walking with the Main Characters, looking at the sights, smelling the environment, and feeling the surrounds.
Overall this is a fantastic sequel, and if you haven't picked up this series yet, you really should get into it. Whether you like Mil Sci-Fi, Action, or just a good read, this is worth it.
April 23, 2023
I found Michael Robertson's writing well enough done in the first book of the series. Not outstanding. Not awkward or terrible. I started, and wanted to continue reading the story. I didn't care for his two primary characters very much. I kept reading. I wanted to see where he was taking his readers including me. By the end of the book, the characters had grown enough to be more likeable, although they still had a way to grow. And, we find out, finally, why the book is named, The Shadow Order.
I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. But, I bought the whole series. So, after a break, I started the second book, The First Mission. Overall, I liked this book better. With a major exception. That being he drags his protagonists through much and filth, including human waste, and other nastiness that I found off putting. They still have their original character flaws. They're working, on and off, to control or improve them. Sometimes their lives will depend on the progress they make.
We start getting a better glimpse of The Shadow Order. It is not quite the "White Knight" organization it presents itself as. Well, that sounds like reality to me. Good Guys--yes. Sort of Good Guys minus.
There are plenty of twists and turns and unexpected, or maybe expected, depending on how your mind works, moments for the story to not follow a straight path.
Michael Robertson can write Space Opera. He writes well enough to make it interesting and entertaining, even with all the unpleasantness thrown in. His protagonists really have to overcome obstacles. They get no softballs. I find his stories original enough for me while plowing oft told basic sf story lines. There are, after all. only so many basic story plots. We want to see what authors do with them.
If you want to read a well told Space Opera that doesn't read like a rehash of too many others, and can deal with unusually high degree of nastiness the protagonists have to endure, at least in this book, then I recommend reading The Shadow Order. Start with the first book. I'll wait a bit before I go on to the third book. I, personally, need to take a break between the books.
I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. But, I bought the whole series. So, after a break, I started the second book, The First Mission. Overall, I liked this book better. With a major exception. That being he drags his protagonists through much and filth, including human waste, and other nastiness that I found off putting. They still have their original character flaws. They're working, on and off, to control or improve them. Sometimes their lives will depend on the progress they make.
We start getting a better glimpse of The Shadow Order. It is not quite the "White Knight" organization it presents itself as. Well, that sounds like reality to me. Good Guys--yes. Sort of Good Guys minus.
There are plenty of twists and turns and unexpected, or maybe expected, depending on how your mind works, moments for the story to not follow a straight path.
Michael Robertson can write Space Opera. He writes well enough to make it interesting and entertaining, even with all the unpleasantness thrown in. His protagonists really have to overcome obstacles. They get no softballs. I find his stories original enough for me while plowing oft told basic sf story lines. There are, after all. only so many basic story plots. We want to see what authors do with them.
If you want to read a well told Space Opera that doesn't read like a rehash of too many others, and can deal with unusually high degree of nastiness the protagonists have to endure, at least in this book, then I recommend reading The Shadow Order. Start with the first book. I'll wait a bit before I go on to the third book. I, personally, need to take a break between the books.
July 6, 2024
Well, now that Seb and Sparks had been recruited by the Shadow Order, they were in training, and as they trained and failed, they became closer to being able to call the other friend. Seb could not bring his gift to the forefront and use it when he was a rear gunner, which meant he and Sparks failed the simulations. Then, to top it all off, there was a Mandulu named Gurt who, with his ego, was a bully to Seb. Gurt’s partner, The Silent Assassin, had taken a vow of silence and said very little, and what she said when she spoke had to be very important. But Seb, given chances to mature emotionally, missed his chances and let his ego reign. Seb had a thing for the SA and had a thing against her partner, Gurt. And Sparks, his partner, did all she could to help keep him in line. But could he keep himself in line in the face of their first mission?
The physical world-building is better in this book versus the previous volume of this series. The ethereal world-building adds a flavor and a smell that takes.., who am I kidding? Go to your local wastewater treatment facility and take a deep breath through your nose. The characters’ interaction feels real, and I think something is building between two of the characters. Some of the character’s histories are expanded upon and made part of the story.
This book, book number two in this series, is full of science fiction and is a space opera. I give this read four stars out of five stars.
The physical world-building is better in this book versus the previous volume of this series. The ethereal world-building adds a flavor and a smell that takes.., who am I kidding? Go to your local wastewater treatment facility and take a deep breath through your nose. The characters’ interaction feels real, and I think something is building between two of the characters. Some of the character’s histories are expanded upon and made part of the story.
This book, book number two in this series, is full of science fiction and is a space opera. I give this read four stars out of five stars.
July 4, 2018
I really like the storyline and the characters are becoming more than just two dimensional thrown into wild action. The wild action continues from book one and the author's imagination clearly shines in his alien descriptions as well as his world building. There are a couple of things that I feel would improve The quality of the writing: 1. Cut most references to bad/horrible odors and sounds. These descriptions may be leading somewhere that I just can't see yet but usually reading such details once or twice is enough to put me in the scene. 2. Seb is supposed to be a grown man but his thoughts regarding the female "love interest" reads more like a teenage crush. On the other hand, I truly hope he "gets the girl". If only, they could talk!
Disclaimer: I received this book as a gift from the author and, as always, this is my honest review. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is almost non-stop action.
Disclaimer: I received this book as a gift from the author and, as always, this is my honest review. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is almost non-stop action.
January 23, 2018
First There Were Two. Then There Were Four.
In this book, we follow Seb and Sparks as they struggle to get through the recruit training in the Shadow Order so they can become fighters. Sebastian has to deal with the derision of Guatemala, a fellow recruit, who doesn't think Seb has what it takes. His commander is not happy with any of them and forces Seb, Sparks, Guatemala, and SA (Guru's paired recruit) to become a team and take on a challenging mission. The rest of the story is the conduct of the mission with many twists, turns, and betrayal. Seb has to overcome his shortcomings as a fighter and his internal struggle to control his emotions if he and his team members will accomplish their mission and meld as a unit.
Fast paced and interesting. Worth reading.
In this book, we follow Seb and Sparks as they struggle to get through the recruit training in the Shadow Order so they can become fighters. Sebastian has to deal with the derision of Guatemala, a fellow recruit, who doesn't think Seb has what it takes. His commander is not happy with any of them and forces Seb, Sparks, Guatemala, and SA (Guru's paired recruit) to become a team and take on a challenging mission. The rest of the story is the conduct of the mission with many twists, turns, and betrayal. Seb has to overcome his shortcomings as a fighter and his internal struggle to control his emotions if he and his team members will accomplish their mission and meld as a unit.
Fast paced and interesting. Worth reading.
August 18, 2020
This is book #2 of the series. In the first book, we got schooled on how to develop a character, namely, Seb. In this one, we develop the character(s) of Sparks, Gurt and SA, or Silent Assassin. Seb and Gurt always seem to be rivals and they put each other down constantly. Moses, the boss, finally has had enough of it and he sends all four of them into the simulator together to try to learn how to act as a team. They aren't completely successful, but Moses sends them out on a real mission together, one where they will have to work together to be successful. We even get some more development of Seb's character. I really liked this book, folks, and I must give a commendation to the editor of these books. After both books, I have not yet caught an editing error.
March 5, 2018
I am hooked on the character's in this book. Seb and Sparks are a great duo of main characters and the additional characters they are teamed up with in the second book of the series really add to the story. I found the plot to be very imaginative. The author has created an interesting and engaging world for this series. I look forward to the third installment to see the Crimson Countess get her just desserts. Well worth picking up if you like a good space opera.
October 18, 2018
The second book of the series. Seb and Sparks continue their forced adventure in the Shadow Order. The alternative is a prison ship. This is space opera with fast paced action. It’s a light read, but the writing is imaginative and I did enjoy the story. The only criticism is the unnecessary use of the word sht. While a large part of the story occurs in the city’s sewers there are more descriptive ways to refer to human waste than the off-putting sht.
April 30, 2018
Nice story and aliens
I liked the aliens and the main human characters but the book is written not as adult. It's more YA, teen, New adult, or some other classification that's been created.
Nice book and lots of aliens. Still it has the simplistic feel of a work aimed at a younger audience. Am going to read more by this writer, just not this series.
I liked the aliens and the main human characters but the book is written not as adult. It's more YA, teen, New adult, or some other classification that's been created.
Nice book and lots of aliens. Still it has the simplistic feel of a work aimed at a younger audience. Am going to read more by this writer, just not this series.
November 5, 2020
Book two in the box set I have sees Seb and Sparks on their first mission for the Shadow Order. It's filled with action but also sorrow because of the terrible things those in power do to others. Seb's sense of justice and good heart is proven more and more.
Great characters, plot and writing. Loved it.
Highly recommended.
Great characters, plot and writing. Loved it.
Highly recommended.
April 6, 2022
Overall, I've enjoyed the first two books in this series, the ONLY thing I'd complain about is the author's fascination of describing every alien entity with the same acrid odours and his fascination with the hero constantly smelling feces & urine.
That part gets tiring.
But other than that, I've been engrossed in the characters & stories so far.
That part gets tiring.
But other than that, I've been engrossed in the characters & stories so far.
July 11, 2017
Action packed. Good read. Cliffhanger.
July 19, 2017
Entertaining with few contradictions. Character development is fair and the plot has a few good twists.
December 11, 2017
Still holding my attention. Characters are building. Will look on book 3
March 17, 2018
Quick pace
I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the characters and the different species in the book. The book was well written.
I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the characters and the different species in the book. The book was well written.
July 17, 2018
Not quite in the same league as book one.
October 27, 2019
THERE IS SO MANY MANY BOOKS TO READ HOW DO WE NO WHO IS TELLING THE TURETH AND WHO IS LIEING——- MAY— THE REAL—AUTHOR s PLEASE STAND—— UP ???
April 11, 2021
Z.t. unnötig detaillierte Beschreibung von Gewalt gegen Kinder, was für die Storyline nicht wirklich notwendig war mMn
February 21, 2022
Great
This is a Great Book! The first probably 25% was a little hard to get into. But I will be downloading Book # 3 shortly.
This is a Great Book! The first probably 25% was a little hard to get into. But I will be downloading Book # 3 shortly.
July 3, 2024
Required reading
Superb book. Really enjoyed every page.
A space opera to be enjoyed by all SF enthusiasts. Read it and enjoy
Superb book. Really enjoyed every page.
A space opera to be enjoyed by all SF enthusiasts. Read it and enjoy
March 8, 2025
Fantastic
Loved the characters, but only after they were properly developed. Lots of good action. Ending was a fitting great surprise.
Loved the characters, but only after they were properly developed. Lots of good action. Ending was a fitting great surprise.
June 1, 2025
Another great read from the series, and of course the book finishes urging you to start the next book. 😄
September 16, 2025
I liked it.
June 16, 2019
I couldn't get past the space battles (dogfights) and the lack of reality in how they work.
November 14, 2017
We know our main characters of Seb and Sparks, how they ended up together in the unwanted but can't turn it down employment of the Shadow Order, and that their attitude isn't exactly the best. Seb gives new meaning to the attitude of "mine are bigger than yours" and we know it isn't going to change until someone knocks that chip of his shoulder and he actually grows up. Guessed it - in this book he eventally takes a step forward on the path to maturity.
It's a settling in time for our agents and they meet other teams they don't like, which is pretty mutual. But with the recognition that they really do need to do their job because it matters, and that the enemy is without not within, our juvenile delinquent types become more real and make some better decisions.
For me this was about character development. But, at the same time, Robertson does not leave us falling short on a good story that is a bit serious and lot of fun in a space opera spy mission.
I really want to read the rest of this series!
It's a settling in time for our agents and they meet other teams they don't like, which is pretty mutual. But with the recognition that they really do need to do their job because it matters, and that the enemy is without not within, our juvenile delinquent types become more real and make some better decisions.
For me this was about character development. But, at the same time, Robertson does not leave us falling short on a good story that is a bit serious and lot of fun in a space opera spy mission.
I really want to read the rest of this series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews