Destiny Lost

The Orion War #1

by M.D. Cooper

Sera leads a simple life.

A little smuggling, some drinking contests, and captaining her star freighter, Sabrina. But when she picks up a mysterious shipping container on Coburn Station, things begin to go wrong. She finds herself at odds with The Mark, a dangerous pirate organization that wants the cargo on her ship.

Inside the container she not only finds a woman, but a secret thought lost millennia ago. The woman is Tanis Richards, and she knows the location of the Intrepid, a missing colony ship from humanity’s golden age.

Sera knows how to help Tanis and the Intrepid. But to do that, she will need to reveal a secret that will pull her back into a life she left long ago. A life from which she was exiled in shame and disgrace.

Tanis doesn't trust Sera; and Sabrina’s rag-tag crew is nothing like what she's used to, but she's going to have to rely on them to avoid capture and get back to the Intrepid. As Tanis and Sera battle pirates and interstellar governments, the two women forge a friendship that will forever shape the destiny of humanity.

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

397 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 13, 2016

About the author

Malorie Cooper likes to think of herself as a dreamer and a wanderer, yet her feet are firmly grounded in reality.

A ‘maker’ from an early age, Malorie loves to craft things, from furniture, to cosplay costumes, to a well-spun tale, she can’t help but to create new things every day.

A rare extrovert writer, she loves to hang out with readers and people in general. If you meet her at a convention, she just might be rocking a catsuit, cosplaying one of her own characters, or maybe her latest favorite from Overwatch!

She shares her home with a brilliant young girl, her wonderful wife (who also writes), a cat that chirps at birds, a never-ending list of things she would like to build, and ideas…

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Destiny Lost (The Orion War: Book 1) aka (The Intrepid Saga #4)” is not lesfic, but features terrific women characters as leads in a kick-ass hard-SciFi space opera!

I picked up “Destiny Lost” on a recent two-for-one sale on Audible. It was my introduction to what turns out to be an expansive universe from author Cooper. Reviewers noted that it could be read stand-alone, but that you might benefit from first reading books 1-3 of The Intrepid Saga.

I’m glad I started with “Destiny Lost”. I’ve since immediately begun buying and listening to the Intrepid Saga books, and I’m currently 25% into that series book #3. I like the Intrepid Saga books, but so far, I still like “Destiny Lost” best. Had Book 1 of the Intrepid Saga been the book on sale, I probably would not have rushed so quickly into reading more of the series.

Okay, back to “Destiny Lost”. It’s terrific! For SciFi fans, it’s got lots of space action, embedded AI’s, nanotech, picotech, pirates and corrupt governments. The narration is absolutely fantastic.

What’s really important for me, and unusual for SciFi with a military SciFi bent, is that lots of the main characters are women. And WOW! what women they are! Sera is the mysterious and wisecracking Captain of the starship Sabrina…and yes…Sabrina is female. They pick up the also mysterious Tanis Richards, whom everyone in the known universe wants to capture. Tanis’ embedded AI, Angela, is also female. One of the chief supervillain pirates is also a woman. Just because women are involved, though, don’t think the torture scenes aren’t gruesome!

Cheeky, the pilot for Sabrina, is hilarious. She’s a flirtatious nymphomaniac who happily plays with any gender. Happily for me, given that the book really is mainly hetero, there is no explicit sexual action in the book - only SciFi battle action.

There are lots of terrific secondary characters, and the banter between everyone is very enjoyable. The only minor flaws are that given 5,000 years have passed between some of the characters (ahhh….stasis, FTL and relativity….what fun!), it’s a bit hard to believe that language and even idioms don’t seem to have changed. Oh well….it would have been a distraction to the reader, but perhaps they could have at least admitted using Babelfish.

The book does end with a cliffhanger of sorts, which isn’t surprising since it’s a multi-part series. Book #2 is due to be released on Audible in just a few days, so I guess I’ll go shopping again soon. 5* for fun, fun, fun….though without the lesfic aspect of fun, fun, fun.

[Maria Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-Fi in its pure state! And I loved it. Sarah - the captain of the starship Sabrina is an incredible kick-ass female - one that would make a much better role model for girls than what pop culture is currently pushing on us. Sure she has her share of flaws but what human doesn't? Her crew are fun and bizarre but also loyal and smart. I especially liked Nancy with her phobia of germs :D The worldbuilding is incredible and I loved the realistic way it represents humanity. It shows just how bad we are but also the potential for great discoveries.

If I have a complaint it's that this is listed as the first book of a series when it's in fact more like the 4th one. I suppose that it can be read without the previous books (like I did because I was unaware of the existence of the previous books) but I'm sure I would have enjoyed Tanis Richards and her ship and crew a lot more if I'd read the rest of the Intrepid Saga.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is pure popcorn sci-fi. It’s everything you would expect to see in a b-movie Sci-fi Channel show: hypersexualized, buxom vixens (with incredibly common names such as Jessica, Helen, Rebecca in a story set around 9000AD) strutting around space ships wearing skimpy clothing and using technology without much explanation, and a world with just enough story to keep things moving on to the predictable end. All the familiar tropes are there to help you keep comfortable and avoid thinking too much, right from the first scene which is a carbon copy of the drinking game in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The only reason I finished it was because I had it on audio and put it on 2.5x speed just to get through.

[Jam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this one, on to book 2

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second book by Cooper, after Outsystem, and has some of the same characters. Initially, it seemed to have a shot at being considerably better, with a first half which was impressive. Unfortunately, it couldn’t sustain this, and ended up dropping back to a similar level and for similar reasons. If you’re interested in SF which is so hard, you could use it to cut glass, this is for you.

But I’m not typically a fan of books which need to include a twenty-page appendix of “Terms and Technology” at the back. Especially when half of them don’t help much, e.g. “A CriEn module is a device which taps into the base energy of the universe, also known as zero-point, or vacuum energy” – glad that’s cleared up

[SciFiOne · Rating 5 out of 5]

2019 grade A/A-

This book kept fooling me concerning what kind of novel it was going to be. It starts with one of the most over used scenes in modern entertainment. Since I don't care for the scene, I almost abandoned it right there. But it was short so I kept going thankfully.

The characters were diverse and interesting and it appeared to be a fun space adventure. It was a little predictable but, after what appeared to the most predictable scene yet (at 30% thru) it diverged again. Then I thought it was going to be a high end space adventure. But the tech went too many places I had never imagined, and the story took off with a multi-fleet space battle. What it turned out to be was a high end hard SciFi space opera - both fun and exciting to read. It has no particular societal meaning unless you include "greed is bad," but that really does not matter.

Be warned though, the end is a low level cliff hanger. There are secondary aspects of the story that are not concluded, and the final move is to a possibly dangerous situation.

Because of the opening scene and the end, the book gets and A instead of an A+.
So what, it is a a very Recommended book.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captain Sera, star freighter captain and erstwhile smuggler, picks up a cargo meant for one of the pirates she does business with. But curiosity gets the better of her, and she opens the container. Inside is a woman who claims she’s a major from a fleet attached to a lost colony ship, the Intrepid. The Intrepid is highly valuable for reasons Tanis soon learns.

General Tanis Richards awakens years in the future and tells a half-truth about her identity. She needs Sera’s help to find her ship. But as Sera dodges the pirate who is on their trail, she is captured. Tanis can’t abandon the captain who saved her and leads the crew on a rescue mission. Sera, more resourceful than she appears, meets the rescue team and makes it back to her ship. Now Tanis realizes Sera has technology at her disposal that an ordinary freighter captain wouldn’t have. They’re both keeping secrets. Can they trust each other long enough to find the Intrepid and defend the ship against the various forces who want it?

[Colin Northmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy this series. You will not regret it.

Brilliant. A fantastic end to one of he best science fiction series ever. I do not write reviews often but when I do it is because I think anyone considering whether or not to buy a book should be persuaded that it would be a foolish not to. Buy this series. You will not regret it.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure space pulp: A sexy space marine, a starship captain, and their clever AI sidekicks fight space pirates.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Destiny Lost is the first book in The Orion War series. This is part of the Aeon 14 universe. If you like females who can kick-butt, then this is a book for you.

[Mick Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series

This series gets better with each book, Tanis is been moved not willing. But her luck turns when she is helped along by the crew of the ship Sabrina. They are able to return to the intrepid, but the fun has just began.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brief summary – The Intrepid got caught in a spatial anomaly which propels them 5000 years into the future and they overshoot their destination. Coming out of the anomaly, the ship is damaged and Tanis barely survives by getting to an escape pod. She ultimately comes to the care of the Sabrina and her crew. Friendships and alliances are formed, a lot of action happens rescuing the Sabrina’s captain Sera from the pirates who in turn kidnap her. Sabrina takes Tanis back to the Intrepid to find it under siege by several forces who want their technology.
This is the introduction of Sera into the story line as well as Sabrina and her crew. They are the main focus of the Perseus Gate series, also an excellent read.

I really like the strong female leads in this series. My previous reviews focus on the strengths of Tanis Richards who again shows how amazing she is. Sera is a new enigma for much of the book but just as strong a leader with her own demons and flaw. I’d be remiss if I ignored mentioning the strengths of Jessica or AI Angela. One of the things I like best in this series is how Mr Cooper shows that while technology can solve one problem, it often creates new unforeseen problems. Sentient AI’s resulting in the Sentience Wars, FTL travel resulting in system wide conflict and the almost destruction of the human race, and picotech making the Intrepid a target for all greedy or power hungry governances are just a few examples. Mr Cooper put a lot of thought into the ramifications each new discovery would have on the universe.
I love this series! I started reading it at the recommendation of a friend. During the course of a month, I binge read the entire series that was available including the Perseus Gate side series. With apologies to Mr Cooper, binge reading makes for difficult reviews as the story of individual novels blur together. I’m now re-reading the entire series and reviewing each before I start the next.

[gradedog · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 4th installment took a different direction after the rather abrupt cliff hanger that ended the previous nook. I find myself enjoying this series more than I expected after struggling a bit to get through the first installment.

One thing that nagged me throughout the series, and more so in this book, is how the women characters, despite being true badasses, worry about their bodies and sexuality so much. I mean it's fine I suppose. But in a future society with so much body modifications and fashion statements to heighten sexual attractiveness and desire, it is noticeable that none of the male characters seem to be into it, or at least the author only bothers to describe it with the women characters. Comes off kind of gratuitous to me.

Oh and get a better proofreader. Tons of grammar mistakes isn't a deal breaker as the story still shines through, but come on.

Finally, I know we aren't supposed to judge books by their covers, but the cover art of these books are spectacularly cheesy.

In spite of these I nevertheless enjoyed this book, the series, and will very likely read the next installment when it comes out.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the previous events from the tie in Intrepid saga , this is the first book of a new series called Orion War, even after surviving battle it seems the risks of space travel cause major issues for the crew of ISS Intrepid , especially Tanis as she soon finds ejected from the ship and looking for some well needed help.
Luckily it seems smugglers working for Pirates on their cargo yacht Sabrina help out.
Worse the dreams of the Intrepid look to be for nothing as they soon find 5000 years have passed with Humanity using FTL to seed the stars but losing Wars , Tech, their morals and it now seems their is massive collusion between interested parties as everyone is out for the secrets the Intrepid carries from a time of what is now called a Golden Age.
It seems no where is safe for any of the Intrepid crew but Tanis finds some unlikely new friends and she finds herself risking everything again for her new ship mates as she tries returning back to the Intrepid.

An excellent story which shows great flair for futuristic tech in an all to plausible future and a breadth of new characters soon to become central parts of he Aeon 14 universe

[Red Tide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome adventure

The story is another of his typically well written and fast paced novels.

A cast of great characters with clear motivation, interesting backstories creating story enriching dialogue. ✔

A background universe with a lot of possibilities for future story development and high plausibility. ✔

A plot that promises an exciting series and unexpected twists. ✔

Smooth writing in general and decent editing. ✔

He as usual has covered every box. I like all his books and will certainly read the next volume in the series.

[Hollie Aldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had everything: an amazing back story, believable yet loveable characters, kick-ass female leads, understandable theoretical scientific advancement, exploration, pirates, space, black holes, romance, well thought out battle strategy, AI........ the list goes on. I continue to love reading about the adventertures of the intrepid in general, and Tanis specifically. The cliff hanger is killinging me.

[Gerald B. McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A New Favorite

I’m a long-time fan of space opera, but had not searched for new authors recently. Yesterday, by accident, I discovered M.D. Cooper. This book sounded interesting, so I purchased the Kindle edition and began reading it. I couldn’t stop! Excellent characters, lots of action, and good intrigue combined to make an exciting read. I believe I have found a new favorite writer of space opera to add to my short list of C.J. Cherry, Elizabeth Moon, and David Weber.

[John Stonebraker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was enjoyable, but loses points for crassness/profanity; an abrupt “ending”; and the fact that all the main characters (who happen to be female - the rest are just named cardboard) seem to look, act, and dress like it’s a Victoria’s Secret fashion show and not an action filled space opera. They are definitely not the kind of role models I’d choose for my children/grandchildren.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for better

I’m only a few pages into this book and thinking this might be enough. The writing is pretentious: “Cargo paused, appearing to ponder the statement with great cogitation.” I’ll give it a few more pages, but I’m not optimistic it will get any better.

[Susan Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The momentum of building Victoria largely continues in this book as the characters deal with suddenly finding themselves thousands of years in the future. Tanis spends most of the book separated from the Intrepid; instead she finds herself in the company of Captain Sera and her crew. Sera actually starts the tale off in a drinking contest that was so much like Marion's scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark I was half expecting Nazis to bust in looking for an artifact, but things get better from there as she proves to be competent and savvy. And "mysterious" as the text frequently reminds us that "she's hiding something!" But she is interesting, and she's tough and I liked her.


The plot itself is pretty interesting, with the concept of what would have changed in such a long time and all of the political factors that come into play. There are daring rescues and big space battles and plenty of tech talk. The status of AI in this future is also something very interesting, though this book doesn't dig into it too much, but I suspect it will come up more later. That and the status of Angela/Tanis, which is getting weirder as time goes on. The storyline follows both Joe and the Intrepid crew and Tanis and Sera, the latter of which is far more interesting than the former.


Sadly, the sexy sexy skin tight outfit wearing "empowered" sexy ladies of sci-fi is still a thing (I'm beginning to think this author has some kind of obsession with fashion and/or fetish wear). There's one part where everyone is going to a formal dinner and the two men each get 3-4 words of description ("gray formal suit") and three women each get half a page including dress, hair, skin, cosmetics, shoes, etc. It gets a little silly. But at least all the women in latex and leather or whatever are actually all competent and serve actual major roles in the book, so it's not the worst I've ever read. I've made my peace with it. Mostly. Still it'd be better without it. Thankfully there was no repeat of the "hot tub in a spaceship" incident at least.


Altogether I did enjoy this book and will continue on with the series. Especially as it does end in a cliffhanger. Again.

[JPT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook
Story: B, Narration: B

I didn't realize when I started this audiobook that it was a continuation of a series I'd previously read (in ebook form). Frankly, if I had known, I wouldn't have picked this up because I was pretty annoyed with the first 3 books--mostly, but not exclusively, because of the cliffhanger endings. Grrr.

Luckily, I liked this book better than I thought and it wasn't hard to get back into things. I like the new characters on board the smuggler ship, in particular.

What I didn't like as much:

--Story dragged in places. I kept wanting it to move along already.
--Tanis is portrayed as being so amazing, but does make stupid mistakes, primarily by being too overconfident.
--Another cliffhanger. Guess that's a given with this series.
--Almost all of the primary female characters, while confident and competent, are hyper-sexualized. Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty over the skin-tight cat suits. It's the future and all so maybe that's the norm and I'm hopelessly old-fashioned, but then why is it just the women? How come the men all get to wear "normal" clothes and not sexy-suits, too?
--Sera's big secret was pretty obvious from the start. (Maybe it was supposed to be.)

Normally, I really like Khristine Hvam, the narrator, but this wasn't one of her better efforts. I wasn't keen on the various accents she tried out. Some of that may be my issue since many of the voices/accents were the same ones she uses for the Jane Yellowrock books and I simply found it disconcerting. It kept pulling me out of the storyline when I made mental comparisons.

Since these books/audios are on KU, I may continue--although it's a pretty big commitment because there are a lot of books. TBH, if they weren't KU, I probably wouldn't bother.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book ahead of time in exchange for an honest review which for me wasn't hard as I've bought the previous three books and enjoyed them thoroughly. This book took a bit of a new direction and introduced a few new characters. I struggled at first as the whole tone of the series changed somewhat from the more militaristic overtone to a more unstructured ship and crew with the new colorful characters. It definitely took me some time to develop an attachment to the newly introduced characters and even then I didn't necessarily like or understand all of them (particularly the nymphomaniac). However, by the end of the book I was left curious as to where the story is headed and how the Intrepid fits into everything. There was still a lot of action throughout the book and I was happy when Tanis finally stepped up back into a leadership role. I did like the character of Sera and I'm very interested to know more of the background to this character and how she will fit in as the series progresses. Overall, an interesting digression from the main story line which adds some new elements. I think the author has just opened up a whole new fascinating storyline with some foreshadowing of greater conflict to come for the Intrepid, Tanis and her crew. I'm very excited to find out how this is all going to play out!

[Joe Pranaitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author M.D. Cooper brings us the opens chapter to the Orion War. Sara and the crew of Sabrina are hired to bring what they think is a small dog in cryo freeze to one of the Mark Pirates who control the underworld of the galaxy. On their way out of that system several AST ships come in and raid the system looking for said dog. But Sara and the crew of Sabrina are smart and they double time it to the jump point. As soon as they're in the Dark Layer (hyperspace) they open the crate to find out that its a woman. Tanis Richards to be exact. Tanis's nano and AI Angela tell Sara and her Bio not to worry that they'll take care of the repairs to Tains' body and her baby which is in stasis. Later they make contact with the Mark Pirate that Sara was supposed to turn Tanis over to but what happens is that the leader of that group of pirates is killed by his own first officer and she takes Sara captive. Tanis and the crew then head for a station that Tanis then barges for upgrades to Sabrina as they mount a rescue mission to get Sara back. This is a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Orion War series. I highly recommend this book to all science fiction fans.

[Dennis Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome and engaging book that yanked me into the story from the beginning. New character, Sera is a smart, sassy addition to the strong medley of female characters one finds in M.D. Cooper's Aeon 14 novels. She carries a lot of secrets about her past and I was practically busting a gasket wanting to know what some of those reveals were. Naturally, Cooper had me guessing right up to the end, although I was rather pleased that some of my guesses were close. Sera and Tanis together make for a great kick-ass duo and nothing can keep these women down for long - not even killer clothing or holes in their body-parts. The icing on the cake to this story is the major battle at the end between the Intrepid and all those out to grab its tech. Totally love the characters - if I was in a jam, I wouldn't mind if Sera or Tanis bailed me out or the yummy Joe for that matter (sigh… to bad they're not real). Looking forward to beginning the next book :)

[Craig Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was included in the Intrepid Saga audio book on Hoopla. I was wondering why the math didn't add up for me when I matched hours of the three intrepid books versus the saga audio book.

That said, I'm glad it was in there. While the last book in the Intrepid Saga fell a little short compared to the first two this, this one, which looks to connect the Intrepid Saga with the Orion Wars, pulls this overall series back in high gear.

A new captain, a new crew. And they find a few things that were thought to be lost in the past.

This is the classic tale of technology lost after so much conflict and war. In this case, modern technology is much more advanced, but only in certain aspects. Some of the lost technology is more advanced. Combine the two ..and wow.

I like the new crew and the captain, and am excited to follow then into the future while learning more about what happened with the old crew.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook

I think the problem with this book is that I was simultaneously reading a really good sci-fi book with a really good female captain. This book I couldn't figure out who was the main character. Then the secret Sarah didn't want to mention - "Okay, I'm finally ready to tell you my secret. Oh wait, there's an emergency. I'll get back to you." Then Sarah is saying I'm tired of killing, leaves a baddie alive, then the baddie is still evil. So even though Sarah's AI was so proud of her for not killing the baddie, now she's going to kill 1000's of people but most of them kind of deserve it. From one extreme to another. It seems the author couldn't make up her mind what type of person Sarah was including trying to figure out who the main protagonist was. The book ends in a cliffhanger too. Too bad!

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable book in a compelling series.

I am really enjoying all of the books I have read set in the Aeon 14 universe ...I suspect that I will eventually read most of them and their really are a lot - so reader beware you WILL be committing a large chunk of your future reading / listening time to exploring the Aeon14 universe - I can attest to the fact that it is difficult (and undesirable) to stop at one or two once you start..... You do need to suspend disbelief at times - the time it took the Intrepid's FTL to be conceived, installed and become operational was perhaps too far-fetched - but hey, it is science fiction after all. Thank goodness for kindle unlimited that's all I can say..

[Shana Pare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding fun

This is the first book I have read on this series of the Ad on books. I have so thoroughly enjoyed Destiny Lost, I am going to have to go back and take a look at the first 13 books, not to mention checking out New Canaan in the Orion War section.

As for why I liked this one so much, great characterization, pacing, and dialog all hit the mark. I didn't have to go back and read the other books just to catch up. Excellent writing!

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was genuinely good story. Liked both the leads and the twist. I just find it out how many of the female characters were not so body conscious when extreme body makeover technology is very accessible. The men did not seem to fret about the bodies which made it a bit jarring. All in all I like all the new cast members

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Par for the course. Cooper does a really good job to keep the content fresh and inventive, but the character development is still pretty thin. Overall these are very entertaining reads from a purely escapist standpoint, but emotionally I just can't get vested in the characters.

I would definitely recommend these to people who love sci-fi and don't want a challenge.