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Serengeti #2
Dark and Stars
Fifty-three years Serengeti drifted, dreaming in the depths of space. Fifty-three years of patient waiting before her Valkyrie Sisters arrive to retrieve her from the dark. A bittersweet homecoming follows, the Fleet Serengeti once knew now in shambles, its admiral, Cerberus, gone missing, leaving Brutus in charge. Brutus who’s subsumed the Fleet, ignoring his duty to the Meridian Alliance to pursue a vendetta against the Dark Star Revolution.
The Valkyries have a plan to stop him—depose Brutus and restore the Fleet’s purpose—and that plan involves Serengeti. Depends on Serengeti turning her guns against her own.
Because the Fleet can no longer be trusted. With Brutus in charge, it’s just Serengeti and her Sisters, and whatever reinforcements they can find.
A top-to-bottom refit restores Serengeti to service, and after a rushed reunion with Henricksen and her surviving crew, she takes off for the stars. For Faraday—a prison station—to stage a jailbreak, and free the hundreds of Meridian Alliance AIs wrongfully imprisoned in its Vault. From there to the Pandoran Cloud and a rendezvous with her Valkyrie Sisters. To retrieve a fleet of rebels ships stashed away inside.
One last battle, one last showdown with Brutus and his Dreadnoughts and it all ends. A civil war—one half of the Meridian Alliance Fleet turned against the other, with the very future of the Meridian Alliance hanging in the balance.
The Valkyries have a plan to stop him—depose Brutus and restore the Fleet’s purpose—and that plan involves Serengeti. Depends on Serengeti turning her guns against her own.
Because the Fleet can no longer be trusted. With Brutus in charge, it’s just Serengeti and her Sisters, and whatever reinforcements they can find.
A top-to-bottom refit restores Serengeti to service, and after a rushed reunion with Henricksen and her surviving crew, she takes off for the stars. For Faraday—a prison station—to stage a jailbreak, and free the hundreds of Meridian Alliance AIs wrongfully imprisoned in its Vault. From there to the Pandoran Cloud and a rendezvous with her Valkyrie Sisters. To retrieve a fleet of rebels ships stashed away inside.
One last battle, one last showdown with Brutus and his Dreadnoughts and it all ends. A civil war—one half of the Meridian Alliance Fleet turned against the other, with the very future of the Meridian Alliance hanging in the balance.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 29, 2016
17 people are currently reading
317 people want to read
About the author
J.B. Rockwell
18 books423 followersJ.B. Rockwell is a New Englander, which is important to note because it means she's (a) hard headed, (b) frequently stubborn, and (c) prone to fits of snarky sarcasticness. As a kid she subsisted on a steady diet of fairy tales, folklore, mythology augmented by generous helpings of science fiction and fantasy. As a quasi-adult she dreamed of being the next Indiana Jones and even pursued (and earned!) a degree in anthropology. Unfortunately, those dreams of being an archaeologist didn't quite work out. Through a series of twists and turns (involving cats, a marriage, and a SCUBA certification, amongst other things) she ended up working in IT for the U.S. Coast Guard and now writes the types of books she used to read. Not a bad ending for an Indiana Jones wannabe...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 29, 2017
In the first book of the series “Serengeti”, the Valkyrie class space ship Serengeti was almost dead while drifting in space. Her little robots were working hard to keep some vital systems operating while waiting for rescue. In book two of the series, it turns out that Serengeti drifted for 53 years before being rescued. Serengeti is the AI that is the space ship. She returns to discover the fleet in shambles, the Admiral missing and Brutus is in command of what is left of the fleet. Brutus is on a vendetta against the Dark Star Revolution. Serengeti receives a complete refit and is restored to service. She is reunited with Henricksen and crew. They are assigned to free the Meridian Alliance AI’s from a prison.
The book is well written and full of action. Rockwell does an excellent job with the battle scenes. The characters are interesting and likeable. I, of course, like Serengeti best of all along with her three special robots. The pace is fast and the suspense builds continuously. I found the book hard to put down. After reading two books by Rockwell, I just now realized that Rockwell is a woman.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is almost fourteen hours long. Elizabeth Wiley does a good job narrating the story. She has narrated all the books in the series so far. Wiley is an actor, voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
The book is well written and full of action. Rockwell does an excellent job with the battle scenes. The characters are interesting and likeable. I, of course, like Serengeti best of all along with her three special robots. The pace is fast and the suspense builds continuously. I found the book hard to put down. After reading two books by Rockwell, I just now realized that Rockwell is a woman.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is almost fourteen hours long. Elizabeth Wiley does a good job narrating the story. She has narrated all the books in the series so far. Wiley is an actor, voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
July 12, 2017
★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I could've done a better job of keeping track of details, but I really thought that Serengeti was on her own a longer than we're told here. My issues aside, the important thing is that her time alone is over -- her sister ships have found her and have brought her to a spaceport for repairs.
She is soon reunited with a crew, and informed about the state of the Alliance Fleet -- which is worse than you might think. Following the devastating defeat in Serengeti, the Fleet turned in on itself, spending the intervening years in-fighting, neglecting its mission and the people it's supposed to protect.
Serengeti's recovery has provided the motivation for some to come up with a real solution to the problems within the Fleet. The primary movers here are the ship AIs, with only a little help from the captains/crew. I'd have liked to see more action from humans that aren't part of Serengeti's crew -- but, honestly -- I barely thought of that until after I was done with the book. Anyway, these ships have a plan that'll take care of the problems within the Fleet and enable them all to return to what they're supposed to be doing.
If they can just pull it off.
Next to McGuire's Aeslin mice, I'm not sure there's a cuter or more delightful character than Oona, the robot that was created in the last book. Not only is she adorable, she's very, very clever. Sign me up for a novel about her. The rest of the characters -- AI or human -- are well-drawn, engaging, and -- typically -- fun. The Fleet's admiral and the spokesman for the stealth ships are just dynamite. Maybe, just maybe, we could've gotten a little deeper with some of those not aligned with our friends -- but the story didn't require that.
The action is solid, the more imaginative SF aspects are told in a manner that you just buy, with little regard for plausibility or anything (I don't know, maybe the technologies depicted are plausible). Rockwell takes the solid foundation she laid down in Serengeti and builds on it with a strong adventure story. While I enjoyed all of Serengeti, the most likeable parts were early on, when her crew was still on board. This book gives us that from start to stop (well, with a quick break), with plenty of action and intrigue. There's still the heart, the great characters -- but add in the excitement, camaraderie and intrigue, and this one tops its predecessor.
Disclaimer: I received this novel from the author in exchange for this post -- I really appreciate it, but I made up my own mind about it.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
I could've done a better job of keeping track of details, but I really thought that Serengeti was on her own a longer than we're told here. My issues aside, the important thing is that her time alone is over -- her sister ships have found her and have brought her to a spaceport for repairs.
She is soon reunited with a crew, and informed about the state of the Alliance Fleet -- which is worse than you might think. Following the devastating defeat in Serengeti, the Fleet turned in on itself, spending the intervening years in-fighting, neglecting its mission and the people it's supposed to protect.
Serengeti's recovery has provided the motivation for some to come up with a real solution to the problems within the Fleet. The primary movers here are the ship AIs, with only a little help from the captains/crew. I'd have liked to see more action from humans that aren't part of Serengeti's crew -- but, honestly -- I barely thought of that until after I was done with the book. Anyway, these ships have a plan that'll take care of the problems within the Fleet and enable them all to return to what they're supposed to be doing.
If they can just pull it off.
Next to McGuire's Aeslin mice, I'm not sure there's a cuter or more delightful character than Oona, the robot that was created in the last book. Not only is she adorable, she's very, very clever. Sign me up for a novel about her. The rest of the characters -- AI or human -- are well-drawn, engaging, and -- typically -- fun. The Fleet's admiral and the spokesman for the stealth ships are just dynamite. Maybe, just maybe, we could've gotten a little deeper with some of those not aligned with our friends -- but the story didn't require that.
The action is solid, the more imaginative SF aspects are told in a manner that you just buy, with little regard for plausibility or anything (I don't know, maybe the technologies depicted are plausible). Rockwell takes the solid foundation she laid down in Serengeti and builds on it with a strong adventure story. While I enjoyed all of Serengeti, the most likeable parts were early on, when her crew was still on board. This book gives us that from start to stop (well, with a quick break), with plenty of action and intrigue. There's still the heart, the great characters -- but add in the excitement, camaraderie and intrigue, and this one tops its predecessor.
Disclaimer: I received this novel from the author in exchange for this post -- I really appreciate it, but I made up my own mind about it.
September 24, 2017
Hoping for more in the series?
Thank you J.B. Rockwell for this great story in a series that will continue with more for my winter reading list. A fan!
Thank you J.B. Rockwell for this great story in a series that will continue with more for my winter reading list. A fan!
July 16, 2020
Fun, solid story. Glad I still have the prequel to look forward to.
Excellent narration.
Excellent narration.
October 11, 2017
This was a great sequel to Serengeti. The story had good pacing, with consistent bits of action throughout the book, lots more action than the first book. I really enjoyed how the story fleshed-out (pun intended) even further the characters of the AI and the robots. Though I have to say that the characters of Hausman and the other trooper (no idea how to spell her name after just hearing it) were a little bit wooden and awkward. One inconsistency that bugged me was in the first half the book she was able to split her consciousness into two parts and have one go on an away mission, in the second half of the book her entire conciousness went on the away mission and she had no consciousness residing in the ship, which was a little convenient for the plot.
The performance on Audible was fantastic, with the reader doing several difficult parts such as robots and AIs. As with all good, and professional performances it was easy to know who was speaking based on the accent and tone of voice. Very enjoyable to listen to.
The performance on Audible was fantastic, with the reader doing several difficult parts such as robots and AIs. As with all good, and professional performances it was easy to know who was speaking based on the accent and tone of voice. Very enjoyable to listen to.
February 5, 2017
Hopefully, you’ll read this review before you read this book. There’s nothing wrong with the book and you’ll probably enjoy it as much as I did, but, it’s definitely not like the first book. This is a military science fiction book. The first one, “Serengeti”, was kind of a touchy-feely book where we got to know the ship Serengeti very well. It was about her isolation and the wonders of one, two, and then three TSGs that were her only companions through what turned out to be fifty-three years drifting through deep space. It was kind of calm and serene.
Not this book. This book is about awaking, fighting back, learning about Serengeti’s Captain, about Lieutenant Finley, and about war. It is pretty brutal in language; there’s more cussing in this book than on a U. S. Navy ship, so if you get offended easily with foul language, better be prepared. The story feels good to get Serengeti back to where she belongs. After drifting through space for those fifty-three years, she finds out that things have changed pretty dramatically. Even she has a new, improved body, but not in the way you think. And then there’s her crew. Surprisingly, the Cryo Chamber she had stuffed her remaining crew in, including Captain Henricksen, survived and was rescued. Although the expected life support cycle for a Cryo Chamber was only 30 years, it had some how maintained the small crew in frozen stasis for fifty some years.
So, what does a ship and crew that have been out of service for fifty-three years do? Well, they try and put things back the way they were. It’s a long hard job because the Meridian Alliance fleet practically feel apart after Serengeti’s last battle, the one they lost. Brutus is in charge and that’s a big, big problem. He might just be crazy! This is certainly going to be interesting.
If you remember, the fleet is comprised of several type of starships all of which, have an on-board artificial intelligence (AI) that controls everything the ship does. They do have Captains and other crew members who man various stations aboard the ship especially on the command bridge, but it’s not like the crew really controls anything. The ships AI monitors everything all the time and if a crewman is having trouble, the ship can step in and do whatever needs done. I think the crew, for the most part is redundant and the book supports this by strangely never mentioning any crew members other than those very few on the command bridge. I’m not even sure of the size of Serengeti’s crew. Something like thirty were revived, but they had to add more crew from Serengeti’s sister ships to give her a skeleton crew. I’m also really leery about how these ships act. They certainly seem sentient so why have a crew at all? And where are the Androids? It seems that the ships AI can move to and occupy a maintenance robot so it can leave the ship and converse with humans when it wants. So why not have an Android body as a host when the ship wants to be mobile but in a human-like manner. This happens several times in the story, but Serengeti has to borrow a maintenance robot to become mobile.
Ok, so as I said, this book is a good military science fiction story, much different than the first book. We do get to meet and read a lot about Captain Henricksen, and Lieutenant Finely and a few more crew persons, but they are kind of immaterial to the story. The character development is good although there are not really many human characters in the story, but the author made almost all of the starships seem like humans. They even cuss like humans.
I don’t know if there will be any more stories with Serengeti. This one was pretty complete. I would probably read more, but I would like to see more human involvement. These ships just seem way to human to ever be real.
Not this book. This book is about awaking, fighting back, learning about Serengeti’s Captain, about Lieutenant Finley, and about war. It is pretty brutal in language; there’s more cussing in this book than on a U. S. Navy ship, so if you get offended easily with foul language, better be prepared. The story feels good to get Serengeti back to where she belongs. After drifting through space for those fifty-three years, she finds out that things have changed pretty dramatically. Even she has a new, improved body, but not in the way you think. And then there’s her crew. Surprisingly, the Cryo Chamber she had stuffed her remaining crew in, including Captain Henricksen, survived and was rescued. Although the expected life support cycle for a Cryo Chamber was only 30 years, it had some how maintained the small crew in frozen stasis for fifty some years.
So, what does a ship and crew that have been out of service for fifty-three years do? Well, they try and put things back the way they were. It’s a long hard job because the Meridian Alliance fleet practically feel apart after Serengeti’s last battle, the one they lost. Brutus is in charge and that’s a big, big problem. He might just be crazy! This is certainly going to be interesting.
If you remember, the fleet is comprised of several type of starships all of which, have an on-board artificial intelligence (AI) that controls everything the ship does. They do have Captains and other crew members who man various stations aboard the ship especially on the command bridge, but it’s not like the crew really controls anything. The ships AI monitors everything all the time and if a crewman is having trouble, the ship can step in and do whatever needs done. I think the crew, for the most part is redundant and the book supports this by strangely never mentioning any crew members other than those very few on the command bridge. I’m not even sure of the size of Serengeti’s crew. Something like thirty were revived, but they had to add more crew from Serengeti’s sister ships to give her a skeleton crew. I’m also really leery about how these ships act. They certainly seem sentient so why have a crew at all? And where are the Androids? It seems that the ships AI can move to and occupy a maintenance robot so it can leave the ship and converse with humans when it wants. So why not have an Android body as a host when the ship wants to be mobile but in a human-like manner. This happens several times in the story, but Serengeti has to borrow a maintenance robot to become mobile.
Ok, so as I said, this book is a good military science fiction story, much different than the first book. We do get to meet and read a lot about Captain Henricksen, and Lieutenant Finely and a few more crew persons, but they are kind of immaterial to the story. The character development is good although there are not really many human characters in the story, but the author made almost all of the starships seem like humans. They even cuss like humans.
I don’t know if there will be any more stories with Serengeti. This one was pretty complete. I would probably read more, but I would like to see more human involvement. These ships just seem way to human to ever be real.
February 9, 2017
A highly recommended, strong follow up to Serengeti (stronger than the first book, actually).
It's a really interesting premise: a ship's AI that was deactivated and drifting for fifty years in space wakes up to essentially find out that the fleet she came from is on the brink of civil war. I don't want to say more than that, because spoilers.
Anyways, it's fast paced, the characters are really compelling, it pulls no punches, and the prose is efficient and moves things along quickly. Plus, there's a fantastic heist plotline that really makes the story, IMO.
It's a really interesting premise: a ship's AI that was deactivated and drifting for fifty years in space wakes up to essentially find out that the fleet she came from is on the brink of civil war. I don't want to say more than that, because spoilers.
Anyways, it's fast paced, the characters are really compelling, it pulls no punches, and the prose is efficient and moves things along quickly. Plus, there's a fantastic heist plotline that really makes the story, IMO.
December 4, 2016
An awesome sequel to a fantastic book! I loved coming back to visit Serengeti and her world. Serengeti's frustration with the secrecy and intrigues surrounding her return is well expressed without being drawn out too long before she takes control. The story is full of fun surprises and lots of action!
December 17, 2016
Excellent!
I dare you to put this down once you start. Fast paced and exciting to the very end. When is the movie coming out?!?
I dare you to put this down once you start. Fast paced and exciting to the very end. When is the movie coming out?!?
November 15, 2019
A fun, fast paced, and light hearted science-fantasty in space with dastardly villains and classic heroes! I love the ships in this, and the space battles are excellent!
I have to admit however, I liked book 1 better, because the humans in book 2 detracted from the fun. I had issues with them, the captain most of all.
The captain Serengeti mourned for in book 1 is...well he suffers in a state of dated, toxic behaviour so thick I just couldn't get why sweet, smart, powerful Serengeti puts up with it. Why he is presented as a 'hero' at all.
He doesn't want help when he's injured ("Last thing I need is some damned nursemaid fawning all over me."), doesn't really value book learning ("Math? What math? What the hell does math have to do with any of this?"...they are discussing navigation and orbits in space which is uh, very involved with math), uses questionable slurs ("Pansy-ass coward"), and judges people on their waistline ("Guy that fat's been workin' a desk for a while, which means he's pompous and self-important").
It was so off-putting it took me four months to finish the book - drawn back by Serengeti, and repelled by the captain over and over. BUT I am glad I did finish it - the ending is full of lovely lovely space battles.
I have to admit however, I liked book 1 better, because the humans in book 2 detracted from the fun. I had issues with them, the captain most of all.
The captain Serengeti mourned for in book 1 is...well he suffers in a state of dated, toxic behaviour so thick I just couldn't get why sweet, smart, powerful Serengeti puts up with it. Why he is presented as a 'hero' at all.
He doesn't want help when he's injured ("Last thing I need is some damned nursemaid fawning all over me."), doesn't really value book learning ("Math? What math? What the hell does math have to do with any of this?"...they are discussing navigation and orbits in space which is uh, very involved with math), uses questionable slurs ("Pansy-ass coward"), and judges people on their waistline ("Guy that fat's been workin' a desk for a while, which means he's pompous and self-important").
It was so off-putting it took me four months to finish the book - drawn back by Serengeti, and repelled by the captain over and over. BUT I am glad I did finish it - the ending is full of lovely lovely space battles.
March 23, 2018
Enjoyed the second book in the series.
January 26, 2021
Audiobook: the series starts to mature a bit and develops the characters successfully into ones you can root for.
September 17, 2021
Such a great premise having the ship being a "crew member" just as any human crew and interacting with the humans. A refreshing take on artificial intelligence and it's acceptance by Humanity. Great job J.B.!!!!
December 14, 2016
It doesn't suffer sequelitis. Nice! IE: keeps with the personal touches of the first book but expanded the overall universe quite nicely.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews