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Godeena Codex #1
Godeena
Summary of the novel Godeena Major Henry Broncon miraculously survives a battle with Ansker soldiers on the planet Morad. He is found under a pile of corpses, the only survivor; his best friend and the whole of his brigade remain in the field of death. Broncon is fully acquitted, receives a medal for bravery and is promoted to the rank of Brigadier, but he cannot forgive himself and he feels responsible for falling into the Ansker trap. Shortly after, the Anskers are beaten and the war ends. The winning terrestrial colonies receive ownership of a system called Naude, comprised of various planets including Godeena. On the surface of Godeena there is a huge, completely preserved but uninhabited city that scientists have named the Absolute. Analysis of the city reveals no signs of life. A team of scientists is sent to investigate what has happened to the people and animals of Absolute. A few days later the team is attacked and contact with the scientists is lost. The General Staff sends two teams of Special Forces to find out what has happened to the expedition but they also disappear, leaving no trace. The Commander of the General Staff, General Hensell, is personally involved with the mystery. He requests Brigadier Henry Broncon to gather a unit, composed of the worst inmates from the inescapable prison, Had, to investigate what is happening on Godeena. Henry accepts this task and collects 17 prisoners, each with unique skills. Among them is Maria, who possesses enormous psychic powers and has a wicked second personality called Kir. The unusual team of criminals, led by Broncon, travels to Godeena to discover what terrors await them there.
380 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2016
5 people are currently reading
1641 people want to read
About the author
Stjepan Varesevac Cobets
14 books526 followersShort biography:
Stjepan was born on September 12, 1965, in Split, Croatia.
At a very young age, he started reading. He loved it because, through books, Stjepan traveled to places he could never visit in person. Stjepan loved fairy tales and adventure as a child but later discovered other genres. When he found a Jules Verne book in the library, He became fascinated by science fiction. Stjepan wrote poetry for fifteen years and later started writing science fiction. Lately, he has written children’s fairy tales and fables.
Stjepan published three poetry collections in Croatia, “An Opened Heart” in 2002, “The Sleepy Way” in 2005, and “Love” in 2006. On Amazon in English, He has published the poetry collection “The Child of Happiness” in 2015, the science fiction novel “Godeena” in 2015, the science fiction short story “Butterfly” in 2016, and the poetry collection “When the Moon takes over the dream: Love Poetry” in 2016, the poetry collection “The flaming horses: Collection of poetry” 2017, Sci-Fi novel “The Dream of the Forest” in 2018, the science fiction short novella “The Collector,” fairy tale for children “Magic Clogs,” “Joseph, The Good Giant,” the poetry collection “Twitter of Night Nightingale” in 2019, Sci-Fi Novelle “Black Seeds” in 2020, the poetry collection “Golden treads” in 2021, SF Novella “2025” in 2022 and SF Novel "Kir’s Fury" in 2024.
My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/svcobets/?no...
My WordPress page:
https://svcobets.wordpress.com/
Contact: cobetet@gmail.com (I don’t reply to frivolous messages)
My book review ratings:
5 Stars: Above Average and Great Book (I really, really liked the book)
4 Stars: Great Book (I really liked the book, but missing something special that is for grade 5)
3 Stars: Good book (An average book that drowns in a sea of better books)
2 Stars: Below average book (I was not fond of it at all, I write the reasons in a review. But that doesn’t mean the book didn’t appeal to other readers.)
1 Star: I don’t give that rating to anyone (The writer struggled to write the book and did not deserve this rating whether I liked the book or not.)
Stjepan was born on September 12, 1965, in Split, Croatia.
At a very young age, he started reading. He loved it because, through books, Stjepan traveled to places he could never visit in person. Stjepan loved fairy tales and adventure as a child but later discovered other genres. When he found a Jules Verne book in the library, He became fascinated by science fiction. Stjepan wrote poetry for fifteen years and later started writing science fiction. Lately, he has written children’s fairy tales and fables.
Stjepan published three poetry collections in Croatia, “An Opened Heart” in 2002, “The Sleepy Way” in 2005, and “Love” in 2006. On Amazon in English, He has published the poetry collection “The Child of Happiness” in 2015, the science fiction novel “Godeena” in 2015, the science fiction short story “Butterfly” in 2016, and the poetry collection “When the Moon takes over the dream: Love Poetry” in 2016, the poetry collection “The flaming horses: Collection of poetry” 2017, Sci-Fi novel “The Dream of the Forest” in 2018, the science fiction short novella “The Collector,” fairy tale for children “Magic Clogs,” “Joseph, The Good Giant,” the poetry collection “Twitter of Night Nightingale” in 2019, Sci-Fi Novelle “Black Seeds” in 2020, the poetry collection “Golden treads” in 2021, SF Novella “2025” in 2022 and SF Novel "Kir’s Fury" in 2024.
My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/svcobets/?no...
My WordPress page:
https://svcobets.wordpress.com/
Contact: cobetet@gmail.com (I don’t reply to frivolous messages)
My book review ratings:
5 Stars: Above Average and Great Book (I really, really liked the book)
4 Stars: Great Book (I really liked the book, but missing something special that is for grade 5)
3 Stars: Good book (An average book that drowns in a sea of better books)
2 Stars: Below average book (I was not fond of it at all, I write the reasons in a review. But that doesn’t mean the book didn’t appeal to other readers.)
1 Star: I don’t give that rating to anyone (The writer struggled to write the book and did not deserve this rating whether I liked the book or not.)
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May 4, 2022Dear readers,
I wrote this book exactly twenty years ago, it lay in my drawer for years before I translated it and decided to publish it myself and become an independent writer. I published the first version of the book, in 2015 on Amazon. First I have to thank my family and friends who read this book before it was released. They helped me with their advice and criticism. I have to thank all the people who have helped me over the last six years to make the book finally look like I envisioned it in my mind. The people who helped me along the way are Clare Diston, KP Merriweather, Savio, Tonya, and the many readers who read this book before this final version.
For this version, I have to thank from the bottom of my heart only one man who decided to set aside his free time to edit my book which needed it like a desert needs rain. That man is David MacNamera and he did a real miracle with editing, advice, and questions regarding every detail related to the book. Besides, he found me Tatiana Vila viladesign.net, and she made a great new cover for my book. While David won’t admit it, he is a true Samaritan and I’m happy to have found him on this interesting and fun journey since the publication of the first version of my book.
I wish for all readers to enjoy the newly edited version. I hope new readers will enjoy my vision of a story that I'm ready to share with you now.
With all due respect,
Stjepan Varesevac Cobets
Godeena: SF Novel
I wrote this book exactly twenty years ago, it lay in my drawer for years before I translated it and decided to publish it myself and become an independent writer. I published the first version of the book, in 2015 on Amazon. First I have to thank my family and friends who read this book before it was released. They helped me with their advice and criticism. I have to thank all the people who have helped me over the last six years to make the book finally look like I envisioned it in my mind. The people who helped me along the way are Clare Diston, KP Merriweather, Savio, Tonya, and the many readers who read this book before this final version.
For this version, I have to thank from the bottom of my heart only one man who decided to set aside his free time to edit my book which needed it like a desert needs rain. That man is David MacNamera and he did a real miracle with editing, advice, and questions regarding every detail related to the book. Besides, he found me Tatiana Vila viladesign.net, and she made a great new cover for my book. While David won’t admit it, he is a true Samaritan and I’m happy to have found him on this interesting and fun journey since the publication of the first version of my book.
I wish for all readers to enjoy the newly edited version. I hope new readers will enjoy my vision of a story that I'm ready to share with you now.
With all due respect,
Stjepan Varesevac Cobets
Godeena: SF Novel
April 5, 2018
Right, lets just say that my Croatian is a lot worse than Stjepan's English, well in truth my Croatian is non existent, and Stjepan's English is good, that said there are still numerous, mostly grammatical errors in the version of his book I have just read.
Ok, would correcting these errors make the book better, well no, but it would make it easier to read.
All of that aside, it is an enjoyable, roller coaster of a book. It moves along at a very fast pace and you soon get caught up in Brigadier Broncon's newest adventure with his motley ragtag group of soldiers. Without giving anything away to future readers
All in all I enjoyed it, its not a classic, but its a good easy read. I would certainly read more of Broncon and his group, if further adventures were available, over to you Stjepan.
Ok, would correcting these errors make the book better, well no, but it would make it easier to read.
All of that aside, it is an enjoyable, roller coaster of a book. It moves along at a very fast pace and you soon get caught up in Brigadier Broncon's newest adventure with his motley ragtag group of soldiers. Without giving anything away to future readers
All in all I enjoyed it, its not a classic, but its a good easy read. I would certainly read more of Broncon and his group, if further adventures were available, over to you Stjepan.
July 23, 2016
This novel was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Major Henry Broncon was the only survivor at the Fields of Death in a battle with the Ansker. Now as a Brigadier, he's commanding a mission to the planet Godeena to find out why everyone sent there has been killed by some mysterious force.
The most obvious issue with the book? It was clearly written by someone that does not speak native English. Grammar errors, awkward sentence structures, and poor word choices are frequent and are a constant distraction from the pacing of the book. The military conduct in the book isn't believable at all. Female officers don't cry on their commander's shoulders. Not in any man's army. I never related to any of the characters. There never seemed to be any real emotion in them and what there was seemed contrived or came from no where and just didn't make sense. Broncon's PTSD from surviving the Fields of Death was the only thing that seemed real and I don't think it played an important enough part in the plot. I think it could have really fleshed out that character and made him seem real to me but it never happened.
But I guess my biggest issue with the book was that all the conflict was just too easy to escape from. There was never any real tension in the plot to hold my interest or to give that little sigh of relief when the hero escapes some fiendish trap. It was all just too easy.
The book was OK but nothing to get all excited about.
March 25, 2016
Well colour me amazed.
3.5 stars!
This wasn't even that bad.
I was quite surprised with this book.
It took me a while but in the end this was solid read.
I wasn't disappointed.
Godeena is SF novel written by Croatian author and this was first book that I've read in a while written by our Croatian authors.
It probably helped that this was translated in English so it catch my curiosity.
This novel is situated in galaxy far far away on the planet called Godeena.
Plot is fast developed, full of suspense, action, little romance all in right amounts.
Yes, it's not five stars and it could be little better but I've read worse with better ratings so I'll give it a chance and look through fingers for this one.
I'm really looking forward to read another book from this author.
***Copy provided courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review. ***
3.5 stars!
This wasn't even that bad.
I was quite surprised with this book.
It took me a while but in the end this was solid read.
I wasn't disappointed.
Godeena is SF novel written by Croatian author and this was first book that I've read in a while written by our Croatian authors.
It probably helped that this was translated in English so it catch my curiosity.
This novel is situated in galaxy far far away on the planet called Godeena.
Plot is fast developed, full of suspense, action, little romance all in right amounts.
Yes, it's not five stars and it could be little better but I've read worse with better ratings so I'll give it a chance and look through fingers for this one.
I'm really looking forward to read another book from this author.
***Copy provided courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review. ***
March 11, 2022
A great Sci-fi book!
This is a military Science fiction tale that reads like an 80s action movie. It centers around Henry Broncon, a brigadier who, after losing many of his soldiers in a tragic battle, signs up for a suicide mission to a deadly planet named Godeena. Scientists sent to this planet have gone missing, but one has survived and she needs to be rescued before facing the same end as the others. Henry views this new mission as a way of making up for his mistakes in that battle.
Maximum security prison inmates are chosen to assist him on this assignment. Unexpectedly, amongst these outlaw recruits, there’s a powerful entity that provides essential help related to the planet Godeena.
Overall, it’s a nice military sci-fi tale mixed with fantasy and some interesting world-building. Adult males who are fans of sci-fi and are looking for an easy read may enjoy it.
This is a military Science fiction tale that reads like an 80s action movie. It centers around Henry Broncon, a brigadier who, after losing many of his soldiers in a tragic battle, signs up for a suicide mission to a deadly planet named Godeena. Scientists sent to this planet have gone missing, but one has survived and she needs to be rescued before facing the same end as the others. Henry views this new mission as a way of making up for his mistakes in that battle.
Maximum security prison inmates are chosen to assist him on this assignment. Unexpectedly, amongst these outlaw recruits, there’s a powerful entity that provides essential help related to the planet Godeena.
Overall, it’s a nice military sci-fi tale mixed with fantasy and some interesting world-building. Adult males who are fans of sci-fi and are looking for an easy read may enjoy it.
Read
May 21, 2016Dakle pročitah ovaj poklon kako bih uzvratio iskrenim prikazom.
I iskreni prikaz daje čistu jedinicu.
U naslovnici djela stoji "SF story" no sa "S" elementom nema nikakvih poveznica, nikakve znanosti samo tu i tamo neobjašnjeni, nemogući i ponekad besmisleni tehno-brblj (genetski bloker, modulirani ultrazvuk...).
Nisam našao ni jedan originalni odlomak, sve je posuđeno ili obrađeno na bazi već viđenog, uglavnom filmova.
Pisati military SF ili military operu je vrlo, vrlo klizak teren jer je kompletna pozornica odavno znana stoljećima - neke dvije sile se oružano sukobljavaju.
Sve moguće je detaljno opisano do današnjih dana i potrebna je živa i svježa ideja da se to sve skup može iznova čitati sa zanimanjem. Ovdje to nije uspjelo.
Tako krećemo s filmovima - Dirty Dozen ("12 žigosanih") legendom gdje Lee Marvin okuplja ekipu ultra sposobnih vojnih zatvorenika i poremećenih osoba. (nikad objašnjena ideja zbog čega bi vojna elita čamila u zatvoru)
Naš glavni junak je veliki badass kojemu nitko ništa ne može jer je strašni kiborg (termin spomenut ukupno dva puta u knjizi bez ikakvih daljnih podataka)
Naravno skuplja ih na kažnjeničkoj planeti (Riddick anyone?) koja je apsolutna smrt van zatvora (neka močvara gdje vas odmah veselo konzumiraju) no zatvoreni idioti opet vole bježati (zašto pobogu kad nema suha kamena?) pa ih malo nafilujemo stvarima od kojih lete glave (e ovdje ima jedno 3 filma gdje glave eksplodiraju - Russel, Hauer, Schwarzie...)
I tako stiže naš hero, s ispričnicom za one koji mu pomognu, pa skupi neobično društvance + obveznog pseće vjernog Hulkastog narednika.
To samo da onjušite što vas dalje čeka, uglavnom i dalje se redaju filmovi i ideje iz njih: Forbbiden Planet, Transformers, Terminator2, Aliens...
(ne sjećam se naziva filma gdje sam prvi puta vidio kako revolveraši ne daju konzervi da padne na tlo uzastopnim pogocima)
Druga kardinalna greška je prevođenje na engleski od osobe koja ga slabo zna. Rezultat je od loš do užasan ("Laž na tlu" umjesto "Legni na tlo")
Jedino prof. prijevod dolazi u obzir no to je vrlo, vrlo skupo (ili takav prevoditelj kao član rodbine).
Međutim postoji kategorija gdje bi sve ovo bilo opravdano, zanimljivo i u skladu s kanonima - Trash/Pulp literatura i tu dajem čistu trojku.
Da je upola kraće mislim da bi svakako trebalo biti nazočno na ovogodišnjem Marsonikonu kao sadržaj Marsonic 9 magazina kojem je baš Trash glavna tema.
U najboljoj tradiciji Roto X-100 romana s ciljanom publikom mladića koji nisu zaluđeni računalima i gameingom (djevojke obično ne vole ovu temu) ili ne tako maloj zajednici ljubitelja Trasha. Moj pokojni punac je bio veliki ljubitelj japanskih galija u svemiru, Gojire, čudnovatih robota i svega sličnog - samo da ima vanzemaljaca i kauboja te pršti na sve strane.
Često sam se zabavljao trash elementima, a često i dosađivao dvodimenzionalnim opisima osoba i događaja - uglavnom pročitao sam do kraja, a to znači nešto.
Autor može biti ponosan na uloženi trud i ja ne bih tu ništa dirao, neka ostane kako je - svjedokom jednog trenutka u životu.
Hvala na knjizi!
I iskreni prikaz daje čistu jedinicu.
U naslovnici djela stoji "SF story" no sa "S" elementom nema nikakvih poveznica, nikakve znanosti samo tu i tamo neobjašnjeni, nemogući i ponekad besmisleni tehno-brblj (genetski bloker, modulirani ultrazvuk...).
Nisam našao ni jedan originalni odlomak, sve je posuđeno ili obrađeno na bazi već viđenog, uglavnom filmova.
Pisati military SF ili military operu je vrlo, vrlo klizak teren jer je kompletna pozornica odavno znana stoljećima - neke dvije sile se oružano sukobljavaju.
Sve moguće je detaljno opisano do današnjih dana i potrebna je živa i svježa ideja da se to sve skup može iznova čitati sa zanimanjem. Ovdje to nije uspjelo.
Tako krećemo s filmovima - Dirty Dozen ("12 žigosanih") legendom gdje Lee Marvin okuplja ekipu ultra sposobnih vojnih zatvorenika i poremećenih osoba. (nikad objašnjena ideja zbog čega bi vojna elita čamila u zatvoru)
Naš glavni junak je veliki badass kojemu nitko ništa ne može jer je strašni kiborg (termin spomenut ukupno dva puta u knjizi bez ikakvih daljnih podataka)
Naravno skuplja ih na kažnjeničkoj planeti (Riddick anyone?) koja je apsolutna smrt van zatvora (neka močvara gdje vas odmah veselo konzumiraju) no zatvoreni idioti opet vole bježati (zašto pobogu kad nema suha kamena?) pa ih malo nafilujemo stvarima od kojih lete glave (e ovdje ima jedno 3 filma gdje glave eksplodiraju - Russel, Hauer, Schwarzie...)
I tako stiže naš hero, s ispričnicom za one koji mu pomognu, pa skupi neobično društvance + obveznog pseće vjernog Hulkastog narednika.
To samo da onjušite što vas dalje čeka, uglavnom i dalje se redaju filmovi i ideje iz njih: Forbbiden Planet, Transformers, Terminator2, Aliens...
(ne sjećam se naziva filma gdje sam prvi puta vidio kako revolveraši ne daju konzervi da padne na tlo uzastopnim pogocima)
Druga kardinalna greška je prevođenje na engleski od osobe koja ga slabo zna. Rezultat je od loš do užasan ("Laž na tlu" umjesto "Legni na tlo")
Jedino prof. prijevod dolazi u obzir no to je vrlo, vrlo skupo (ili takav prevoditelj kao član rodbine).
Međutim postoji kategorija gdje bi sve ovo bilo opravdano, zanimljivo i u skladu s kanonima - Trash/Pulp literatura i tu dajem čistu trojku.
Da je upola kraće mislim da bi svakako trebalo biti nazočno na ovogodišnjem Marsonikonu kao sadržaj Marsonic 9 magazina kojem je baš Trash glavna tema.
U najboljoj tradiciji Roto X-100 romana s ciljanom publikom mladića koji nisu zaluđeni računalima i gameingom (djevojke obično ne vole ovu temu) ili ne tako maloj zajednici ljubitelja Trasha. Moj pokojni punac je bio veliki ljubitelj japanskih galija u svemiru, Gojire, čudnovatih robota i svega sličnog - samo da ima vanzemaljaca i kauboja te pršti na sve strane.
Često sam se zabavljao trash elementima, a često i dosađivao dvodimenzionalnim opisima osoba i događaja - uglavnom pročitao sam do kraja, a to znači nešto.
Autor može biti ponosan na uloženi trud i ja ne bih tu ništa dirao, neka ostane kako je - svjedokom jednog trenutka u životu.
Hvala na knjizi!
Read
March 27, 20172nd time reading this book but since this is the second revision (probably the 20th for the author) and it's a much stronger showing. The story is tighter, the characters more flashed out and the flow is much better. The story itself is the same (obviously) but thew influences are less noticeable.
If you tried it before and gave up give it another shot. You might change you'r mind.
Book received from the author for an honest overview.
If you tried it before and gave up give it another shot. You might change you'r mind.
Book received from the author for an honest overview.
September 14, 2018
This novel was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I was quite surprised with this book. It took me a while but in the end this was solid read. I wasn't disappointed.
The author showed off a great imagination in this story, making the world-building by far it’s strongest point. Really good sci-fi. High-action, fast paced, great characters development. I’d recommend this book if you enjoy classic Sci-Fi novels.
I was quite surprised with this book. It took me a while but in the end this was solid read. I wasn't disappointed.
The author showed off a great imagination in this story, making the world-building by far it’s strongest point. Really good sci-fi. High-action, fast paced, great characters development. I’d recommend this book if you enjoy classic Sci-Fi novels.
April 14, 2018
Wow! Talk about a riveting, suspense- packed book! I couldn't put it down!
A cyber war hero-general is sent to Hades, a planet used only to house the worst-of-the-worst criminals, and from which there is no escape. If one ends up there, one dies there. Period. No exceptions. He must get 15 prisoners with skills he needs for a dangerous mission. A mission that has proved fatal to others sent to a mysterious planet, in order to try to rescue one lone survivor, his boss's granddaughter, who is a scientist. Whichever of the prisoners survive, upon completion of the mission will be given a new identity and their criminal records wiped clean. What in the world can be so dangerous, so powerful, that has killed just about everyone else that has gone to Godeena? They have no idea what to expect, what awaits them... they only know that whatever it is, is extremely dangerous.
If you like sci-fi, or a good thriller, you will enjoy this book.... I highly recommend!
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Stjepan!
Read interview with author and enter giveaway at twogalsandabook.com! Giveaway runs from 12/20/2017 until 12/27/2017! Good luck!
A cyber war hero-general is sent to Hades, a planet used only to house the worst-of-the-worst criminals, and from which there is no escape. If one ends up there, one dies there. Period. No exceptions. He must get 15 prisoners with skills he needs for a dangerous mission. A mission that has proved fatal to others sent to a mysterious planet, in order to try to rescue one lone survivor, his boss's granddaughter, who is a scientist. Whichever of the prisoners survive, upon completion of the mission will be given a new identity and their criminal records wiped clean. What in the world can be so dangerous, so powerful, that has killed just about everyone else that has gone to Godeena? They have no idea what to expect, what awaits them... they only know that whatever it is, is extremely dangerous.
If you like sci-fi, or a good thriller, you will enjoy this book.... I highly recommend!
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Stjepan!
Read interview with author and enter giveaway at twogalsandabook.com! Giveaway runs from 12/20/2017 until 12/27/2017! Good luck!
Read
May 14, 2016Sadly all i will say is that this book still needs lots of work. The influences are to obvious and the talking parts are a bit to clumsy. But it's possible to see the writers passion so after a couple rewrites it could be a really fun story.
June 10, 2018
This is a military Science fiction tale set in a well-built world. It centers around a brigadier who, after losing many of his soldiers in a disastrous battle, signs up for a suicide mission to a planet named Godeena. Every other group sent to this planet has disappeared. Henry, however, has become obsessed with the planet. He sees this challenge as a way of making up for his mistakes in that battle. So he enlists a group of criminals from the top security prison planet Hades, giving them a chance to gain their freedom if they should survive the mission, but at the same time thinking that if they die at least they won't be missed.
The strength of this book is in the world-building.
Reading it felt like reading something set in a very real world. The different planets, the political life and interactions with other races that the humans are at war with, and especially the planet Godeena and the dangers that await the main characters there. It was all very well thought out.
I also appreciated the honest portrayal of military life with its downfalls. This story doesn't attempt to glorify fighting or portray the enemies as monsters and the main characters as pure heroes. Instead it gives an honest view of the characters and those they interact with. We see "heroes" that abuse their fame and power, we see corruption and inaction, we see the huge price that ordinary soldiers often pay for the mistakes of their commanders, and some light is also shed on the unfair treatment of the female soldiers by some of their commanders.
The portrayal of some of the female characters is sometimes less than stellar, with the focus sometimes being on their looks and their interactions with the main character being a little weird, but I saw that as being due to the main character's point of view. We see the world, and these characters, through his eyes, so it makes sense that he would sometimes look at the people around him in a less than fair way or take it for granted and assume that these female characters are in love with him or something. In the same way there was a little too much swearing for my tastes, but I again saw it as part of the characterization as it only appeared in the dialogue and seemed to fit the particular characters who were swearing.
Back to the point. The story was well-written and engaging. I began to feel that the story dragged a bit when they were training and a lot of time was spent on the weapons and how they worked, but to be fair in the end when they actually had to use these weapons it did help me visualize what was happening a bit better and helped make the terminology more accessible when they were deciding to use certain weapons. Also, right around that time my favorite character Diana was introduced. Her parts of the story were the most interesting and she provided an excellent point of view from which we could explore the horrors of the planet.
Because so many other reviewers mentioned the language I feel the need to comment on it. Yes, it's clear that the author's first language is not English and yes, there are a few awkward bits of dialogue here and there where that becomes clear, but did it honestly take away from the enjoyment of the tale? To me the answer is a clear no. In fact, I much prefer the awkward dialogue when I compare it to some of the over-edited and meaningless/boring prose of some other books I've read. When you're reading a story about characters who go to different planets and interact with otherworldly forces I'm not sure why the expectation is that the characters all sound like they dropped out of an American movie.
Overall, I enjoyed this tale quite a bit. It was an interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy and military fiction with some great world-building. I would recommend it to sci-fi readers who are not too young: as I mentioned before there's quite a bit of swearing and there are some mature topics as well. A solid 4 stars. I would be interested in seeing the author write more stories set in the same world, perhaps even with some of the same characters.
The strength of this book is in the world-building.
Reading it felt like reading something set in a very real world. The different planets, the political life and interactions with other races that the humans are at war with, and especially the planet Godeena and the dangers that await the main characters there. It was all very well thought out.
I also appreciated the honest portrayal of military life with its downfalls. This story doesn't attempt to glorify fighting or portray the enemies as monsters and the main characters as pure heroes. Instead it gives an honest view of the characters and those they interact with. We see "heroes" that abuse their fame and power, we see corruption and inaction, we see the huge price that ordinary soldiers often pay for the mistakes of their commanders, and some light is also shed on the unfair treatment of the female soldiers by some of their commanders.
The portrayal of some of the female characters is sometimes less than stellar, with the focus sometimes being on their looks and their interactions with the main character being a little weird, but I saw that as being due to the main character's point of view. We see the world, and these characters, through his eyes, so it makes sense that he would sometimes look at the people around him in a less than fair way or take it for granted and assume that these female characters are in love with him or something. In the same way there was a little too much swearing for my tastes, but I again saw it as part of the characterization as it only appeared in the dialogue and seemed to fit the particular characters who were swearing.
Back to the point. The story was well-written and engaging. I began to feel that the story dragged a bit when they were training and a lot of time was spent on the weapons and how they worked, but to be fair in the end when they actually had to use these weapons it did help me visualize what was happening a bit better and helped make the terminology more accessible when they were deciding to use certain weapons. Also, right around that time my favorite character Diana was introduced. Her parts of the story were the most interesting and she provided an excellent point of view from which we could explore the horrors of the planet.
Because so many other reviewers mentioned the language I feel the need to comment on it. Yes, it's clear that the author's first language is not English and yes, there are a few awkward bits of dialogue here and there where that becomes clear, but did it honestly take away from the enjoyment of the tale? To me the answer is a clear no. In fact, I much prefer the awkward dialogue when I compare it to some of the over-edited and meaningless/boring prose of some other books I've read. When you're reading a story about characters who go to different planets and interact with otherworldly forces I'm not sure why the expectation is that the characters all sound like they dropped out of an American movie.
Overall, I enjoyed this tale quite a bit. It was an interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy and military fiction with some great world-building. I would recommend it to sci-fi readers who are not too young: as I mentioned before there's quite a bit of swearing and there are some mature topics as well. A solid 4 stars. I would be interested in seeing the author write more stories set in the same world, perhaps even with some of the same characters.
April 15, 2017
Characters
Henry was an interesting character. A little underdeveloped but interesting. The biggest problem with this book was the point of view (POV) shifts. Within one chapter there would be between 2-6 POV shifts. There was no logic or reason and it was jarring. I did like Diana though, she was the reason I kept reading.
Maria/Kir was the best character but she didn’t really fit in the book. She felt like a fantasy character in a sci-fi novel. I would have liked to know more about her but I may have lost how Maria/Kir came to be but it may have been lost.
Plot
This plot was pretty straight forward. Go and get some prisoners, get them trained, take them to a crazy planet with a killer creature, and defeat it. The part about going to the prisoners and training them seemed to take forever. I actually almost quit twice. I struggled with the easy comradery that followed — it didn’t feel real. It happened too quickly and everyone just fell in.
Best part of the book was when they finally arrived at the planet. Although that stagnated near the middle. Author did a great job of building the planet — Godeena. I thought the author was going to have a twist at the end but I was thoroughly disappointed when he played it safe.
Overall
This book was too long and I just couldn’t get into it. To me it was wordy in all the wrong places. I did like some of the characters, particularly Diana, but there were some incoherent pieces. The POV shifts were distracting. The author did a good job on the planet’s setting, but took too long to get there. Also this book needs a new cover.
Rating
2 stars
I didn’t like this book. I couldn’t recommend this to anyone and it needs a lot of work. It has some potential but needs a complete overhaul. Diana and Godeena itself were the shining moments in this novel.
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. More reviews at creatingworldswithwords.wordpress.com.
Henry was an interesting character. A little underdeveloped but interesting. The biggest problem with this book was the point of view (POV) shifts. Within one chapter there would be between 2-6 POV shifts. There was no logic or reason and it was jarring. I did like Diana though, she was the reason I kept reading.
Maria/Kir was the best character but she didn’t really fit in the book. She felt like a fantasy character in a sci-fi novel. I would have liked to know more about her but I may have lost how Maria/Kir came to be but it may have been lost.
Plot
This plot was pretty straight forward. Go and get some prisoners, get them trained, take them to a crazy planet with a killer creature, and defeat it. The part about going to the prisoners and training them seemed to take forever. I actually almost quit twice. I struggled with the easy comradery that followed — it didn’t feel real. It happened too quickly and everyone just fell in.
Best part of the book was when they finally arrived at the planet. Although that stagnated near the middle. Author did a great job of building the planet — Godeena. I thought the author was going to have a twist at the end but I was thoroughly disappointed when he played it safe.
Overall
This book was too long and I just couldn’t get into it. To me it was wordy in all the wrong places. I did like some of the characters, particularly Diana, but there were some incoherent pieces. The POV shifts were distracting. The author did a good job on the planet’s setting, but took too long to get there. Also this book needs a new cover.
Rating
2 stars
I didn’t like this book. I couldn’t recommend this to anyone and it needs a lot of work. It has some potential but needs a complete overhaul. Diana and Godeena itself were the shining moments in this novel.
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. More reviews at creatingworldswithwords.wordpress.com.
June 19, 2021
I've read many of Stjepan's works before, which range from light Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance, Children's books and Poetry and his writing in his second language of English is always improving with each book. This new recently edited edition of Godeena is no exception. The book is a terrific roller coaster ride of action and hardcore science fiction. And wow, what a wonderful imagination this author has with his world-building. How he comes up with this crazy world from the tense prison scenes to the awesome plasma weapons and dirty dozen style characters, I have no idea. While reading, I really couldn't help but think what a great sci-fi action movie this would make. It's kind of like Aliens meet Predator meets Riddick with a bit of magical fantasy thrown into the action-packed ending for good measure. So, if you love hardcore sci-fi and a good 80's style action thriller, then you will love the adventures of Henry Broncun and his band of crazy convict misfits.
July 21, 2021
4.0 out of 5 stars Action packed Sci-Fi
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021
Loved the action from beginning to end. Henry Broncon is the only survivor from a brutal war he's left to embark on an impossible mission to the planet Godeena to research why scientists are going missing on this planet. Maximum security prison inmates are chosen to assist him on this assignment .
I love the imagery the author conveys and am impressed with the phenomenal gadgets and weaponry.
There are different POV which is interesting. The story line as a whole is good. I believe sci-fi fans will find this book interesting.
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021
Loved the action from beginning to end. Henry Broncon is the only survivor from a brutal war he's left to embark on an impossible mission to the planet Godeena to research why scientists are going missing on this planet. Maximum security prison inmates are chosen to assist him on this assignment .
I love the imagery the author conveys and am impressed with the phenomenal gadgets and weaponry.
There are different POV which is interesting. The story line as a whole is good. I believe sci-fi fans will find this book interesting.
October 6, 2015
I was not that into this book. I don't like very many war books or movies and I was not liming this one. I think I could tell the author's first language is not English. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
May 16, 2018
First of all, sorry for my long absence dear goodreads friends, life got in the way. I'm back with another long book review and I do hope to catch up with all of you soon.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
If I were to divide this novel into three parts, I’d say that I liked the second and the third part much better than the first one (let’s just say that the introduction wasn’t terribly interesting, and that the plot and the finale were much better in comparison). Once the story develops, it connects well but I felt like it just took too much time to develop. My impression was that it all really tied together only as the novel was ending, and that doesn’t seem like an ideal choice. The pacing wasn’t perfect, but altogether it’s a pretty good novel. Taken as what it is, an action science fiction story, the novel makes perfect sense. The story is entertaining and the characters are colourful. If the concepts introduced aren't terribly original, they aren't boring either. There is not that much food for the thought, but I don’t think this novel was meant to be philosophical, so there’s that. It is not like it’s the sort of book where you can expect to learn important life lessons. I think it’s the kind of book you read to relax a bit. All in all, Godeena was a fun story to read.
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY
The story opens with a war hero Henry, getting ready to embark on a dangerous mission. He is the sole survivor of a battle that went all wrong and ended up being a complete disaster. At the start of the novel Henry travels to a prison named Hade, to collect a group of talented individuals he needs for a dangerous rescue mission. The person they need to rescue is Diana, a general’s granddaughter and she seems to be trapped on a strange planet. Some of these prisoners are more violent, some less, but all the prisoners are troublesome. Only one women Vallery seems to be friendly. Soon Henry learns that Vallery (like most female characters in this novel) has a sad story to tell. Valery is in prison because she had killed the general who not only abused her but caused her miscarriage. Henry makes Vallery his assistant and they establish a relationship of trust. Vallery was a potentially fascinating character and I was sorry that she wasn’t given more space. Anyhow, after Henry collects the prisoners, he returns with them to his base (or at least I think that it is supposed to be his base) where he meets his old friend Nancy who is in love with him. It is from Nancy that we learn more about him. I found the dialogues between the two (Nancy and Henry) a bit tiresome as they constantly complement each other and elaborate on how absolutely amazing they are. It is kind of boring how everyone (and especially Henry) seems to be this super intelligent, successful, brave, handsome, amazing military genius and person, simply perfect in every single way. Nancy is in love with Mark, but he doesn’t notice anything. Frankly, Nancy’s story didn’t interest me at all. Soon after their little talk, Henry comes into conflict with the general, after he tries to pull him from the mission. Henry learns that the general (Diana's grandfather) feels guilty as well. Soon (but not soon enough for my liking), we find out that the dead general (the one who killed by Vallery) is the one who is the blame for everything, from the battle that ended up in Henry losing his comrades to other things. A bit of a cardboard villain this late general but well what can you do? Henry has another meeting with his general, i.e. Diana’s grandfather. Soon after that, Henry takes another prisoner, this time a girl named Maria (a curious individual with telekinetic super powers) for his assistant. Only it is not really Maria, but her alter ago, Kir that can help them. Where does Kir end and Maria begin? Are they the same person? I thought Maria's character was quite interesting. I quite liked how her character developed. Moreover, the development of relationship between Henry and Maria was kind of sweet. The dialogues between them too (including the inner thoughts that Maria/ Kir telepathically shared with Henry) were my favourite ones.
THE PLOT
I think we could say that the introduction ends there, and what follow is the plot. Henry and his team of prisoners all travel on Godeena to save the granddaughter of general, Diana. Diana is the sole survivor of the unidentified Being that killed all her co-workers and crew. What happened to them is still a mystery at this point. I quite liked Diana. She seemed a well-balanced female character, strong but human, so it would have been nice if she was given more space. After the team arrives to the planet, Diana falls into the background which is a shame because as I said, her character caught my interest. Anyway, after the arrival of Henry and his team, the story really unfolds. I won’t tell you what happens next to avoid spoilers, but I think that you get a good idea. The prisoners lead by Henry use their unique talents to fight the mysterious Being and discover the history of the planet, find out why this planet is not populated, and perhaps most importantly- how to get off that planet.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
There were quite a few things I liked about Godeena, and I could definitely feel the effort and the imaginative force behind it. The story of a discovery that turns into rescue mission isn’t exactly new, and the story of a mysterious hostile planet has been told as well, but still Godeena feels like an original novel in the sense that it has a logic of its own. The concepts aren’t new, but the ideas and the story itself are ultimately well connected. Godeena does get better as you read on, and only at the very beginning it felt a bit clumsy. There is logic in most of the events described and the narrative as such isn’t bad. My main issue with it were the stereotypes and the repetition. However, the plot itself is pretty good, the only problem with the plot is the unbalanced pacing. The character portrayal was also somewhat lacking. One can feel imaginative potential of character, the reasoning behind their actions, but their portrayal is not always fully seen through. In theory, the characters are quite interesting but many of them were ruined by clichés. The strong female characters were refreshing to see, but they could have been better written. However, the ending does offer more insight into everything, characters themselves included.
The last one hundred pages were in my opinion, the best, they felt well balanced, and there was a nice ration between action and learning more about the characters and the planet. If the entire novel was written like that, I think it would have been fantastic. In essence, I think that Godeena could benefit from either being a bit shorter which can be achieved by cutting out the repetitive parts, or from being a bit longer (in which case one could really elaborate on the ideas presented). I think many paragraphs were completely unnecessary. The dialogues were often too long. Many things were explained ad nausem, while other potentially interesting things weren’t touched upon. There was a lot of repetition and it slowed down the pace of the novel. Unless I’m mistaken, this was supposed to be an action SF novel, so pacing could have definitely been better. In the first and the second part of the novel, new characters kept being introduced (the prisoners, the members of Diana’s expeditions) but they were never elaborated on. I feel like their description should have been either shorter or longer, this way it felt like it was neither here nor there, but the characters do certainly add something to the novel.
Curiously enough, the character I liked the least was the protagonist of this novel, Henry. I don’t know why, maybe because he felt a bit like James Bond caricature, with all the female characters falling for him and all that but he didn’t seemed like a real person at all. The continuous praising of Henry by everyone else felt both unnatural and repetitive. The prisoners were a colourful bunch of characters, but perhaps there were too many of them, and I couldn’t really bring myself to warm up to anyone of them. The only ones that really stood out were Vallery and Maria (aka Kir), but perhaps this is because they established a friendship/relationship with Henry and were given greater roles as the novel progressed. The other characters faded in comparison, and it was hard to remember all their names, let alone care for them. Their personal stories do come up as the novel progresses and they did make sense, but still their character lacked warmth. On overall, the character development and portrayal wasn’t done that well but bonus points for trying. Coming up with so many different characters and fitting them all in the novel must have been challenging, so it is clear that the author has put an effort into that and that’s always good. I do wish I could relate to characters more. One thing I didn’t like is how most of the characters were either constantly trying to be sarcastic only to apologize a minute later or complementing one another and getting all emotional, it somehow didn’t fit the narrative. Henry would always apologize after he got strict with anyone, and that was a bit odd considering that he was supposed to be the leader of the group. When it comes to dialogues, all that complementing, apologizing and instant bonding didn’t sit well with me. I don’t mean to say that all the dialogues were bad, but the good ones were often overshadowed by the bad ones. There was so much stereotyping in the novel, so many clichés that seemed to have fallen out of typical blockbuster action films. This is especially the case with the dialogues that often felt overwritten. On the other hand, the descriptions were well written, simple and descriptive.
On overall, the writing in this novel felt unbalanced a bit. There were some really good points but also some that were average or bellow average (as I have explained in this very lengthy review). All in all, I liked this novel. I was given a copy to review. While I was reading it, the author sent me an updated (edited) copy of this novel twice. I continued reading from where I stopped last, I didn’t go over the whole book over and over again but as this is the final version, I don’t think it makes any difference. The language as such was fine, the vocabulary used sounded fresh and non-repetitive to my ear, and the descriptions in particular were nicely done. From the technical point of view, the writing is good. The sentences are well organized and logical. There were even a few instances in the text where the writing was quite impressive. In more than one place, there was a visual quality to descriptions that seemed very appropriate for this kind of novel. I have finished reading this book tonight, and I’m glad I have had the chance to read it. Would I recommend it? Yes, I would recommend it. The writing isn’t perfect, the narrative is not devout of stereotypes, but ultimately Godeena is an entertaining read. The pacing of the novel is a bit uneven, but it all ties nicely in the end.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
If I were to divide this novel into three parts, I’d say that I liked the second and the third part much better than the first one (let’s just say that the introduction wasn’t terribly interesting, and that the plot and the finale were much better in comparison). Once the story develops, it connects well but I felt like it just took too much time to develop. My impression was that it all really tied together only as the novel was ending, and that doesn’t seem like an ideal choice. The pacing wasn’t perfect, but altogether it’s a pretty good novel. Taken as what it is, an action science fiction story, the novel makes perfect sense. The story is entertaining and the characters are colourful. If the concepts introduced aren't terribly original, they aren't boring either. There is not that much food for the thought, but I don’t think this novel was meant to be philosophical, so there’s that. It is not like it’s the sort of book where you can expect to learn important life lessons. I think it’s the kind of book you read to relax a bit. All in all, Godeena was a fun story to read.
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY
The story opens with a war hero Henry, getting ready to embark on a dangerous mission. He is the sole survivor of a battle that went all wrong and ended up being a complete disaster. At the start of the novel Henry travels to a prison named Hade, to collect a group of talented individuals he needs for a dangerous rescue mission. The person they need to rescue is Diana, a general’s granddaughter and she seems to be trapped on a strange planet. Some of these prisoners are more violent, some less, but all the prisoners are troublesome. Only one women Vallery seems to be friendly. Soon Henry learns that Vallery (like most female characters in this novel) has a sad story to tell. Valery is in prison because she had killed the general who not only abused her but caused her miscarriage. Henry makes Vallery his assistant and they establish a relationship of trust. Vallery was a potentially fascinating character and I was sorry that she wasn’t given more space. Anyhow, after Henry collects the prisoners, he returns with them to his base (or at least I think that it is supposed to be his base) where he meets his old friend Nancy who is in love with him. It is from Nancy that we learn more about him. I found the dialogues between the two (Nancy and Henry) a bit tiresome as they constantly complement each other and elaborate on how absolutely amazing they are. It is kind of boring how everyone (and especially Henry) seems to be this super intelligent, successful, brave, handsome, amazing military genius and person, simply perfect in every single way. Nancy is in love with Mark, but he doesn’t notice anything. Frankly, Nancy’s story didn’t interest me at all. Soon after their little talk, Henry comes into conflict with the general, after he tries to pull him from the mission. Henry learns that the general (Diana's grandfather) feels guilty as well. Soon (but not soon enough for my liking), we find out that the dead general (the one who killed by Vallery) is the one who is the blame for everything, from the battle that ended up in Henry losing his comrades to other things. A bit of a cardboard villain this late general but well what can you do? Henry has another meeting with his general, i.e. Diana’s grandfather. Soon after that, Henry takes another prisoner, this time a girl named Maria (a curious individual with telekinetic super powers) for his assistant. Only it is not really Maria, but her alter ago, Kir that can help them. Where does Kir end and Maria begin? Are they the same person? I thought Maria's character was quite interesting. I quite liked how her character developed. Moreover, the development of relationship between Henry and Maria was kind of sweet. The dialogues between them too (including the inner thoughts that Maria/ Kir telepathically shared with Henry) were my favourite ones.
THE PLOT
I think we could say that the introduction ends there, and what follow is the plot. Henry and his team of prisoners all travel on Godeena to save the granddaughter of general, Diana. Diana is the sole survivor of the unidentified Being that killed all her co-workers and crew. What happened to them is still a mystery at this point. I quite liked Diana. She seemed a well-balanced female character, strong but human, so it would have been nice if she was given more space. After the team arrives to the planet, Diana falls into the background which is a shame because as I said, her character caught my interest. Anyway, after the arrival of Henry and his team, the story really unfolds. I won’t tell you what happens next to avoid spoilers, but I think that you get a good idea. The prisoners lead by Henry use their unique talents to fight the mysterious Being and discover the history of the planet, find out why this planet is not populated, and perhaps most importantly- how to get off that planet.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
There were quite a few things I liked about Godeena, and I could definitely feel the effort and the imaginative force behind it. The story of a discovery that turns into rescue mission isn’t exactly new, and the story of a mysterious hostile planet has been told as well, but still Godeena feels like an original novel in the sense that it has a logic of its own. The concepts aren’t new, but the ideas and the story itself are ultimately well connected. Godeena does get better as you read on, and only at the very beginning it felt a bit clumsy. There is logic in most of the events described and the narrative as such isn’t bad. My main issue with it were the stereotypes and the repetition. However, the plot itself is pretty good, the only problem with the plot is the unbalanced pacing. The character portrayal was also somewhat lacking. One can feel imaginative potential of character, the reasoning behind their actions, but their portrayal is not always fully seen through. In theory, the characters are quite interesting but many of them were ruined by clichés. The strong female characters were refreshing to see, but they could have been better written. However, the ending does offer more insight into everything, characters themselves included.
The last one hundred pages were in my opinion, the best, they felt well balanced, and there was a nice ration between action and learning more about the characters and the planet. If the entire novel was written like that, I think it would have been fantastic. In essence, I think that Godeena could benefit from either being a bit shorter which can be achieved by cutting out the repetitive parts, or from being a bit longer (in which case one could really elaborate on the ideas presented). I think many paragraphs were completely unnecessary. The dialogues were often too long. Many things were explained ad nausem, while other potentially interesting things weren’t touched upon. There was a lot of repetition and it slowed down the pace of the novel. Unless I’m mistaken, this was supposed to be an action SF novel, so pacing could have definitely been better. In the first and the second part of the novel, new characters kept being introduced (the prisoners, the members of Diana’s expeditions) but they were never elaborated on. I feel like their description should have been either shorter or longer, this way it felt like it was neither here nor there, but the characters do certainly add something to the novel.
Curiously enough, the character I liked the least was the protagonist of this novel, Henry. I don’t know why, maybe because he felt a bit like James Bond caricature, with all the female characters falling for him and all that but he didn’t seemed like a real person at all. The continuous praising of Henry by everyone else felt both unnatural and repetitive. The prisoners were a colourful bunch of characters, but perhaps there were too many of them, and I couldn’t really bring myself to warm up to anyone of them. The only ones that really stood out were Vallery and Maria (aka Kir), but perhaps this is because they established a friendship/relationship with Henry and were given greater roles as the novel progressed. The other characters faded in comparison, and it was hard to remember all their names, let alone care for them. Their personal stories do come up as the novel progresses and they did make sense, but still their character lacked warmth. On overall, the character development and portrayal wasn’t done that well but bonus points for trying. Coming up with so many different characters and fitting them all in the novel must have been challenging, so it is clear that the author has put an effort into that and that’s always good. I do wish I could relate to characters more. One thing I didn’t like is how most of the characters were either constantly trying to be sarcastic only to apologize a minute later or complementing one another and getting all emotional, it somehow didn’t fit the narrative. Henry would always apologize after he got strict with anyone, and that was a bit odd considering that he was supposed to be the leader of the group. When it comes to dialogues, all that complementing, apologizing and instant bonding didn’t sit well with me. I don’t mean to say that all the dialogues were bad, but the good ones were often overshadowed by the bad ones. There was so much stereotyping in the novel, so many clichés that seemed to have fallen out of typical blockbuster action films. This is especially the case with the dialogues that often felt overwritten. On the other hand, the descriptions were well written, simple and descriptive.
On overall, the writing in this novel felt unbalanced a bit. There were some really good points but also some that were average or bellow average (as I have explained in this very lengthy review). All in all, I liked this novel. I was given a copy to review. While I was reading it, the author sent me an updated (edited) copy of this novel twice. I continued reading from where I stopped last, I didn’t go over the whole book over and over again but as this is the final version, I don’t think it makes any difference. The language as such was fine, the vocabulary used sounded fresh and non-repetitive to my ear, and the descriptions in particular were nicely done. From the technical point of view, the writing is good. The sentences are well organized and logical. There were even a few instances in the text where the writing was quite impressive. In more than one place, there was a visual quality to descriptions that seemed very appropriate for this kind of novel. I have finished reading this book tonight, and I’m glad I have had the chance to read it. Would I recommend it? Yes, I would recommend it. The writing isn’t perfect, the narrative is not devout of stereotypes, but ultimately Godeena is an entertaining read. The pacing of the novel is a bit uneven, but it all ties nicely in the end.
April 5, 2019
This was an odd book, 2.5 stars, rounding up.
I got this book in exchange for an honest review, so here it is.
Godeena reads like an 80s action movie, full of cheesy cliche oneliners the likes of which you'd encounter in a bodycount-packer starring Gubernator or JCVD. On its own, this isn't bad, and it's quite entertaining.
The problem is, there's little consistency or depth to the characters. Somewhat Dirty Dozen like, Major Henry goes to a max. security prison planet to get a bunch of murderers for a seemingly suicide assignment to Godeena. But these killers go from deranged to fluffy and back, and they have an essence of "good guys at heart" - which is not what you'd expect from someone being sent to the max. security prison on a separate planet. If you look at the Russian Black Dolphin prison, where the average inmate has 5 MDK on their sheet, there's nothing reconcillable about them, and surely no ground for bringing them into a military unit and starting optimistically fresh. But that's okay, but this is meant to be 80s cheesy.
Love also happens almost haphazardly, and characters swing to angry to sad to weird without explanation, and there are moments where the author drops bits of information that he seems to have forgotten previously. This reminds me of Consider Phlebas really. Very much so.
The book then becomes a quest of shooting mostly, with the mystery of Godeena slowly revealed. And then the ending becomes more of a fantasy setting than a sci-fi book - monsters, spirits, robots, telekinesis, and things being created out of energy magic-like. A few more half-second moments of love, the murderers all hug, cue closing credits. Felt rushed and different from how Godeena started.
I also feel the translation didn't fully reflect the original tone, but hey.
All in all, entertaining, but also all over the place. If you like soft sci-fi packed with lots of explosions and simplistic characters, this will entertain you. If you're bothered by consistency and the rules of physics (to a plausible level), you will probably be annoyed by the almost random seesaw in the plot and behavior of the protagonists.
Igor
I got this book in exchange for an honest review, so here it is.
Godeena reads like an 80s action movie, full of cheesy cliche oneliners the likes of which you'd encounter in a bodycount-packer starring Gubernator or JCVD. On its own, this isn't bad, and it's quite entertaining.
The problem is, there's little consistency or depth to the characters. Somewhat Dirty Dozen like, Major Henry goes to a max. security prison planet to get a bunch of murderers for a seemingly suicide assignment to Godeena. But these killers go from deranged to fluffy and back, and they have an essence of "good guys at heart" - which is not what you'd expect from someone being sent to the max. security prison on a separate planet. If you look at the Russian Black Dolphin prison, where the average inmate has 5 MDK on their sheet, there's nothing reconcillable about them, and surely no ground for bringing them into a military unit and starting optimistically fresh. But that's okay, but this is meant to be 80s cheesy.
Love also happens almost haphazardly, and characters swing to angry to sad to weird without explanation, and there are moments where the author drops bits of information that he seems to have forgotten previously. This reminds me of Consider Phlebas really. Very much so.
The book then becomes a quest of shooting mostly, with the mystery of Godeena slowly revealed. And then the ending becomes more of a fantasy setting than a sci-fi book - monsters, spirits, robots, telekinesis, and things being created out of energy magic-like. A few more half-second moments of love, the murderers all hug, cue closing credits. Felt rushed and different from how Godeena started.
I also feel the translation didn't fully reflect the original tone, but hey.
All in all, entertaining, but also all over the place. If you like soft sci-fi packed with lots of explosions and simplistic characters, this will entertain you. If you're bothered by consistency and the rules of physics (to a plausible level), you will probably be annoyed by the almost random seesaw in the plot and behavior of the protagonists.
Igor
June 21, 2018
My reading of this page-turner of a SF novel took much longer (52 days) than expected but that is not because it didn't grip me but rather due to various circumstances and reasons. April and May were months when (almost) every EU author was crazy and busy studying and complying with the GDPR. Besides that and to name just the two of reasons/circumstances, the author of Godeena, Stjepan Varesevac Cobets, asked me to stop reading the e-book he sent me in exchange for an honest review. He would hire a new editor and polish his novel. I'm so glad he did it!
While I stumbled and got stuck in the language spider-web of the old version, the new one came with a happy exhale of relief that turned my second reading into fun and pleasure! Godeena, a hostile and mysterious planet that devours its inhabitants, expeditions of teams of scientists and two teams of Special Forces alike, now shines in its full glory and terror!
If you've read the old edition of this book, read it again now. You will look at it with clear, different eyes. This action-and-death-filled story deserves your full attention as it forces you to speed through it while the team of criminals is gathered from the notorious prison to be sent on a rescue mission which seems to be doomed to failure before it started. The intriguing set of characters, weaponry, training and situations that pull your fingers to click-forward the pages faster and faster is a guarantee for the experience you will love and enjoy.
So put your helmet (or glasses on), buckle up and get ready to be launched to system Naude, planet Godeena and the huge, preserved and uninhabited city Absolute. I know you can't wait to find out what kind of terror is waiting for you there! I couldn't!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
p. s. A message and a plea for writers: Follow the good example of Godeena and edit and professionally edit your books! Your readers deserve only the best from you.
Bernard Jan
While I stumbled and got stuck in the language spider-web of the old version, the new one came with a happy exhale of relief that turned my second reading into fun and pleasure! Godeena, a hostile and mysterious planet that devours its inhabitants, expeditions of teams of scientists and two teams of Special Forces alike, now shines in its full glory and terror!
If you've read the old edition of this book, read it again now. You will look at it with clear, different eyes. This action-and-death-filled story deserves your full attention as it forces you to speed through it while the team of criminals is gathered from the notorious prison to be sent on a rescue mission which seems to be doomed to failure before it started. The intriguing set of characters, weaponry, training and situations that pull your fingers to click-forward the pages faster and faster is a guarantee for the experience you will love and enjoy.
So put your helmet (or glasses on), buckle up and get ready to be launched to system Naude, planet Godeena and the huge, preserved and uninhabited city Absolute. I know you can't wait to find out what kind of terror is waiting for you there! I couldn't!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
p. s. A message and a plea for writers: Follow the good example of Godeena and edit and professionally edit your books! Your readers deserve only the best from you.
Bernard Jan
February 27, 2017
Note: The author informed me that this book is going through another round of proofreading, so I took this under advisement when I reviewed it.
Unfortunately, it’s full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, which makes reading and understanding difficult. However, I did enjoy the story and found the plot interesting.
With the current state of editing, I would give the book a two, but because I like stories like this I will upgrade that to a three. I recommend the author release the new proofread manuscript as soon as possible, instead of distributing this version.
Major Henry Broncon is the sole survivor of a brutal battle against the Ansker, and while he is acquitted of all responsibility and promoted, he feels survivors guilt.
He gets assigned a task to investigate the disappearance of both the researchers and the special forces teams sent to investigate the city of Absolute on the planet Godenna. Believing the task to be more difficult than he was lead to believe, he forcibly recruits several deadly inmates from Hades, a hellish inescapable prison world.
Once their training has been completed they are transported, along with his most trusted soldiers and a mysterious ally, to Godeena, where the final battle against “The Being” takes place.
I personally enjoy fast moving, action packed science fiction stories and this one delivers all that. It has just the right blend of world building and science to make it interesting, but not pull the author away from main story. The characters could do with some more polishing, but that may only be an issue because of the grammar problems.
I liked reading the book, but would have preferred reading a more final version.
Unfortunately, it’s full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, which makes reading and understanding difficult. However, I did enjoy the story and found the plot interesting.
With the current state of editing, I would give the book a two, but because I like stories like this I will upgrade that to a three. I recommend the author release the new proofread manuscript as soon as possible, instead of distributing this version.
Major Henry Broncon is the sole survivor of a brutal battle against the Ansker, and while he is acquitted of all responsibility and promoted, he feels survivors guilt.
He gets assigned a task to investigate the disappearance of both the researchers and the special forces teams sent to investigate the city of Absolute on the planet Godenna. Believing the task to be more difficult than he was lead to believe, he forcibly recruits several deadly inmates from Hades, a hellish inescapable prison world.
Once their training has been completed they are transported, along with his most trusted soldiers and a mysterious ally, to Godeena, where the final battle against “The Being” takes place.
I personally enjoy fast moving, action packed science fiction stories and this one delivers all that. It has just the right blend of world building and science to make it interesting, but not pull the author away from main story. The characters could do with some more polishing, but that may only be an issue because of the grammar problems.
I liked reading the book, but would have preferred reading a more final version.
April 2, 2017
This story reminds me of the Dirty Dozen, a WWII movie about convicts chosen for a suicide mission in Europe. Godeena takes us into the far future. Seventeen convicts from a maximum security prison are chosen for a suicide mission, to rescue the general's granddaughter from a planet where something is killing every living creature. Each prisoner has unique abilities for the mission, from physical to mental to psychic.
We open with a battle scene. Our main character is Major Henry Broncon, and although he is having a rough time, it's hard to engage the reader. We need information to make us care about the protagonist and to understand how he views the enemy.
By Chapter 2, however, I'm hooked. We have plenty of action and plenty of interesting people. In fact I'm overwhelmed by the number of names and places thrown at me. While Henry Broncon is the lead character, the point of view shifts from one individual to the next. Usually this causes no problem, but in rare cases it can confuse the reader.
One can enjoy good, convincing dialogue with plenty of wit. Mostly it's well handled, with most dialogue tags omitted. At times, though, the author uses unusual tags, which leap out at the reader.
It's because the novel is generally well written, that makes anything less than perfect stand out. At times the author tends to repeat himself unnecessarily. Rarely, minor confusion gives the reader pause.
Despite the need for a polish, it's a ripping good tale where even the meanest characters evolve into more sympathetic and responsible individuals. There is plenty of tension, well paced action, and a few surprises.
We open with a battle scene. Our main character is Major Henry Broncon, and although he is having a rough time, it's hard to engage the reader. We need information to make us care about the protagonist and to understand how he views the enemy.
By Chapter 2, however, I'm hooked. We have plenty of action and plenty of interesting people. In fact I'm overwhelmed by the number of names and places thrown at me. While Henry Broncon is the lead character, the point of view shifts from one individual to the next. Usually this causes no problem, but in rare cases it can confuse the reader.
One can enjoy good, convincing dialogue with plenty of wit. Mostly it's well handled, with most dialogue tags omitted. At times, though, the author uses unusual tags, which leap out at the reader.
It's because the novel is generally well written, that makes anything less than perfect stand out. At times the author tends to repeat himself unnecessarily. Rarely, minor confusion gives the reader pause.
Despite the need for a polish, it's a ripping good tale where even the meanest characters evolve into more sympathetic and responsible individuals. There is plenty of tension, well paced action, and a few surprises.
February 18, 2022
Although the translation is sometimes uneven like other reviewers expressed, I didn't find it to be that distracting and I assume newer versions have improved since then. The dialogue reminded me of 80s sci-fi action flicks, which was a cool familiar touch, something I personally enjoyed. My favourite part of the book is the climactic final battle where I was on the edge of my seat. The ending is a bit standard but it's familiar, and a lot of the novel's comfort comes from that. The relationships between the characters I found really grounded the novel and drove it just a bit beyond generic science fiction. It genuinely felt that there was history to these characters, especially between Henry and Nancy. If read as a tribute to classical science fiction, some other problems like the characters being too perfect / invincible fade into the background. I wasn't sure about this book, but I feel the author's pen and ink comes from a genuine place. I think I get the vibe of it, so that's why I liked it.
February 24, 2022
Review Title: The SciFi "Dirty Dozen"
My Rating: 4.4
Although not the ending I was hoping for, this is a futuristic adventure with an exciting and thrilling plot. Brigadier Henry Broncon plans to recruit a chosen team of 12, the dirty dozen, from an interstellar prison for a one way mission. He agrees to take 14, but all is not as it seems. An additional life form is present amongst them. The task is to retrieve a scientist from planet Godeena. All other previous attempts have resulted in annihilation. The action sparkles with the addition of advanced robots, cybernetics, human bio-metric engineering, alien technology, a sizzling story line, a touch of romance, realistic scientific elements and weaponry.
Yet there is also a touch of humour to make you smile. I particularly like the encounter with the Halamans.
The pace of the adventure guarantees you will follow the Brigadier to the final encounter. This book transports you to the future and leads you with the team into danger. You may not return!
My Rating: 4.4
Although not the ending I was hoping for, this is a futuristic adventure with an exciting and thrilling plot. Brigadier Henry Broncon plans to recruit a chosen team of 12, the dirty dozen, from an interstellar prison for a one way mission. He agrees to take 14, but all is not as it seems. An additional life form is present amongst them. The task is to retrieve a scientist from planet Godeena. All other previous attempts have resulted in annihilation. The action sparkles with the addition of advanced robots, cybernetics, human bio-metric engineering, alien technology, a sizzling story line, a touch of romance, realistic scientific elements and weaponry.
Yet there is also a touch of humour to make you smile. I particularly like the encounter with the Halamans.
The pace of the adventure guarantees you will follow the Brigadier to the final encounter. This book transports you to the future and leads you with the team into danger. You may not return!
February 9, 2022
Stjepan Cobets sends us on a tense rescue mission to a deadly alien planet in Godeena! Cybernetically enhanced soldier Henry Broncon is no stranger to surviving deadly missions, but when he’s sent to rescue a VIP from planet Godeena, a strange world that has killed everyone that has landed on it, his survival isn’t all he’ll have to worry about. I really loved the mystery and suspense of Godeena, and Cobets really built the tension brick by brick with his fantastic writing! Though a partially cybernetic being, Henry was a very relatable, likeable, and human character, and it was interesting to see him not only navigate a deadly alien world, but also manage running a squad of conflicts in a very Dirty Dozen fashion. If suspenseful sci fi with a healthy dose of action and mystery is your beat, come make planetfall on Godeena!
Read
February 27, 2019There is the foundation of a good story here.
However, I'm struggling to be immersed in the story. Just not connecting with the characters. So, I'm letting this one go.
DNF. Unrated.
However, I'm struggling to be immersed in the story. Just not connecting with the characters. So, I'm letting this one go.
DNF. Unrated.
May 3, 2022
Godeena by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets
This novel is interesting and is designed with a high degree of complexity, with an approachable time line and layout. The characters are distinct, have believable backgrounds and personalities, and meet and become intertwined with one another in ways that follow the plot and are explainable by actions which occur in the story.
The technological world building leaves a bit to be desired, as almost all of the story could have occurred at any point in history except that a few of the weapons used are super high tech weapons. But replace them with machine guns and bazookas and you could almost tell the same story at an earlier time in history entirely on planet Earth. In other words, I think the futuristic world vision of the novel isn't as well developed as it could be.
While the author clearly is very skilled and experienced in writing well constructed novels, the 800 lb elephant in the room remains the fact that the author's ability to write in the English language is pretty abysmal. Often tenses across a single sentence contradict one another, many times words are used incorrectly, and occasionally a sentence makes no sense at all, at least not to a lifetime native English speaker such as myself.
I see in the author's profile on Goodreads that he addresses the fact that English is not his first language, and he mentions the point that full translation services are prohibitively expensive. I myself speak French and Mandarin Chinese fairly well, so I can sympathize with the author both in how hard it is to write in a foreign language, and in how expensive translation services are, which will often demand many thousands of dollars just to translate a handful of pages.
However, since this book is presented as an English language novel, that is the context in which I must evaluate it over all. For the intelligence of the story, the design, the plot, the unfolding of the scenes, the creative characters and the exciting adventure they go on, I would normally give this book five stars.
But based on the bad grammar, the vocabulary use and misuse, and just plain abundant mistakes in the use of English that run through the entire four hundred page novel, I would normally give this book just one star.
I'm sure the author's books written in Croatian are extremely professional and fun to read. Sadly, my Croatian is a little rusty!
I decided to take the Solomonic route and split the difference, awarding the book a three star rank in its current form, but acknowledging that the intelligent design behind the bad grammar warrants a much higher score were it written in a language that the author is better able to use.
I don't plan to read more of the author's works until I can be assured the language barrier is greatly reduced, in which case I would be interested to hear more from this writer.
This novel is interesting and is designed with a high degree of complexity, with an approachable time line and layout. The characters are distinct, have believable backgrounds and personalities, and meet and become intertwined with one another in ways that follow the plot and are explainable by actions which occur in the story.
The technological world building leaves a bit to be desired, as almost all of the story could have occurred at any point in history except that a few of the weapons used are super high tech weapons. But replace them with machine guns and bazookas and you could almost tell the same story at an earlier time in history entirely on planet Earth. In other words, I think the futuristic world vision of the novel isn't as well developed as it could be.
While the author clearly is very skilled and experienced in writing well constructed novels, the 800 lb elephant in the room remains the fact that the author's ability to write in the English language is pretty abysmal. Often tenses across a single sentence contradict one another, many times words are used incorrectly, and occasionally a sentence makes no sense at all, at least not to a lifetime native English speaker such as myself.
I see in the author's profile on Goodreads that he addresses the fact that English is not his first language, and he mentions the point that full translation services are prohibitively expensive. I myself speak French and Mandarin Chinese fairly well, so I can sympathize with the author both in how hard it is to write in a foreign language, and in how expensive translation services are, which will often demand many thousands of dollars just to translate a handful of pages.
However, since this book is presented as an English language novel, that is the context in which I must evaluate it over all. For the intelligence of the story, the design, the plot, the unfolding of the scenes, the creative characters and the exciting adventure they go on, I would normally give this book five stars.
But based on the bad grammar, the vocabulary use and misuse, and just plain abundant mistakes in the use of English that run through the entire four hundred page novel, I would normally give this book just one star.
I'm sure the author's books written in Croatian are extremely professional and fun to read. Sadly, my Croatian is a little rusty!
I decided to take the Solomonic route and split the difference, awarding the book a three star rank in its current form, but acknowledging that the intelligent design behind the bad grammar warrants a much higher score were it written in a language that the author is better able to use.
I don't plan to read more of the author's works until I can be assured the language barrier is greatly reduced, in which case I would be interested to hear more from this writer.
May 8, 2016
I really don't have much to say about the book. It was an okay story, clichéd in places, and I rolled my eyes a bit at the seemingly forced romance elements between the female characters and Broncon. I suppose he's supposed to be a ladies man like Banaczek or something. However, Broncon came across to me as an emotionless dick, but then again, you might be one too when you're sent on a suicidal mission and get no breaks and atop that, your superiors basically give you a shrug about the whole thing.
It was a quick adventure romp with all the right elements - futuristic weapons, weird planets, executive meddling (army in this case), some intrigue (the researchers coming up missing, the poisonous prison planet Had), aliens, and fighting the big bad (The Being).
I normally don't read first person stories, but given the weird nuances and beats of Broncon's tale (and this was translated from Croatian, mind you), once I got used to it (including the odd sayings/proverbs), I was able to follow his growth as he overcomes many obstacles to finish the mission and come out alive (though even more emotionally scarred). This warrants 3.5 stars.
[Note: I worked on the book's typesetting and cover art for the English edition as Majestik Multimedia].
It was a quick adventure romp with all the right elements - futuristic weapons, weird planets, executive meddling (army in this case), some intrigue (the researchers coming up missing, the poisonous prison planet Had), aliens, and fighting the big bad (The Being).
I normally don't read first person stories, but given the weird nuances and beats of Broncon's tale (and this was translated from Croatian, mind you), once I got used to it (including the odd sayings/proverbs), I was able to follow his growth as he overcomes many obstacles to finish the mission and come out alive (though even more emotionally scarred). This warrants 3.5 stars.
[Note: I worked on the book's typesetting and cover art for the English edition as Majestik Multimedia].
September 26, 2017
3.5 stars to be exact.
The author showed off a great imagination in this story, making the world-building by far it’s strongest point. The way several planets were described in this book’s galaxy were so inventive. I particularly enjoyed the prison planet Hades, and Godeena itself was cool too.
The numerous characters and action scenes were also high points of the novel. I could imagine all the plasma weapons battles as if they were high-budget movie scenes.
The awkward way it was written made Godeena hard to read at times, however. I’m not sure if the book was translated to English and done so incorrectly or maybe the language barrier with the author Cobets himself was the reason the writing was difficult and clunky at times. I’d say it was almost overwritten too, an editor could easily go through line by line, cutting out extraneous words.
But as I mentioned before, the action and was great, and you could tell Cobets was very enthusiastic about science fiction. I liked that themes of survivor’s guilt and PTSD were touched upon too and those things plaguing Broncon more would have been intriguing to read about.
I’d recommend this book if you enjoy classic Sci-Fi novels in the vein of the 1970’s and 80’s.
July 6, 2017
The story is action-packed from the first paragraph! We meet the main character, Major Henry Broncon, on the battlefield. The suspense builds for the remainder of the story, and you meet some pretty fun characters along the way. I don’t want to give away too much, but there are nasty aliens, hostile planets, killer robots, and vicious convicts. They all come together in an epic tale. This is a true, military, sci-fi thriller.
As others have remarked in previous reviews, English is not the author’s first language. Yes, there are awkward sentences and some unusual wordings, but please don’t let this detract you from the main story. I read a book for the entertainment value, a way to escape from the real world. I asked myself, did the story grab my attention? Yes! Were there unexpected twists? Yes! Did I get invested in the characters and truly care what happened to them? Yes! Was the story a fun diversion? Definitely Yes!
If you like futuristic, war-themed, sci-fi adventures, than I think you will enjoy Godeena by Stjepan Cobets.
As others have remarked in previous reviews, English is not the author’s first language. Yes, there are awkward sentences and some unusual wordings, but please don’t let this detract you from the main story. I read a book for the entertainment value, a way to escape from the real world. I asked myself, did the story grab my attention? Yes! Were there unexpected twists? Yes! Did I get invested in the characters and truly care what happened to them? Yes! Was the story a fun diversion? Definitely Yes!
If you like futuristic, war-themed, sci-fi adventures, than I think you will enjoy Godeena by Stjepan Cobets.
May 24, 2016
I struggled with this book. To me it seemed that the novel was written in another language then imperfectly translated. The result led to characters speaking a mixture of coarse soldier patois and a sentence structure probably more at home in the Elizabethan court. In the hands of Anthony Burgess this might have worked, but not here. The jarring of the odd phrasing stole any momentum I'd built up reading the previous paragraph.
Plus, aside from the occasional reference, I didn't get much of a flavour for the worlds I was visiting – which I found disappointing in a space adventure. Add in a lack of consistency with narrative perspective together with repetitive and unimaginative dialogue and I found reading this book hard work. It's a shame because with a couple of rewrites this could be good, the author's passion and imagination are not in doubt.
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.
Plus, aside from the occasional reference, I didn't get much of a flavour for the worlds I was visiting – which I found disappointing in a space adventure. Add in a lack of consistency with narrative perspective together with repetitive and unimaginative dialogue and I found reading this book hard work. It's a shame because with a couple of rewrites this could be good, the author's passion and imagination are not in doubt.
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.
April 30, 2022
This book is all action. It’s a fast-paced page turner with things blowing up and people being shot at from page one. If this kind of action is your thing, you’ll like the book. I thought the plot was well thought through, although familiar. The book is well-written and I didn’t have any problems with the writing or grammar – so don’t be put off by the earlier reviews; looks like the author has worked hard to clear up the translation problems others mention.
There isn’t huge depth to the characters – but then again it’s not aiming to be that kind of book, I suspect. It’s just a simple page-turner with lots of action, and it does what it aims to do really well.
There isn’t huge depth to the characters – but then again it’s not aiming to be that kind of book, I suspect. It’s just a simple page-turner with lots of action, and it does what it aims to do really well.
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