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Lost Starship #4
The Lost Colony
We fought the invading New Men to a standstill and defeated the alien Destroyer sent to obliterate Earth.
The worst should be over, but it’s not.
Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology.
This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive. Admiral Fletcher is headed to “C” Quadrant with a Grand Fleet. He’s to liberate the captured planets and find the enemy homeworld. What he isn’t supposed to do is die.
The only one who can save humanity has been grounded. Captain Maddox is under suspicion because he’s half New Man. But he’s not going to stop. He’s found something unbelievable. Now, he needs Starship Victory—an ancient, alien spacecraft—the AI Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others to help him tear the greatest secret of all from the enemy.
Maddox and his crew must succeed or humanity will drown in a sea of human extinction.
The worst should be over, but it’s not.
Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology.
This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive. Admiral Fletcher is headed to “C” Quadrant with a Grand Fleet. He’s to liberate the captured planets and find the enemy homeworld. What he isn’t supposed to do is die.
The only one who can save humanity has been grounded. Captain Maddox is under suspicion because he’s half New Man. But he’s not going to stop. He’s found something unbelievable. Now, he needs Starship Victory—an ancient, alien spacecraft—the AI Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others to help him tear the greatest secret of all from the enemy.
Maddox and his crew must succeed or humanity will drown in a sea of human extinction.
Audible Audio
Published May 23, 2016
993 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
About the author
Vaughn Heppner
147 books569 followersYou can visit Vaughn at www.vaughnheppner.com
I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine.
I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.
I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine.
I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
June 19, 2021
Very enjoyable!
January 22, 2016
The Lost Starship series continues to be an entertaining read with this, the fourth, instalment in the series. The “old men” desperately needs to fight back against the New Men but, as the book blurb states, the New Men continues to throw gravel into the machinery. As usual the paranoid and stupid humans react in ways that are not exactly the most efficient ones when it comes to achieving an actual victory.
Thus Maddox is left to his own devices in order to save the “old men” even though Admiral Fletcher does his best to clobber the New Men fleet.
It is another fun adventure story in The Lost Starship universe. It is a bit of a roller coaster ride with the usual elements such as Maddox and his friends (including the AI Galyan) being their usual ass-kickers, some fleet action, some ground action and a whole lot of conspiracies, enemy infiltration and such like nastiness by the New Men and their androids which are almost undistinguishable from real humans. Our old acquaintance, Professor Ludendorff, does his best to help keep the confusion going and, as usual, it is difficult to really know which side he is on. Mostly it feels like it is a third one, his own.
While various parties are slugging it out in space and on the ground the search for alien artefacts, in particular those from the founders, continues in the hope of getting the upper hand against the New Men. What Maddox & Co finds this time exceeds their wildest dreams and it is not only artefacts that they find.
The book ends the current story arc and it is a fairly satisfactory ending which, at the same time, leaves plenty of openings for a continuation of the adventures in this Science Fiction universe. These books are nicely written and easy to read adventure stories. The characters are quite colourful and often likable. I for one hope that the author has plans to create a new story arc which takes off from where this one ended.
Thus Maddox is left to his own devices in order to save the “old men” even though Admiral Fletcher does his best to clobber the New Men fleet.
It is another fun adventure story in The Lost Starship universe. It is a bit of a roller coaster ride with the usual elements such as Maddox and his friends (including the AI Galyan) being their usual ass-kickers, some fleet action, some ground action and a whole lot of conspiracies, enemy infiltration and such like nastiness by the New Men and their androids which are almost undistinguishable from real humans. Our old acquaintance, Professor Ludendorff, does his best to help keep the confusion going and, as usual, it is difficult to really know which side he is on. Mostly it feels like it is a third one, his own.
While various parties are slugging it out in space and on the ground the search for alien artefacts, in particular those from the founders, continues in the hope of getting the upper hand against the New Men. What Maddox & Co finds this time exceeds their wildest dreams and it is not only artefacts that they find.
The book ends the current story arc and it is a fairly satisfactory ending which, at the same time, leaves plenty of openings for a continuation of the adventures in this Science Fiction universe. These books are nicely written and easy to read adventure stories. The characters are quite colourful and often likable. I for one hope that the author has plans to create a new story arc which takes off from where this one ended.
January 25, 2016
Fun read!
This was a very entertaining series. You really get to know the characters, it is like reading a James Bond series! Lots of action and drama, it's an easy read and good vacation material. The last book was left open ended enough to allow for another book in the series.
This was a very entertaining series. You really get to know the characters, it is like reading a James Bond series! Lots of action and drama, it's an easy read and good vacation material. The last book was left open ended enough to allow for another book in the series.
September 27, 2016
Have to admit - I didn't want to enjoy these - however they won me over.
sometimes you just need that Godzilla movie on a Saturday with that Swanson TV dinner hangin out cauze the weathers not good.
This is that series, fun read - won't change your mind or lifestyle, you won't be thinking of it years from now, however you will enjoy the 'ride'.
sometimes you just need that Godzilla movie on a Saturday with that Swanson TV dinner hangin out cauze the weathers not good.
This is that series, fun read - won't change your mind or lifestyle, you won't be thinking of it years from now, however you will enjoy the 'ride'.
January 14, 2019
The fourth entry of author Vaughn Heppner’s Lost Starship series opens with Admiral Fletcher and Lord High Admiral Cook conversing about battles that occurred at the end of the prior book, with the former tasked with fighting the antagonistic New Men. The action then advances seven months later, with the New Men taking advantage of whom they term “sub-men,” with the Methuselah Man Strand and New Man Pa Kur further plotting, the latter leading a Seven, the New Men’s equivalent of a sub-man’s squad, and taking over a Commonwealth vessel.
The action ultimately moves to Captain Maddox, who is at a casino and confronts whom he at first suspects to be fellow humans, only to discover them to be androids, with this particular plot point prevalent throughout the story, the captain himself suspected to be an android. Maddox receives a holoimage communication from Professor Ludendorff, who tells him to visit the Xerxes System. Sergeant Riker, in the meantime, worries for his friend and superior, with the Adok AI of the starship Victory, Galyan, working on getting clearance to a restricted area Dr. Dana Rich is visiting, as well.
Riker too receives a holoimage communication from the professor, with Maddox imprisoned in an underwater prison facility below what used to be Greenland, damaged ecologically by nuclear warfare in the past. His companions plot to break him out and regain control of the Victory, with the protagonists eventually finding themselves far from the Solar System thanks to a wormhole, transported near a Dyson sphere that holds key to the mysteries of the Builders, an ancient civilization. The franchise’s secondary antagonists, the Swarm, also receive some elaboration, the captain eventually meeting the leader of the Builders.
An epilogue settles the fates of the characters after the book’s main events, ultimately accounting for a satisfying read with plenty of thrills sure to satisfy most fans of the science-fiction genre. As before, however, there are some parallels to the Star Trek franchise, such as the genetic supermen, and the author could have again named the hereditary superiors something other than “the New Men.” Many of the twists later on in the story also seem somewhat redundant and predictable, although this reviewer definitely enjoyed the fourth installment and would recommend it to readers who liked its precursors.
The action ultimately moves to Captain Maddox, who is at a casino and confronts whom he at first suspects to be fellow humans, only to discover them to be androids, with this particular plot point prevalent throughout the story, the captain himself suspected to be an android. Maddox receives a holoimage communication from Professor Ludendorff, who tells him to visit the Xerxes System. Sergeant Riker, in the meantime, worries for his friend and superior, with the Adok AI of the starship Victory, Galyan, working on getting clearance to a restricted area Dr. Dana Rich is visiting, as well.
Riker too receives a holoimage communication from the professor, with Maddox imprisoned in an underwater prison facility below what used to be Greenland, damaged ecologically by nuclear warfare in the past. His companions plot to break him out and regain control of the Victory, with the protagonists eventually finding themselves far from the Solar System thanks to a wormhole, transported near a Dyson sphere that holds key to the mysteries of the Builders, an ancient civilization. The franchise’s secondary antagonists, the Swarm, also receive some elaboration, the captain eventually meeting the leader of the Builders.
An epilogue settles the fates of the characters after the book’s main events, ultimately accounting for a satisfying read with plenty of thrills sure to satisfy most fans of the science-fiction genre. As before, however, there are some parallels to the Star Trek franchise, such as the genetic supermen, and the author could have again named the hereditary superiors something other than “the New Men.” Many of the twists later on in the story also seem somewhat redundant and predictable, although this reviewer definitely enjoyed the fourth installment and would recommend it to readers who liked its precursors.
October 9, 2020
I really don't know why am I going through this series. Characters could be at home in any pulp sf from the 50s, together with sexist gender roles. Starting with our heroes' romantic interest who first shows up to us in a fur bikini back in book one. Everyone is impressed with our main hero even though most of the time he concludes either obvious stuff or something pulled out of the hat. And random bible thumping makes me chuckle every time since it must happen once per book. The immortal cybernetic alien wants to die but can't kill itself because it's scared of the god. Yep, the argument for why suicide is wrong, in the eyes of our brave hero is 'cuz god said so'. The insistence that all the good characters are religous and all the evil and corrupted are atheists is laughable and quite frankly cute in the clumsiness of execution. The so called New Men ain't even a race, since they can't reproduce naturally but need regular old human women to continue their race ... which makes them not a race at all, but a dead end genetic anomoly. And for their often mentioned superiority they fail to understand that. Oh, and they are quasi-nazi's too ... atheist quasi-nazi's to be more accurate.
But just as you watch a trainwreck, horrified and disgusted you can't turn away and keep looking, I keep reading this series.
But just as you watch a trainwreck, horrified and disgusted you can't turn away and keep looking, I keep reading this series.
August 7, 2023
Decent, but Disappointing
A big fan of “The Lost Battleship” series, I expected the same level of action as in previous installments. However, this novel seemed to drag on in comparison, never seeming to get to same level of intensity or excitement as the others in this series. Because I genuinely appreciate the characters and overall plot of the series, I will continue reading with the next book, but had I read this novel first I would have written off the rest of the series.
Vaughn Heppner is a fantastic author, but I felt this book fell far short of his capabilities.
A big fan of “The Lost Battleship” series, I expected the same level of action as in previous installments. However, this novel seemed to drag on in comparison, never seeming to get to same level of intensity or excitement as the others in this series. Because I genuinely appreciate the characters and overall plot of the series, I will continue reading with the next book, but had I read this novel first I would have written off the rest of the series.
Vaughn Heppner is a fantastic author, but I felt this book fell far short of his capabilities.
September 2, 2019
Sometimes
Sometimes an author has to keep dragging a storyline out in order to continue trying to make money off it instead of just coming up with a new idea. This seems to be the case here. The story could have ended in a trilogy, but even that was really too much. I foresee this being one of those 15 book series like others in an attempt to make money off a single idea. It’s just a matter of how long a reader wants to hang on. I think I’m ready to get off.
Sometimes an author has to keep dragging a storyline out in order to continue trying to make money off it instead of just coming up with a new idea. This seems to be the case here. The story could have ended in a trilogy, but even that was really too much. I foresee this being one of those 15 book series like others in an attempt to make money off a single idea. It’s just a matter of how long a reader wants to hang on. I think I’m ready to get off.
August 27, 2021
Finally some answers
After months of struggle Star Watch seems to be on a better footing.
However, an invitation for Captain Maddox has many people on edge. Androids are turning up in unexpected places.
But answers are about to be revealed…good and bad.
A great continuation of this exciting series. Just when you think you get it or understand someone - you don’t!
After months of struggle Star Watch seems to be on a better footing.
However, an invitation for Captain Maddox has many people on edge. Androids are turning up in unexpected places.
But answers are about to be revealed…good and bad.
A great continuation of this exciting series. Just when you think you get it or understand someone - you don’t!
February 16, 2025
Captain Maddox continues doing what he can to save humanity, in action and in dialogue. This is milli Space-Opera, but free of its typical flaws. No info dumps about space battles, long plots about captaincy or multiple POVs. Big space structures and charismatic characters that are sometimes too philosophical.
September 30, 2018
Excellent continuation of the story arc!
This was the best of the books so far! It clarified more details as it skillfully added some new aspects to complicate Captain Maddox and his family/crew.
Looking forward to reading the next ones!
This was the best of the books so far! It clarified more details as it skillfully added some new aspects to complicate Captain Maddox and his family/crew.
Looking forward to reading the next ones!
December 11, 2018
In this book I fimd everything, what I like in a SF: Adventure, secrets, exciting, some space battle, some shot. This part of this series convinced me to read the remained part of the this series. Why didn't I put 5 star to this novel ? Well, so, I hold it to very best readings.
March 31, 2022
I am enjoying this whole series by Vaughn Heppner on Audible. It is pure space opera with an ongoing story line. It does not require deep thinking, only enjoying the evolving characters and their adventures.
September 28, 2022
Not great. Another enemy and another adversary is introduced and I feel myself not really caring about where the story is going to go next.
I think I might take a break from the series. Might pick it back up if I'm in the mood for goofy gary sue scifi again.
I think I might take a break from the series. Might pick it back up if I'm in the mood for goofy gary sue scifi again.
October 26, 2023
unexpected nuances
Really enjoyable intergalactic romp, nice to see the characters bedding in and the wider group working so well in parallel.! Its great to know that there are more unexpected surprises around the corner. Super series
Really enjoyable intergalactic romp, nice to see the characters bedding in and the wider group working so well in parallel.! Its great to know that there are more unexpected surprises around the corner. Super series
March 11, 2025
My new favorite of this series so far. I love that we got to find out more about the mysterious builders and strange new technologies and that it wasn't all explained. I liked also that it wasn't as heavily focussed on the new men as the other books as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2017
Slow paced
Not at all in keeping with the previous books in this series. To slow to develop the plot.I was disappointed
Not at all in keeping with the previous books in this series. To slow to develop the plot.I was disappointed
February 8, 2017
Fun space adventure
Action packed space adventure, complete with aliens, laser beams, and wormholes. Recommend the entire series. Congrats to author, Vaughn Heppner.
Action packed space adventure, complete with aliens, laser beams, and wormholes. Recommend the entire series. Congrats to author, Vaughn Heppner.
June 17, 2017
The emotional stuff was off putting.
October 5, 2017
Only book four
The series is very entertaining and an easy read.
Yet it does captivate and requires your return.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Cool!
The series is very entertaining and an easy read.
Yet it does captivate and requires your return.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Cool!
December 30, 2017
a page turner
once I started this series, I couldn't put it down! I can't write more because I need to start the next book!
once I started this series, I couldn't put it down! I can't write more because I need to start the next book!
June 28, 2018
More of a great series
Wonderful imagination! Creates different space tech than I am used to. Really good story! I recommend it highly, non-stop action and suspense!
Wonderful imagination! Creates different space tech than I am used to. Really good story! I recommend it highly, non-stop action and suspense!
September 27, 2018
Well worth a read!
Excellent and engaging series. The characters are well drawn and the storyline holds the readers interest. Sci-fi with humanity! Keep writing.
Excellent and engaging series. The characters are well drawn and the storyline holds the readers interest. Sci-fi with humanity! Keep writing.
December 20, 2018
Not a deep book, but intriguing story - and keeps me interested. Good space opera
April 28, 2019
good read
alot of twists and turns for the crew in this book. fun read definately a page turner. I enjoy this series and I can't wait to see what else is in-store.
alot of twists and turns for the crew in this book. fun read definately a page turner. I enjoy this series and I can't wait to see what else is in-store.
August 14, 2019
Can't wait for every entry in the series, another excellent addition.
January 27, 2020
Why can't I submit an empty review when it says 'optional'?
May 17, 2020
Great
I liked this book. It provides an excellent plot and good characters. I will read the next book. Overall, superior.
I liked this book. It provides an excellent plot and good characters. I will read the next book. Overall, superior.
June 13, 2020
4.5/5
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews