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Host Saga #1
Future Discovered
Van Childs’ accidental discovery of an alien cache of advanced technologies thrusts him into the role of reluctant hero. Learning of an extra-terrestrial race, the Host, who visited Earth some 200 years before, Van is forewarned of an impending invasion by the Arkon, an expansionist race. Van’s quest to prepare Earth meets with opposition by a powerful human adversary with conflicting goals. Who will win?
- GenresScience Fiction
284 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2017
About the author
Michael J. Farlow
11 books12 followersMike is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. He served a career as a Navy combat pilot and in senior positions on staffs in Washington, D.C. Following his military service, he filled a number of positions in aerospace systems engineering in several Fortune 500 companies. In a desire to help people develop he earned a PhD in Organizational Leadership and started a leadership development company for coaching and training.
Writing was a survival process in his doctoral work and from that came the well-received non-fiction book Leaders are Made Not Born. That writing and publishing experience lead to his desire to write fiction which he now enjoys in his free time . . . when, of course, he is not also enjoying salt water fishing.
In his Blog, he is detailing the adventure of his science fiction writing plus updates on his work. Take a look.
Writing was a survival process in his doctoral work and from that came the well-received non-fiction book Leaders are Made Not Born. That writing and publishing experience lead to his desire to write fiction which he now enjoys in his free time . . . when, of course, he is not also enjoying salt water fishing.
In his Blog, he is detailing the adventure of his science fiction writing plus updates on his work. Take a look.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 9, 2017
Disclaimer, I won this book for free in a giveaway. 1.5, but I can't, in good conscience, round up for this one.
The novel reminded me of a hodgepodge of action and superhero movies all kind of coalesced into one novel— it became very obvious that certain aspects of the novel are directly influenced by, if not straight lifted, from other pieces of media; I was reading it wondering when the next reference would come in, or when I would be duly reminded of a a basic action movie I saw when I was fourteen.
Basically, I read this novel realizing that I've already read/watched/listened to this plot a thousand times before, but in much more interesting of manners than what Farlow gives his audience. To be quite honest, it was kind of trite.
The fight scenes seem to be more of a 'look how many different guns and tactics I can fit into a paragraph' than interesting fights, his main character is a very blatant self-insert that despite being Luke (George Lucas' self-insert— see, I can also 'coy' references to other series to show my reader that my writing is 'in the know') somehow manages to attain no real personality other than: brash, condescending, and apparently intelligent.
Now, I say apparently intelligent because this man is supposed to be given a super soldier serum to make him better, stronger, faster, than he was before
(he is the one okay? he needs to be ridiculously OP for sake of being the best human ever somehow despite his prejudices— which he says he has none of which just *rolls eyes* I'll believe that once you mention any kind of terrorism or terrorist group in your novel other than Muslim ones and once he treats the one woman in the entire novel better than a slightly more inept silk house plant)
but unless he purposefully surrounds himself with imbeciles, he's no more intelligent than a vaguely clever 'normal' person.
He also is a really crappy version of this guy (to whom the tech Van Childs uses deserves compensation for usage omg)
On top of all of this, the plot gets lost somewhere in the middle and we're treated to tedious fight after fight where absolutely nothing happens of import. The problem of telling, not showing, everything, made me feel like a passive audience as well— I wasn't involved or cared about what ended up happening to the characters; the most interesting character, honestly, was Peter, and I think the novel would have been better off had he been utilized better. It's not my novel, though.
Read this if you like male power-fantasies, don't care about a cohesive plot structure, and harbor inherent prejudices towards those different from you because the six million the world already has can never be enough.
The novel reminded me of a hodgepodge of action and superhero movies all kind of coalesced into one novel— it became very obvious that certain aspects of the novel are directly influenced by, if not straight lifted, from other pieces of media; I was reading it wondering when the next reference would come in, or when I would be duly reminded of a a basic action movie I saw when I was fourteen.
Basically, I read this novel realizing that I've already read/watched/listened to this plot a thousand times before, but in much more interesting of manners than what Farlow gives his audience. To be quite honest, it was kind of trite.
The fight scenes seem to be more of a 'look how many different guns and tactics I can fit into a paragraph' than interesting fights, his main character is a very blatant self-insert that despite being Luke (George Lucas' self-insert— see, I can also 'coy' references to other series to show my reader that my writing is 'in the know') somehow manages to attain no real personality other than: brash, condescending, and apparently intelligent.
Now, I say apparently intelligent because this man is supposed to be given a super soldier serum to make him better, stronger, faster, than he was before
(he is the one okay? he needs to be ridiculously OP for sake of being the best human ever somehow despite his prejudices— which he says he has none of which just *rolls eyes* I'll believe that once you mention any kind of terrorism or terrorist group in your novel other than Muslim ones and once he treats the one woman in the entire novel better than a slightly more inept silk house plant)
but unless he purposefully surrounds himself with imbeciles, he's no more intelligent than a vaguely clever 'normal' person.
He also is a really crappy version of this guy (to whom the tech Van Childs uses deserves compensation for usage omg)
On top of all of this, the plot gets lost somewhere in the middle and we're treated to tedious fight after fight where absolutely nothing happens of import. The problem of telling, not showing, everything, made me feel like a passive audience as well— I wasn't involved or cared about what ended up happening to the characters; the most interesting character, honestly, was Peter, and I think the novel would have been better off had he been utilized better. It's not my novel, though.
Read this if you like male power-fantasies, don't care about a cohesive plot structure, and harbor inherent prejudices towards those different from you because the six million the world already has can never be enough.
March 19, 2018
"Beam me down, Harry."
Once upon a time, on a planet far, far away, an human-like population grew, advanced technically, and spread into the stars. Then these peaceful peoples encountered an alien race intent on expansion and attacked. Forced to flee and hide, a group of so 15,000 survivors landed on earth and prepared hidden bases, only accessible to people like themselves, to advance and arm the more backward earthlings should they be attacked, in turn, by the warlike Arkons in the future.
Two hundred years later, 2015, Van Childs, an ex Navy pilot with a head bigger than most, finds an hidden mountain facility with an A.I. caretaker who makes him an offer he can't refuse ...
OK, start of story and it is a reasonable plot. The beginning chapters, too, are intriguing and draw in the reader to the story. Unfortunately, the writing is (to put it kindly) naive, with the protagonists flat despite their background information, more cartoons than living entities, and none of them are very pleasant. The baddie - and there has to be a baddie - might be a money hungry capitalist but he really doesn't seem any more despicable than the hero who wants to kill him at all cost, and the one female player, the romance angle if it can be called that, is a woman who had rejected the hero of the piece some years before when he was a mere pilot, but now he is the CEO of a rising multi national company, and rich, she suddenly finds that she loved him and wants their relationship back. They are all very two dimensional and dreary; but the ideas are good and new equipment manifests itself at just the right time, although even the action lacks sparkle or tension.
A serious rewriting of the book could work wonders. Until then, not a reading recommendation I could make. It might make a decent comic book cartoon/ film, though.
Once upon a time, on a planet far, far away, an human-like population grew, advanced technically, and spread into the stars. Then these peaceful peoples encountered an alien race intent on expansion and attacked. Forced to flee and hide, a group of so 15,000 survivors landed on earth and prepared hidden bases, only accessible to people like themselves, to advance and arm the more backward earthlings should they be attacked, in turn, by the warlike Arkons in the future.
Two hundred years later, 2015, Van Childs, an ex Navy pilot with a head bigger than most, finds an hidden mountain facility with an A.I. caretaker who makes him an offer he can't refuse ...
OK, start of story and it is a reasonable plot. The beginning chapters, too, are intriguing and draw in the reader to the story. Unfortunately, the writing is (to put it kindly) naive, with the protagonists flat despite their background information, more cartoons than living entities, and none of them are very pleasant. The baddie - and there has to be a baddie - might be a money hungry capitalist but he really doesn't seem any more despicable than the hero who wants to kill him at all cost, and the one female player, the romance angle if it can be called that, is a woman who had rejected the hero of the piece some years before when he was a mere pilot, but now he is the CEO of a rising multi national company, and rich, she suddenly finds that she loved him and wants their relationship back. They are all very two dimensional and dreary; but the ideas are good and new equipment manifests itself at just the right time, although even the action lacks sparkle or tension.
A serious rewriting of the book could work wonders. Until then, not a reading recommendation I could make. It might make a decent comic book cartoon/ film, though.
June 14, 2018
Van Childs is hiking in an area north of Flagstaff when he comes across an area that would be perfect for his retirement cabin. As he inspects the site closer, it looks as if the foundation was just laid. This is odd as he wasn’t expecting any sites. He comes across a metal bar, which opens an entrance to a cave.
As Van explores the cave, he is introduced into an artificial intelligence who was placed on Earth around 200 years ago. The Galactic Hosts were an intelligent yet peaceful race. They eventually found themselves in defending themselves against the Arkons. When the Hosts left Earth, they left the site so that someone on Earth could potentially learn from their knowledge. Van happens to meet this profile.
Van agrees to go along with the AI’s plan for learning about this technology in exchange for being able to introduce it to the world in a way that he sees fit, which will benefit the entire Earth, not just one nation. One of the major reasons he agrees to this, he has ALS and the AI has promised to “cure” him after the one year trial period.
Van and Harry (his name for the AI) begin to introduce a medical scanner to the world. Upon doing so, there is one individual who wants to get his hand on this technology…and so the rest of the story begins.
It was clear that the author’s history in the navy is integrated throughout the book, almost too much. I must say that the more detailed he got in the strategy and attack sections, the more I skimmed the book. While I like the thought of advanced technology from another race being introduced to us, to help the betterment of the world, I struggled with the book. The story itself was ok. I also thought it had too many references to modern day sci-fi stories already written (e.g., Star Trek).
Unfortunately, I do not plan to read the additional books in this series.
As Van explores the cave, he is introduced into an artificial intelligence who was placed on Earth around 200 years ago. The Galactic Hosts were an intelligent yet peaceful race. They eventually found themselves in defending themselves against the Arkons. When the Hosts left Earth, they left the site so that someone on Earth could potentially learn from their knowledge. Van happens to meet this profile.
Van agrees to go along with the AI’s plan for learning about this technology in exchange for being able to introduce it to the world in a way that he sees fit, which will benefit the entire Earth, not just one nation. One of the major reasons he agrees to this, he has ALS and the AI has promised to “cure” him after the one year trial period.
Van and Harry (his name for the AI) begin to introduce a medical scanner to the world. Upon doing so, there is one individual who wants to get his hand on this technology…and so the rest of the story begins.
It was clear that the author’s history in the navy is integrated throughout the book, almost too much. I must say that the more detailed he got in the strategy and attack sections, the more I skimmed the book. While I like the thought of advanced technology from another race being introduced to us, to help the betterment of the world, I struggled with the book. The story itself was ok. I also thought it had too many references to modern day sci-fi stories already written (e.g., Star Trek).
Unfortunately, I do not plan to read the additional books in this series.
March 7, 2018
Took me a while to get into this book as the first half seemed amateurish - good plot, pretty good characters, but not very well written. So when I picked it back up (after reading several other books between) I intended just to skim it to find out the ending. The author actually learned as he went along though and after quickly getting through another couple chapters I found myself involved and actually read the remainder. I guess I'll try the sequel.
March 29, 2018
Ok, this is just a a “quickie” review. Unfortunately, I’m in a hospital and asked my husband to post this since I don’t have the time or ability right now to do better - even though the book definitely deserves it.
Bottom line: five stars. This was one wonderfully fun novel and definitely recommended. It had just what I wanted and was well written and with a great plot and great cast of characters.
Bottom line: five stars. This was one wonderfully fun novel and definitely recommended. It had just what I wanted and was well written and with a great plot and great cast of characters.
August 21, 2021
Future Discovered (Host Saga #1) was a good read by Michael J. Farlow. Van Childs’ accidentally discovered an alien cache of advanced technologies. Now he finds himself the reluctant hero. The Host is an extra-terrestrial race who visited Earth 200 years before. Van is forewarned of an invasion by the Akron, an expansionist race. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.
August 19, 2017
Really liked the pace, it's pull on my sci-fi side, and the ethical challenges around fortune, technology, and medicine. Interesting, appealing characters. I'll be getting the next book in Mike Farlow's series--Immortal Guardian!
March 14, 2018
Opens well. I enjoyed the hike up the mountain but once Val entered the cave the detail got tedious and I rapidly lost interest. Were I a speed-reader I might have skimmed the pages just to finish but I still would not have enjoyed the book.
May 23, 2017
Excellent book! Enjoyed it immensely! Well written, fast paced, lots of action and good plot. Waiting for Book #@!
June 30, 2017
Good plot but I just couldn't get into the book.
September 24, 2019
*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*
3.5/5
I like the general premise of the story and how it started, the tech that is within, and also the pacing of the story. Things got a bit jump the shark-ish with what the MC was able to do, and I was also miffed about some of the plot devices used to fulfill a necessary action to move the story forward. I was especially miffed at the interactions of the MC and the antagonist. They walk a think line between of being Mary-Stu's, and I have no idea how any of the "stalemates" occur in the story. Like other reviews stated, this book comes awfully close to two different popular books in the genre; I partially agree, but I also believe the author steers it away by the end of the book. Also, having bigger heads/brains does not make you smarter. ;)
At the end of the day, this wasnt that bad of a read - give it chance; you may like it!
3.5/5
I like the general premise of the story and how it started, the tech that is within, and also the pacing of the story. Things got a bit jump the shark-ish with what the MC was able to do, and I was also miffed about some of the plot devices used to fulfill a necessary action to move the story forward. I was especially miffed at the interactions of the MC and the antagonist. They walk a think line between of being Mary-Stu's, and I have no idea how any of the "stalemates" occur in the story. Like other reviews stated, this book comes awfully close to two different popular books in the genre; I partially agree, but I also believe the author steers it away by the end of the book. Also, having bigger heads/brains does not make you smarter. ;)
At the end of the day, this wasnt that bad of a read - give it chance; you may like it!
May 5, 2017
I really hope Mike continues this saga for many books.
Really enjoyed reading this, It is well written novel. The characters are well fleshed out. Hope to see more real soon.
Really enjoyed reading this, It is well written novel. The characters are well fleshed out. Hope to see more real soon.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews