Lyssa's Dream

The Sentience Wars: Origins #1

by M.D. Cooper

It has been one-hundred and seventy-five years since the birth of the first truly sentient AI. It has been just two short years since Lyssa's birth...Captain Andy Sykes just wants to keep his family in one piece.Once a combat pilot for the TSF, he gave it all up for love and a family. But two years ago, his wife disappeared, leaving him with two mouths to eight year-old Tim, ten year-old Cara.Since then, he's managed to scrape a living hauling cargo between the Jovian Combine and InnerSol. It's not glamorous, his ship's falling apart, and it's boring as hell, but it keeps them in fuel and calories.When a cargo run to Cruithne Station meets with more than one catastrophe, Andy finds himself accepting an offer a less desperate man would delivering an illegal AI named Lyssa.The AI is the property of Heartbridge, a powerful, interplanetary corporation, and they want their latest weapon back. With a private army, gangs, and pirates all vying for the precious cargo Andy carries, it's going to take everything Andy has to keep his ship flying, his kids safe, and get Lyssa to her destination.Even if he succeeds, Lyssa's very existence may spark a war like no other humanity has ever seen.Reading OrderThe Aeon 14 universe is vast and growing quickly. To help you know where to go next, pick up the handy dandy FREE READING amazon.com/dp/B073MY9Z87 About M. D. Cooper & Aeon 14M. D. Cooper is a New York Times bestselling author who has envisioned a rich future for humanity, one where planet-sized megastructures house trillions of humans, but traveling between the stars still takes decades, or even centuries.Fans of Ringworld, Honor Harrington, The Expanse, or Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War will feel right at home in the Aeon 14 universe, and in this, the first book of the Sentience Origins series.M. D. Cooper has teamed up with James S. Aaron to bring the stories of the Sentience War that shaped the Sol System. James is a Science Fiction Author and Army veteran with experience in journalism, airspace control, and chicken wrangling.Over the course of the next few years, M. D. Cooper plans to release an additional twenty-two books in this expanding universe. So get on board the Intrepid with Tanis and see what the stars hold for us.What is Aeon 14?The universe of Aeon 14 is based on the premise that advanced, intelligent, starfaring life takes 14 billion years to evolve. In astronomy an aeon is a billion years. In Aeon 14, humanity is at the leading edge of this evolution in the Milky Way Galaxy.Humanity and the AIs they have created spread out amongst the stars and find that they are alone, though it may not always be that way...

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Artificial Intelligence, Fiction, Space

387 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2017

About the author

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

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

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

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

Reviews

[Si Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a lot of ways, this was your typical space opera. You've got an ex-military main character, smugglers, folks just trying to eke out an honest(ish) living in a hostile universe, a rundown ancient spaceship, and a job gone wrong. What makes this one unique is the fact Andy's got his kids in tow.

Andy's barely holding his head above water, keeping his two small kids and himself safe and fed.

The devoted single father doing his best trope made this one remind me of Dave Walsh's Broken Ascension.

[Mick Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting "beginnings" story about the earliest of the AI's. We meet Lyssa, an AI that has been trained as a weapon, but she wants to become better then this. With the help of Andy she starts on that journey. I am looking forward to hearing more about Lyssa's journeys.

[Bulldogwings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book through Audible and was absolutely captivated. I knew one of these guys was a vet. We know our own. I am knee deep in book two now. Why this series is not tearing up the net is beyond me. I hesitate to call this 'space opera' because I don't think that appellation gives the work the dignity it deserves. I am a total fan of "The Expanse" series. I think this series is better, much better. The characters are sooooo very human. They are real, complex, messy even. The story is compelling and ripe with the possibilies of humanity, the good, the bad and the dark/ugly. I recommend listening to the audible version, because I think that Laura Jennings brings these characters to life in a very wonderful way. You boys done real good! I will be posting a great review to the Audible site. Captain Aaron (yeah it's a guess, probably wrong but I was enlisted, whata ya expect) thanks for your service and thanks for providing an old crippled vet with something to take his mind off the pain at o'dark:30. Mr. Cooper, many thanks as well. I just found Aaron's info easier than I seemed to find yours. Get this series ya'll! You will not be disappointed. You will laugh and cry and maybe curse a bit but you will not be disappointed

[Frank Bertino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voices In My Head

Captain Andy Sykes is just trying to hold it together and protect his family. Where did his wife go? As a freighter owner, he expected to carry cargo in his ship. But in his head? Lyssa the AI , could she be a problem or asset? I like the action, humor and interaction with the kids. I look forward to the next book.

[Fiannawolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta catch up my goodreads profile, been too busy working for more book funds, so here we are.

You won't catch these Rabbits!

Andy is a good dad. Everything he does and sacrifices in the whole book is for his kids. Gives a really good jumping off point to the series. Will def. love to see where this goes in the future.

Plus its refreshing to see kids written well. Most times they are turned into small adults. His kids remind me of how my brother and I acted when we were young.

Yes, I am biased. So what? Read the sample for yourself to see if its something you want to read. Plus if you are a KU member....take full advantage and get this series. Aeon 14 has something for everyone.

I got the chance to get an early copy but still bought one. Why? Because writers need money. More money means more books for me.

[Allen Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with the rest of the Aeon 14 books I enjoyed this immensely. The characters were well developed although I'm not really sure where the Fran vs Petral relationship is going but I assume it will be developed more in the next book (which already queued up to read). Brit's story was a little confusing at first, I wasn't sure if she was dead or not but the incident with 8221 helped clear it up a bit. I like the way the cache of weapons in Alex's ship was developed into a link back to Brit. Lyssa, the AI was very interesting given the premise of the series (The Sentience Wars). I also appreciate that Mr. Cooper and his cohorts have developed an entire ecosystem with his Aeon 14 worlds. This makes the entire series fulfilling having all the gaps filled in and not just hinted at throughout the stories. I don't even mind that they weren't written in sequence.

[Leslie Baptiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but slow.

I enjoyed the character and world building aspects of this book. Unfortunately like most books that start up a new series it was slow to develop, a lot of backstory. If you like families who are struggling to succeed in a science-fiction World then this book is for you.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although there is plenty of action you expect in an Aeon 14 story, Lyssa's Dream centers on a single-parent (for the moment) father and his two children. It is an interesting look at parenthood in extremely dangerous circumstances.

[Wilco Roos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

A real corkscrew of a story, the distopian feel in this one is high. I do love the intrigues and the overall characters, but you have to work trough a lot of hopelessness to get there.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Lyssa's Dream! Great characters and plot. I'm ready for more of Andy and company!

[Ann Zdunczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got better and better

Was a little slow getting started but then it started to move and boy did it move!! Can't wait for the next one!!

[Don Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

A great start to a unique series. Now we can see what happened in the time of the sentience wars.

[Rebecca Corvello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Wished this series was finished so I could read them all at once!

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019 grade C

This is sort of two interwoven stories about the same character. The secondary story is told in full chapter flash backs from his early life to pretty much his "current" day. They can all be skipped as near as I can tell. Once I figured out the book's structure, I skipped all but some of the early flash back chapters.

The primary story reminded me of old post World War 2 tramp freighter movies. The ships were always falling apart, the owner/captains were always on the verge of going broke (or broke), and they dealt mostly with nefarious characters. In this case it is a small, old spaceship/freighter hauling cargoes around the earth solar system. They end up at a place run by numerous mob groups, small and large. It is pretty dystopian and not my thing. The much flaunted AI does not enter the picture until the very end of the story, especially the epilogue! The AI is mainly the cargo/excuse to get the captain in trouble.

Although it is quite well written, I am not interested in any other stories this dark universe.

[Lissa Notreallywolf]

Advertised as science fiction I listed to this as an audio book. I liked it well enough to move on to the next volume, in part because I felt like Andy Sikes is a good dad, raising two children largely alone on their spaceship, Sunny Skies. Kyra, his eldest daughter, is very nice and I felt the depiction of the younger brother was a good rendition of sibling rivalry when the younger is a brother. I doesn't entirely make sense with the absence of the mother, Britt, because Kira is filling in. Harrowing times lead to other crew members joining them, one a more intimate passenger than one might guess, being an implanted AI. I learned that Lyssa is the Goddess of War and Terror, a Fury-the first time I had ever encountered this factoid which I then verified with a few reference books after hitting up Google. Grateful I am with an "i". Another passenger is Fran, a gifted mechanical genius and a wounded soldier/bodyguard. I remain uncertain as to how her name is spelled, but she's a real trip. Would listen to this yarn again; actually, the whole series was entertaining.

[C. Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story drug on and on fluffed with boring, repetitive detail not that relevant to the plot thread line. The basis for the story is the AI, but that is never really defined or developed at all. The spaceship elements sounded more like an old boat than a spaceship. Characterization is well developed to the point of overkill. The kids' insertions, repeated over and over from beginning to end, got boring fast. Flashbacks really weren't that relevant to the point of the story either. While they helped a bit with characterizations, again, they just drew the story out ad nauseum. Much of what was relevant was never clarified, like the station and the gangs. IMHO, the book needs major content editing. I guess the authors wanted a longer book, more words, but it dragged on so badly I could never read more than two or three pages at a time before it put me to sleep. It took me over a month to get through it. I can't recommend it.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting story that held my attention, but it had several irritations.
I don't mind an occasional flashback when it helps explain something in the main story, but I don't really like it when the author constantly jumps backwards and forwards in time. For me it disrupts the flow of both stories and the only way I could get to the end of the book was to skip read quite big chunks of the book.
I thought the authors were trying too hard, they over described, often repeated things and become really frantic at times , also given the title was ’Lyssa’s Dream’ it took far too long for her to appear. I got the strong impression the authors were again trying too hard to be enigmatic and it makes me wonder whether it is worth continuing with this series.
If possible I would have given 2.5 stars.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read

This was an excellent book that painted future as it could be. In this work you see both the good and bad of humanity, the advances that could make a paradise but often leave us in a mess.

This is very much a character-driven story where you can believe the people you're reading about really exist. The characters are not black and white, but are made of shades of grey. Sometimes they make the right decisions and sometimes they don't. In other words, they are very human even when they are not human. I can highly recommend this book if you want realistic science fiction.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this because it looked intriguing. It turned out to be a solid story about two ex-soldiers who buy an old freighter who then have kids and then get caught up in some galaxy-changing shenanigans. Little did I know that this was the tip of the iceberg for a truly massive future history called Aeon 14 written by a few authors, created by Malorie Cooper.

Not counting omnibus editions, I think it’s more than 130 books. I mean, look at this list: https://www.aeon14.com/master-book-list It’s truly impressive.

They have a cool website: https://www.aeon14.com/

So if you want to get into an epic space opera series, here it is.

[Peter Plantec · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s a slow starter, but keep going.

Lyssa’s Dream is a complex bit of scifi drama. The characters are well drawn and there is emotion a’plenty. It’s a set of coming of age stories, at least the start of them. This book spends very little time on Lyssa’s Dream and much time setting the background for what is to come in the series. It’s pretty good stuff. I will be continuing the series. One thing to note is the parent child relationships are complex and interesting. These children are extremely advanced for their ages, but I chalk that up to evolution. Enjoy your read.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this story - setting is a lot closer to present day, and the technology on display reinforces this quite well, and in some ways makes it more relatable than other Aeon 14 books set further into the future. Andy, Cara and Tim are great characters, with some painful backstory. They pretty quickly get into the thick of things at their next stop, as the opening salvos of the sentience wars are made. While quite a big fight / mess, is also apparent that this is probably just a minor skirmish against what is likely to come, and I look forward to reading the next book!

[Guy Wheatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the AI element. Unfortunately we don’t get the that until the very end of the book. The story really follows a single father trying to raise his two kids on the falling apart freighter. He’s on the brink of having to sell the ship for scrap when he get’s tangled up with a powerful criminal.
The characters are not especially believable. The ten-year-old girl is too mature, the boy too immature. The dueling crime bosses don’t come across as cut-throat as real criminals would be.
But I did like the basic concept and hope that in future books, we get more into the AI.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent sci-fi adventure

Lyssa’s Dream is the second Aeon 14 novel I’ve read, after The Proteus Bridge. And it was good enough that I went purchased the rest of the Sentience Wars series. It was that good.

Captain Andy Sykes is an interesting protagonist, as he is more of a regular person trying to do the best for his kids, rather than a destined hero type. It will be interesting seeing how he evolves as a character over the remainder of the series.

Highly recommend. Absolutely reading more.

[Julie Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this 4 stars but the authors kept flinging me out of the story by including odd chapters about the past instead of constantly moving it forward.

You might think the story is about a sentient AI named Lyssa but she barely makes an appearance, nor is it really a complete story only the first volume in one.

PS there is also a rather obvious editing error where taught is substituted for taut.

[Kian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was OK but I expected more..maybe something like how Master Chief and Cortana were in HALO but it was a letdown, also the book is called Lyssa's dream but we don't hear from her in the entire book, just a tiny bit at the end. I also think Andy character is a wuss, he needs to toughen up, he was a soldier after all. maybe book 2 will be better..otherwise, O wouldn't recommend this book.

[Jeannie Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rabbit country: keep your head down, ears up and be ready to run

This is an excellent beginning to what I hope is going to be an awesome series in the Aeon 14 universe. It has a very realistic feel, even though it is set in a futuristic landscape. It portrays the true hopes and fears of every parent while providing plenty of action and adventure.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the Sentience Wars

I really liked this different perspective of the Aeon 14 universe. I'm interested to learn how Andy reconciles his relationship with Brit. I'm intrigued to find out more about Lyssa. The last chapter really put a "human" touch on her character. Recommend.

[IMHO · Rating 4 out of 5]

RECOMMENDED

Lyssa's Dream is the first book of Origin - The Sentience Wars.
This is a spin-off or cycle series, and it would probably help to
have read the earlier books; so it started a little slow for me, but
I like the characters and the story moves at a good pace. I will
be reading book 2, for sure. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Diane Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise

I’m reading this after having read quite a few Aeon 14 books and it is fascinating to see the seeds of future disruptions taking root. Unfortunately there are a few typo/spelling/word choice errors that threw me out of the story or I would have given it five stars