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War of the Ancients Trilogy #1
The Dauntless: War of the Ancients Trilogy Book 1
The Dauntless returns to full price on August 24th
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An alien fugitive carrying a secret. A mob of relentless assassins sent to stop her. A million-year-old ship from a dead civilisation.
Captain James Hanson of the Solar Alliance Vessel Dauntless knows he has to help. But soon he finds the conspiracy goes deeper than he ever imagined. Hunted down by his own government, he scrapes together a ragtag team and goes hunting for the truth.
He's hounded on every side – from the authorities, from alien warriors, from mysterious, faceless soldiers. From the criminal backwaters of the galaxy to idyllic colonies hiding dark pasts, he uncovers a threat to the entire galaxy. A damaged, renegade ship and its unlikely crew of fugitives, mercenaries, and principled officers is all that stands between mankind and its destruction.
*
An alien fugitive carrying a secret. A mob of relentless assassins sent to stop her. A million-year-old ship from a dead civilisation.
Captain James Hanson of the Solar Alliance Vessel Dauntless knows he has to help. But soon he finds the conspiracy goes deeper than he ever imagined. Hunted down by his own government, he scrapes together a ragtag team and goes hunting for the truth.
He's hounded on every side – from the authorities, from alien warriors, from mysterious, faceless soldiers. From the criminal backwaters of the galaxy to idyllic colonies hiding dark pasts, he uncovers a threat to the entire galaxy. A damaged, renegade ship and its unlikely crew of fugitives, mercenaries, and principled officers is all that stands between mankind and its destruction.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 17, 2017
180 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 23, 2017
Full disclosure - I served as a beta reader in exchange for a copy of the book.
That being said, I don't know the author, I just did it to get a decent sci-fi novel. And guess what? It was!
So here's the deal - the first half of the book or so feels a bit like a Next Generation episode. It's a little rough - the author is clearly trying to establish things and differentiate characters with mixed success. It lagged a bit for me. BUT the second half of the bookfelt more like Mass Effect (high praise from me) and gave me that sense of wonder and discovery I associate with truly excellent science fiction. I mean, come on, there's a space station made out of a giant dead alien. How freaking sweet is that?
Overall, I think the author has some room to grow, but for a debut novel, I really enjoyed it - I will definitely be back for more. There's plenty more to see in this new universe.
That being said, I don't know the author, I just did it to get a decent sci-fi novel. And guess what? It was!
So here's the deal - the first half of the book or so feels a bit like a Next Generation episode. It's a little rough - the author is clearly trying to establish things and differentiate characters with mixed success. It lagged a bit for me. BUT the second half of the bookfelt more like Mass Effect (high praise from me) and gave me that sense of wonder and discovery I associate with truly excellent science fiction. I mean, come on, there's a space station made out of a giant dead alien. How freaking sweet is that?
Overall, I think the author has some room to grow, but for a debut novel, I really enjoyed it - I will definitely be back for more. There's plenty more to see in this new universe.
not-for-me
June 12, 2023It was not that I disliked this book. I just couldn't get into it.
September 17, 2017
Very Good Opening of a Military/Espionage Space Opera Trilogy
Constant action, escalating threats and multiple races are the core of this novel. In a galaxy dominated by corporate interests, one group seems to be plotting for a military dictatorship. An oddball group forms to oppose this move. Fighting commences and escalates to extremes. A eighty kilometer-long, tentacled corpse is found floating in space. Ancient technology is being used, and a clone army of assassins is being created.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Constant action, escalating threats and multiple races are the core of this novel. In a galaxy dominated by corporate interests, one group seems to be plotting for a military dictatorship. An oddball group forms to oppose this move. Fighting commences and escalates to extremes. A eighty kilometer-long, tentacled corpse is found floating in space. Ancient technology is being used, and a clone army of assassins is being created.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
June 23, 2019
Great Sci-Fi action book. The Dauntless is now Captained by James Hanson and he is hungry to make a difference and to have some action. As luck would have it Action is coming his way. During a routine patrol of his sector, they get a distress signal which will trigger a galaxy-wide chase and multiple ship battles. In this Universe, an Ancient race has left bits of their wondrous technology. but most of it is non-functional. The problem is the distress signal comes with proof that someone is activating Ancient technology. It is now imperative that he find out what technology and to make sure it can't harm the rest of the galaxy.
Unluckily for him, the technology that the mysterious party is working on are weapons. The Dauntless starts chasing after the mysterious party and this gives us a chance to see a great universe created by Alex Kings.
Great book looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Unluckily for him, the technology that the mysterious party is working on are weapons. The Dauntless starts chasing after the mysterious party and this gives us a chance to see a great universe created by Alex Kings.
Great book looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
October 18, 2017
Shallow, Flimsy Read
Half way through , I realized that there wasn’t a single character I cared about. Aliens were ‘cool’ but I didn’t care about any of them either and they were major part of story line. No character development, even through action. Author didn’t develop characters in any meaningful way.
Action — yes, but if you don’t care about anybody....
Then there’s credibility — new Captain of ship and he doesn’t do anything leadership wise with his crew. He does get them into questionable situations quickly but doesn’t do anything to justify to crew. And then he brings his own mercs aboard, grabs a marine or two and galavants thru galaxy shooting his way out everywhere as he becomes a detective solving, stopping conspiracies.
Sorry, but that’s a big stretch. The military, action parts can be ripped also but Enough said.
.
Half way through , I realized that there wasn’t a single character I cared about. Aliens were ‘cool’ but I didn’t care about any of them either and they were major part of story line. No character development, even through action. Author didn’t develop characters in any meaningful way.
Action — yes, but if you don’t care about anybody....
Then there’s credibility — new Captain of ship and he doesn’t do anything leadership wise with his crew. He does get them into questionable situations quickly but doesn’t do anything to justify to crew. And then he brings his own mercs aboard, grabs a marine or two and galavants thru galaxy shooting his way out everywhere as he becomes a detective solving, stopping conspiracies.
Sorry, but that’s a big stretch. The military, action parts can be ripped also but Enough said.
.
January 2, 2018
An engaging story.
An engaging story with interesting characters.
Occasionally, things felt a little too easy and neat for the protagonists. The author would also benefit from an editor or at least proofreader though the errors weren't enough to deter me from continuing.
I enjoyed the variety of species and look forward to learning more about them as I'm definitely intrigued enough to continue the series.
Recommended.
An engaging story with interesting characters.
Occasionally, things felt a little too easy and neat for the protagonists. The author would also benefit from an editor or at least proofreader though the errors weren't enough to deter me from continuing.
I enjoyed the variety of species and look forward to learning more about them as I'm definitely intrigued enough to continue the series.
Recommended.
October 21, 2017
Good times at galactic high
This is a great romp of a space opera. And the bad guys aren't aliens! I would like to see the good guys get ahold of some of the ancient technology. Maybe in the next instalment. Regardless, I enjoyed this book and look foreword to book two.
This is a great romp of a space opera. And the bad guys aren't aliens! I would like to see the good guys get ahold of some of the ancient technology. Maybe in the next instalment. Regardless, I enjoyed this book and look foreword to book two.
September 22, 2017
Good fun read
The authors has an amazing imagination and knows how to maintain tension. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to reading the next.
The authors has an amazing imagination and knows how to maintain tension. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to reading the next.
April 7, 2018
Great book...
A very engaging story with some great characters. Can't wait to continue the story with the next book!!! I definitely recommend it...
A very engaging story with some great characters. Can't wait to continue the story with the next book!!! I definitely recommend it...
June 8, 2023
Decent enough plot, but the characters are ciphers. They have quirks more than personalities, so I couldn’t really get a handle on them. There’s nothing actively bad about this book, it just has a “been there done that” feel to it. It also would’ve been nice if Kings broke out a thesaurus - several times during the climax things went “boom” or “squeal”. Toss in a “bam” and a “screech” every other time and it wouldn’t be as noticeable.
This is the last of the audiobooks I borrowed during Hoopla’s Bonus Borrows month in May. The narration is fine and works best at 1.5 speed.
This is the last of the audiobooks I borrowed during Hoopla’s Bonus Borrows month in May. The narration is fine and works best at 1.5 speed.
March 5, 2018
After getting through a bit over two hours into the audio, I was trying to put my finger on why I was not getting into the book.
The sci-fi setting had a lot of neat elements - interesting aliens (fish!), ancients who left weird tech behind, even a giant dead star beast.
Why wasn't I getting into the book?
Because I didn't care about any of the characters. If they were to be brutally slain, it wouldn't have caused a flicker of emotion in me. Much like many of my ex-co-workers.
The sci-fi setting had a lot of neat elements - interesting aliens (fish!), ancients who left weird tech behind, even a giant dead star beast.
Why wasn't I getting into the book?
Because I didn't care about any of the characters. If they were to be brutally slain, it wouldn't have caused a flicker of emotion in me. Much like many of my ex-co-workers.
July 5, 2020
Great Story, mystery and suspense
Captain James Hanson ,with his crew of Moore, Srak, Agatha, and Yilva travel space to seek and destroy their enemies
Captain James Hanson ,with his crew of Moore, Srak, Agatha, and Yilva travel space to seek and destroy their enemies
January 19, 2021
Excellent reading experience and a perfect narration by Mark Boyer.. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
June 28, 2023
Throw Star Trek, star wars, and every generic sci fi of ancient aliens artifacts will change the galaxy into a blender...not a bad first book but nothing amazing or unique either
May 21, 2019
Very good fun
A breezy kind of read. The most interesting characters are aliens. The action always involves some group of aliens and for me that trumps any flaws in the action logic.
There are small editing errors but not many. The action descriptions are a little confusing the logic isn't clear sometimes. The characters making it through the dangers is totally "good guys always win" but that's why it's so breezy. (They don't win without effort or cost, which makes it an adventure.)
It's very easy to lose suspension of disbelief, if you think about the details too much. (I think I was wrong about my criticism of the details. The details work just fine and on the re-read, they aren't implausible or unclear. Besides I reminded myself that this is fiction not an historical document.)
I just re-read this book after reading the first book of the next series and I realize this is a four star book and the aliens are better than I remembered. The breadth of tech available across all the different species is wonderful. The cultural diversity is really splendid. It's close to the "Culture" universe depth.
The illogic that bothered me was that the captain of the Dauntless seemed to be surprised at every turn by events that he could have anticipated. Read with a more generous spirit though, I admit that he's more flexible and forward thinking than Captains Kirk or Janeway. Consequently, who am I to judge the decisions of the captain of the Dauntless.
A breezy kind of read. The most interesting characters are aliens. The action always involves some group of aliens and for me that trumps any flaws in the action logic.
There are small editing errors but not many. The action descriptions are a little confusing the logic isn't clear sometimes. The characters making it through the dangers is totally "good guys always win" but that's why it's so breezy. (They don't win without effort or cost, which makes it an adventure.)
It's very easy to lose suspension of disbelief, if you think about the details too much. (I think I was wrong about my criticism of the details. The details work just fine and on the re-read, they aren't implausible or unclear. Besides I reminded myself that this is fiction not an historical document.)
I just re-read this book after reading the first book of the next series and I realize this is a four star book and the aliens are better than I remembered. The breadth of tech available across all the different species is wonderful. The cultural diversity is really splendid. It's close to the "Culture" universe depth.
The illogic that bothered me was that the captain of the Dauntless seemed to be surprised at every turn by events that he could have anticipated. Read with a more generous spirit though, I admit that he's more flexible and forward thinking than Captains Kirk or Janeway. Consequently, who am I to judge the decisions of the captain of the Dauntless.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews