Renegade Star

Renegade Star #1

by J.N. Chaney

They say the Earth is just a myth. Something to tell your children when you put them to sleep, the lost homeworld of humanity. Everyone knows it isn't real, though. It can't be.

But when Captain Jace Hughes encounters a nun with a mysterious piece of cargo and a bold secret, he soon discovers that everything he thought he knew about Earth is wrong. So very, very wrong.

Climb aboard The Renegade Star and assemble a crew, follow the clues, uncover the truth, and most importantly, try to stay alive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space, Adventure

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2017

About the author

If you want to stay up to date on my releases, concept art, or speak to me directly - you should join my Facebook fan group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/67862...

We have discussions on everything from books, movies, shows, and all things scifi. Come join the conversation.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars ⭐️

Gah!! I loved this book and the characters!! Lex is my fave of course, you have to read it. There was almost non stop action. I also had some vibes from a few tv shows. I’ll leave it with the opening line

"I'll fucking kill you!" screamed William Emmerson as he ordered his security personnel to fire in my direction.

"Good luck with that!"

Random

"What the hell is this?" I asked, staring at the blinking red light on the dash.
"That would be the warning light, sir," remarked Sigmond.
"Since when do we have a warning light?" I asked. "And how do I make it stop?"

****

"Can I have something, please?" asked Lex. "My stomach hurts."
I offered her a piece of jerky. "Eat up."
She smelled it and, twisting her nose, quickly shoved it back in my hand. "Gross!"
I bit into it, munching on the processed meat. "What’s wrong? Not a fan of jerky?"
"It smells like butt."
"What? You don’t like butts?" I asked, taking a whiff of the meat.
She giggled at my joke.
"Ew."

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.985668954547 stars.

Well that was unexpectedly fun and entertaining and stuff. Non-stop action, an intriguing plot, a pretty cool cast of characters (a kick-ass nun in space? YES, PLEASE)...Not bad for a KU story I expected to send on a deathly one-way trip to my DNF Graveyard.



See, even Charlie approves. This should tell you something, methinks.

Off to read the next one, installment #2 out of 16. Yes, I said SIXTEEN. Please keep your pincers crossed for me, I might not survive this one.

P.S. There's a despicably endearing little kid in this one, just so you know. ← I never wrote that and you never read it.

· Book 2: Renegade Atlas ★★★★
· Book 3: Renegade Moon ★★★★
· Book 4: Renegade Lost ★★★★
· Book 5: Renegade Fleet ★★★★
· Book 6: Renegade Earth ★★★★
· Book 7: Renegade Dawn ★★★★
· Book 8: Renegade Children ★★★★
· Book 9: Renegade Union ★★★★
· Book 10: Renegade Empire ★★★★
· Book 11: Renegade Descent ★★★★
· Book 12: Renegade Rising ★★★★
· Book 13: Renegade Alliance ★★★★
· Book 14: Renegade Evolution ★★★★
· Book 15: Renegade War ★★★★
· Book 16: Renegade Peace ★★★★

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 3.55 ***

A fast and entertaining Space Opera Adventure. It is not as good as some other similar series, but it is still a pleasant way to spend some time with a book. I always want to root for the main characters, and thankfully it is not hard to do so here. We are introduced to a rogue and his ship, who owe a lot of money to a very shady character. In order to make the money, he takes on a nun and her mysterious luggage to the planet of the religious order she belongs to. Things get complicated and a series of chase sequences, some shoot-outs and a group of researchers looking for The Mythical planet of origin, Earth, make a mess of the rogue's already messy, but somewhat ordinary life plans. Now they are fugitives from the Union government, they have bounties on their heads and no place is safe for the bedraggled crew. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next

[Empress Reece (Hooked on Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read some of Chaney's other books and really enjoyed them but I'll be honest I've been hesitant to read this series because of the awful covers. I know, I know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I think subconsciously I still do it. Anyways, I was in the mood for a light story last night so I said what the hell, lets go for it and it actually ended up being the perfect book. It was so much fun! It seriously reminded me of an Indiana Jones movie set in space with it's similar group of scholarly characters following a map, silly banter and the same non-stop, stay one-step ahead of your pursuers, action.

The main character, Jace, is a Renegade which is basically a thief that takes odd jobs stealing and transporting things for money. Jobs have been few and far between lately and he's in desperate need of quick cash to pay back the money he borrowed from a loan shark to buy a cloaking device for his ship. So against his better judgment, he takes on a job transporting a "nun," Sister Abigail, and her suspicious crate of supposed medical supplies. When he starts hearing sounds coming from the crate, he learns what it really contains and that the Union military and every Ravager in the system is hunting Abigail and her package. With no option to return home now, he decides to go all in with Abigail and her group, joining them on their ultimate quest to find the long lost planet Earth.

If you're an Indiana Jones fan or really liked Revenger by Alistair Reynolds, I think you would enjoy this. It has the best of both worlds.

[Morgen Spear · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story (of the whole series) was cliche, the world unrealistic; maybe one day, space opera will learn that the galaxy is massive and won't use FTL travel as an excuse for shrunken solar systems and near instantaneous weapons delivery. While there are opportunities for wrestling with complex issues of rule of law and the nature of evil or the Hobbsian and Malthusian Traps, the author expects the reader to take it on faith that the antagonists are bad and the protagonists are good, even though the "good guys" are often more violent; the main character, a Han Solo/Malcolm Reynolds wannabe, is a jerk to his own crew under the guise of straight talk and hard truth, and the main villain and accompanying villainous government are strawmen erected to highlight the goodguys' vague moral quality of freedom at any cost, up to and including murder and abduction. The Stockholm Syndrome is strong with several of the abductee characters. There was no character arch, and no credible motivation for any of the players. No secondary characters provide any conflict, being cardboard cutouts to frame the main character's violent "virtue" as yes-men. There was plenty of opportunity for sexual and romantic tension, but those opportunities were rarely taken and always fumbled.

tl;dr No redeeming qualities. don't bother.

[Marta A M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hacia Tiempo que no leia nada de ciència ficción, y me ha ganado de tal manera que me pienso leer el siguiente a no muy tardar.

En 200 y poco páginas te situa dentro del contexto, de los personajes, tanto el protagonista como los secundarios y te lleva ràpidamente al final casi sin enterarte.
Mucha acción, muchos saltos al Desliespacio y mucho Jace.

Nuestro Renegado protagonista, ya nos demuestra su integridad al poco de empezar la història y ello hace que nos apeguemos a él y a su forma de vivir la vida, la cual implica muchos viajes por el espacio (con causa dudosa o sin ella) y todas sus ganas de no vivir ni trabajar en cubículos de 2x2.

Libertad aunque para ello se tenga que endeudar hasta la cejas y pasarlas p…. para sobrevivir.
Y a todo ello se incluye en la història una monja que quiere transportar una caja misteriosa hasta el planeta Donde vive su congregación.

Me ha encantado. Hacen mas ganas de Sci-Fi después de esto. 👏🏼

[Ms. Just One More Book (Kris Miller) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jace Hughes is a hired gun, known to steal, loot, smuggle and even kill if the price is right; a true renegade in the galactic system. In debt for a hundred thousand credits and only two weeks left to pay, he's in deep. A job escorting a nun carrying food and medicine off the planet, sounds like easy money. But the moment he meets Abigail Pryar, he knows she's lying about the cargo she's carrying. The discovery of the true cargo is extremely dangerous, but provides a payout that would be worth it - if he survives. Between the Union ships and marauding ravagers after him and the cargo he's carrying, there's a very good chance he won't. J.N. Chaney's newest novel is a rip-roaring adventure that's a cross between a space opera and space thriller, with a captivating array of characters. Action-packed and full of suspense, RENEGADE STAR is a wildly fun-filled read that will captivate its audience from the very first page!

[Jason Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written and unoriginal

I chose this series because it had good ratings and said it would appeal to fans of Firefly, one of the greatest television shows ever produced.

To compare this work to the work of Joss Whedon is like comparing the art of Davinci to the art of your 5th grader.

Basically you have a Han Solo archetype, a Princess Leia archetype, a River Tam, and a bunch of very poorly developed supporting characters.

I think the biggest thing that bothered me is the sentence structure...it is broken up into short little sentences and basically reads like getting words on the page was the only goal. Based on the first book and the portion of the second that I read, I imagine that if the author sat down with Elements of Style he could probably produce one decent space opera from the 6 book series.

Don't be sucked in by the comparison to Firefly! The captain of this ship is no Malcolm Reynolds.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Renegade Star
By: JN Chaney
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
This has books one and two of the series! These books are non stop, unpredictable, fun, witty, action packed, great characters to love and those to hate, I can't tell you anything about the book without giving things away! I can say that it is wildly funny, enjoyable, and I can't wait to get the next two book set!
With Luke Daniels as the narrator the performance was perfect!

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely short, lacking pretty much any exposition, with characters and even plot elements seemingly lifted wholesale from Firefly.

[Meenaz Lodhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book of the series is fantastic, full of mystery, intrigue and fun. The main character Jace, a true Badass Renegade with a splendid AI, Sigmond get themselves involved in impossible and impressive situations. I had great ride with them. Fast paced, action guaranteed, maybe a Kickass heroine too? Amazing tech, not too heavily described which makes it an easy and fun read.

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

4.5 Stars for Narration by Luke Daniels
3.5 Stars for Story/Characters

I've listened to another series by the author & I wasn't sure if I should gamble on getting this but I'm glad I did! While the story doesn't have a whole lot of descriptions to flesh out the visuals or background, it does have fun characters and a lot of active scenes that fill out the world & plot. Luke Daniels' does a great job at making the story come alive in the narration.

Fun, space adventure story. This was a nice setup for the series.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Renegade Star (Renegade Star #1) by J.N. Chaney is trying so hard to be cool. It works part of the time and it's a fairly solid read, but unfortunately it comes across as too recycled to really rank any higher for me. Think Han Solo and Princess Leia from Star Wars meets the cast of Firefly, and it's not hard to see.

[Amber J (Thereadingwitch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not my favorite read, but it wasn't bad. I think this series has a lot of potential and I intend to continue at least one more book to see how things progress. I really didn't like Jace through most of the book. By the end he was redeemable but his personality still rubs me wrong. I like Lex, she's right around my daughter's age too, so I really feel for her. It was a fun, quick, action-packed adventure and I liked it.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminds me of how Han Solo would have been in his early days. It's a fantastic, fast paced adventure tale that doesn't hold back in any way. I love how it started out kind of light and got dark and heavy at the end. This is a complete story, but it left me dying to know what happens in the next book!

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unable to finish. Disappointment started with the first sentence and went downhill. I could not start the second chapter. Bad cliches abound. I guess it's supposed to be action, but it is hard to see any positives.

[Don Dunham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A passable Space Fantasy with the Protagonist Star Ship Captain channeling Blue Collar Philadelphia. Lots of zingers and busting of chops. Doesn't pretend to be original or profound, your standard rogue with a heart of gold storyline. Got through books 1-6 before opting out.

[Jan Mc · Rating 1 out of 5]

This ought to be very popular with 14-year-old boys, but it's not for me. I did listen to the entire book (two books, actually), but it was a struggle to finish. The plot is straight out of a hundred other sci-fi stories, the characters are completely unbelievable, and the protagonist is a jerk with a foul mouth. The body count was huge, and the "good guys" are the ones who killed the most. The book has no redeeming qualities, in my opinion.

Luke Daniels does a good job, but even he couldn't save this ripoff.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 5 star book marked down to 4 stars for vulgar language. I get it; I really do. Jace is a renegade, a crude outlaw. Nevertheless, the language could be toned down.

Great characters, great plot, lots of action and mysterious threads running through the story! I really enjoyed this book.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

New series and a new author. Wow! This is certainly an adventure book. And it certainly contains a lot, and I mean a lot of four letter words. Yeah, if you’re gun-shy of cuss words including the often used “f_ck*, then maybe you had better find a milder book. It seems like the main character says this word every time he opens his mouth. Now, I’m a former Sailor and I did my share of cussing back in the day, but this guy is a little overboard on his use of that one particular four-letter word. Just be warned.

It’s not all that military, almost anti-military except the main character, Jace Hughes, seems to be fighting all the time. He’s a “Renegade” or a person that does whatever they want in this galaxy. He’s an outlaw due to his numerous thefts for hire, assassinations, and downright bad guy stuff. He operates in the Badlands, just outside the jurisdiction of the Union which is the only organized power in this part of space.

Right now, the Union doesn’t have any particular interest in Jace. Oh, they’d certainly lock him up if they could catch him, but he stays pretty much away from the Union and does his stuff only in the Badlands, most of the time. Jace’s home base is on Taurus Station. There he can get his ship, the Renegade Star, serviced, repaired and refueled and generally take it easy between jobs. He works with a shopkeeper that has some connections that can lead Jace to other jobs on occasion.

This new job involves escorting or transporting a Nun and a little girl from Taurus Station to Arcadia. This Nun is a member of The Church of the Homeworld and she and the girl are trying to get back there as soon as possible. Oh, and they are apparently wanted by the Union. It seems this “Nun” broke the girl, Lex, out of a Union research center and now they are running from the Union. At first, Jace wisely refuses the job, but with a troubling debt he needs to pay and no other job around, he finally accepts.

This is where the adventure begins. You’ll soon find out that there’s more to this Num and the little girl than meets the eye. The Union wants her back desperately and will apparently do anything and everything to find her. They even make a deal with their enemy, the Sarkonians, to travel through their territory, if necessary, to pursue the Renegade Star. The Sarkonians get to claim half of the Badlands as their territory for their cooperation. This is an unprecedented arrangement and Jace doesn’t know why. He can’t figure out what’s so important about this Num and her charge.

Then they arrive at Arcadia. Jace is hired by the church to take a contingent to another planet so they can research some religious ruins. He’s going to be paid a hundred thousand credits which happens to be what he owes a major crime boss who’s about to collect one way or another. Little does Jace realize that he’ll never see this money nor will he ever have to worry about paying his debt back. He’s off on one wild trip that has no end in sight.

This is kind of a fun book to read. While the language is pretty raw, at least from Jace, it doesn’t seem all that out of place. Jace does what he wants and has always done things that way. He’s not all that educated, but he’s been able to stay alive in the Badlands which is remarkable in itself. He does have a compassionate side which he wouldn’t ever admit and takes a liking to the little girl, Lex, from the start. He treats other people pretty nicely in action although his words don’t always sound that nice.

I like this storyline so well that I have continued on with the second book, “The Renegade Atlas”. I don’t know how long this story will continue, but it’s good enough that I’m going to read it all the way to the end. Maybe Jace will clean up his language a bit…nah, that ain’t goin’a to happen!

[Kasia (kasikowykurz) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naprawdę fajny początek, który zawarł w sobie wszystko to, co zdążyłam polubić w tego typu powieściach. Jest bohater, który da się lubić, spoko postacie drugoplanowe, nieprzesadzona fabuła, wartka akcja i serio, w tej książce nie ma miejsca na zbędną paplaninę (też dlatego, że jest po prostu krótka). Przerażała mnie ilość tomów na początku, ale jeśli wszystkie mają taką objętość, to szybko zleci, bo póki co mam ochotę szybko wrócić po więcej!

[Stephanie Runion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced and action packed! While a departure from this authors earlier work, this first book in the series delivers. Fun characters and an interesting storyline ale this a book that is hard to put down.

[Snarktastic Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannot remember when I purchased this one - probably during a Kindle sale . . . and Luke Daniels is reading it so I snagged it for a song.

Definitely Firefly-esque - if for no other reason than his passenger shows up with a box - which has a person inside. She doesn't appear to be crazy . . . so . . . The story then becomes the band on the run. I love the main character - he reminds me of Han . . . how did I get into this mess and worry about all these people . . . Solo.

Doesn't appear to be a lot of romance in sight . . . no harems . . . no triangles. It is definitely brain candy and not a deep thought around . . . but it was just what I needed.

This was enjoyable enough that I immediately snatched up the next one (which would technically be Publisher's Pack 2 - the audible versions are 2 books in one.) and started listening. I really enjoy the story and the characterizations and the worlds. My current dilemma is the 8th one is not out yet - which means the 4th audio book is not available.

[Giordano Bruno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spegnere il cervello con poca fanta e niente scienza. Una collezione completa di déjà vu, cliché e luoghi comuni della space opera, un protagonista che è la brutta copia di Han Solo e un'ambientazione assolutamente trascurabile. Psicologia dei personaggi non pervenuta, come diversi altri aspetti. Sia chiaro: la narrazione funziona, pure la traduzione è buona ed efficace, ma la fantascienza è un'altra cosa. Due stelline perché comunque mi è sembrato che l'autore avesse intenzione di scrivere esattamente questo tipo di libro, senza pretese, puro svago, leggero e trascurabile. Basta saperlo prima! Peccato solo che poi la serie continui con altri 15 volumi (che non leggerò)! Forse una semplice trilogia poteva bastare (questo volume non è autoconclusivo).

[Anafenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space opera muy entretenido, naves espaciales, trabajos con recompensas, y una misión muy especial.

Buenos personajes, buen ritmo, buenas escenas de acción (si bien comparándolo con Citónica estas pierden nivel, pues Sanderson es especialista en conseguir meterte de lleno en la acción), es muy cortito así que va directo,lo cuál es de agradecer.

Es mas de lo que parece en un inició.

Cierra parte de la trama, pero el viaje no hace más que comenzar.

Escuchare el siguiente sin dudar, Magraner como de costumbre muy bueno narrando.

[Garlan ✌ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good start to a series. Not sure if this is the author's first book or not, but it felt like it might be. A little unpolished in places, but a fun, entertaining read. The antagonist is a Han Solo want to be character, bucking the system and the authorities while trying to play it cool. I read this for free on Amazon Prime, and will look for the follow-on books. 3 to 3 1/2 stars.

[rickpetter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The renegade star

Wonderful book! I really liked the plot in which the heroes are searching for earth I thought it was very interesting. The only thing that I did not like is how short it is.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly nice mixture of plain adventure, mystery and military science fiction.

This is a review of the first four books in the series so, obviously, there might be a few spoilers although I’ll try not to reveal too much or really important plot points.

As the blurb states Captain Hughes is a renegade (or buccaneer if you prefer) gallivanting around space taking on missions of dubious legality. Accompanying him is his ship’s AI named Sigmond who, regardless of the somewhat weird choice of name, is quite likable. So is Captain Hughes by the way. He is quite a resourceful, no-nonsense, kick-ass renegade with a quick mouth.

It is of course not a big surprise that our lonely renegade’s entourage gets larger quite rapidly at the beginning of the series and not by Hughes own choice, at least not at first. It is perhaps even less of a surprise that he also, quickly, becomes a person of interest for both gangsters and the government and since the government is a somewhat oppressive regime the only difference between them is how much hardware they can bring to the gunfights.

Now throw in the fact that Earth and the origins of humanity is a distant past, shrouded in mystery, and more a subject for fairy tales than anything else and we have the stage set for the adventures in this book series.

I do not think it’s too much of a spoiler if I say that Hughes, the mysterious nun and the rest of the increasing fellowship around him will soon embark on a adventurous journey searching for clues about humanity’s past as well as the mythical planet Earth. Speaking of the nun, she definitely is no ordinary nun, as both Hughes and the bad guys will learn…the hard way. I quite like her as well.

The journey is a rollercoaster of adventure, surprising events, strange encounters and action, lots of action. Oh, there’s a few monsters thrown in as well.

As far as the science part in science fiction goes the books are not shining examples of plausible science. There is plenty of weird statements and stuff like that it is apparently possible to “accumulate nuclear power”, cannons are apparently launching missiles. One of the most annoying one for me is that once a power generator is turned on it takes for bloody ever (days and weeks) for the energy to reach all parts of the ship and it is always the system that Hughes & Co needs that is without power.

Otherwise the book is nicely written. The characters are mostly cool, the dialog is good and the story makes me want to see what comes on the next page or in the next book.

I definitely see myself continue reading this series.

[Al Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a quick, effortless read this fast-paced space opera fits the ticket. It's written in first person POV and stays squarely in the head of anti-hero Jace Hughes, a spacer known as a Renegade. Think Han Solo or Mal from Firefly.

Jace, trying to make enough funds to payback a human Jabba the Hutt type criminal, accepts a job that appears to be a simple escort mission of shuttling a nun of a religious order and a mysterious box, to a planet. His life takes a sharp unexpected turn when nothing, of course, is what it appears and he and the small crew are on the run from the Union (the Empire from Star Wars or the Alliance from Firefly).

Jace is definitely a Mal or Han Solo character. He doesn't yet have Han's roguish charm or Mal's straightforward assholeness, but this is the first novel and I suspect the author will dial it in and Jace's personality will evolve and become more his own. I'm started book #2 tonight.

The author prose style is workmanlike, easy to read and doesn't ask too much of the reader. I happen to enjoy this style. I read in the evening before bed when I'm winding down for the day and just want to be entertained without too much thinking. Other reviewers have noted the similarities to Firefly and Star Wars, some like it, some don't, I'm in the camp where I don't mind.

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is as if the author watched every piece of popular/notable anime or piece of science-fiction entertainment from 1995-2010, copied all aspects that they liked, and then compiled them into one story.

It is perfectly reasonable to be inspired by someone else's work and build from it to create something new and unique. It is something entirely different to copy ideas from multiple sources: Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi Muyo, Firefly, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Ultraviolet, and others to make something totally devoid of anything unique or original in which to read. There is an indelible line between inspiration and infringement that I think has been crossed, because every other page read from this had me remembering the written event from another source.

The marketing surrounding this work is probably the most creative thing about it. There was minimal thought put into the creative writing process, or the ideas behind the story, but every thought put into pumping out this work to the public by any means. Be warned, if you are looking for a source of science-fiction entertainment, go somewhere else.