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Wanderer's Odyssey #5
Wanderer - Extinction
Jess and the Wanderer race to save the Universe from extinction. Will saving everything just mean handing it to the Taint?
The destruction of the Universe has started and only Jess and the Wanderer have the slightest chance of stopping it, but that's only the start. Jess must also find a way to stop the all-consuming Taint once and for all. Failing will just swap the extinction of the Universe for the extinction of humanity, and every other free-thinking race.
Join Jess and the Wanderer on their thrilling journey, as they race to save everything and everyone, including the woman Jess loves. Find out whether they succeed in Wanderer – Extinction.
The destruction of the Universe has started and only Jess and the Wanderer have the slightest chance of stopping it, but that's only the start. Jess must also find a way to stop the all-consuming Taint once and for all. Failing will just swap the extinction of the Universe for the extinction of humanity, and every other free-thinking race.
Join Jess and the Wanderer on their thrilling journey, as they race to save everything and everyone, including the woman Jess loves. Find out whether they succeed in Wanderer – Extinction.
768 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 9, 2023
Space opera, lots of battles, a love story, betrayals, lack of trust, and more: I love it. The Guardian is the entity left in the universe after those who created the Wanderer had fled because of the Taint. He has kept Ali while Jess and the Wanderer go back to the northern section. A new person appears, Nova, a slave; she has a separate story and plays a key part at one spot. The Empire has developed a weapon against the Taint; they are called the Limited. Strong and healthy slaves are taken and altered; their brains are partially burned out and replaced with computer chips. They are stronger than normal and will do what they are told through new coding in their slave collars. They can’t be infected with the Taint.
Unity, which is the collective name for the Gifted or the Taint, depending on whose side is talking about them, continues to grow. The Sanctuary has had the Taint visit; their first ships are destroyed, but the Guardian is programmed to destroy the universe if the Taint have shown up. He/it, whatever the Guardian is, sets the mechanism in place to start the destruction. Jess and a ragtag group of civilians and fighting ships link up with Jess and head toward Sanctuary to stop the universe from being destroyed while they also are able to rescue a random assortment of folks from stations that will be destroyed by the Empire or the Taint. It’s pretty messy and not always successful. Those rescued don’t trust others rescued from different stations because they might be Tainted.
Add to that the Casatara is with them; it's commanded by Zeek, who really wants to destroy Teeko. It’s a fickle alliance, but it holds together for the most part. Of course, in the end Jess is able to stop the universe from unraveling, but it’s a near thing. Clay and Sal are doing their things as well. What’s left? The Empire and its use of the Limited; they need to be stopped, hence, another book.
Unity, which is the collective name for the Gifted or the Taint, depending on whose side is talking about them, continues to grow. The Sanctuary has had the Taint visit; their first ships are destroyed, but the Guardian is programmed to destroy the universe if the Taint have shown up. He/it, whatever the Guardian is, sets the mechanism in place to start the destruction. Jess and a ragtag group of civilians and fighting ships link up with Jess and head toward Sanctuary to stop the universe from being destroyed while they also are able to rescue a random assortment of folks from stations that will be destroyed by the Empire or the Taint. It’s pretty messy and not always successful. Those rescued don’t trust others rescued from different stations because they might be Tainted.
Add to that the Casatara is with them; it's commanded by Zeek, who really wants to destroy Teeko. It’s a fickle alliance, but it holds together for the most part. Of course, in the end Jess is able to stop the universe from unraveling, but it’s a near thing. Clay and Sal are doing their things as well. What’s left? The Empire and its use of the Limited; they need to be stopped, hence, another book.
April 24, 2018
Little disappointed
I’m a bit of an unlikely fan of this series. It’s creative premise pushed me past it’s frankly sometimes sophomoric writing. I’m not criticizing, I can’t write a novel. In fact in previous books I was impressed by how much the authors passion was enough for me to overlook literary flaws. But this book was a bridge to far for me. SPOILER ALERT The big subplot introducing a new character who’s name I can’t even remember just to introduce he limited felt like talk for talks sake, and went on forever- and then she died! A couple paragraphs would have been good here not entire chapters. In fact I ended up skipping the later half confident I wasn’t missing anything and since I wasn’t remotely confused I’m sure I didn’t. SPOILER OVER The circular inconclusive moralizing got to be to much. Jess is guilt torn about being responsible for everything - we got it. Worse the seeming self argument/exploration of ends justifying means went nowhere. Why I won’t address here but again stop pressing repeat again, and again, and again, and a... see how irritating it is?
I’m torn about coming back for book six. I probably will. I think a lot of the issue was Jess alone so much made for extra exposition. Here’s hoping.
I’m a bit of an unlikely fan of this series. It’s creative premise pushed me past it’s frankly sometimes sophomoric writing. I’m not criticizing, I can’t write a novel. In fact in previous books I was impressed by how much the authors passion was enough for me to overlook literary flaws. But this book was a bridge to far for me. SPOILER ALERT The big subplot introducing a new character who’s name I can’t even remember just to introduce he limited felt like talk for talks sake, and went on forever- and then she died! A couple paragraphs would have been good here not entire chapters. In fact I ended up skipping the later half confident I wasn’t missing anything and since I wasn’t remotely confused I’m sure I didn’t. SPOILER OVER The circular inconclusive moralizing got to be to much. Jess is guilt torn about being responsible for everything - we got it. Worse the seeming self argument/exploration of ends justifying means went nowhere. Why I won’t address here but again stop pressing repeat again, and again, and again, and a... see how irritating it is?
I’m torn about coming back for book six. I probably will. I think a lot of the issue was Jess alone so much made for extra exposition. Here’s hoping.
August 9, 2020
At over 600 pages, this is by far the longest book in the Wanderer's Odyssey series. If you're reading reviews for the fifth book in a series I assume you already know a great deal about the content of the first four. I've put this review behind a spoiler warning, but I'm not going to regurgitate the plat for you.
Our cast of emotionally immature characters is back, with a few noteworthy additions. Chief among the new characters is a slave woman named Nova, and Mr. Goodson spends a great deal of time telling her story, making sure readers care about her, are invested in her. It was therefor disappointing to me that her destiny, the reason she's part of the story, was less than satisfying. Perhaps that was intentional, perhaps not.
There is also a group of five slaves transferred to the Wanderer at one point, and then seemingly forgotten. Perhaps something was edited out, but there were a couple of situations where I thought those characters could and would be put to good use.
The same old physics errors are still part of this story, but again, if you're this far into the series, then those errors are not going to bother you here.
All things considered, this book provides a complex and satisfying conclusion to the taint arc.
Our cast of emotionally immature characters is back, with a few noteworthy additions. Chief among the new characters is a slave woman named Nova, and Mr. Goodson spends a great deal of time telling her story, making sure readers care about her, are invested in her. It was therefor disappointing to me that her destiny, the reason she's part of the story, was less than satisfying. Perhaps that was intentional, perhaps not.
There is also a group of five slaves transferred to the Wanderer at one point, and then seemingly forgotten. Perhaps something was edited out, but there were a couple of situations where I thought those characters could and would be put to good use.
The same old physics errors are still part of this story, but again, if you're this far into the series, then those errors are not going to bother you here.
All things considered, this book provides a complex and satisfying conclusion to the taint arc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2020
Awesome and painful read
I took a long time between this book and the last and I left me with some gaps in my memory of the story. For long writing gaps I recommend the author provide a synopsis to help reimmersion into the story. All that said it was a long and exciting book. There was non stop action and a lot of fleet and ship battling. The author has a way of Provoking your emotions. This makes many of the scenes very tense and dramatic. Mostly this is good if not great but near.The end the MC become very stupid and nearly blow it. It seem more of a literary contrivance to artificially up the dynamic effect. And he did it twice. One person vs universe choice. Ugh annoying at the end considering all he had done to get there. Felt forced hence the ring of a star. Over all I enjoyed the book and will be interested to see what up next with the wanderer.
I took a long time between this book and the last and I left me with some gaps in my memory of the story. For long writing gaps I recommend the author provide a synopsis to help reimmersion into the story. All that said it was a long and exciting book. There was non stop action and a lot of fleet and ship battling. The author has a way of Provoking your emotions. This makes many of the scenes very tense and dramatic. Mostly this is good if not great but near.The end the MC become very stupid and nearly blow it. It seem more of a literary contrivance to artificially up the dynamic effect. And he did it twice. One person vs universe choice. Ugh annoying at the end considering all he had done to get there. Felt forced hence the ring of a star. Over all I enjoyed the book and will be interested to see what up next with the wanderer.
October 25, 2018
I didn't enjoy this book as much as the earlier ones in the series. It could be because there was such a delay from the 4th to the 5th that I lost some of the momentum. There was also introduction of new characters and there were some characters that changed for reasons that to me didn't seem apparent or necessary. I couldn't help but feel like the author was trying to get across some sort of message, but I just couldn't grasp it. However, will all of that being negative, I was glad I read the book and I did think the author brought the series to a satisfying conclusion. The author has stated that he is going to continue the story, and I will probably give it a read.
June 22, 2018
Another character??. More agonising over the same dilemma in vibrant detail. When will it end. thankfully it does and I am now done. I couldn't give a shit where Jess goes from here as I can't stand by and read his agonising problems anymore.
I have a feel for the ship but I have no love in any of the characters. It has concluded at a spot I can kiss it goodbye.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the story. Just not the lengths the author went through to get it out. I think I paid $3 for his book but would not pay anything more for the verbiage to continue. Get a good editor.
I have a feel for the ship but I have no love in any of the characters. It has concluded at a spot I can kiss it goodbye.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the story. Just not the lengths the author went through to get it out. I think I paid $3 for his book but would not pay anything more for the verbiage to continue. Get a good editor.
July 4, 2018
Very impressed!
Wanderer is a sentient ship that is several thousand years old, and has been captained many, many times. Now Jess, a slave his whole life has become the next captain. As his connection with the Wanderer grows, so does the danger in the universe from the Empire - a force to willing to use slavery to advance it's aims, as it struggles to defeat the Taint, which through mind control makes slaves of everyone it encounters. Jess has to battle both forces as he tries to save the universe from destruction.
This one is well worth a look for you space opera fans.
Wanderer is a sentient ship that is several thousand years old, and has been captained many, many times. Now Jess, a slave his whole life has become the next captain. As his connection with the Wanderer grows, so does the danger in the universe from the Empire - a force to willing to use slavery to advance it's aims, as it struggles to defeat the Taint, which through mind control makes slaves of everyone it encounters. Jess has to battle both forces as he tries to save the universe from destruction.
This one is well worth a look for you space opera fans.
August 30, 2018
The author did it again. This book was even better than the ones before. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because of the literally nonstop action in the last half of the book. It was almost a continual battle, or going from one battle to another quickly, and heartstopping moments were everywhere. The sacrifices were immense, the drama was intense, the distrust was inevitable and the characters were beyond what they were previously. Fantastic read and a good series. I can't wait for book six, hurry up with the writing already.
December 29, 2025
Okay read. At this stage in the series, it feels a bit lengthy and it might be dragging a little too much. I enjoyed the read, but I don't think I'll go any further in the series at this point. Jess is still essentially fighting the Taint, while the empire tried to hammer it with braindead soldiers. I'm happy to stop where I am in the series. It was an interesting SciFi series, but I can't say I feel the need to read any further
June 8, 2018
Intense action packed!
Great chacter development. Intense action packed and compelling storyline with a different alien twist. Captivating and detailed scenes for your imagination. Great read and captivating series worth gettingy!😎
Great chacter development. Intense action packed and compelling storyline with a different alien twist. Captivating and detailed scenes for your imagination. Great read and captivating series worth gettingy!😎
October 13, 2018
Wanderer’s Odyssey #5 ties up all the story threads. I particularly like the twists and turns involving the escaped slave Nova. And, as always, the amazing sentient ship is a favorite character. Well done! 4.5 stars rounded to 5.
January 13, 2020
Series Review
This is about the best of recent series I have read. I have not read any further though because of the poor review of that book. Otherwise well worth the time and money.
This is about the best of recent series I have read. I have not read any further though because of the poor review of that book. Otherwise well worth the time and money.
May 16, 2021
Just too long. It reminds me of the Star Wars episode where every 10 minutes we return to the scene with the rebel admiral saying, "we're almost out of fuel," or words to that effect. The side stories add little to the story. Spoiled a good story.
November 28, 2022
A Great Read!
This has been an incredible book to read; I have enjoyed it greatly. I spent too.many nights reading until three AM. I am not sure when I will acquire the next book my eyes ate tired.
This has been an incredible book to read; I have enjoyed it greatly. I spent too.many nights reading until three AM. I am not sure when I will acquire the next book my eyes ate tired.
June 28, 2018
Every addition to the Wanderer series is cause for joy!
The other books in the series have been great, and this one doesn’t disappoint - every addition to the Wanderer series is cause for joy!
While this book ties up the “Taint” story thread, there’s lots left to explore in this universe.
I very much look forward to the next book in the series!
The other books in the series have been great, and this one doesn’t disappoint - every addition to the Wanderer series is cause for joy!
While this book ties up the “Taint” story thread, there’s lots left to explore in this universe.
I very much look forward to the next book in the series!
August 14, 2018
Great story.
I've really enjoyed the story of Jess I the Wanderer. If you enjoyed the other books in the series you'll enjoy this one as it closes some of the major plotlines.
I've really enjoyed the story of Jess I the Wanderer. If you enjoyed the other books in the series you'll enjoy this one as it closes some of the major plotlines.
March 4, 2019
This one was not my favorite in the series, but still a good read. I will definitely check out book six when it comes out.
June 26, 2019
Very good end
Couldn't be happier with Teeko's ending. Happy for Jess and Ali. Clay I e of my favorite people. Don't care what happens to Sal or Dash.
Couldn't be happier with Teeko's ending. Happy for Jess and Ali. Clay I e of my favorite people. Don't care what happens to Sal or Dash.
July 2, 2019
High action, non-stop plot development, ever compounding challenges, and a little romance. Not very deep, but a rollicking tale.
August 21, 2019
Wanderer
So many battles and death and introspection. Bad guys and those taken over by an insidious intelligence and robots and heroes. And I cried.
So many battles and death and introspection. Bad guys and those taken over by an insidious intelligence and robots and heroes. And I cried.
May 11, 2020
Good science fiction, family friendly with a good story.
I quite enjoyed it and would recommend that anyone who likes science fiction like Star Trek, Star Wars, Chris Reher or Timothy Zahn
I quite enjoyed it and would recommend that anyone who likes science fiction like Star Trek, Star Wars, Chris Reher or Timothy Zahn
July 15, 2020
Entertaining
Amazing sciFi
Great plot and characters
I like hard earned happy endings
TEEKO will always be my favorite character
Looking forward to last book
Amazing sciFi
Great plot and characters
I like hard earned happy endings
TEEKO will always be my favorite character
Looking forward to last book
April 9, 2021
Good series
But the protagonist gets out of trouble way too many times to believe. It kept my interest and recommend the series for entertainment.
But the protagonist gets out of trouble way too many times to believe. It kept my interest and recommend the series for entertainment.
December 15, 2021
This was a really long one, but there was a lot to bring to a conclusion. The series could stop here, but there is one more, much shorter!
July 16, 2022
I still hate the taint
I still hate the idea behind the taint. But I love that ship. I still think that the taint is telepathic in nature but still don't like the idea of it.
I still hate the idea behind the taint. But I love that ship. I still think that the taint is telepathic in nature but still don't like the idea of it.
January 18, 2023
unity and allies. twists and challenges
The series could finish here. I look forward to the next book and exploring with the wanderer
The major battle was well down
The series could finish here. I look forward to the next book and exploring with the wanderer
The major battle was well down
August 17, 2023
whew. battle, betrayal, battle, betrayal, new troubles, battle, more problems, more battles. Finally resolution. sighs. I always have to know how things end.
January 6, 2024
Loved it
June 2, 2024
Wow
Another great book, I'm ready for book 6.
Lots of action in this series.
Friends and Enemy popping in and out, never a dull page.
Thanks for the excellent read.
Another great book, I'm ready for book 6.
Lots of action in this series.
Friends and Enemy popping in and out, never a dull page.
Thanks for the excellent read.
June 5, 2025
Enjoyed the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews