Carl Ramsey is an ex-Earth Navy fighter pilot turned con man. His ship, the Mobius, is home to a ragtag crew of misfits and refugees looking to score a big payday but more often just scratching to pay for fuel. The crew consists of his ex-wife (and pilot), a drunkard, four-handed mechanic, a xeno-predator with the disposition of a 120kg housecat, and the galaxy's most-wanted wizard.
Along the way, the Mobius crew crosses paths with the Black Ocean's vilest scum, from pirate fleets to criminal syndicates, and most law-abiding scum, including Earth Interstellar Enhanced Investigative Organization, ARGO high command, and the Convocation of Wizards.
Time and again, riches lie just out of reach, because for all the talents Carl Ramsey and his crew possess, they've also got an outlaw's greatest weakness: a conscience.
Galaxy Outlaws is a collection of all 16 Black Ocean missions chronicling the adventures of the starship Mobius and her crew, along with six short stories. This series is the perfect cure for the Firefly Season 2 blues. It's what you'd get if The Orville took place on Serenity, or if Star Wars had wizards instead of Jedi.
I am a creator of worlds and a destroyer of words. As a fantasy writer, my works range from traditional epics to futuristic fantasy with starships. I have worked as an unpaid Little League pitcher, a cashier, a student library aide, a factory grunt, a cubicle drone, and an engineer--there is some overlap in the last two.
Through it all, though, I was always a storyteller. Eventually I started writing books based on the stray stories in my head, and people kept telling me to write more of them. Now, that's all I do for a living.
I enjoy strategy, worldbuilding, and the fantasy author's privilege to make up words. I am a gamer, a joker, and a thinker of sideways thoughts. But I don't dance, can't sing, and my best artistic efforts fall short of your average notebook doodle. When you read my books, you are seeing me at my best.
My ultimate goal is to be both clever and right at the same time. I have it on good authority that I have yet to achieve it.
Well, all I can say about this one is: ... Fantastic. It's everything you'd ever want in a scifi story, all rolled into a single marathon of absolute pleasure. If you're a scifi fan, you won't want to miss this collection of stories. The author says it was written as a substitute for a second season of firefly, but I tell you, firefly doesn't hold a candle to this collection of misfits, crooks, wizards, and con men. It just doesn't get any better than this. I picked up this one because I was looking for something to spend a credit on, and I'm nearly incapable of using one on anything that doesn't get me a serious deal, and when I saw this one had so large of a collection in it, it just screamed purchase me, even if it's a bad story, you got your credit's worth. Well, needless to say, I was hooked from the very start. Space stories have always been my favorite venue, and this collection has everything that makes a good story, in space or not, so the fact that it takes place on a space craft is just icing on the cake, you can't get this much pure enjoyment out of a whole lot of stories, and the fact that this one has so many collected into one just makes it keep going and going and going, and although there were parts where I thought it couldn't possibly go anywhere, and places where (yes), it was a bit slow, overall, it was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed every last minute of it. If you're wanting a great read, a credit spender, an excellent story, a very long listen, or even just some great fun and games, go ahead and pick up this one, you aren't likely to be disappointed.
This was $5 on an Audible sale and the reviews were mostly so glowing that I didn't let the 85 hour length intimidate me, especially since it is a 16 book series inspired by Firefly. (How much did we love that show? Our dogs are named Zoe, Wash, and Kaylee - which gives any fellow fans the clue.)
It definitely does have that vibe and is just plain fun - space opera in the old style. I like the idea of having this in the background always ready to pick up.
I generally enjoyed the heck out of these stories. It does have a sag in the middle, which other reviewers have mentioned, but still light and fun.
85.5 hours of enjoyment! I'm glad I got to listen to this series as intended by the author and narrator. Now I need to find something to fill the void. I will dearly miss these characters.
Oh my god, how did this book get so many good reviews? It's not good. Not only do the characters seem cookie cutter and lacking of any sort of depth but it shouldn't take 45 hours of ANYTHING for characters to start to be engaging. I finally gave up on it about half way through and I think I may have still wasted an entire week of my life. If I want good, interesting characters I guess I'll go back to authors like Ann Leckie, Becky Chambers, Kameron Hurley, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear or a host of other authors that can deliver strong characters with driving plots in under 45 hours of listening time. I'm not opposed to long reads and have read several books well over 800 pages in the last month that were delightful. This is just bad writing. I'm giving it two stars because it's not the worst thing I"ve ever read.
I only made it to the 2nd or 3rd book, I can't even remember which I was on as this has got to be one of the most boring series of books I've read. It is nothing like Firefly or Serenity as many suggest, it lacks any pizzazz and feels more like you are reading a quickly sketched out book hastily written on cardboard. The characters are dry and so very much, over done, that you end up rolling yours eyes at every joke because its ... been ... done ... already!
I would not recommend this book to anyone, which is sad because there is so much there but it's like pulling teeth to continue.
What if you add magic to the Firefly tv series (Sounds great right) then make every person on the ship an awful person. Stopped in the middle of story 13 feeling let down by how good and believable the setting is and how disgusted i am with everyone in it.
Captain - habitual liar, manipulative 2nd in command - foul tempered drug addict who blame others for their problems. Ships engineer - Rude alcoholic Ships wizard - Murder hobo Security/muscle - tolerable Newbie - Religious hypocrite
Well written and a wonderful setting bring it up to two out of five rating.
I don't understand the rave reviews. As much as I got through it was kind of ok(ish). I certainly wouldn't have compared it to any number of the other authors or series that the 4-5 star reviewers did. The characters were shallow, the women histrionic, the men phlegmatic. What plot there was seemed predictable. I was bored when I wasn't irritated, so I stopped.
Wow....just....wow. I knew going in that the author of this series unashamedly admits to being inspired by Firefly to write this series and even create these characters. So there was a part of me which really, really wanted to see this work. I could totally see Nathan Fillion playing Carl. But even so, it was a complete joy to work through all the stories. Yes, some of them work a little better than others (that has to be a given with this many stories). There were times I was literally laughing out loud, other times I caught myself giggling quietly as Carl or one of the other characters did something.
Incredible characters you find yourself caring about. Great, intriguing and zany stories. Fascinating character arcs and developments and changes which you don't really expect, but after they happen you realize it had been coming for some time and it just...seems right. Just a bunch of well-done stories. I don't really want to say much more or it might give it away. But if you're a fan of fun, quirky sci-fi, this is your jam. Definitely if you loved shows like Firefly or characters like Han Solo. Or what if Gandalf was a crotchety old wizard who was on a ship piloted by Han Solo? Yeh, you might enjoy this.
As a side note, definitely intended for adult/mature readers, mainly due to language (most of the main characters enjoy the use of the F-word) and violence. Not really any explicit sexual content, but the book doesn't really shy away from the fact that it's happening. If it were a movie it would most likely be rated R for language, violence, and (implied) sexual content.
A fun listening odyssey with a great reader. I spent about a month and a half chugging through the 85-odd hours of audio book and while you can't expect it to be stellar all the time with that kind of length, Mr. Morin delivers a very entertaining, amusing space opera that while derivative (the author himself admits it), I think surpasses what he derives it from.
The best part is the strong set of distinctive characters that the audio book reader differentiates very clearly. Some characters are annoying, others downright sleazy -- well there is a lot of sleaze, but the sleazers are the protaganists -- and some characters are fascinating -- and Mr. Morin holds true to these characters and their motives throughout -- the plot is very much driven by his rag tag band.
So I did withhold one star because there are a couple of missions and characters that didn't work for me -- but I'm definitely going to be reading/listening to his other stuff. Much fun!
I liked, but just a little over "ok". It is fun and some interesting combination of magic and technology. But it lacked depth and it wasn't very convincing. The characters and story lines are entertaining, but never got me really excited or engaged.
All in all I had some fun listening to this, but somewhere in part 5 of 8 I had heard enough, which will be around 50 hours of the 85 hours. And that shows that I liked it enough to get that far, but not enough to finish it and by that time I really was done with it. I'll leave the remaining parts for some other time to pick up, but that will probably be quite a while.
I'm sure I would have liked the Black Ocean series if I had read it like I normally do, but listening to it performed by Mikael Naramore made me fall in love with it. It doesn't really feel like Firefly to me, but that's OK because I think I actually like it better. It's definitely worth picking up if it sounds even vaguely interesting to you and I absolutely recommend the audiobook.
Maybe I abandoned too early, but Esper just ruined it for me. Overly headstrong, stridently righteous.....and just too much of a focus. I liked Carl and his shipmates, and Esper was useful as a person to explain backstory too, but there was just too much of her and I didn't want to experience that any longer.
Listened to the mammoth audiobook. Classic band-of-rogues style story with some fun adventures. Good universe with great character building in most cases. Like a sci-fi sitcom for easy listening/reading.
Reader for audible is slow and a bit plodding. The material is *decent* but not exceptional. It's got a VERY family-friendly tone through missions 1-3, despite regular cursing, and is tame compared with most of it's contemporaries. Oddly, the work feels like it was written in the '80s or early '90s... Think "Red Dwarf" meets "Married With Children". I'm enjoying it one episode at a time, in between some very hard sci-fi and military sci-fi. It's a good palate cleanser. The series darkens significantly beginning with mission 4, so I'd say there's a notable shift in tone.
Salvage Trouble, Mission 1 Poor Chip. We barely knew you. Silly story introduces the crew of the Mobius and their basic backgrounds. Was fun and not too serious.
A Smuggler's Conscience, Mission 2 No spoilers - but its a fun jurassic park style adventure in places, with a heavy dose of ethics. Lots of running around trying to do stuff that works out... weirdly.
Poets and Piracy, Mission 3 Tani's drug addiction comes front and center. Sexually free-wheeling overlords embarrass Esper, and other fun things occur in a relatively lighthearted romp.
To Err is Azrin, Mission 4 Coming home story for Mriy, an interesting hunter's tale, fish out of water, power struggles, and generally entertaining. Torture scene was over the top and made me squirm. Odd for the series but ok, new territory! Darker than other *missions*.
Guardian of the Plundered Tomes, Stoaway Mission 4.5 Mort's back story. Much better than I was expecting, and exlpains a lot.
The Rodek Less Traveled, Stoaway Mission 4.6 Back story of how Roddy joined the Mobius crew. He's the mascot for alcoholism.
Technically Flawed, Stoaway Mission 4.7 Back story of various come and gone crewmates, and the reasons why the crew never has a tech/data rat for long. Insightful and fun.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Alien Racer, Mission 5 What starts as showing off turns into a major crime. Some despicable s**t happens, continuing the darker turns of the series.
Retro Version, Mission 6 Carl's family is explained in more detail, and the author shows he's a fan of old stuff few people embrace any more. Continues the story arc of Mission 5
Siege of Mortania, Mission 7 One of the passengers is not who he seems. COntinues the story arc of missions 5 and 6, to conclude the story lines and wrap things up. Think of 5-6-7 as a cohesive unit. Esper rises to the challenge.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Moon of Odysseus, Mission 8 New and improved? nope, there is far more depravity and evil lurking in the author's mind. While the series started out fun and light, this takes a dark turn and keeps it dimming to black.
Pinball Wizardry, Stoaway Mission 8.5 Esper's final exam. Starts out cute, ends in mind rape (sort of). Not so sinister, but certainly inappropriate.
Adventure Capital, Mission 9 Further down into unethical morass, continues the story line of mission 8
Collusion Course, Mission 10 Don Rucker comes a crashing in. Carl is no longer the fun easy going outlaw, he's growing colder. Doubly so for Mort - badass yes, but also pretty cold hearted. Continues the story line of missions 8 and 9.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You, Robot, Mission 11 Couldn't stand the first half of this atrociously bad romp, with it's scooby-doo antics and unrealism. But then it picks up and becomes at least tolerable
Stowaway to Heaven, Mission 12 Payback time, Harmony Bay is the target. Imbeeded crew members as double agents, tragedy with a certain wizard, and a prize so big it's impossible to keep. Interesting yarn, thoroughly entertaining.
Voice of Reason, Stowaway Mission 12.5 "are you really in my head?" Apparently, yes. This could get awkward.
Mission Inadvisable, Mission 13 Some absurd adventures and implausible escapes, but overall an entertaining volume on par with the best 25% of what this series does.
Moral and Orbital Decay, Mission 14 A disgraced son-of-Mort and Mobile Mining Station YF-77 - is it the new Deep Space 9? This story forms the basis for the next series of Black Ocean. I found it very hard to sympathize with the primary characters (most were acting selfish and wicked), and wondered why were being introduced in such detail to other seemingly transient characters. It makes sense in the context of this becoming essentially a spin-off series.
Planet Hustlers, Mission 15
Eternity or Bust, Mission 16 Old Times Sake, Stowaway Mission 16.5
This is a solid read. It entertained me in the background as an audiobook accompaniment through life for a few weeks. Three stars doesn't seem quite enough, but four stars seems a little overblown. Some stories were better than others. But throughout the 80+ hours of reading/listening, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and never grew bored. That is what I wanted of this omnibus, and that is what it delivered.
Carl and his crew, including a couple of xenos, a magician, and his ex-wife, are definitely outlaws. Especially Mort. Oh my, what an anti-hero he turned out to be. But they are lovable and funny, somewhat rag-tag, and always offering a new adventure.
There is no regret in devoting 80 hours to this book. I'd recommend it to any sci-fi/fantasy reader, or fan of the Firefly series, who is between other books and looking for something lightweight and fun to pass the time.
One character absolutely ruins these stories for me. The rest of this might be enjoyable. But one character is so damn annoying that I am putting this series down and never picking it up again.
Edit: Turns out during a book dry spell for me I did pick it up again. I got farther. But I couldn't keep with it to the end. Character consistency seems like it bends to plots a little more then I find reasonable and over all it feels like the series pushes religion a little hard in a way I to find interesting but off putting.
If you liked Firefly you will love this book series. This book is like 16 books in one though. After completing a few stories I realized it is not for me. I am just not that into quick space cowboy stories that don't get into longer complex plots.
The author did a small talk at the end of this compendium and said this was a spiritual successor to the TV series Firefly and it really felt like it. There were some good stories, some bad and a lot of mediocre. The first couple and the last couple were the best as they had the most "rag tag group trying to scrape by" vibes that made Firefly so good. The middle of the series had high stakes, planet scale dramas that felt dull in comparison.
The characters were fine but the author has picked some of the worst for spin off series. Nothing was good enough to make me want to read spin off series about Cedric the Brown or Chuck Ramsey. The series about Esper looked quite interesting but going by the blurbs it goes from "low stakes space adventures" to "must save the galaxy" after only a handful of books and that was the real downfall of the primary series so I'll give those a miss.
The universe is well built, the magic and sci-fi meshed well together. The various factions were good and the plots were generally ok. The narration was good.
I might recommend selected stories but as the cast changes in almost every book you'd struggle to drop in and out of them. I wouldn't recommend the series as a whole.
Straight-up fantastic, both as a series of fast-paced sci-fi stories and as a wonderfully-narrated audio book marathon. Highly recommend this series to anyone looking for something with a rag-tag, edge-of-the-law space western feel with heart and action aplenty.
I read all the Mercy for Hire books before "reading" this, and I was not expecting Esper to be quite so different from the one in those books, but I really enjoyed this story. It captured the idea of the future and just put the world into perspective. I kick myself for not having gotten into reading this in the order they came out, but either way I enjoyed it and like the premise for sure. The characters are interesting. Narrator is amazing as well.
A Smuggler's Conscience #2 (5 Stars)
Esper takes a bit more of a hold into the business and she shares her conscience with the rest of the crew, as the title suggests. Her character arc is interesting to me as I have been reading the Mercy for Hire series and am also loving to get to know her past and all the people that shaped her to where she is now. I'm still liking these characters and am excited to read more.
Poets and Piracy #3 (4 Stars)
This sheds light on what just happened in the last Mercy for Hire book I read, so if you are in those. .you might want to be sure to get here to understand more about Esper's enemies. The tale continues and I have still enjoyed it.
To Err Is Azrin #4 (5 stars)
I really really enjoyed this one. A backstory on our Azrin friend on the ship.. And a huge character shift for her as well. Also.. Mort's desire for things to move forward with Esper.. And her push to do it as well. Very cool.. If the reason why is a bit crooked.
Guardian of the plundered Tombs #4.5 (5 Stars)
Love a great origin story and this one is a good one. Covers a slim of Mr Browns past and the start of the crew. Enjoyed it.
The Rodek less traveled #4.6 (3 Stars)
Rode addition to the story...very quick and pretty straightforward really.
Technically Flawed #4.7 (3 Stars)
A bit funny, but really just a rundown of all the technical guys they have had on the ship and all the bad things that happened to them .. Or well ..what happened to them.. I could have easily seen this as injection into the story to tell a story or two to pass time during a standard book.. But I can also see how just laying them out one after another could be appealing to just get those stories told.
Alien Racer #5 (5 Stars)
At first I thought this was going to just be a boring race, but I should have known that was wrong. Really enjoyed it.
Retro Version #6 (4 Stars)
This is the opening of the doors to the magic user's mind, it seems. This is a big thing in the Mercy for Hire series, and I was hoping there would be more in this "world" so to speak, but I can also see the title of the next book and I might get my wish there. Anyway.. This was interesting, and the jump in character for Esper.. While understandable was too quick and we miss out on her growth as a magician ..and regression as a believer. It's a bit jarring.
Siege of Mortania #7 (5 Stars)
Not quite what I expected, but exactly what the title suggested. I enjoyed this one. Found it to be a good story and peeled back some more layers on the crew.
Moon of Odysseus #8 (5 Stars)
This adventure really stretched the crew. I liked how they had to think differently than normal and the background on Carl was nice as well.
Pinball Wizardry #8.5 (3 Stars)
A test, but also a huge transition for Esper as her wizard knowledge has improved. Still no real showing of how this goes, but this was interesting - would have been more upset but things did not go as far as it seemed they would and I'm glad for that.
Adventure Capital #9 (2 Stars)
I got a bit bored during this one. Might be this story is getting stale.. Or I just need a break. Either way this one felt more like a segway rather than its own story. Even up to the end where it just cliffhangs out, which has not been happening with these stories.. Which I very much liked.
Collusion Course #10 (3 Stars)
This finishes out what was basically set-up in the previous few books. I found it a good story. Mort finally really hits into some real wizard type stuff and some big things shift for the team.
You, Robot #11 (4 Stars)
Pulling back up - again a bit of a cliffhanger, but not quite as bad as before at all. I enjoyed this one as we are opening the idea of Mort and his kids, as well as a few other things. I think the series is finding its feet again.
Stowaway to Heaven #12 (4 Stars)
Some heavy hitting moments here. I liked the progress of characters. In a way I think the breaking off was pushing away from possible pathways in story... But really I liked that we got back to Carl, crew, and plans. Additions are interesting.. But I do miss those that have moved on before this.. Mostly the Azrin.
Spoiler after this....
Mort's change didn't really affect me until Carl hears it.. That broke me... Well written for that character.
Voice Of Reason #12.5 (4 Stars)
Great short story. Gets a bit of the side characters some room to move around - as well as drops a good bit of humor into the continuing story.
Mission Inadvisable #13 (5 Stars)
Certainly one of the favorites of the series I think for me. I also think that this really captures a little more of each of the characters and especially some of the ones that you haven't got to see a whole lot of they got a lot of room in this and then Esper's and more and all the stuff that's going on with them was very interesting of course reading the Mercy For Hire books this really opened up what some of the stuff that comes up in the end that series.
Moral and Orbital Decay #14 (4 Stars)
Another good story, and I think a good continuation with the changes that have been made. For those interested this is also.. basically the start of Astral Prime series, which was not as much of a start as I expected while reading those books. Either there is more ahead of the crew here or that is just relayed within the pages of Astral Prime itself.
Planet Hustlers #15
Kind of an ocean's 11 feel to this one, or rather the episode or movie that everything stakes on a poker game. Cause.. That is what it was. Interesting and I'm curious to how insane this may make things as it moves forward, but there only being one book, I'm guessing not too much to occur.
Eternity or Bust #16 (3 Stars)
I guess a decent 'ending' the series. Ties up some loose ends and sets up all the new pathways that take on the other series that have spurned since this point.
For old Times Sake #16.5
A fun little story that just sets you into the future of what those on the Mobius call life now. Enjoyable for sure. The last notes from the author and narrator brought me to tears a bit. Nice to hear the heart they had in this series and I am glad I was able to listen to it all. Very, very cool universe created here.
I'm stopping listening to this about 60h into the 85h audiobook. It's just not good enough to continue. The writing is fine, but there are a few things driving me crazy after this long.
The protagonist is boring, cliche and evil. I was hoping he'd prove to be like Han Solo - a lovable scallywag who is good when it comes down to it. Here though Carl is actually a psychopath who is completely devoid of a soul, and not in any interesting way. I'm every situation, he predictably does the wrong thing.
The whole book is completely devoid of morals or clever insights into humanity or the world. Everyone is evil, there are no consequences and it's just boring after a while.
Lastly, it's just so damn AMERICAN. Sci-fi is interesting because it expand your mind, but this series is basically just a bunch of rednecks playing cowboy. It's very nostalgic, which really didn't work well with sci-fi. Lots of fond references to burgers and beer, and American pastimes. It feels like the books were written for a very specific persona. And it's not sci-fi fans outside America.
Another 5 star series. I don't give them out all the time, but this series deserves it. It was CRAZY good. Took me a long time get through since I listened to them all at once. The narrator was superb. He had great voices for each character.
The plots were very good, and the science was great, along with the wizards! I loved how it was mixed together with science and magic fighting each other.
Love every minute of it! 80+ hours of listening.
If you liked the show Firefly, you will love these books. The stories are loosely based off that.
The ad promised me “80 hours of science fiction adventure for 1 audible credit” that was technically true ( even while doing my job I had to crank it up to 2.5 to 3.5 speed to feel unbored) Most of the stories resembled the sort of stuff I would have written at the age of 12, but seeing as I was listening to all of it on an IPhone assembled by literal children it would be churlish of me to be overly harsh on a book for being written by someone artistically childish.
I am listening to this series and I must say, as a huge Serenity fan, it is a lot of fun. The characters are funny and their ridiculous adventures very entertaining. I enjoy the adversarial relationship between science and magic in this universe. The narrator adds to the joy via inflection, tone, and cadence which increases the enjoyment.
As a fan of Firefly I found this massive audiobook (80+ hours) to be simply awesome and highly recommend you give it a listen, especially if you enjoyed Firefly. That being said, it only has the same “feels” as Firefly but it isn’t a Firefly-related story. All my sci-go/fantasy friends grab yourself this audiobook and sit back and enjoy the story and it’s narration. I miss it already.