Displaced

Displaced #1

by Stephen Drake

When Kevin Murdock, martial artist and outdoorsman extraordinaire, is revived from suspended animation aboard a transport pod, he and his nine fellow occupants have no idea what to expect.

Murdock argues for caution after seeing something strange: animals also inhabit their new environment, all of them larger than their Earthly counterparts. Conflict soon erupts between Murdock and James Whittier - a politician with a lust for power and control.

But soon, they all realize that there's something even more dangerous onboard... something that might cost them all their lives.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Dystopia, Amazon, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction

381 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

Stephen Drake, a retired computer programmer of 20+ years, is an American fantasy/sci-fi author. He is an avid Harley-Davidson Motorcycle enthusiast, and versed in many survival skills such as martial arts and bow hunting. He draws on his experiences to create gripping and believable stories.

Reviews

[Kitty Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the silliest books I have never read . The ONLY excuse is if the writer is a home-schooled 14 year old boy with no siblings living in the back woods who has only ever been allowed to watch ancient re runs of cowboy television shows made in the 1950's and 60's and owns a few sci fi comics that belonged to his his grandfather ....and no, I didn't finish the book because the struggle through the cliche driven plot was too much of an ordeal and my shrieks of laughter and intermittent groaning were disturbing the dog . Before I gave up ,I read bits out loud to my husband and sons who either groaned , gasped or cringed and occassionally giggled (and we are not prone to giggling ) . The message from the transport pod to the main character in the first chapter of the book was so hysterically bad, that we all kept reading it out loud just for the laughs. I loved how the main character wasn't at all traumatised or stunned to suddenly find himself transported to a strange planet , but immediately started wondering if he could find any "apex predators" and go fishing !!! If you like good sci fi (as I do) read another book....

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

No characters, just caricatures.

THIS book has 4.3 stars?!?!? What the hell, people???
It was only some form of morbid curiosity that kept me reading. Will it...CAN it...get even worse? (Yes) Even though the story is somewhat entertaining, the writing is staggeringly bad. The behavior of the caricatures in this book bears very little resemblance to even remotely normal human behavior. It's ridiculous. And then it gets even more ridiculous.
And then there's the dialogue. OMG. Probably the most unrealistic, not to mention poorly written, dialogue I've ever read.
Save yourself, run away from this book.
UNLESS...
The movie Plan Nine from Outer Space is often cited as being the worst movie ever made, and it's quite fun to watch. Displaced, for me, belongs in the same category.
But seriously, don't waste your time. I wish I hadn't wasted mine.

[Faz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book in August 2022. I hate this book so much. The story is all about bragging about the main character. The main character, he is so so arrogant, and thinks he is the most perfect man. I am not sure whether his wife is sane or insane. There is the part where I decided I should stop reading the book. That when, there was a woman, she asked his wife ,she wanted to share her husband. And the wife agreed.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was ok but the plot didn't do anything for me. I thought it was going to be sci-fi but it was more like survival fantasy with some lame politics thrown in.

I mean, just because someone has a bit of political knowhow and comes from the upper-classes doesn't mean that everyone present would be stupid enough to vote them in as the leader of the colony. It was as if he was just put there as someone for the main character to bounce off and hate.

As for the main character; sorry, but I don't buy into "Ray Mears" leaves colony and sets up on his own only to end up sleeping with two different women at the same time and they're both perfectly fine with it.

So this was a miss for me.

[Helen Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awful!
I had high hopes as the idea behind it was great but found it tiresome and sexist and backward thinking. Feels like it was written by a man from the 1950's! I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.

[Patricia L Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out well. Then kind of went south.

Earth gets invaded and the invaders send humans to another planet. Why waste resources on this? And everyone seems to be able to start a fire but cannot figure out how to fish.
The book could have used a couple more edits and a little rewrite.

[Rebecca❀°✶•. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decided to DNF.

It was written so weirdly, the characters were so dull and boring, like they had no personality at all and were just...there. Whittier was a douchebag and I don't want to read about men bullying their way into power, and I DNFed after skim-reading the chapter ahead and seeing a talking bear.

Also, I don't understand how the character woke up away from Earth and seemed absolutely fine by it?? No panicking at all? Weird.

[Phil Matthews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor

This started out very well with good potential. However the protagonist's was unwilling to defend the weak against the bullies led to unnecessary deaths and suffering. What is this with salt? Very little is required for a healthy diet.

[Rahul Rao · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think a pre-teen or teenager could write better than this. Silly story with alien telepathic bears!!??!? Plus an evil human protagonist and cannibalism!?!?? COME ON!

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started with a very compelling premise and quickly devolved into an incel manlet's wet dream.

(A number of humans, which changes throughout the book because it's poorly edited) wake up on a transport pod which has landed on another planet. They find they've been abducted by aliens who have taken over Earth. These aliens require sheeple (yes, that's the word used) to work effectively on Earth, so they only send away the humans that think for themselves. These humans will need to learn to survive on this new planet because they can never return home.

The two most distinct personalities on this pod are the main character Murdock, a loner and survivalist, and Whittier, a politician who craves power and control. The rest? Who knows, this is as deep as these characters get. And that's when the story really starts falling to pieces.

Murdock, a very short man who happens to be a martial arts expert and perfect outdoorsman, is the author himself. Look, plenty of hack authors do this, ESPECIALLY in sci-fi and fantasy books, so as annoying as it may be, it comes with the territory. But it often involves a certain level of social obtusity. Let me give you an example which, oddly, happens several times in this story;
*man beats and rapes woman*
"Hey, stop raping her!"
*rapist grumbles away*
*second man asks victim if she is alright*
"I am now. Hold me, I don't want to be alone."
"OK."
"You are my husband now, make love to me."
"OK."

What the ever-loving fuck is this book? Terrible characters and wooden dialogue aside, none of this ever makes sense when related back to the fact that these are supposed to be highly self-independent thinkers. They just roll with whatever they are told. When the main character (the holier-than-thou author) gives helpful suggestions to his fellow humans, they snap and say "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" But then when the politician tells them to do the exact same thing, they blindly comply. It's the author saying how stupid people are, society in general. You know, besides him. When they are violently raped, they suddenly want to be slaves to the man that saved them. ("knight in shining armor" is said a couple times in this book). Every character, besides the protagonist and antagonist, simply allow people to walk over them or kill them, with no pushback whatsoever. It's so painfully nonsensical.

I should also mention, the main character is a virgin. This is presented as the character's only flaw, simply for the fact that other people in society looked down on him. Naturally when he saves a raped woman, she takes his virginity. He becomes a father, eventually having multiple wives and children with them, and they're all ecstatic about that living arrangement. This feels like it's written by a 15 year old boy, with a distinct lack of penis and fart jokes.

I really can't stress enough how fucking stupid this book becomes after a few chapters. The alien world and life that inhabit it are just Earth and its normal creatures, but bigger. UGH.
That red flag alone should've made me stop reading. But I kept on, and suddenly the main characters (the "nice guy" and his sisterwives) can speak to each other telepathically, they can astral plane to see what's going on in other parts of the world, they can run forty miles an hour, and they can levitate themselves and heavy items on command.

Are you confused, think I'm leaving something out? NOPE. It just happens with no rhyme or reason, a very casual deus ex machina that flat out insults the reader.

The final insult? Tattoo from Fantasy Island ends the book pointing to the sky as the next transport pod of humans makes its landing. LOOK BOSS! DE PLANE, DE PLANE!

[Linda Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic story of 30 people dropped on a planet and told to survive.

Murdock is one of 30 people dropped on a planet they know nothing about with almost no training some rather primitive survival gear and taped instructions to do their best to survive. I say almost no training because Murdock has been trained all his life. Now he has to make up his mind if he wants to help the others before they turn on each other like the savages all humans are. Plus the planet has a few surprises to teach a few of them if they listen. Deserves eight stars for originality, fascinating story and keeping it interesting from start to finish.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. It’s adventurous and filled with action, drama, humor, pathos, and wit. Alien invaders have taken over the earth and have shipped 20 undesirables off-planet. The backstory of the takeover and subsequent history is merely glimpsed at; later in the book we discover the invaders are the Teknarah who need “sheeple” to survive. Apparently the 20 people aboard this transport pod are not good sheeple. In this book, at least, the invasion is of little importance except for the relationship between the Teknarah and the indigenous life forms on the planet where the 20 earth rejects now find themselves.

When the transport pod arrives on the planet, the passengers discover that it has taken between 150 and 350 years to travel there via some sort of suspended animation, although they have aged only two to three years. Clearly, the earth they knew no longer exists, and the transport pod has been designed as a one-way transport, never to leave the new planet. The pod has enough technology to last one earth year, assuming the solar panels are maintained. There is some tasteless, but nutritious, food aboard the pod, but it will not last long. There are tools such as saws, axes, knives, shovels, and so on, but no seeds or preserved cells to grow their own food. These twenty are given fundamental tools for survival and nothing else, particularly knowledge.

The pod has a recording that tells the unwilling pioneers that their pod may or may not be the first to land on the planet and that additional pods will be landing every five years within a twenty-mile radius of this pod, increasing the population by a factor of ten. It seems pretty obvious that this is the first pod, regardless of what the recording intimates, particularly regarding the “factor of ten” information. It’s possible that an earlier transport pod arrived five years ago with two undesirable castoffs, and that pod’s factor of ten would leave them expecting another 20 to join them in 5 years (i.e., now). This seems highly unlikely since sending only two people some 150 to 350 light years from earth is inefficient in the extreme. Since there are 20 people on board this transport pod, the next pod will bring 200 (a factor of ten) additional undesirable people.

Only one among the twenty has any sort of survival training, Kevin Murdock. The rest are pretty much destined to be followers. Immediately two factions emerge, one led by Murdock and the other led by James Whittier, a politician while on earth. The writer has a lot to say about politicians, none of it good. It’s pretty accurate, particularly with respect to what’s needed to exist on the new planet.

The book is a chronicle of the twenty who must figure out not only how to survive on this planet, but also how to live with each other, and they are some truly disparate people. I enjoyed the tale, and I was firmly entrenched with Team Murdock and the people who became his family.

Murdock is a dominant leader with survival skills he has honed since early childhood. His family was wealthy but preferred to be able to support themselves on the land and to be prepared for almost any eventuality. In some ways Murdock has been preparing all his life for this imposing journey.

Joining him is Rose Griffen, who started out defensive and angry, but who became the bedrock of Murdock’s group that ended up functioning as a family. Her skills increased as she endured hardships; she became instrumental to the little group’s survival. She kept them together, and through her, they became a family.

Mei Lee and Tom Collier joined them next, but Tom gave up his life to save Rose. He changed from a follower of the opposite faction to a hero that deserved to live but didn’t. Others came and went. Murdock’s core family remained close.

There are some things that seemed discordant. For example:
 The recording that is played by the transport pod is curiously inadequate and feels unfinished. We are given to believe the Teknarah are a technologically advanced race and yet they cannot pinpoint the amount of time it will have taken the pod to reach this new planet. 150 to 350 earth years is way too great a range for this kind of technology.
 The pod’s recording states that every five years there will be another travel pod landing within a radius of twenty miles and that the number of passengers will keep increasing by a factor of 10. We can extrapolate, then, that the next pod will contain 200 people. The pod after that will contain 2,000 people, the pod following that one will include 20,000 people…and so on. Soon enough, a transport pod containing two million people will arrive. Since no end of transport pods is stated, nor implied, the planet will be overrun with colonists within a generation, particularly when the colonists themselves start making babies. That’s extraordinarily short-sighted.
 We are given no details regarding the passengers’ travel maintenance. We assume a form of suspended animation, especially since the passengers age only two to three years. And, again, why the imprecise number of years? Do we assume that if the trip took 150 years, they would have aged 2 years, and if the trip took 350 years, they would have aged 3 years? Hmmm….
 The pod has fundamental tools for the unwilling colonists: axes, machetes, saws, shovels, knives, and a limited supply of food – nothing else. There are no seeds, no preserved cells for earth-animals (and no technology for recreating them), no information about the colonists’ new home. This seems odd since the recording assures the disinclined colonists that they “were not sent here to die, but to survive….” Oh, yeah…? How? And there’s an ominous rejoinder at the end of the assurance that the colonists were sent there to live out their lives: “…but to survive, if you can.” That “if you can” seems sinister.
N.B.: We are given a quasi-explanation for some of this oddness. The Teknarah are somehow punishing the planet’s current population (yes, the planet is already inhabited). We aren’t given any more hints about this: perhaps in the next two books?
 At the 56% completion mark, in chapter 16, Mei Lee (a member of Team Murdock) is asked if she is willing to jeopardize the lives of everyone by letting a member of the group live. This member has shown himself to be untrustworthy, deceitful, and out only for himself. He has ordered his men to kill others; he has starved other colonists. Mei Lee argues that they “haven’t any hard evidence as to what particular crimes he has committed that are worthy of execution” when actually they have more than enough forensic evidence.
 In chapter 23, while following a faction of the group led by one of the members who seems to have gone mad, Murdock states that he wants to “rearrange the cart some” in order to “repack it for passengers.” He intends to bring some of the members of the faction back with his team if they wish to come with him. Yet a few pages later he muses over what he is “supposed to do with another three people,” apparently having forgotten that he had already made room for them in the cart. He goes on to think about how “he wasn’t the trusting type, and these three had done nothing to warrant his trust.” He continues thinking, “I have to look after four people as it is, I’m not sure I want another three.” I’m thinking that the writer changed some elements of the story and did not go back to remove the earlier reference to repacking the cart to make room for passengers the Murdock team ended up not wanting.
 Another moment of apparent forgetfulness, also in chapter 23, occurs when Murdock’s team finds two women who have been beaten and left for dead. Mei Lee asks what happened to them and one of the women tells them; Murdock is with his team, listening to the woman. A few pages later Murdock asks the same woman, “Who beat her like this?” He had already found out who did the beatings when Mei Lee asked the same question earlier, so his question is confusing.

The book appears to be well edited and proofread. There are very few grammatical and/or typographic errors. Here are a couple examples:
 “…they tried to refrain while Beron was around, lest he thinks they had lost what little sense they had.” The verb form following “lest” is incorrect. More properly, it should read, “…they tried to refrain while Beron was around, lest he think they had lost what little sense they had.” There is an assumed “might” that supports the verb, "to think." The word “might” is best used with past tense since it describes something that happened in the past.
 “You’d think he be a little more worried.” “Would” is the past tense of will. The sentence begins in the past tense with “You’d think…” as in “You would think….” The sentence should read, “You’d think he would be a little more worried” or the contraction, “You’d think he’d be a little more worried.”

The book ends with another transport pod dropping from the sky, as promised by the recording in the original pod. Looks like another 200 people will be joining Murdock and his little family. The last chapter marks the end of the first book in the Displaced trilogy; the ending is not a cliffhanger. A reader can be satisfied with reading this initial move onto the planet, the division of the colonists into factions, and the emergence of Murdock’s family. It’s a good, absorbing read. Curiosity will no doubt impel some readers to pick up the second book in the series. I certainly will. I rated this book 5 stars because it is well written, held my interest, and presented some interesting viewpoints to chew on. I am looking forward to the second book of this trilogy.

[Angi Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but unrealistic

I'm enjoying the story, but how are these people avoiding scurvy, eating nothing but cooked fish and venison? The Intuit got their vitamin C mostly from reindeer liver and seal brains, eaten raw or frozen, as cooking destroys vitamin C. But Drake's people cook everything as soon as they can get a fire going, and they discard all the organ meats or let the wolves take them. This is weekend survivalism, at best. You can't survive years on nothing but meat, let alone raise healthy children that way.

Also, why the he** are the women giving birth on a TABLE, of all places? I've had three home births, and never once have I ever had the urge, or been asked by a midwife, to climb up onto a table. The table might be used for support while the woman stands, squats, or kneels. (I tried various positions and always wound up birthing on my knees, or hands and knees, with hands up on a bed or couch.) Putting a laboring woman on her back on a table is convenient for the doctor, but makes things harder for the woman, who is now working without the help of gravity and with strain added to her back (which is often painful).

He also writes about making baby cradles and keeping the babies in cradles on a cart while traveling. Baby slings or carriers would be more realistic and desirable in this setting. It's actually theorized that the baby sling was humankind's first real invention. The babies wouldn't STAY in those cradles once they started scooting, anyway.

He also never writes about how they're dealing with the babies' diapering needs or with any laundry. Nobody even arrives with a change of clothing, and most of them are not even dressed for outdoors. Do their clothes all really hold out for years, without ever being changed or washed?

All that said, the basic story line is interesting. I look forward to seeing what happens in the rest of the series.

[K.J. Simmill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murdock's upbringing was considered anything but normal to the masses, raised by his father and uncle he was taught to hunt, to be a survivor. When he awakes on a distant planet he knows these skills will be tested to their fullest. He, and the others in the transport pod, had been rejected. They served no purpose, had no value, to Earth's new masters. Stranded on a world where survival skills should be the only real currency there are those who crave power above all else and will stop at nothing to obtain it. One such man is Whittier, and he knows all too well how dangerous a man like Murdock can be to his plans. He would rather cast him out than lose control. On a new and dangerous world, where humans are not the apex predator, loyalty is paramount, and survival is not a given. The people here must get their priorities straight if they plan to survive.

I have to say I really loved this book, a phrase I never utter lightly. The characters are magnificent, the plot is gripping, engaging, and casts a light on humanity at its best and worst. Stephen Drake creates an imaginative world wrought with danger and peril, yet humans seem to be the thing to fear most. The author's style is immersive, filled with great dialogue and breath-taking descriptions. A truly brilliant book for lovers of fantasy and sci-fi. I personally will be eagerly awaiting more work from this talented author.

This is certainly a book I would recommend.

[April]

DNF:

I am a huge fan of alien world scenarios. The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith is utterly fantastic. The Outpost by W. Michael Gear is another example of books with a similar trope, that were fully developed, had complicated characters with political motives like Displaced by Stephen Drake tried to. Planetfall by Emma Newman had atypical characters and a weird unexpected ending. All of these books had me hoping that Displaced would match up in at least it's originality. Unfortunately I just didn't like it. The main character Murdock is clearly written by someone with bushcraft fantasies and dreams of being able to lord the superiority of his knowledge over the surrounding idiots. In real life there are complications that would make Murdock's initial excursions into the wild more treacherous. Certainly and especially if it were another planet?! I liked the quick 'Lord of the Flies' style breakdown of society but the characters were so comically simple that I lost interest. Rose's character was infuriatingly incompetent to the point of it being insulting. I realize this is harsh so I'll stop here by saying by the time I got to the talking bear-like lifeforms I was pretty much done with the book.

[Richard S. Levick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A futuristic Lord of the Flies, asking penetrating and important questions about human nature and living (not just talking) our ethics and integrity. It also shows the powerful negative impact of the masses who sit by and watch events unfold without taking any leadership or responsibility. Survival, whether in the future, or today, requires our active participation.

A thoughtful page turner right from the start. Imaginative and, like the best science fiction, asks present day questions from the safe distance of the future.

The male character lead is well developed and thoughtful. The two female leads are also very good and powerful but occasionally dip into a slightly more sophomoric approach with a twinge of hypocrisy, self-righteousness and an absence of self awareness, and though bearable, takes away from the power of these two otherwise very likeable women.

An excellent and enjoyable read. I was constantly surprised at how much I would read in each sitting.

A decent ending but since this is the first of a series, that is to be expected. It does leave you wanting to know more about what will happen in their future.

[Leila Kheiry · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is completely ridiculous. It’s sexist, the characters are poorly developed, the story structure is (at times) incomprehensible, the dialogue is stilted. I am flabbergasted that it has such a high average rating. I almost stopped reading at one point, but there is a certain train-wreck-fascination quality that kept me going. It’s almost satirical in its total badness.

[Denisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just... wrong.


The blurb seemed really interesting with a lot of potential. And the first 15% weren't too bad, but then it all just escalated so quickly!

Ok, possible spoilers ahead, you've been warned.

So, imagine this.

50 people (definitely not 50, I'm exaggerating here, but it's in the spirit of the story, not an actual summary of what happened). They are in a new, weird place. 49 of them are all completely stupid (not even one saying that hey, it's an alien planet, let's think about this, or hey, we'll be hungry, or thirsty, or whatever). The social situation forms in half a page and the 'leader' appears and everyone listens blindly to him.

1 person is 'smart'. He goes in the woods, ignores them all, and starts preparing. He's a conspiracy theorist, so of course he knows everything there is to know about absolutely everything.
*insert eye roll here*

Don't get me wrong, I agree that most people on this planet aren't the sharpest tools in the box. But even statistically, if you take 50 people, at least 3, 4 of them will say heyyyy, we need food. And water. And heyy, we're on a FREAKING ALIEN PLANET! Let's act like it!

Plus, I really don't like this whole patriarchy thing. Don't throw tomatoes at me yet, hear me out.

Yes, men are stronger than women. Some men are smart, some women are smart. Some women are strong, some men are weak. We're all humans, some are better than others, no matter the gender, race, or whatever.

So, when I see this book when only men are smart and strong and resourceful, and women are just pretty, I'm a bit annoyed.

50% of the book later, we get new action (it felt like I lost about 100 pages of the book, but hey). The only woman who tries to not be an a-hole is tortured and left bleeding in the woods. Then she is saved by our hero here, who is of course there for the damsel in distress. Then she turns into a complete idiot and starts acting weird.

In the meantime, the other humans are complete idiots and do some more idiotic stuff. It's like they have a hive mind or something.

Somehow, some alien creatures are introduced in the story.


At that point, the plot started making even less sense.

More heroing from the hero, idioting from the idiots, and damseling from the damsel.

I don't even know why I read this book I was really curious to see where this could go and how much more of a bad cliche combined with bad writing this would turn into. Really, there is no way for me to explain all the problems in this book.

Frankly, I'd recommend this book to any literature university class. There are so many issues in the plot, the character build, the dialogues and the character voices, there are issues everywhere! New writers would have a lot to learn from studying such a book.

[John Podlaski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only error I discovered is that the story is about twenty passengers on the pod and not ten as the book description and some reviewers have noted.

Marooned on a distant planet, the new arrivals must learn to live from the land and survive until the next group of passengers arrives in five years. Kevin Murdock was raised by his father and taught how to take care of himself in the wilds. The others were unwilling to learn and elected a politician to lead them. He immediately picked his henchmen and ruled over the group which soon evolved into a dictatorship. Murdock wants no part of it and sets out on his own.

He discovers a world much like Earth, but also finds it is much different. He makes his home inside of a large cave in a mountain and soon discovers a super race of bears with various powers and the ability to communicate telepathically. He befriends one of them and learns much going forward.

Meanwhile, the dictator abuses the women at the pod, branding them as his own. When two of the battered women wander into Murdock's camp, he takes them under his protection and declares war on the dictator and his cronies.

The story flows well and kept my attention throughout. Winter was coming and will take its toll on everyone. Waiting five years for the next pod to arrive will be a moot point if they aren't able to survive the winter. Will they?

The author does a wonderful job in evoking emotions from readers during the story. I found myself exhibiting anger, spitefulness, joy, happiness, sadness, captivation, and became extremely sad at the end. I do highly recommend DISPLACED by Stephen Drake for all ages and genres. I already purchased the next installment and look forward to seeing how the new world evolved.

[Mari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some advanced civilization has taken over Earth and sent a pod with ten Earth people put into deep sleep to another Earth like planet. Those that awaken are confused. The information tells them they must survive until the next pod arrives. Only one leaves the pod and examines the surrounding community. Another determines to “take” over the group and make them serve him. The one who examined the surrounding area catches fish and cooks it. The others seem to survive on a thin gruel the pod dispenses. Kevin leaves the group when the takeover person turns nasty. He was trained as a youth to survive in the wild. He meets Beron, a bear that has telegraphic powers and more. Kevin rapidly learns to mind share. The bears have their own civilization, but still must hibernate over winter. Kevin rescues Rose from the underling thugs. They seem to be able to subside on venison and fish. The tale tells of the bears unique cave where they have found refuge. Rather than let the others from the pod discover the cave, Kevin and Rose build a cabin. The people at the pod finally lock the bullying takeover person in the pod and elect Mei to lead. She is too compassionate and permits the bully to have freedom again. The upshot is that Mei’s lover is killed and she finds refuge with Kevin and Rose. Both have babies. They survive during the winter, but as the thaw comes danger approaches. One of the bear cubs has been snatched and those left at the pod slaughtered. Rose is caught again and will give one mighty effort to save those she loves from the madman and the angry bear parents. You’ll have to read what happens next.

[Beatrice Arreguin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh em gee! I cannot believe anyone gave this book more than one star! This book is so demeaning to women! Metzger gets involved with Rose, tells her he loves her.. then when asked by the leaders, he says he didn't care much about her, she was just a fling?! Then he lets her get beaten up, participates in her gang rape, someone cuts spy and slut on her chest and back, slices up her face and breaks her ribs! Rose gets brutally raped and the thing she worried MOST ABOUT ARE HER LOOKS?! REALLY?! That's the worst trigger I've read in a while! They thankfully DON'T give details of the actual rape, but the author mentions it so off handedly as if it just some trivial thing that happens to her! But before that happens there's this politician dude who decides he's in charge and everyone just buries their head in the sand & let's him boss everyone around. This is just so badly written! It is such a disappointment because I was so excited to win the giveaway because it sounded so promising! But it describes callously violent actions from the characters after the fact & I just can't anymore! If someone is a survivor of rape.. it's very rare they're thinking about how pretty they are and question how they'll ever find a man who wants them . Not because she feels violated but because she's not pretty enough to deserve the attention from any man! Nope and nope! Did not finish due to morality conflicts!

[RBSProds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Displaced” is a fast-paced, action-driven SciFi page-turner, the first of 3 novels in the series, based on the well-known plot of “a person awakens in a room, in space, or on a strange planet and must ‘figure it all out from there’ with minimal information and assets". Drake takes this well-worn concept and does a good job of creating a situation for 20 English-speaking humans who must contend with problems, tensions, and other things that require resolution, led by Murdoch and Whittier. But, did the forces that sent them to the planet Oomah know that, in addition to different types of alien fauna and flora, it harbors strange, dark secrets?

The quick flow of this novel works for 3/4 of the plot until upended by questionable decisions that are made; but in dealing with humans and aliens, who is to say those decisions could not have happened in real life, leading to a number of mishaps and disasters. This novel does not end on a cliff-hanger, but with the next planned pod arrival of 200 clueless people (which means expanding out 25 years, beyond the scope of these 3 novels, the sky will literally be raining similar-sized pods which are already enroute, as thousands of new humans arrive every 5 years.) This is entertaining, suspend-your-belief, fast-moving SciFi fare that is Recommended as a new iteration of a familiar theme with a few passable hiccups along the way. Three and a half FAMILIAR Stars. Apple Books, recommended by BookBub. 381 pages.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I started the book I thought it might be interesting based on the premise...but I quickly discovered how silly a story could be. My first clue was when the main character (Murdock) was introduced...wearing buckskins. He is apparently some kind of survival expert, but no explanation is really given as to how he became one other than some passing references to his father and uncle. He is actually more of a Caricature of a survivalist than any kind of believable character. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is similarly shallow. The bad guy is evil, with no real sense of why (or why anyone would follow him.) The love interest is perfect...and the love the most amazing of all time. The benevolent aliens are just ridiculous...as are the abilities Murdock and his clan develop over time. Telepathy, levitation, super strength, speed...nothing is off the table. I find myself giving this 2 stars instead of one for the simple reason that I was compelled to finish it...just to see if it ended in as ridiculous fashion as it began. If they made this into a movie, it would be perfect for Mystery Science 3000 or Rifftrax.

[L Bongiorno · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was engaging... but... I have read books very similar to this, minus the psychic elements, which is the best part of this book, by the way. A very clever and unique spin to the tale. They all have a very evil man who grabs hold of power almost immediately and it goes very dark, very quickly after that. Not really my cup of tea... so much darkness.
I can't believe people are this dumb or short sighted. Or, why they wouldn't have just been exterminated on earth?!? But what really got me (lost me) was when they decided to build a new home because they couldn't think of a way for them to know they needed help??? Hello... fire pier?!? And "Winter Is Coming"!
Then, after they trailed the psycho, rabid dog who was a cannibal and leaving dead people in his wake on his third chance. Our hero doesn't hunt him down....?!? I just can't buy it. So, the whole ending shouldn't/wouldn't have happened. But I guess it had to, because no way is sharing a man sexually gonna work out well. IMO.

[Katie Kissel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I was a little hesitant about this book for some reason, I don’t really remember, but it turned out to be a decent book overall.

**trigger warning**
There were a lot of violent scenes and it insinuated all of the women in the story were raped which seems really excessive. Also, the way the people just blindly followed the idiot Whittaker was annoying and weird but I also know throughout history people have done exactly that. So I can see this being the author’s exaggerated commentary on the stupidity of humans.

The MMC was great and I love how he was written with his moral code and the tough outdoorsy guy with the softness of emotions. He ends up looking out for a lot of people I just wish he would have killed Whittier because Rose wouldn’t have died.

Overall, I do recommend this book but I do caution people to be mindful of the violence. There are not active rape scenes in the book (thankfully and I shouldn’t have to type this) but it is referenced and insinuated in different incidents.

[K O · Rating 5 out of 5]

great world building and characters you love and care about

Stephen Drake’s novel “Displaced” quickly became a favorite of mine. As I read the book over the period of a week I came to love the characters who populated this new world. Moments in the book are heartbreaking while others are hopeful. While this book is unique it does ask a question many others before it posited. Namely, does mankind’s environment permanently influence our behavior, the old nature versus nurture, or is there a chance in the future for the next step in our evolution? That being, living in harmony with everything around us. Mr. Drake’s book exposes the best and worst of human nature.

I would like to think that one day, if we survive another few thousand years, one day humanity can ascend to that next plateau of evolution, but to get there we will need to winnow out the worst of us to become the best of us.

[Jess Frankel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens when you're dropped off on a planet so very much like our Earth--but not--and you have to survive with thirty other people? You survive. Our MC, Kevin Murdock, was--and is--an avid outdoorsman who knows what it takes to survive.

And he does, hunting for his own food, learning who's on his side and who isn't, and making friends with a telepathic bear and its clan. If that all sounds 1950's science-fictiony and silly, so be it. The novel does have that 1950's Heinlein vibe to it, along with a modern dose of polygamy, a fight against a bureaucrat who's really a wuss in real life, and it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger as another ship drops out of the sky to land.

I enjoyed the novel enough to round it up to a five-star rating. It was a tad long for me, and the jumpcuts in POV were a bit jarring at first, but I soon got into what everyone was thinking. Overall, it's a fun, reasonably fast read, despite its length.

[Kelly Straube · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the structure of the storyline set as people loaded on pods to arrive every 5 years on a new planet. The character Whittier was insufferable and seemed to be overly ridiculous at every thought, word or action. I liked the way the necessities were laid out by Kevin in terms of what he believed he needed to do to survive, what he taught others to do and how he adjusted according to situations. the final 3rd of the book when they were chasing Whittier seems to drag on and were just fillers to take up space. I think that section could have used either brevity or a challenge within the storyline. It ended well and set up the second book. I will continue reading as the rest of the story was entertaining.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m hooked!

I’m hooked! What a great idea for a book this is awesome! After Kincaid wakes up disoriented and learns himself and 19 other humans were sent to this planet and he is told it was not sit there to die but to survive. But will he survive the first danger they find or animals like earth animals except a way bigger but that is not the whole danger there is another and it is enough to make this new planet extinct. This book is so freaking good I am obsessed I hope there is a second book in this Siri is it is so good! Oh yes and every five years more humans will be sent there so their population will increase either through breeding or the new humans or both.

[james baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh dear - why is this so popular? Its a simplistic poorly written high school level story that is totally wooden on all respects. When the protagonist has a problem the author immediately invents a solution. Need to get somewhere is a hurry - well there's a 15 foot bear to carry you there - or you can always transport yourself through levitation. And then everyone is telepathic cos why not - including the bears. And then the stereotypical male dream - to have two wives and of course one of them is asian!. I see that the author has written a lot of books and they seem pretty popular. Who's reading this stuff?