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Astral Prime #9
Void Kraken: Mission 9
That void kraken is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. And it eats planets.
Unleashed from an alternate universe, the space-borne leviathan dubbed "void kraken" terrorizes the galaxy. The most powerful weapons barely scratch it. Whole fleets fall before it. Its movements are erratic. Its motives inscrutable. All anyone knows for sure is that if it isn't stopped, it's going to eat its way through the galaxy.
Fujita Hiroko feels responsible for the beast's presence in the Milky Way. She tries to rally support to combat the creature, to form an unprecedented inter-species alliance to find a way to stop its rampage.
Meanwhile, Cedric tries to find out all he can, searching the vaieen archive for records of the ancient race's own encounters with the void kraken. If he can find out how those mighty techno-wizards fought them and survived, maybe there's hope for the galaxy.
But there's no time to waste. The stuunji homeworld is in the monster's path. If they don't act quickly, the peaceful refugee planet is doomed.
Void Kraken is the ninth book in the Black Ocean: Astral Prime series. It hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning readers alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.
Unleashed from an alternate universe, the space-borne leviathan dubbed "void kraken" terrorizes the galaxy. The most powerful weapons barely scratch it. Whole fleets fall before it. Its movements are erratic. Its motives inscrutable. All anyone knows for sure is that if it isn't stopped, it's going to eat its way through the galaxy.
Fujita Hiroko feels responsible for the beast's presence in the Milky Way. She tries to rally support to combat the creature, to form an unprecedented inter-species alliance to find a way to stop its rampage.
Meanwhile, Cedric tries to find out all he can, searching the vaieen archive for records of the ancient race's own encounters with the void kraken. If he can find out how those mighty techno-wizards fought them and survived, maybe there's hope for the galaxy.
But there's no time to waste. The stuunji homeworld is in the monster's path. If they don't act quickly, the peaceful refugee planet is doomed.
Void Kraken is the ninth book in the Black Ocean: Astral Prime series. It hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning readers alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2019
About the author
J.S. Morin
193 books620 followersI 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 11, 2020
Death has come upon the Black Ocean. The ego of the prime guardian and the hubris of the oracle have allowed a creature from beyond the inflection point to enter the universe. A monster unimaginable that is intent only on destruction and death. A monster even the founders of all races -the vaieen - fear. Forces are rallied against it... beings flee before it... and worlds die at its touch. And there remains no hope...
Book 9 of the BLACK OCEAN: ASTRAL PRIME series see J.S. Morin and M.A. Larkin ratchet up the action and the drama as the story lines they have been crafting begin to draw together. The two co-writers continue to build a universe populated with heroes and villains that blur the lines of their own designs. Morin and Larkin are wonderful storytellers in their own right, but compliment and enhance each other when joined together. This is space opera at its best!!!
This is not a stand alone story. Readers will enjoy the adventure but should read some of the previous recent entries in the series to get up to speed on the setting and characters.
Book 9 of the BLACK OCEAN: ASTRAL PRIME series see J.S. Morin and M.A. Larkin ratchet up the action and the drama as the story lines they have been crafting begin to draw together. The two co-writers continue to build a universe populated with heroes and villains that blur the lines of their own designs. Morin and Larkin are wonderful storytellers in their own right, but compliment and enhance each other when joined together. This is space opera at its best!!!
This is not a stand alone story. Readers will enjoy the adventure but should read some of the previous recent entries in the series to get up to speed on the setting and characters.
April 3, 2020
Pure Terror has been unleashed on the Galaxy in the form of the ‘Void Kraken’, or as the Vaieen know it, the “MyllThog”. This thing is the Monster that other Monsters tell their kids about to scare them.
When Hiroko dove into the Astral, and had to be rescued by Cedric, she brought something back from the darkness with her, and it isn’t happy.
We finally learn in this book that even the Vaieen are afraid to utter the words ‘Release the Kraken’, and have spent significant energy in trying to work out how to defeat this monolithic monstrosity.
As Fujita and Cedric try and work out what to do down on Shadow Planet, the Kraken wreaks havoc across the galaxy, destroying everything and anything in its path.
The Kraken is a thing of pure destruction, eating and destroying not just ships, and stations, but entire planets as its hunger is never sated.
As it moves about, Jace Jarvis plots a possible path, that it is going to hit the Stuunji home world, and at this point, reality sets in for a lot of our main characters.
As everyone rallies to try and save New Garrelon, mainly by harassing Cedric and Fujita, it becomes more and more apparent that there is no hope for the Stuuni, and, once it has finished feeding on New Garrelon, there will be little hope for anyone else in the Black.
This is series has certainly become very grim, with the slaughter on board the station, and now a creature so hideously powerful, that even a Death Star would seem like a Christmas Tree ornament too it.
This series has allowed the Authors to really go carte blanche with destruction of things, but more than that, it has allowed the Authors to explore the deeper side of each of the main characters.
Down on Shadow Planet, Hiroko, well, the thing that the V-tech brought back as Hiroko, is becoming less human and more of a V-Human each day, an amalgamation of the Vaieen, Humanity and their technology. She is desperately seeking to understand the Vaieen and their technology so that she can find something to stop them. She is doing this to save the Galaxy. On the other hand, you have Cedric, doing his best to stop her, as he believes in his own arrogance, that only he can find a solution, and that he is the Master of the Vaieen technology, but at the same time, the Vaieen AI will not help him stop the Void Kraken, so he is basically helpless.
Up on Astral Prime, Kane, and his collection of mental house guests, continue to try and control the station, whilst finding a solution, using whatever means he can. Kane thinks he has a good position, and as usual, is on top of things.
Kendra as usual, is too busy weeping after Hiroko to have noticed that the Galaxy is being torn asunder by a giant unkillable Squid. Her fall from grace as a once powerful and useful person on the station only gets worse each episode, it is sad watching Kendra fall to pieces like she is.
One of the really amazing transformations is Zoti, who has taken on the role of Security Chief, as well as First Templar to the Sibyl (Hiroko). Gone are his peace loving ways, he is now taking down anyone who causes trouble.
Void Kraken is the first in the 3rd Arc of the Astral Prime Series, and it starts not with a bang, but with a MyllThog, and the Galaxy is never going to be the same again!! If you haven’t got into this series yet, now is the time to get onboard and start reading, because Mission 9 is just exceptional, and things are only going to get better.
When Hiroko dove into the Astral, and had to be rescued by Cedric, she brought something back from the darkness with her, and it isn’t happy.
We finally learn in this book that even the Vaieen are afraid to utter the words ‘Release the Kraken’, and have spent significant energy in trying to work out how to defeat this monolithic monstrosity.
As Fujita and Cedric try and work out what to do down on Shadow Planet, the Kraken wreaks havoc across the galaxy, destroying everything and anything in its path.
The Kraken is a thing of pure destruction, eating and destroying not just ships, and stations, but entire planets as its hunger is never sated.
As it moves about, Jace Jarvis plots a possible path, that it is going to hit the Stuunji home world, and at this point, reality sets in for a lot of our main characters.
As everyone rallies to try and save New Garrelon, mainly by harassing Cedric and Fujita, it becomes more and more apparent that there is no hope for the Stuuni, and, once it has finished feeding on New Garrelon, there will be little hope for anyone else in the Black.
This is series has certainly become very grim, with the slaughter on board the station, and now a creature so hideously powerful, that even a Death Star would seem like a Christmas Tree ornament too it.
This series has allowed the Authors to really go carte blanche with destruction of things, but more than that, it has allowed the Authors to explore the deeper side of each of the main characters.
Down on Shadow Planet, Hiroko, well, the thing that the V-tech brought back as Hiroko, is becoming less human and more of a V-Human each day, an amalgamation of the Vaieen, Humanity and their technology. She is desperately seeking to understand the Vaieen and their technology so that she can find something to stop them. She is doing this to save the Galaxy. On the other hand, you have Cedric, doing his best to stop her, as he believes in his own arrogance, that only he can find a solution, and that he is the Master of the Vaieen technology, but at the same time, the Vaieen AI will not help him stop the Void Kraken, so he is basically helpless.
Up on Astral Prime, Kane, and his collection of mental house guests, continue to try and control the station, whilst finding a solution, using whatever means he can. Kane thinks he has a good position, and as usual, is on top of things.
Kendra as usual, is too busy weeping after Hiroko to have noticed that the Galaxy is being torn asunder by a giant unkillable Squid. Her fall from grace as a once powerful and useful person on the station only gets worse each episode, it is sad watching Kendra fall to pieces like she is.
One of the really amazing transformations is Zoti, who has taken on the role of Security Chief, as well as First Templar to the Sibyl (Hiroko). Gone are his peace loving ways, he is now taking down anyone who causes trouble.
Void Kraken is the first in the 3rd Arc of the Astral Prime Series, and it starts not with a bang, but with a MyllThog, and the Galaxy is never going to be the same again!! If you haven’t got into this series yet, now is the time to get onboard and start reading, because Mission 9 is just exceptional, and things are only going to get better.
June 4, 2022
All these ran together and I didn't update. But we find the reason there's multiple earths gotta fight extra-universal aliens and the ancients who created us. In the end sacrifice for the many saves the whole universe.
June 17, 2024
A milthog, world-eater is rampaging through the Milky Way galaxy. Can it be stopped? Petty squabbles and political wrangling continue to prevent any meaningful progress towards stopping it or obtaining galactic peace.
July 29, 2023
Great book loved the story and the book narration it is a great book series can’t wait for the next one 👍😀☕️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 18, 2025
25 stars.
September 17, 2019
I enjoyed more insights into the alien minds/cultures in this episode of Astral Prime. We get glimpse of not only various xeno thoughts, but also of their worlds and their political and cultural structure. We also sense a greater understanding of what the vaieen scientists had hoped to achieve with the creation of life in the Black Ocean, the qualities they strove for in an effort to destroy the Void Kraken.
Myo Tam and Jace Jarvis try with limited success to rally aid for the stuunji before the a world devouring squid can devour their new world, and the Zheen collective researches ways to ensure their own planet doesn't suffer a similar fate. Hiroko and Kane attempt to forge alliances to slow or even stop the advance of the Void Kraken, each running into paranoia and self-centred speciesism which precludes cooperation, while Cedric looks for help elsewhere in the full knowledge that he likely will invite new troubles with his actions.
Our cast of characters must also contend with the consequences of sacrificing one race to save another. Does the genocide of a violent, self-serving, untrusting and unliked species justify the temporary continuation of a peaceful and more well-liked race? The hard decisions of a few with limited options and less time may very well haunt the entire Black Ocean.
Myo Tam and Jace Jarvis try with limited success to rally aid for the stuunji before the a world devouring squid can devour their new world, and the Zheen collective researches ways to ensure their own planet doesn't suffer a similar fate. Hiroko and Kane attempt to forge alliances to slow or even stop the advance of the Void Kraken, each running into paranoia and self-centred speciesism which precludes cooperation, while Cedric looks for help elsewhere in the full knowledge that he likely will invite new troubles with his actions.
Our cast of characters must also contend with the consequences of sacrificing one race to save another. Does the genocide of a violent, self-serving, untrusting and unliked species justify the temporary continuation of a peaceful and more well-liked race? The hard decisions of a few with limited options and less time may very well haunt the entire Black Ocean.
September 21, 2019
Mission 9, Void Kraken, picks up where Mission 8, Multiverse Truth, left off.
Cedric The Brown is hibernating on the Shadow Planet still trying to understand all that the vaieen left behind. Fujiko Hiroko, the former head of Astral Prime, is now considered a prophetess by many after she came back from the dead and developed many strange powers. Both Cedrick and Hiroko are continuing trying to figure a way to knock off the void kraken in a somewhat contentious relationship. The void kraken, which looks sort of like a cephalopod, is roaming around trying to eat everything organic or inorganic like worlds, people, satellites, and ships in the Black Ocean. It apparently is impervious to all efforts to knock it off.
All the vaieen in the Black Ocean have been knocked off by the nishta, except for one that has taken-up residence in the skull of Roland Kane who has replaced Hiroko and her supporters by coup for control of Astral Prime, a violent one at times. Kane considerers Astral Prime his personal fiefdom. The nishta look somewhat like bananas with leg
Most of the rest of the universe doesn’t believe there is a rogue raging cephalopod roaming around destroying everything it can find. They refuse to join forces to try and get rid of this big kraken.
And then it gets interesting. When the action gets going it will be decidedly hard to put Void Kraken down.
September 29, 2019
Mission 9 of the Black Ocean's Astral Prime picks up about three weeks after Misson 8. This was when Astral Prime and Shadow Plant dropped into the astral to avoid detection by a monster called the Myllthog, also known unaffectionatly as a Void Kraken. A world and sentient eater.
While sympathies are running high for Myo Tam, forthcoming help from her allies are not. Woefully, unprepared for any kind of attack let alone by a monster world eater New Garrleon faces doom.
Meanwhile, back on Shadow Planet Cedric and Hiroko argue over how to stop the Myllthog and what each of them can do.
I think Hiroko is trying to shame Cedric into doing something by having him face his fears, by shoving them in his face.
Meanwhile, Hiroko sets out to try to gather allies against the Myllthog. Just to find that most of the Black Ocean still thinks it's a myth. Won't they be in for a rude awakening.
This mission has the characters scrambling to find answers on what to do. I can't wait to find out what comes next.
While sympathies are running high for Myo Tam, forthcoming help from her allies are not. Woefully, unprepared for any kind of attack let alone by a monster world eater New Garrleon faces doom.
Meanwhile, back on Shadow Planet Cedric and Hiroko argue over how to stop the Myllthog and what each of them can do.
I think Hiroko is trying to shame Cedric into doing something by having him face his fears, by shoving them in his face.
Meanwhile, Hiroko sets out to try to gather allies against the Myllthog. Just to find that most of the Black Ocean still thinks it's a myth. Won't they be in for a rude awakening.
This mission has the characters scrambling to find answers on what to do. I can't wait to find out what comes next.
September 21, 2019
J.S. Morin and M.A. Larkin are back and, while I won’t say “better than ever” (as their prior books were simply fantastic), I will say “as good as ever". Now that, you must trust me, is veto high praise indeed. So here we are with Void Kraken: Mission 9 (Black Ocean: Astral Prime) and it’s a pretty superb place to be. The eponymous void kraken is a space-borne, planet eating leviathan thats terrorizing the galaxy. Our heroes, Hiroko and Cedric better think up something fast ... but have faith as, with a storyteller like this author you know things will work out somehow - and we readers will get total pleasure out of it.
September 20, 2019
The Vaieen, they engineered all known races in our universe to try and find an answer to a threat from theirs. Now that threat is here, and it is devouring planets. The might of empires crumbles before it, and it has set its sights on a friendly world. The friends we have met on Astral Prime now must pull out all the stops to answer a threat that they invited. The action truly ramps up in this installment, and leaves the reader wondering "what will it take?" What must be done to stop this threat, or is the Universe as we know it a loss?
September 17, 2019
Things have taken an even more universe threatening tone, but I gotta be honest I'm losing heavy interest in the characters. They just don't have... I'm not sure.. Relatability maybe. It's just.. Decisions that have been made are odd.. And the up against the rock and hard place is so... Well.. It's just not so interesting. The step to explain life was interesting it's not a bad storytelling setup I just don't feel that the characters are as interesting.
September 18, 2019
The kraken is loose!
Lots of moving parts to keep track of, and not all of them have tentacles! This particular mission felt more like it was setup for things that are bound to happen later, but it did that very well. Good characterization, and it will be interesting to see what happens next. And how the hungry void kraken is going to get dealt with.
Lots of moving parts to keep track of, and not all of them have tentacles! This particular mission felt more like it was setup for things that are bound to happen later, but it did that very well. Good characterization, and it will be interesting to see what happens next. And how the hungry void kraken is going to get dealt with.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews