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Xenophobia Series #1
Prelude to Extinction
Earth's first interstellar mission -- An alien colony in ruins -- Their fight for survival has only just begun.
When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Warm sunlight shined through his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long abandoned structures that lay nearby.
Evidence points to a massacre – the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers. Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option – but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they don’t even begin to understand.
“Fans of hard science fiction will particularly enjoy this thought-out, well-paced tale of a small crew’s unintentional close encounter. A highly engrossing and believable space-exploration novel.” - Kirkus Reviews
When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Warm sunlight shined through his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long abandoned structures that lay nearby.
Evidence points to a massacre – the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers. Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option – but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they don’t even begin to understand.
“Fans of hard science fiction will particularly enjoy this thought-out, well-paced tale of a small crew’s unintentional close encounter. A highly engrossing and believable space-exploration novel.” - Kirkus Reviews
418 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2019
1210 people are currently reading
1296 people want to read
About the author
Andreas Karpf
7 books52 followersAndreas Karpf is an experimental physicist with a life-long interest in the space program. He enjoys a good space adventure, but lives for the hard sci-fi novel set in a plausible future that doesn't get weighed down by too much technology - a story that takes him for a ride and dream about what may lie ahead for humanity.
As an undergraduate, he earned a degree in Physics and Astronomy, and minored in English. This led him to begin his career as the assistant editor for a physics magazine. He moved into software development, designing business applications. His love of science, though drew him back into Physics where he earned his doctorate and has pursued a research career. Andreas' work focuses on designing new spectroscopic techniques to detect trace gases in the atmosphere. His interests are varied and include art and Taekwondo (where he's a 4th degree black belt). Through his different positions his love of writing has persisted, leading to his debut novel, "Prelude to Extinction." Here he's combined his scientific background with his deep belief in keeping his audience both engaged and entertained. It is his desire to keep his readers thinking and involved in the adventure that drives his writing.
As an undergraduate, he earned a degree in Physics and Astronomy, and minored in English. This led him to begin his career as the assistant editor for a physics magazine. He moved into software development, designing business applications. His love of science, though drew him back into Physics where he earned his doctorate and has pursued a research career. Andreas' work focuses on designing new spectroscopic techniques to detect trace gases in the atmosphere. His interests are varied and include art and Taekwondo (where he's a 4th degree black belt). Through his different positions his love of writing has persisted, leading to his debut novel, "Prelude to Extinction." Here he's combined his scientific background with his deep belief in keeping his audience both engaged and entertained. It is his desire to keep his readers thinking and involved in the adventure that drives his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
May 18, 2020
Awful. Just awful
So, first, the positive. Some of the “hard science” aspects of the book are really great. Also, the skeleton of the story - the basic storyline - is compelling. Now, for the real review. This was quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever read. The characters are so unlikable. Even the good characters can be absolutely mindblowingly annoying. The characters are completely one dimensional. There are logical gaps and logical leaps galore. I had constant innumerable “WTF???” moments as I read. I wound up reading the whole thing mostly out of morbid interest in how bad it could be, like continuing to watch an awful movie just for the entertainment of how awful it is.
So, first, the positive. Some of the “hard science” aspects of the book are really great. Also, the skeleton of the story - the basic storyline - is compelling. Now, for the real review. This was quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever read. The characters are so unlikable. Even the good characters can be absolutely mindblowingly annoying. The characters are completely one dimensional. There are logical gaps and logical leaps galore. I had constant innumerable “WTF???” moments as I read. I wound up reading the whole thing mostly out of morbid interest in how bad it could be, like continuing to watch an awful movie just for the entertainment of how awful it is.
June 24, 2020
None of the characters actually have a, you know... personality.
They're flat.
They're one dimensional.
And the aliens are worse!
Kindle version REALLY badly edited, if at all.
All kinds of information that we need is just missing--about the crew, and the ship, and the aliens, and the "enemy", and damn near everything.
How can an action-packed novel about interstellar war be boring? Prelude achieves that, from beginning to end.
Hard to believe that there are actually people who think this is good writing. But then some people think Trump is a good president.
Want to experience good writing in this genre? Read some John Birmingham and see the difference.
They're flat.
They're one dimensional.
And the aliens are worse!
Kindle version REALLY badly edited, if at all.
All kinds of information that we need is just missing--about the crew, and the ship, and the aliens, and the "enemy", and damn near everything.
How can an action-packed novel about interstellar war be boring? Prelude achieves that, from beginning to end.
Hard to believe that there are actually people who think this is good writing. But then some people think Trump is a good president.
Want to experience good writing in this genre? Read some John Birmingham and see the difference.
January 23, 2021
I am 68 and all my life have been fascinated with the universe and the unknown. I have read lots of sci-fi literature and in my youth enjoyed authors like Issac Asimov and Huxley and multiple others.
In my youth it was easy to find mind bending reads that opened the doors of my mind, but as I got older I became more discriminate and some sci-fi was childish. This book however met with great challenge to expand your imagination to things you may have never considered and it was also fast paced. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will hopefully find more like it in the future.
In my youth it was easy to find mind bending reads that opened the doors of my mind, but as I got older I became more discriminate and some sci-fi was childish. This book however met with great challenge to expand your imagination to things you may have never considered and it was also fast paced. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will hopefully find more like it in the future.
August 9, 2020
Mixed
Space travel and specifically space/time and unified energy concepts and scenarios were well laid out in a good plot. Too many instances of “ Captain, come here quick. What is it?. You need to see it for yourself “. The plot deteriorated, unfortunately, with the battles that tried to place the crew on even standing after establishing a huge gap in knowledge and technology.
Space travel and specifically space/time and unified energy concepts and scenarios were well laid out in a good plot. Too many instances of “ Captain, come here quick. What is it?. You need to see it for yourself “. The plot deteriorated, unfortunately, with the battles that tried to place the crew on even standing after establishing a huge gap in knowledge and technology.
January 6, 2021
The very best of genuine hard science fiction
Successfully combining the talent to write an exciting,
fast-paced novel with the ability to clearly describe one of the most creditable concepts of the nature of the universe indicates that this physicist is definitely one of the world’s most promising science fiction authors. His self expressed joy in writing this gem suggests there will be many more in the future.
Successfully combining the talent to write an exciting,
fast-paced novel with the ability to clearly describe one of the most creditable concepts of the nature of the universe indicates that this physicist is definitely one of the world’s most promising science fiction authors. His self expressed joy in writing this gem suggests there will be many more in the future.
December 10, 2021
TL;DR: This is the sci-fi equivalent of buying your local store's generic brand of cereal for breakfast. It's not bad, it'll get you through the morning, but you'll forget pretty much everything about it.
Science Fiction often involves a tough balance between science and fiction. It's a hard thing for any author to get right, especially first-time authors.
The problem here is that there is no attempt at balance. This was written by a physicist, as far as I can tell, but the problem is that I can't tell who this is for besides the author. That's usually fine; sometimes authors write because that's what they want to write. In this case, the difficulty comes from the story being far too dry for casual sci-fi fans, but the jargon and concepts it spouts would probably already be familiar (and therefore not novel) to any "intellectually-minded" science fiction reader.
It doesn't feel like it's for old readers of science fiction, because the amount of sheer cliche it has is astounding. It almost feels like it's written by an algorithm that was fed the sci-fi equivalent of wonderbread. It's not bad, but it lacks any sort of nutritional substance and is mostly filler.
There's a heavy emphasis on the "science" part of sci-fi in this book, to the point that there's entire parts of the narrative given to the exact gases that the main spacecraft uses for propulsion, and a debate on how "time" is much more malleable than one would think, or something. It's clearly not trying to be a light read, but I think it suffers because of that. I'm reminded of how The Expanse's authors were asked how the Epstein Drive worked, and their response was "very well". Because the science would bog down the narrative, just as it does to this.
As for the "fiction" part, it's not horrible. It's much, much more worse: It's absolutely boring. The characters can't even be described as one-dimensional or flat because that would require them to have some concept of dimension. They are mannequins for the author to spout exposition. There's very little character development. What little interpersonal conflict is caused from Mr. Captain Dude and Mr. Science Dude arguing about stuff, and every time, it's solved by Mr. Captain Dude asserting his dominance because he's Mr. Captain Dude. It's extremely one-note. The characters don't have anything interesting going on upstairs. Honestly, the "main cast" consists of three primary characters, and none of them actually play off each other in an interesting or organic way. It's like if Spock, McCoy, and Kirk lacked charisma.
There are two primary camps that most sci-fi inhabits: in one camp, the focus is on how the science can serve the narrative. The other is about how the narrative can fit the science. Now, these camps aren't hard or soft science fiction; it's instead more of a narrative axis that's perpendicular to hardness or softness. This inhabits the second camp, but commits the worst sin that the second camp provides: the narrative itself is extremely boring and one-note. The story can be summed up as "This, and then...". There's no "this, but...", or "this, however..." The storycrafting is formulaic to a "t", and it's honestly really sad to see.
The general idea is that humanity has sent out a near-light exploration ship to look for signals on a nearby star. When the crew gets there, they find that whatever sentient life that was once there was massacred by something . They then discover that there's a big dumb object- a mass relay from wish.com- floating around the planet. One of the shuttles goes to investigate, but it disappears, and they send their big shuttle to investigate the investigation. Turns out the original-space-macguffin-do-not-steal has teleported/folded space them to a different system, at a different time. So they got investigate another world, where some dude gets killed in an explosion and Mr. Captain Dude feels bad about it because Mr. Captain Dude needs to feel sad about something.
Then a group of Xenocidal-Aliens-#931 emerges and chases them through another relay, where they eventually take shelter in another planet and then get rescued by some Pacifist-Aliens-#544. These aliens are so pacifist that they somehow bred aggression from themselves and have no idea of how to fight, despite having advanced technology, following into the same tired trope of "humans have to save the day" or something. You know, instead of these aliens just having a group of warriors or robots or robot warriors that they could activate to defend themselves from an outside threat. The aliens knew they weren't alone in the universe, so they should have had contingency plans prepared. Turns out the pacifist aliens are also so advanced they could resurrect some characters who died, and put brain implants into the human's heads to talk with them because... I guess who needs an interesting arrival-like attempt to communicate and understand an alien language and psychology when you can just solve it with nanomachines. The nanomachines are probably the least boring thing about them, but it also ends being something absolutely hilarious, because their magic resurrection nanites apparently can only revive people when the plot demands it, since some other characters die when the xenocidal aliens from walmart invade and the humans end up fighting them off because rah rah humanity. Apparently these extremely advanced pacifist aliens with anti-gravity technology and magic nanomachines never learned the kzinti lesson that you can repurpose that tech for self-defense.
A far-too-long-story -short, humanity gets a cache of alien tech that they will be able to use if they return, entrusted to Mr. Captain Dude because he's Mr. Captain Dude. They return through an unstable relay thing, which detonates and blows up a bunch of xenocidal aliens that were moving towards earth, saving the day with a deus ex machina.
There's some stuff about how humanity has to unify and prepare, but it's just so route that it's forgettable.
In general, you're missing nothing if you don't read this. It's so forgettable that I forget the exact names of the characters or what exactly happens to them, because it's entirely inconsequential to the story.
Science Fiction often involves a tough balance between science and fiction. It's a hard thing for any author to get right, especially first-time authors.
The problem here is that there is no attempt at balance. This was written by a physicist, as far as I can tell, but the problem is that I can't tell who this is for besides the author. That's usually fine; sometimes authors write because that's what they want to write. In this case, the difficulty comes from the story being far too dry for casual sci-fi fans, but the jargon and concepts it spouts would probably already be familiar (and therefore not novel) to any "intellectually-minded" science fiction reader.
It doesn't feel like it's for old readers of science fiction, because the amount of sheer cliche it has is astounding. It almost feels like it's written by an algorithm that was fed the sci-fi equivalent of wonderbread. It's not bad, but it lacks any sort of nutritional substance and is mostly filler.
There's a heavy emphasis on the "science" part of sci-fi in this book, to the point that there's entire parts of the narrative given to the exact gases that the main spacecraft uses for propulsion, and a debate on how "time" is much more malleable than one would think, or something. It's clearly not trying to be a light read, but I think it suffers because of that. I'm reminded of how The Expanse's authors were asked how the Epstein Drive worked, and their response was "very well". Because the science would bog down the narrative, just as it does to this.
As for the "fiction" part, it's not horrible. It's much, much more worse: It's absolutely boring. The characters can't even be described as one-dimensional or flat because that would require them to have some concept of dimension. They are mannequins for the author to spout exposition. There's very little character development. What little interpersonal conflict is caused from Mr. Captain Dude and Mr. Science Dude arguing about stuff, and every time, it's solved by Mr. Captain Dude asserting his dominance because he's Mr. Captain Dude. It's extremely one-note. The characters don't have anything interesting going on upstairs. Honestly, the "main cast" consists of three primary characters, and none of them actually play off each other in an interesting or organic way. It's like if Spock, McCoy, and Kirk lacked charisma.
There are two primary camps that most sci-fi inhabits: in one camp, the focus is on how the science can serve the narrative. The other is about how the narrative can fit the science. Now, these camps aren't hard or soft science fiction; it's instead more of a narrative axis that's perpendicular to hardness or softness. This inhabits the second camp, but commits the worst sin that the second camp provides: the narrative itself is extremely boring and one-note. The story can be summed up as "This, and then...". There's no "this, but...", or "this, however..." The storycrafting is formulaic to a "t", and it's honestly really sad to see.
The general idea is that humanity has sent out a near-light exploration ship to look for signals on a nearby star. When the crew gets there, they find that whatever sentient life that was once there was massacred by something . They then discover that there's a big dumb object- a mass relay from wish.com- floating around the planet. One of the shuttles goes to investigate, but it disappears, and they send their big shuttle to investigate the investigation. Turns out the original-space-macguffin-do-not-steal has teleported/folded space them to a different system, at a different time. So they got investigate another world, where some dude gets killed in an explosion and Mr. Captain Dude feels bad about it because Mr. Captain Dude needs to feel sad about something.
Then a group of Xenocidal-Aliens-#931 emerges and chases them through another relay, where they eventually take shelter in another planet and then get rescued by some Pacifist-Aliens-#544. These aliens are so pacifist that they somehow bred aggression from themselves and have no idea of how to fight, despite having advanced technology, following into the same tired trope of "humans have to save the day" or something. You know, instead of these aliens just having a group of warriors or robots or robot warriors that they could activate to defend themselves from an outside threat. The aliens knew they weren't alone in the universe, so they should have had contingency plans prepared. Turns out the pacifist aliens are also so advanced they could resurrect some characters who died, and put brain implants into the human's heads to talk with them because... I guess who needs an interesting arrival-like attempt to communicate and understand an alien language and psychology when you can just solve it with nanomachines. The nanomachines are probably the least boring thing about them, but it also ends being something absolutely hilarious, because their magic resurrection nanites apparently can only revive people when the plot demands it, since some other characters die when the xenocidal aliens from walmart invade and the humans end up fighting them off because rah rah humanity. Apparently these extremely advanced pacifist aliens with anti-gravity technology and magic nanomachines never learned the kzinti lesson that you can repurpose that tech for self-defense.
A far-too-long-story -short, humanity gets a cache of alien tech that they will be able to use if they return, entrusted to Mr. Captain Dude because he's Mr. Captain Dude. They return through an unstable relay thing, which detonates and blows up a bunch of xenocidal aliens that were moving towards earth, saving the day with a deus ex machina.
There's some stuff about how humanity has to unify and prepare, but it's just so route that it's forgettable.
In general, you're missing nothing if you don't read this. It's so forgettable that I forget the exact names of the characters or what exactly happens to them, because it's entirely inconsequential to the story.
September 23, 2021
I found this book while wandering the stacks of a used book shop here in town. I’m so glad I did. What a good story! From start to finish, this was a great SciFi break from my daughter and her car repair she needed me to pay for, a welcome escape from work dramatics being generated by coworkers, it was a great chance to relax, unwind, and just for an hour or two each night…. Just enjoy some time for me.
I almost never put spoilers into my reviews. If you want to find out what happens.. buy the book. Sit down and read it for yourself.
I’m quite glad I did.
I almost never put spoilers into my reviews. If you want to find out what happens.. buy the book. Sit down and read it for yourself.
I’m quite glad I did.
March 7, 2021
Great Space based Sci-fi
If you love sci-fi you'll want to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the layout and build up of the story, as well as the characters and the authors ability to use known sciences and expound on them. His uncanny ability to go beyond what we think possible with his own knowledge and education really gets your imagination going. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.
If you love sci-fi you'll want to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the layout and build up of the story, as well as the characters and the authors ability to use known sciences and expound on them. His uncanny ability to go beyond what we think possible with his own knowledge and education really gets your imagination going. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.
January 17, 2021
Exciting and spell binding.
Really one of the best sci-fi books I have read lately. Fast paced with plenty twist to keep the reader engaged. Actually hated for the story to end. Highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.
Really one of the best sci-fi books I have read lately. Fast paced with plenty twist to keep the reader engaged. Actually hated for the story to end. Highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.
July 20, 2023
This was a fun hard sci-fi space opera/first contact story. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. The characterization could've been a bit stronger, but the worldbuilding and plot were both solid.
March 1, 2021
Excellent story well told
The science is flawless and imaginative. The ending leaves this reviewer waiting for the sequel!
The very few typos was refreshing..
The science is flawless and imaginative. The ending leaves this reviewer waiting for the sequel!
The very few typos was refreshing..
September 21, 2021
Very good debut novel.
Good story. Well laid plot and technologically plausible futuristic scenario. Just needs more proof readers to catch the grammatical errors. But this takes nothing from the story. Well done Andreas.
Good story. Well laid plot and technologically plausible futuristic scenario. Just needs more proof readers to catch the grammatical errors. But this takes nothing from the story. Well done Andreas.
March 4, 2021
Excellent read!
Hard science fiction at its best. If you love it and a good space adventure, this is the book for you!
Hard science fiction at its best. If you love it and a good space adventure, this is the book for you!
October 24, 2021
Old fashion space opera, lot ‘o science in this fiction
A fascinating yet curiously inert story involving the first interstellar journey, two sets of alien—one bad, the other benignly indifferent. A good story, yet sadly devoid of suffient character development to engage
many readers. For lovers of hard SF.
A fascinating yet curiously inert story involving the first interstellar journey, two sets of alien—one bad, the other benignly indifferent. A good story, yet sadly devoid of suffient character development to engage
many readers. For lovers of hard SF.
March 14, 2020
Fast paced and entertaining.
This is a great first book. Since is is written mostly in the first person as viewed from the Commander's viewpoint, many ideas have to be spoken by the crew making some conversations awkward. In the future I hope the author develops some of his characters more, and maybe keeps using them in further adventures. The physics concepts are sound and don't require things do go faster than light, which I appreciated.
This is a great first book. Since is is written mostly in the first person as viewed from the Commander's viewpoint, many ideas have to be spoken by the crew making some conversations awkward. In the future I hope the author develops some of his characters more, and maybe keeps using them in further adventures. The physics concepts are sound and don't require things do go faster than light, which I appreciated.
May 2, 2021
I'm pretty forgiving to new authors. There was a lot of good, and the science was fun, but my complaint is more with the characters and the initial pace of the story. None of the characters were memorable, and I kept mixing up two of the characters at different parts of the story. The story was also a bit of a drag for the first third or so.
But the over all story, I found very interesting and entertaining.
But the over all story, I found very interesting and entertaining.
December 3, 2020
Loses steam.
Entertaining to a point, and then I gave up. How did some of these people ever make it to the position they are in? Don was just too much. And the women relegated to second banana rolls and the only ones who cry. The crew is way too paranoid at some points and childish in others. The action sequences are above par and engrossing. Too many uses of "you have to see this" " what is it?" " just come here" Never finished, hope something horrible happens to Don.
Entertaining to a point, and then I gave up. How did some of these people ever make it to the position they are in? Don was just too much. And the women relegated to second banana rolls and the only ones who cry. The crew is way too paranoid at some points and childish in others. The action sequences are above par and engrossing. Too many uses of "you have to see this" " what is it?" " just come here" Never finished, hope something horrible happens to Don.
May 6, 2020
Good combination of character driven and science story
This book kept me interested from first to last chapters. I was immediately drawn in to the world created because it seemed so realistic but also exciting. I will be waiting for the next one.
This book kept me interested from first to last chapters. I was immediately drawn in to the world created because it seemed so realistic but also exciting. I will be waiting for the next one.
December 24, 2022
Every year I hope to stumble onto a really bad novel. As a writer, I like to read a bad novel once in a while to remind me of what not to do when I'm writing, preparing to publish, etc. Andreas Karpf clearly has some interesting ideas and seems to know the science (I'm not a physicist), but he still has a lot to learn about writing fiction. Even hard science fiction can have character development and a clear narrative structure. I was actually toying with not giving this book any stars, but decided that it deserved some recognition for the ideas regarding space travel, propulsion, and how to find your position in the galaxy when you have no idea where you are.
Jack Harrison, the captain of the space ship Magellan, is the point of view character for most of this book written in third omniscient. This is a smart point of view to write for a debut novel. It gives the writer a lot of freedom to go in close on more than one character if necessary. Jack, however, is not terribly interesting as a human being and he doesn't undergo any changes or growth -- he doesn't develop as a character. It's much the same for all the other characters. Actually, I was not certain how many people were on the crew of the Magellan. It sounded like a huge ship from Karpf's description, but by the end, the crew actually numbered only 13 (was originally 16 apparently). I would have liked to know that detail, the number of departments, and who the senior staff were. None of the characters develop. The aliens in this story are interesting but quite frustrating. Someone so advanced must understand it's not really necessary to treat those not so advanced as if they were inferior. That's how they came across most of the time. And that's way too easy. It would have been more interesting to have them have personalities, flaws, strengths, loyalties, etc. All the characters in this story were flat and one-dimensional. And Don Martinez was only annoying throughout the book because he was shouting all the time.
I had no sense of dramatic momentum that emerges from a solid narrative structure based on character motivations and desires encountering obstacles and conflicts to thwart the character's primary goal. The Magellan is a ship of scientific exploration and its goals were not made clear from the beginning. It only began to become evident that they wanted to establish a base in the target star system without really an explanation for it. Why go to all that trouble and expense to establish a base in a star system so far away? Was there something wrong back on earth? Where was the urgency? Where was the threat? I mean space is an inherently hostile place for humans even without aliens.
Finally, it is a writer's responsibility to write clear, easy to read prose that is as pristine as it can be made. By offering up prose without typos, lost words, wrong words, abominable syntax, boring dialogue, and boring action that's repeated once too many times, the writer gives the reader a joyful gift of story. The reader can focus on the story and characters and ideas. I found myself continually annoyed with the lack of editing, and especially the lack of copy editing exhibited by the writing in this novel. This is often a problem with self-published novels. New and eager writers are in too much of a hurry to get their baby out into the world and wow everyone that they don't take the time to hire a professional editor to work with them on narrative structure and character development, or to hire a professional copy editor to help them with their English. Writing fiction is a lifelong learning experience, and I'd suggest Mr. Karpf take some fiction-writing classes before writing anymore fiction.
I do not recommend this novel unless you are a writer like me who wants to read a bad novel once in a while to be reminded of what not to do.
Jack Harrison, the captain of the space ship Magellan, is the point of view character for most of this book written in third omniscient. This is a smart point of view to write for a debut novel. It gives the writer a lot of freedom to go in close on more than one character if necessary. Jack, however, is not terribly interesting as a human being and he doesn't undergo any changes or growth -- he doesn't develop as a character. It's much the same for all the other characters. Actually, I was not certain how many people were on the crew of the Magellan. It sounded like a huge ship from Karpf's description, but by the end, the crew actually numbered only 13 (was originally 16 apparently). I would have liked to know that detail, the number of departments, and who the senior staff were. None of the characters develop. The aliens in this story are interesting but quite frustrating. Someone so advanced must understand it's not really necessary to treat those not so advanced as if they were inferior. That's how they came across most of the time. And that's way too easy. It would have been more interesting to have them have personalities, flaws, strengths, loyalties, etc. All the characters in this story were flat and one-dimensional. And Don Martinez was only annoying throughout the book because he was shouting all the time.
I had no sense of dramatic momentum that emerges from a solid narrative structure based on character motivations and desires encountering obstacles and conflicts to thwart the character's primary goal. The Magellan is a ship of scientific exploration and its goals were not made clear from the beginning. It only began to become evident that they wanted to establish a base in the target star system without really an explanation for it. Why go to all that trouble and expense to establish a base in a star system so far away? Was there something wrong back on earth? Where was the urgency? Where was the threat? I mean space is an inherently hostile place for humans even without aliens.
Finally, it is a writer's responsibility to write clear, easy to read prose that is as pristine as it can be made. By offering up prose without typos, lost words, wrong words, abominable syntax, boring dialogue, and boring action that's repeated once too many times, the writer gives the reader a joyful gift of story. The reader can focus on the story and characters and ideas. I found myself continually annoyed with the lack of editing, and especially the lack of copy editing exhibited by the writing in this novel. This is often a problem with self-published novels. New and eager writers are in too much of a hurry to get their baby out into the world and wow everyone that they don't take the time to hire a professional editor to work with them on narrative structure and character development, or to hire a professional copy editor to help them with their English. Writing fiction is a lifelong learning experience, and I'd suggest Mr. Karpf take some fiction-writing classes before writing anymore fiction.
I do not recommend this novel unless you are a writer like me who wants to read a bad novel once in a while to be reminded of what not to do.
February 24, 2025
While I appreciated the attempt at explaining the wormholes as not-actually-time-travel, they're still time travel, and the characters could have used them to escape pursuit if they'd just thought about it for five minutes.
During the final ambush/trap setting part, here's what you do.
1) Wait for the hostile ships to show up
2) Retreat back through the AGC the way you came
That's it. Because the aliens took the long-way-round, by ensuring that they arrive, when you retreat back through the AGC and arrive back where you started a few days after you left... the chasing hostile fleet is only a few days outbound on a 150 year trip...
And can't turn around.
You saw them arrive at the other end: they didn't turn around. Voila, escape via causality violation.
Also, Jack should have thrown Don out an airlock; Don was so caught up in being sure he took the right actions that he'd rather literally starve than take a coinflip shot on getting home. "I want to be absolutely sure we take the right one." Alright Don, how do you propose checking which one is the "right one"? You've had a week to figure this out already: you've made no progress answering that question and you're still bitching that you might make the wrong choice. Here's your remaining ten days of rations, get in that shuttle and off my ship.
Shame about Devon, though. Really feel as if his presence with Jack fighting off the boarders was just to take a few shots that missed Jack and end up dead. He was never even show to have lifted his pistol, making his job in the plot to be a sacrificial pawn, which was just anticlimactic. Jack shot like twenty of them and Devon never even fired his gun once.
On that note, early in the book, Janet was a moron for running for the ladder (the other two weren't much better, fwiw): The worst place to be when your ship with a single big engine wants to perform an emergency high-G maneuver is "anywhere other than laying flat on your back on the floor." I heard the computer issue the warning and my first though was, "just lie down."
Similarly Alex's death during the door breach, Jack: "...and get at least twenty meters away from the door." Me, "And upwind." Jack: "Move back a little more." Me: "And upwind. And upwind. Upwind. Come on guys."
The wind was strong enough to make walking difficult, when those explosives go off, if there's ANY debris that doesn't end up inside the structure, then its going to get caught and hurtle downwind at a pretty good clip. Oh sure, I didn't know there was a rather noxious gas inside, but I didn't have to. Jack blames himself for Alex's death, but honestly, it was his own fault. Palmer is the only one who went out doing something useful.
The communicative aliens (as opposed to the hostile ones) were also kinda concept-blind. No leadership structure, sorry what? Who makes the decision about where the ship goes? The individuals that don't like that person's decisions? That's conflict. You have conflict in your society my bare backside. I don't care about your voodoo about everyone being able to do anything they like because you'll still have situations were all the choices are bad and everyone is going to have a different opinion and you aren't capable of splitting the group. On the whole though, this is a fairly minor point of criticism.
During the final ambush/trap setting part, here's what you do.
1) Wait for the hostile ships to show up
2) Retreat back through the AGC the way you came
That's it. Because the aliens took the long-way-round, by ensuring that they arrive, when you retreat back through the AGC and arrive back where you started a few days after you left... the chasing hostile fleet is only a few days outbound on a 150 year trip...
And can't turn around.
You saw them arrive at the other end: they didn't turn around. Voila, escape via causality violation.
Also, Jack should have thrown Don out an airlock; Don was so caught up in being sure he took the right actions that he'd rather literally starve than take a coinflip shot on getting home. "I want to be absolutely sure we take the right one." Alright Don, how do you propose checking which one is the "right one"? You've had a week to figure this out already: you've made no progress answering that question and you're still bitching that you might make the wrong choice. Here's your remaining ten days of rations, get in that shuttle and off my ship.
Shame about Devon, though. Really feel as if his presence with Jack fighting off the boarders was just to take a few shots that missed Jack and end up dead. He was never even show to have lifted his pistol, making his job in the plot to be a sacrificial pawn, which was just anticlimactic. Jack shot like twenty of them and Devon never even fired his gun once.
On that note, early in the book, Janet was a moron for running for the ladder (the other two weren't much better, fwiw): The worst place to be when your ship with a single big engine wants to perform an emergency high-G maneuver is "anywhere other than laying flat on your back on the floor." I heard the computer issue the warning and my first though was, "just lie down."
Similarly Alex's death during the door breach, Jack: "...and get at least twenty meters away from the door." Me, "And upwind." Jack: "Move back a little more." Me: "And upwind. And upwind. Upwind. Come on guys."
The wind was strong enough to make walking difficult, when those explosives go off, if there's ANY debris that doesn't end up inside the structure, then its going to get caught and hurtle downwind at a pretty good clip. Oh sure, I didn't know there was a rather noxious gas inside, but I didn't have to. Jack blames himself for Alex's death, but honestly, it was his own fault. Palmer is the only one who went out doing something useful.
The communicative aliens (as opposed to the hostile ones) were also kinda concept-blind. No leadership structure, sorry what? Who makes the decision about where the ship goes? The individuals that don't like that person's decisions? That's conflict. You have conflict in your society my bare backside. I don't care about your voodoo about everyone being able to do anything they like because you'll still have situations were all the choices are bad and everyone is going to have a different opinion and you aren't capable of splitting the group. On the whole though, this is a fairly minor point of criticism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2021
Andreis Karpf makes a good showing on his first novel. "Prelude to Extinction" is fast-paced with science that is solid and interesting. The storyline keeps the reader engaged and keeps the pages turning.
This book had many of the elements that I enjoy, good and innovative science, new discoveries and first contact. I enjoyed meeting the technologically and physically evolved civilization but, was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to learn much about them. There is much more there to delve into.
The same is to be said about the new discoveries and, the "bad guy" aliens. The crew discovers ruins which are briefly explored with no real revelations about the society that left them. All we know is that the unnamed bad guys are responsible for the devastation and that they are utterly ruthless.
The obligatory space battle is done well enough with some scientific thought given to how it played out. I am not a big fan of shoot-em-up space battles but I will endure them so the author can inject more tension and suspense into the story. I do give Karpf credit for giving the unarmed, scientific exploratory mission the ability to take on the bad guys, using scientific tactics against a militarily superior force.
I found the characters mostly one dimensional and incompletely developed. They sufficed at an introductory level but I didn't really get to know them.
If this was to be a stand-alone novel I would be disappointed. Karpf is a good storyteller but he left too many possibilities unexplored. Only because a sequel is obviously in the works, have I given this book four stars. It is a good start to what could become a great two or three part adventure.
This book had many of the elements that I enjoy, good and innovative science, new discoveries and first contact. I enjoyed meeting the technologically and physically evolved civilization but, was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to learn much about them. There is much more there to delve into.
The same is to be said about the new discoveries and, the "bad guy" aliens. The crew discovers ruins which are briefly explored with no real revelations about the society that left them. All we know is that the unnamed bad guys are responsible for the devastation and that they are utterly ruthless.
The obligatory space battle is done well enough with some scientific thought given to how it played out. I am not a big fan of shoot-em-up space battles but I will endure them so the author can inject more tension and suspense into the story. I do give Karpf credit for giving the unarmed, scientific exploratory mission the ability to take on the bad guys, using scientific tactics against a militarily superior force.
I found the characters mostly one dimensional and incompletely developed. They sufficed at an introductory level but I didn't really get to know them.
If this was to be a stand-alone novel I would be disappointed. Karpf is a good storyteller but he left too many possibilities unexplored. Only because a sequel is obviously in the works, have I given this book four stars. It is a good start to what could become a great two or three part adventure.
May 24, 2022
Taking place approximately 100 years from now, man has achieved near-lightspeed travel. For ten years Jack and his crew have been in transit to a planet on which they hope to find sentient life. What they find instead is an abandoned world where sentient life appears to have once thrived. Evidence begins to point to the population having been killed. So, there is evidence that humans are not the only sentient life in the universe, but who were the entities killed on this planet, and who was responsible.
While going back to their main ship, their shuttles inadvertently encounter a type of jump-gate technology that transports them approximately 140 lightyears further from Earth. Having taken damage and not provisioned for an extended trip they go through another jump-gate where they discover benevolent aliens who help them repair their ship. But, the bad aliens find them and attack. The rest of the book involves trying to resist the bad guys who even outclass the benevolent aliens.
This was a good book. The hard science was intriguing, albeit sometimes difficult to understand - despite sometimes overly lengthy dialogs of explanation. And sometimes, it seemed that the characters were a bit slow on the uptake. Gee, what happened to us? You went through a friggin' jump gate, I wanted to scream. Either deliberately, or not, one of their chief scientists, Don, was an annoying character in his constant exclamations of "that's impossible". I suspect he was the "devil's advocate" in the story, placed there to generate tension - it worked - I ended up disliking the character.
The book does come to a satisfying ending and there is no cliffhanger, although a second book could be justified. It was worth the credit.
While going back to their main ship, their shuttles inadvertently encounter a type of jump-gate technology that transports them approximately 140 lightyears further from Earth. Having taken damage and not provisioned for an extended trip they go through another jump-gate where they discover benevolent aliens who help them repair their ship. But, the bad aliens find them and attack. The rest of the book involves trying to resist the bad guys who even outclass the benevolent aliens.
This was a good book. The hard science was intriguing, albeit sometimes difficult to understand - despite sometimes overly lengthy dialogs of explanation. And sometimes, it seemed that the characters were a bit slow on the uptake. Gee, what happened to us? You went through a friggin' jump gate, I wanted to scream. Either deliberately, or not, one of their chief scientists, Don, was an annoying character in his constant exclamations of "that's impossible". I suspect he was the "devil's advocate" in the story, placed there to generate tension - it worked - I ended up disliking the character.
The book does come to a satisfying ending and there is no cliffhanger, although a second book could be justified. It was worth the credit.
September 8, 2022
It is hard to describe the relation of science to science fiction, since it is not necessary that a story be completely true to known science, or even to possible science. But it is necessary that the (at least somewhat scientifically literate) reader be able to follow the story without continually saying "but that's silly/wrong/stupid".
After a recent string of other authors who failed miserably at this task, it was pleasant to actually read a story allowed one to willingly suspend disbelief, and just enjoy the story. Even the "magic" (in the A.C. Clark sense) sort of science was handled without offending what is known.
As stories go it was a decent and fast paced romp, with enough time spent on character development to make it interesting. Some aspects of crew interaction walked a fine line of believable, like Don's behavior, but easily subsumed in the idea of a very long journey with no command structure challenges up until arrival. Interesting aliens with a well thought out if quite alien culture reacting to an existential threat, perhaps the weakest point were some of the battle descriptions - heavy on action, a bit weak on the realism (whatever that means in something so speculative).
But back to the main point - it is pleasant to find a science fiction book that doesn't repel the reader by lack of science. It is not a science text, it makes no real attempt to educate (though there is some thoughtful aspects of time presented), but it uses science to tell a story rather than abusing it. Well done!
Just ordered book 2, which I guess is the main aspect of any review of the first of a multi-part story.
After a recent string of other authors who failed miserably at this task, it was pleasant to actually read a story allowed one to willingly suspend disbelief, and just enjoy the story. Even the "magic" (in the A.C. Clark sense) sort of science was handled without offending what is known.
As stories go it was a decent and fast paced romp, with enough time spent on character development to make it interesting. Some aspects of crew interaction walked a fine line of believable, like Don's behavior, but easily subsumed in the idea of a very long journey with no command structure challenges up until arrival. Interesting aliens with a well thought out if quite alien culture reacting to an existential threat, perhaps the weakest point were some of the battle descriptions - heavy on action, a bit weak on the realism (whatever that means in something so speculative).
But back to the main point - it is pleasant to find a science fiction book that doesn't repel the reader by lack of science. It is not a science text, it makes no real attempt to educate (though there is some thoughtful aspects of time presented), but it uses science to tell a story rather than abusing it. Well done!
Just ordered book 2, which I guess is the main aspect of any review of the first of a multi-part story.
August 21, 2020
Good hard SciFi portrayed by 2D characters
The Science in general but the astronomy in particular is next level.
The characters and plotting not so much.
Mr. Karpf follows what seems to be a trend in SciFi these days of constant action stacking one hair-raising scene on another that I find trying and less than nuanced.
Readers looking for deft, lyrical writing and character depth will be disappointed. Apparently there is shortage in character traits so each character got exactly one major trait each making a lot of the dialogue pointless. By about chapter three I wanted to push Don out an airlock and go on to another story.
He was more successful with the good aliens than the humans however. So much so that I was wishing for a sequel based on their society.
Mr. Karpf could take a remedial villainy course or two to understand the value of a really good villain though.
All hard SciFi stories get one get-out-of-science free card and the one for this story was fully used.
The science, aliens and battle sequences overcame the weaknesses in the end hence the four stars.
If Mr. Karpf grows as a writer we may be in for some excellent reading down the road.
The Science in general but the astronomy in particular is next level.
The characters and plotting not so much.
Mr. Karpf follows what seems to be a trend in SciFi these days of constant action stacking one hair-raising scene on another that I find trying and less than nuanced.
Readers looking for deft, lyrical writing and character depth will be disappointed. Apparently there is shortage in character traits so each character got exactly one major trait each making a lot of the dialogue pointless. By about chapter three I wanted to push Don out an airlock and go on to another story.
He was more successful with the good aliens than the humans however. So much so that I was wishing for a sequel based on their society.
Mr. Karpf could take a remedial villainy course or two to understand the value of a really good villain though.
All hard SciFi stories get one get-out-of-science free card and the one for this story was fully used.
The science, aliens and battle sequences overcame the weaknesses in the end hence the four stars.
If Mr. Karpf grows as a writer we may be in for some excellent reading down the road.
January 31, 2021
Excellent Sci Fi and first contact.
The moral dilemmas the Captain faces is really what makes this book interesting. It involves first contact with two species, one very advanced, but incredibly passive, the second of which is very aggressive and operating under the Dark Forest Theory. The second are not developed in the book, logically as there is no opportunity to interact with them. But the “primitive” humans are technologically way behind the other two species. Ultimately it’s a critique of utopian social mores, but not too deep and philosophical.
A couple of critical points. The author writes like scientist. The characters are a bit one dimensional and often obviously serve as a plot device or to present the counter view. I found it odd that the chief science officer was always the one saying “that’s impossible”. The Captain is way too heroic and quick to figure it all out. I didn’t get any sense of what made the main alien click, but his (?) decisions are critical to the book.
But these issues didn’t prevent me from enjoying this book. If you are a fan of space operas and first contact stories there is a lot here for you. Enjoy.
The moral dilemmas the Captain faces is really what makes this book interesting. It involves first contact with two species, one very advanced, but incredibly passive, the second of which is very aggressive and operating under the Dark Forest Theory. The second are not developed in the book, logically as there is no opportunity to interact with them. But the “primitive” humans are technologically way behind the other two species. Ultimately it’s a critique of utopian social mores, but not too deep and philosophical.
A couple of critical points. The author writes like scientist. The characters are a bit one dimensional and often obviously serve as a plot device or to present the counter view. I found it odd that the chief science officer was always the one saying “that’s impossible”. The Captain is way too heroic and quick to figure it all out. I didn’t get any sense of what made the main alien click, but his (?) decisions are critical to the book.
But these issues didn’t prevent me from enjoying this book. If you are a fan of space operas and first contact stories there is a lot here for you. Enjoy.
January 19, 2022
Karpf, Andreas. Prelude to Extinction. Kindle, 2019.
Andreas Karpf is an experimental physicist who has turned his hand in a debut novel to space opera. The plot is straightforward. The international crew of humanity’s first interstellar expedition find evidence of a destroyed civilization and soon find themselves chased from one star system to another by alien ships that mean them harm. To give him his due, the science exposition in Prelude to Extinction is clear and pertinent. We know how the star travel devices work and what they do to our perception of time. The technical details do not slow the action scenes. But Karpf could stand to enroll in a good fiction-writing workshop. His spaceship and its crew are so close to Star Trek that one reviewer felt compelled to point out that, no, Prelude was not fan fiction. The crew are two-dimensional characters out of central casting. And the dialogue is dreadful. Only the ship’s computer ever uses an “inside voice.” Everyone shouts and screams all the time, which makes them unlikeable and unbelievable. So, 4 stars for science and plot; 2 stars for character and style. 3 stars.
Andreas Karpf is an experimental physicist who has turned his hand in a debut novel to space opera. The plot is straightforward. The international crew of humanity’s first interstellar expedition find evidence of a destroyed civilization and soon find themselves chased from one star system to another by alien ships that mean them harm. To give him his due, the science exposition in Prelude to Extinction is clear and pertinent. We know how the star travel devices work and what they do to our perception of time. The technical details do not slow the action scenes. But Karpf could stand to enroll in a good fiction-writing workshop. His spaceship and its crew are so close to Star Trek that one reviewer felt compelled to point out that, no, Prelude was not fan fiction. The crew are two-dimensional characters out of central casting. And the dialogue is dreadful. Only the ship’s computer ever uses an “inside voice.” Everyone shouts and screams all the time, which makes them unlikeable and unbelievable. So, 4 stars for science and plot; 2 stars for character and style. 3 stars.
August 15, 2020
I almost gave up on this one. There are deep flaws in the way he sets up the characters that evoke cheesy Buck Rogers Sci Fi. But I stuck with it for the good hard SF tech and highly advanced benevolent (and not!) aliens. The Captain character becomes tiresome with his "I'm the Boss" attitude. And the occasional "mansplaining" between characters was tedious. I mean one character who has been on this spaceship for 10 years with another has to explain in detail how the clever space suits work - really! He violates the show don't tell rule a lot here. But I did stick with it and it was ultimately worth it to put aside my gripes and finish the story. He does come up with some cool science concepts from how practical wormhole transportation and light near speed drives would work. His physics background shows here and he had fun with that.
September 10, 2020
A Great Escape
Enjoyed reading this wonderful escape into the future then back again. There were many parts where the astro
Physics were beyond this reader's understanding but the core pot and action nonetheless kept me pinned . Looked forward to night time to crawl up with my kindle and dive back into the story .
I enjoyed also the character development. Jack never let down his guard as he was always the consummate Captain and leader. He could have done with a lighter touch from time to time. Also, Kurt and Nyadia's reappearance after presumed death was a bit far fetched though I was glad to see Kurt return. Don was the perennial pain and thorn in Jack's side. Not much change there. He could have been killed off though I suppose his contrayness was necessary for plot development.
I would recommend a sequel.... Defending Earth
Enjoyed reading this wonderful escape into the future then back again. There were many parts where the astro
Physics were beyond this reader's understanding but the core pot and action nonetheless kept me pinned . Looked forward to night time to crawl up with my kindle and dive back into the story .
I enjoyed also the character development. Jack never let down his guard as he was always the consummate Captain and leader. He could have done with a lighter touch from time to time. Also, Kurt and Nyadia's reappearance after presumed death was a bit far fetched though I was glad to see Kurt return. Don was the perennial pain and thorn in Jack's side. Not much change there. He could have been killed off though I suppose his contrayness was necessary for plot development.
I would recommend a sequel.... Defending Earth
January 21, 2023
A sci-fi adventure for hard core sci-fi fans. I am talking spaceships, aliens, time travel, space battles, warp speed, the whole Star Trek package. On the end of a 10 year mission to explore a possible life bearing planet, the crew of the Magellin encounters a dead planet...as in...there is a city with technology, but it's abandoned. The crew is suddenly propelled 33o light years away from Earth and at the mercy of an alien ship. The alien ambassador, "Alpha," is a helpful alien who explains everything to the confused crew. Then the bad aliens come and try to kill everyone, but Captain Jack will have no part of it. The Magellin crew comes up with a plan to counter-attack the aliens and save earth. Some of the characters were really miserable ....I am pointing at you Don, you whiny bitch. However, the science was cool and the story was well paced and pretty fun.
April 1, 2020
The future
If you enjoy a great story that includes some science fiction and space exploration then this book is for you. The story starts with a crew traveling light years from earth to investigate earth like planets and discover intelligent life. They find both and an unbelievable enemy. I will warn you that there are sections of this book that are so intense that you will have to finish before putting the book down. If you believe as I do that the universe is so vast that there must be other intelligent life that could have evolved thousands or millions of years before us. Then think of how we could appear to them and if they are hostile how we could survive. Enjoy the read.
If you enjoy a great story that includes some science fiction and space exploration then this book is for you. The story starts with a crew traveling light years from earth to investigate earth like planets and discover intelligent life. They find both and an unbelievable enemy. I will warn you that there are sections of this book that are so intense that you will have to finish before putting the book down. If you believe as I do that the universe is so vast that there must be other intelligent life that could have evolved thousands or millions of years before us. Then think of how we could appear to them and if they are hostile how we could survive. Enjoy the read.
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