Terminus Cycle

Andlios #0.5

by Dave Walsh

They were humanity’s last hope...

...but would they survive the abyss?

Now, after two generations lived and died aboard the ship, their new home planet looms on the horizon. Jonah just needs to let the mystery of an object in space and the tale of a lost cosmonaut lie and everything will go according to plan.

But that meant ignoring the truth: the dark secrets of their mission.

Sometimes risking everything for the truth is the only way forward, especially for someone like Jonah. Especially with the lives of 50,000 people hanging in the balance.

This cerebral, star-hopping adventure is the perfect fit for space opera fans because the expanse is rife with mystery, adventure, and new beginnings.

Genres: Science Fiction

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 24, 2015

About the author

Dave Walsh was once the world's foremost kickboxing journalist, if that makes any sense. He's still trying to figure that one out.

The thing is, he always loved writing and fiction was always his first love. He wrote 'Godslayer' in hopes of leaving the world of combat sports behind, which, as you can guess, did not exactly work. That's when a lifelong love of science fiction led him down a different path.

Now he writes science fiction novels about far-off worlds, weird technology and the same damned problems that humanity has always had, just with a different setting.

He does all of this while living in the high desert of Albuquerque and raising twin boys with his wife. He's still not sure which is harder: watching friends get knocked out or raising boys.

Reviews

[Oh My Bookness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any debut novel by any author, any author even established are not neither first are their greatest or flawless but that does not mean or make it any good. In Dave Walsh's debut novel Terminus Cycle the first in the Andllios Series is a nice start to the series and has a promising a future. As I write this I think about my rating and for most you will go by the rating and not what I'm going to say about his writing or the story it's self. So let me start with why I give Terminus Cycle a 3 star rating! (if I could it would be a 3.5 star but there's no option for that). The writing starts off strong with character development, getting to know the characters, traits, backgrounds, their reasoning for their actions but we lose a little when we see transition into space. We also see the plot not completely formed or well defined but we're giving enough to know there is a issue on earth that leads to space.

As we look at the transition into space its a little loose, when we are transitioning from one scene to the next we need to make sure the audience understands why and even if they do there should not seem as if there are two complete stories happening. If your intention is that to seem so all you need to do is give a hint, a idea, a link, a paragraph suggesting something is to happen or we're ending one or breaking to give a look into a new future or events that transpired to those events.

By no means is this a bad book, this is a good book, a good first novel. When it comes to series's I always find the first to be "yeah I can see this" to the second "blasting off". What makes Dave Walsh first novel obviously promising he knows how to incoporate and successfully use human emotion and action making it seem real in a Sci-Fi novel. The people are real and relatable and you can tell he put a lot of time, effort and planning when cam to writing the people and the action that takes place. With all that focus I would just like to see a little more transition work, smoother transitions or a clearer two piece story. With the focus you see on the people and earth I would love to see that same descriptive detail within there.

So when you see three star, it's not a bad book. It's worth buying, I can see more from this author especially as I-Fi being such a hard genre to write and even harder to please the fans of the genere. For non-science fiction fans I can still see some interest and if you have kindle unlimited free book if not you can't beat the price.

A strong first piece. I will checkout the second. Don't knock it until you read it and to make sure to remember other series you may have read in the past because I ca guarantee there good but better with time, their will always be one in there were like eh, but that comes later and not always.


So my firm recommendation for Sci-Fi readers read it!

[Lily Ribeiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the tranquil beginning fool you. The action picks up a lot after the first chapter or two. Well worth the read.

The first half takes place on board a generation ship that has been enroute for 80 years, and is nearing the planetary system. There is an aspect of military sci-fi, but the character Jonah is both interesting and easy to relate to. The ship has a somewhat rigid class system, with Jonah being born of lower class parents. He has had to claw his way into the military hierarchy through hard work, and he now has a comfortable job in the military's PR department, and a relationship with the daughter of one of the ship's leaders.

One pit that is easy to fall into with science fiction, is the 'too many characters', and 'confusing description' trap. Mr. Walsh avoids this nicely. The characters never get too numerous to remember, the scenes remain uncluttered with unnecessary description, and overall the scenes on the ship have a nice feel of reality to them.

The second half of the book takes place on the planet, and transitions abruptly to a very medieval type of setting. This was both surprising and exciting to me, a nice juxtaposition. I liked the character Alva, a warrior-girl who still shows her vulnerable side, and never turns into a Mary Sue. I also enjoyed the types of weapons utilized by the Krigan people, as they are both technologically advanced, but very alien to a modern reader.

Overall, this kept me guessing, and simply by not being confusing is already a step above a lot of the other science fiction out there.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed the book, although it turned out to be more sociology than science fiction. The main characters were reasonably developed, but the internal musings of the principal character as he wrestled with existential angst and the human condition tended to drag on a bit. Aspects of the science part of the work were less than realistic, and I'm not talking about the usual tropes of FTL drives and teleportation technology.

The author referred multiple times to the starship Omega (a city-sized, non-FTL vessel carrying half a million people on a trip requiring over 80 years subjective time at near the speed of light) collecting objects they encountered along the way, objects small enough to hold in one's hand. Give a thought for a moment to the difficulty involved in even detecting such objects, let alone retrieving them from outside the ship, unless the objects were themselves also traveling at close to the same speed and in the same direction, a condition not supposed in the text.

Finally, in one reference, mention is made of the 80+ years of scientific progress made back on Earth that resulted in FTL which enabled other ships to beat the Omega to their destination. This reference ignores the time dilation effect that would have made the subjective time on Earth much longer than the 80+ years experienced by those traveling at relativistic speed.

[Dan Jackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through a First Reads giveaway.

I liked this book when I read it but I had to suspend my disbelief in the portrayal of the military. Surely no-one could be so naive as the characters actions imply. I found myself wondering if I was reading a YA novel until some of the language and scenarios disabused me of the fact. The plot is very straightforward, if a tad unsophisticated and the characters somewhat one dimensional. Even with that, I found it an easy read. Perhaps a novel to read between books that make you think on a deeper level. As pure entertainment, It does succeed.

[Lawrence P. Lauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning for a new series, can't wait for book two.Couldn't put it down.

One of the few books I couldn't put down and read thru in one day. Excellent plot, brilliant characters and a masterful

[Ed Kohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

New beginnings

A wonderful read. This is not your typical post apocalyptic future, but one where one person takes a stand, risking not only his life but everything to insure a better future for all. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Gary Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sci-fi Book

If you liked Star Trek then you'll love this book. It seems no matter how man evolves there is always backstabbing and intrigue. I really enjoyed this book. I love this genre. Give this book a try you'll love it.

[Larry B Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great storyline and characters.

An exciting book full of action, adventure and several exciting plot twist. I really liked this book and highly recommend it.

[Jaded · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can only hope that the author's later forays into science fiction are more polished, because this one...didn't merely fail to keep my attention; it actively repelled me with what it was presenting.

The premise is competent - the situation of a generation colony ship travelling through space on its seemingly-endless sojourn to the intended new home for humanity. The crew live their whole lives inside the confines of the ship, maintaining it, and raising newer generations of crew members to take their place when their natural life plays out. It can seem hopeless; spending your entire life travelling to somewhere you will never see. It might give an author the opportunity to explore some interesting aspects of the human psyche.

Or it can give them license to front-load their readers with the ingredients for existential crises and depressive episodes. I couldn't make it to the end of the first chapter; my e-reader tells me I've read 6% of it, and I had to stop for the sake of my mental health.

Don't get me wrong, the author is competent: the setup and exposition is decently handled. It's just that the protagonist and 'reader viewpoint' character is just...so....disturbingly developed. From what I'd read he should be on psych watch by the ship's medical staff; he's showing multiple indications of nihilistic thinking that if found in a journal would warn a therapist of the risk of suicidal ideation.

He's in a dull-as-dishwater job stuck on a spaceship for life. He's got unrealized potential - if only because the ship doesn't have need of his talents, has a positively DEPRESSING family history - his mother abandoned her family, and his father was a failure in his own son's eyes for having spurned his own aptitudes and tried and failed at an unhealthy aspiration to compete with his own sibling in a different field, and thus got stuck with the same menial job his son has inherited from him. (he died from an accident - which, given the uniformly bleak characterization, might *not* have been accidental) It's disturbing how we have been shown the inner thoughts and motivations of a character that only exists to be a building block in the initial character make-up of our protagonist. And it's a pretty unsettling block.

Further, our protag apparently doesn't socialize much (we only see an amiable conversation with a former teacher). And not for lack of wherewithal; the person seems personable and charming, and stereotypically tall and well-built, and thus conventionally attractive - a reasonable person may choose to have a meal break in solitude, and one can loathe a profession that one is assigned without choice or agency, but to go through an entire workday with one brief 'playing hooky' to look at an oddity (which is likely foreshadowing of later events) without any known interpersonal interaction. Neither positive nor negative - again, the character is alone in a crowded ship, with only his own thoughts as any demonstrated form of company. As far as I can tell, the protag has no friends; no comrades among his coworkers, but no rivals nor enemies either. No berth-neighbours that he either likes or dislikes. He has no romantic attachments. Also he has no hobbies: does not consume media neither for educational enrichment nor entertainment, does not participate in sports or social activities; merely takes the opportunity to find a window that permits crew to view the splendour of the universe...and then proceeds to sink into an existential funk.

It's entirely possible that the character is much more rounded - I didn't manage to read through his entire first day in the book - but it would have been better to have more of these details presented BEFORE I was given a multi-page pondering of the nature of the ship's mission and how ultimately it's meaningless (again, if I was a crew psychiatrist aware of this behaviour I'd be advising security prevent him access to any of the ship's sensitive systems)

Amid that rather discouraging passage, I had to stop for my own mental health, and was reminded of a movie quote:

"you’re in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history"

And the protag *IS*; they need something, ANYTHING to drag them away from the black hole of existential nihilism they're circling around and closing in on the event horizon.

And a better written story would have given the character more depth before jumping into such weighty subjects and made them more rounded and seem less like a ticking time-bomb. And while this might have later provided that rounding, it was disturbingly left after the point where I couldn't continue to read.

[Manie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doomsday sayers are part of life and especially now the Earth is doomed according to them.
Terminus Cycle by author Dave Walsh used that idea as background to this prequel story of the compelling Andlios series.
Earth is dying and in desperation five space vehicles were despatched to five earth like worlds in a desperate attempt to have humans survive Earth's pending demise.
The biggest ship is aimed at a planet dubbed Omega with a journey likely to take about eighty years to complete.
But along the way quite close to arriving at Omega space debris started pointing towards a possibility that Omega might already be inhabited.
By what? And why the consistent denial and depreciating of the growing evidence that this might indeed be the case.
Author Dave Walsh is quite the master in growing suspense chapter by chapter and keeping the reader occupied with speculation and suspense right up to the last paragraph.
Enjoy.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terminus Cycle, Dave Walsh’s debut novel, reads like two welded-together novellas. The opening follows a young man chafing under the constraints of life on a generation ship. In the second half, the young man is transformed into a covert warrior in a planetary civil war. I wish the novel had a middle section showing how his character developed. Walsh is a promising enough storyteller that I may pick up one of his later works. He needs to work on world-building—wouldn’t transporting 500,000 refugees be better done in a fleet rather than one large ship?

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good story especially the first half. However, it is filled with vulgar profanity throughout which adds absolutely nothing to the story but really takes away. Don't read this book unless you can stomach crude and filthy language.

[Mike Heyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story’s concept is intriguing but not well executed. Characters are too shallow to make their actions logical and believable. The time line is inconsistent. The action of the second half of the book spans two years but one character reflects on events “over the years,” which normally implies that several, if not many, years have passed. The potentially exciting events that bridge the two sections of the novel are not described at all. This reads like a first novel and is apparently self-published. If only it had been self-edited. Missing words, awkward phrasing, and other common features of a first draft abound. Of the hundreds of books I’ve read, I think this is the first one that used “should have went” while not rendering dialect.

It’s a shame that writers who want to advance their careers don’t take more care with their work. Reading the first book in a series should leave us hungering for more instead of regretting the time spent. Perhaps Mr. Walsh’s subsequent books are better. I will never know.

[Anne Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have here a science fiction book which goes along what of the first authors of the genre did : it is more a critical satire of American society than a real sci fi book. The problem is that it did not bring the thrill I used to have reading Asimov's books, but actually bored me more or less during many of the (useless?) descriptions.
The earth is badly damaged, overpopulated, drained out. Humans decided, as soon as they mastered light speed travel to send huge ships to find another planet. After 82 years, the ship arrives close to Omega, to discover the planet is already occupied by other human beings.
The ship's society relied on fixed social classes, like old Indian casts. It was not impossible but very difficult to get out of the one you were born in. On the new planet, will it be possible to create a new, more equitable system? That is the question the passengers, the previous occupants of the planet and the earth forces that just arrived will have to answer. We learn that science has made progresses on Earth, and a vessel of the Fourth Fleet, lounged only a few months before arrives when the Omega destiny reaches its destination.
Two conceptions of the future fight for survival, one for the maintain of a structured and rigid society, one for a much more liberal idea. The Krigans, with most of the ship passengers win. What lies for them now?
Obviously, it is, once again, the beginning of a Xlogy. This is just an introduction, the developments will be in the future tomes. I thought the writing could have been condensed and the different parts better linked. It's impossible to understand the flow of time in the second part until the author tells you. I would say the inspiration from Foundation is obvious -though the future books may prove me wrong. But this is far to be as smoothly finished as Foundation was... so far, at least.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The spaceship Destiny left Earth for a distant planet that would take three generations to reach in hopes that the colonists would have a better life. Rumors and secrets abound as they get close aboard the ship. In the second half of the book war erupts between the colonists and the natives of the planet.