Ship of Destiny

Sam Bitka #2

by Frank Chadwick

SURROUNDED BY DEATH, THE SECRET OF IMMORTALITY IS WITHIN REACH. A new novel of space exploration and alien contact from Chain of Command author Frank Chadwick.

Sam Bitka, a naval reserve officer, is recalled to wartime service and soon earns a reputation for aggressive tactics and insufficient deference to his academy-graduated superiors. His latest run-in with authority earns him a transfer to command of an armed transport, USS Cam Ranh Bay.

When a mysterious alien probe materializes from Jump Space and remotely reprograms The Bay's star drive, Sam and his crew begin an involuntary voyage that takes them three thousand light years out of known space, across the galactic rift to the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, and into the heart of an ancient, previously unknown civilization—the first encountered by Humans and the other five races of the Cottohazz—Stellar Commonwealth—in over a century. The genetically altered immortals known as The Guardians, a race so old they do not remember their own origins, soon turn murderously violent.

Now Sam and his crew must elude capture by the Guardians, find some means of reprograming their own star drive, and then return to the Cottohazz with the news of a powerful new civilization bent on their destruction. But they may also be carrying the secrets of the origin of their own star drive and of the path to immortality.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Military Fiction

485 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2020

Reviews

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Ship of Destiny, Frank Chadwick brings us another very good military science fiction adventure.
This story picks up shortly after the events of Chain of Command. Sam Bitka has been promoted and given command of the "USS Cam Ranh Bay", an armed transport. While on a routine mission to transport some scientists and diplomats to another star system, a mysterious alien probe unlike any vessel known to the six races of the "Cottohazz" appears and reprograms their FTL drive. It sends them off into the unknown. When they finally get to the programmed destination, they meet new races including the enigmatic, deadly, and immortal Guardians. Things soon go horribly wrong and they find themselves in a fight for their lives. Sam will need all his skills as a combat tactician, a leader, and a negotiator to navigate his way back home. It becomes a truly 'Homeric' journey of adventure and danger. (Can't say much more without giving things away.)
Good book with an intriguing plot and well-drawn characters. Solid four stars.

[Alon Ziv]

Like previous books by Chadwick in this universe, the book has engaging and realistic characters, consistent science (even when it's fantastic - such as faster-than-light travel) and lots of action.

The depiction of deep-space warfare in Chadwick's world is, in my opinion, one of the best - in particular because it's NOT just "19th-century naval tactics, in space".

(Note - I got an Advance Reader Copy of the book.)

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I stayed up to 2am reading "just a few pages to get started", then I think I have to give it 5 stars.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ship of Destiny is the second book in the Sam Bitka series, and I really enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have read by this author, but I have become a huge fan and plan to read his other books as soon as I can. And while this book is the second book in a series, I had no problem jumping into these alien worlds and understanding what was happening. I also have to admit to a bit a fangirl crush on Sam Bitka. He actually reminded me a bit of Captain Picard so if you are a fan of Star Trek, you will understand the draw that Sam can have others.

While this book apparently picks up not long after events in the first book, the reasons for Sam's promotion and eventual tasking to "USS Cam Ranh Bay" are loaded in political warfare between two brothers and a nephew, something of which I only got a taste. But it was enough to understand the deep undercurrents that were going on and to realize that Sam must have annoyed some important people; however, being a hero, they just couldn't ship him off to nowhere as how would that look? Unfortunately for Sam, he ended up on a ship that was remotely reprogrammed by an alien probe which hurtled their ship thousands of light years away from their known space. And this is where I loved Sam; he was able to keep control of a crew that could have gone ballistic, but his leadership ability and his tactical genius kept everyone alive. They meet up with the immortal Guardians, aliens who behave like gods to their own people, and not necessarily like benevolent gods either.

I really enjoyed all of the characters. I have always enjoyed science fiction for its political intrigue and this one was no exception. And while the political stuff was interesting, I did feel that it didn't quite go deep enough for my liking which is why I didn't quite give it five stars. However, the space battle scenes are quite amazing and they feel so realistic. I am not a scientist, nor do I have a background in physics, but I was engaged in the scenes and could feel the tension right to my toes. I like how the author showed some of the thoughts from the alien POV as well. In fact, I would have liked a bit more of their POV as it was interesting.

The plot moved at a good pace, a nice balance between action and calmer periods. I have never read this author before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say I was shocked a couple of times in this book over events and even yelled out a "What?! No!!!" After the first shock, I read with a bit more trepidation as I wasn't sure I could handle any more shocks. Science fiction can sometimes get bogged down with too much technical details, but the author was able to explain a lot of the stuff in layman's terms so the reader wouldn't get lost, something I appreciated.

Ship of Destiny was a lot of fun to read and I definitely enjoyed the whole 'space opera' feel of this book. The characters, especially Sam Bitka, were interesting, and flawed, something that I like as it makes them more empathetic. While I can't say for sure how accurate the science was in this book (my science background leans more towards biological sciences), it sounded good and I could understand a lot of it so I have to give credit to the author for his ability to explain things really well. I highly recommend this book and I will be reading the first book in this series at some point as well. I am looking forward to more books in this series as I have a lot of questions for the author. Who exactly is Te-anna?

https://curlingupbythefire.blogspot.c...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely do I shell out money for new books. In this case it was probably worth it. Rarely do I give out 5 stars, but I make an exception in this case, barely. The author does jump around a little bit and some of the human characterizations are a bit thin. He almost does better with all the aliens, who of course all seem to have human-like thought processes. The science is a bit shaky in spots too, but hey this is space opera with something very much akin to a linear story line and a plot, both refreshing and increasingly rare it seems to me. Bitka without fault is something of a genius strategist and tactician among the egotistical and small minded which makes him really stand out. Still a quick enjoyable read. This may be one of those rare instances where I actively seek out another book in the series.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book, more on that later. We need to talk about the marketing for this book. I have never seen a book with a worse marketing strategy than this one. It's bafflingly incompetent.

First, let's look at the title, "Ship of Destiny." There are a dozen better titles for this book that aren't also the title of a beloved fantasy book by a much more famous author. This book isn't even in the first page of Google results when you searching on its title. It only showed up in the image search which takes you to a subreddit dedicated to bad book covers.

Second, this is a bad book cover. It is competently drawn, but tonally couldn't be further from the mark. That stupid, confused muppet-looking thing on the cover is supposed to be a godlike alien race. They're described as intimidating, seductive, "no white visible in their eyes." They are often compared with owls. Everything about this muppet on the cover screams "wacky sci-fi comedy." This is a meticulously planned military drama/space opera that is loosely based on The Odyssey. Who approved this?

Third, this is like book four in a series. Fortunately, it is a mostly self contained story that only really references the other books at the very beginning and the very end. There is nothing on the cover to indicate that this is part of a series. There is nothing in the branding to indicate that this is part of a series.

Look, I can write all the glowing 4-star reviews in the world, but none of that is going to help you if your target audience doesn't bother looking up reviews because the book looks like a Douglas Adams bit. Even if they tried to look up a review of Ship of Destiny they would find Robert Hobbs. I only read this book because I do a book podcast, and my wife saw it at the book store and handed it to me and said "read it, I want to know what that muppet thing is." Needless to say she was surprised when she found out.

So having stumbled onto this book specifically because I have a hobby of reading stupid books, I'm happy to say that this was not a stupid book. In fact, it was one of the better space navy sci-fi stories I have read in a long time. I'd actually compare it to Star Trek The Next Generation, at least in spirit. There's more combat, of course, but the focus is on tactics and problem solving. The last hundred pages had me on the edge of my seat. I knew the problems would be solved but I didn't know how or at what cost. I absolutely love that Chadwick doesn't waste a lot of time describing the spectacle of space combat and instead focuses on the the problems and their solutions. The crew and the captain are competent. There are clashes between characters who are supposed to be on the same side, but no one is ever suicidally stupid.

I'm probably going to read the next book when it comes out.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the first book, I immediately picked up the second. It is a bit different, with an emphasis on first contact and dealing with multiple cultures. The detailed deep space combat of the first book is found here, this time with a ship that has a habitation wheel.

The Guardians are an interesting alien culture. The characters explore immortality and boredom. While some of the humans want to jump to being immortal, one of the Guardians lays out what she actually has to deal with day-to-day.

While this is a military science fiction book, it does have its deep emotional moments. The author builds up our understanding between characters and then, late one night, smacked me in the head with where he took the story. I haven’t had that happen to me in quite a while. It speaks well of how the author has built out the character of Sam Bitka.

I hope there are more books with same set of core characters. I feel there is a lot more that can be explored.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chadwick, Frank. Ship of Destiny. Sam Bitka No. 2. Baen, 2020.
In Frank Chadwick’s Ship of Destiny, human beings are contacted by an interstellar civilization in 2041, and a century later they have already fought and won a multispecies war. Since all the starship technology comes from advanced aliens, Chadwick is saved the trouble of explaining much, and he can keep the human cultures close to home. The protagonist, Sam Bitka, is a war hero who has received a field promotion to starship captain and been assigned to an armed troop transport. The plot begins when his ship’s systems are taken over by an unknown force and the ship is drawn to a distant star system. The story and characters follow the Horatio Hornblower in space pattern we have come to expect from Baen space opera, but both the plot and the characters provide some unexpected twists. 3.5 stars.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few twists in the plot and what seemed to me to be somewhat better space battle choreography excuse the tedious discussions about what is and isn't Love and equally tedious passages spent in the heads of various corrupt or less able naval officers. A decent close, with lots of action well described and enough business left undone to justify more sequels should Chadwick decide to go on.

[Scott Mattson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have liked the book more, if I had read the previous volumes of the series. Or even realized there were other books before this one. There were parts of the story that seemed overally complicated, especially any parts with the guardians. The battle scenes seemed almost anti-climatic. But there were interesting characters and room for another book or two in the series.

[David Hyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice sequel set in the Cottohaze universen. I learned a lot from Chain of Command. I learned more philosophy from Ship of Destiny. It is loosely based on the Oddessy or so the prologue states.

[Samantha Rense · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good

I greatly enjoyed this book. I think Chadwick has a great series going here. I am going to keep reading each book in this series as soon as they come out. Well written and gripping.

[Nis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid space opera. Quite a jump from the first book with Sam Bitka though, and it is slightly weird that apparently the various lifeforms in the universe share sex characteristics even though the book also makes much of them not even sharing proteins

[Jon Silvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book I liked it much better than the first one 👍

[Craig Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worn tropes, and dull stereotypes aside, I rather enjoyed “Ship of Destiny”, and wouldn’t mind discovering where the series goes next.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and although I don't know anything about other books in the series, I sure do hope there are some, I'd certainly like to read them. Great scifi here folks, you could certainly do worse than add this one to your to read shelf if you're a scifi fan.