Tranquility Lost

by J.L. Doty

Kindle Edition

Published June 28, 2020

About the author

Jim is a full-time SF&F writer, scientist and laser geek (Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, specialty laser physics), and former running-dog-lackey for the bourgeois capitalist establishment. He's been writing for over 30 years, with 15 published books. His first success came through self-publishing when his books went word-of-mouth viral, and sold enough that he was able to quit his day-job, start working for himself and write full time--his new boss is a real jerk. That led to contracts with traditional publishers like Open Road Media and Harper Collins Voyager, and his books are now a mix of traditional and self-published.

The four novels in his new hard science fiction series, The Blacksword Regiment, are scheduled for release in July 2020. Right now he’s fleshing out ideas for the next book in The Dead Among Us, he’s writing another episode in The Treasons Cycle, and he’s working on a new fantasy series The Deck of Chaos.

Jim was born in Seattle, but he's lived most of his life in California, though he did live on the east coast and in Europe for a while. He now resides in Arizona with his wife Karen and three little beings who claim to be cats: Tilda, Julia and Natasha. But Jim is certain they're really extra-terrestrial aliens in disguise.

Reviews

[R Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would (as I’m not hugely into space stuff - less spacey than I thought) and was surprisingly sad when it was over and wanted more.

[Jaime K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect of this, since Doty has done well in both the SF and F realms. This SF novella took me through loops of history (400 years ago, a world run by religious monks seems to explode when Brother Tranquility tries to take out the leader Deland), psychic abilities (of quite a few of the monks, and their influence on current people), horror (regarding the seeming eternal youth of Deland and others "honoured" by the king/gods), and some interesting technology (not the implants themselves but what they can do).
Jack is a soldier who performed an unsanctioned part of a mission that has him in prison. But he has now been put on a mission with four others who survived a bezerker mission to the planet Tranquility and Deland are from.

I knew the issue with Deland early, but I liked seeing how Jack learned about it.
I wanted to like Tranquility but wasn't too sure about him.
Seeing just how inky Deland could be and really wanting to see Jack best him kept me going.
There were some errors I caught (''casts' instead of "castes" in Chapter 2..."heart" instead of "heard" in chapter 3..."cloths" instead of "clothes" in Chapter 8) but they didn't affect my rating.

I would definitely like more re-contact stories!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I still had 35% to go, (according to my Kindle), but this novella ended at 65%. The remainder was a lengthy sample of a different series. Which seems like it would be good, so I added it to my TBR stack.

I enjoyed this! The setting was interesting and the MC was sympathetic. Things moved at a good clip, too. Jack is a "re-contact specialist" He is sent to investigate the latest planet affected by a spreading malignancy that has wiped out a slew of star systems. Jack has some unique talents that make him suitable for the assignment. He goes undercover planetside and steps into a suppressed medieval society. It's certainly not a tranquil environment! He needs to determine the origin of this Desolation, as it's labeled.

In the Author's Note he mentioned that he may write more novellas with this particular character. I'll certainly read them. So far I've enjoyed every book of his that I've read. I hope that trend continues!

[Gary Weinman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story. There was a lot I liked about it. The one thing I didn't like (which knocked off a star) is that the ending came really quick and the conflict was resolved and I wasn't even sure we were in the final battle.. Judging by where I was in the epub I thought there was at least another 80 pages or so. Instead there was just a preview of a different book. That being said, I do find the concept of re-contact crews interesting and would read more.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this story. The concept was fairly new and unused in my reading history. The plot was tight and interesting. The only problem I had was it was too damn short. I hated the story ended, I really enjoyed reading it.