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Exodus Ark #1
Exodus Ark
Kent-9464 was made for war.
But now, forsaken by those who created him, he has been relegated to head of security for a colony ship called Exodus Ark. It’s a one way trip to a new planet far away from everything he's ever known, and the trip is said to take hundreds of years.
The colony world is another Earth, a new beginning for mankind... and completely uninhabited.
But when Kent is prematurely woken up from his stasis pod and told by the ship’s AI that they are under attack by an unknown alien threat, he must recall his years of training and once again become the man he used to be.
The battle for mankind's future is upon us... and it rests in the hands of one forgotten soldier.
But now, forsaken by those who created him, he has been relegated to head of security for a colony ship called Exodus Ark. It’s a one way trip to a new planet far away from everything he's ever known, and the trip is said to take hundreds of years.
The colony world is another Earth, a new beginning for mankind... and completely uninhabited.
But when Kent is prematurely woken up from his stasis pod and told by the ship’s AI that they are under attack by an unknown alien threat, he must recall his years of training and once again become the man he used to be.
The battle for mankind's future is upon us... and it rests in the hands of one forgotten soldier.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 25, 2020
644 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
J.N. Chaney
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
December 11, 2020
Review to come soon.
January 1, 2021
The book starts well, but after about a hundred pages I was getting quite bored, there was a lot of repetitive padding and the author clearly wanted to be quite mysterious about what was actually happening. My problem was although I found Kent an interesting character, I knew very little about the ship, its capabilities, or even the number of crew and I was becoming quite frustrated trying to understand what was happening and how the ship had got into the mess. It didn’t help that I didn’t find the alien ‘sentient sludge’ and feuding AIs particularly interesting.
November 5, 2020
Boring.
Repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive. The same script is repeated over and over. We get it. We don't have to be told the same thing every chapter. If all the redundancy was removed this book would not be 50 pages long.
Repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive. The same script is repeated over and over. We get it. We don't have to be told the same thing every chapter. If all the redundancy was removed this book would not be 50 pages long.
November 10, 2020
A different kind of alien!
Kent 9464 is a slave! He doesn’t really understand that since he was bred for the specific purpose of being a soldier in the BSC - Black Shield Corps - and that is all that he knows. He, and the rest of his unit, are given drugs to control them and to give them even faster reactions than those that they are born with. One thing that they weren’t given was the ability to interact with other humans. It came as a complete surprise when his unit is replaced with a more advanced ‘model’ and he finds out that he has been sold to a colonising company as their Chief of Security. He is woken from stasis to walk straight into an escalating crisis where AIs have been compromised and his Security forces are under relentless attacks from their own crew.
This is different from the stories that I have come to expect from Chaney. There is action and alien contact but it’s not as fast paced as most of his other books. I’ll be interested to see how Kent continues to grow and discover his human side.
Kent 9464 is a slave! He doesn’t really understand that since he was bred for the specific purpose of being a soldier in the BSC - Black Shield Corps - and that is all that he knows. He, and the rest of his unit, are given drugs to control them and to give them even faster reactions than those that they are born with. One thing that they weren’t given was the ability to interact with other humans. It came as a complete surprise when his unit is replaced with a more advanced ‘model’ and he finds out that he has been sold to a colonising company as their Chief of Security. He is woken from stasis to walk straight into an escalating crisis where AIs have been compromised and his Security forces are under relentless attacks from their own crew.
This is different from the stories that I have come to expect from Chaney. There is action and alien contact but it’s not as fast paced as most of his other books. I’ll be interested to see how Kent continues to grow and discover his human side.
November 28, 2020
To say J. N. Chaney is a prolific writer is similar to saying the Death Star 2 (Star Wars) is tiny! Neither one is true and I know because this is the 25th book that I have read written by Mr. Chaney! That covers seven different series and I’m almost sure that he has many, many more out there that I have not touched. He is fast becoming my favorite writer.
In this book we get to meet a number of new characters, but, due to the circumstances, that number is limited to a very manageable few. First and foremost is Chief Mission Ward Kent-9464. Yes, that’s his name and designation. He’s one strange guy, but that due to his upbringing and creation! You see, he is a genetically enhanced and grown human built for one purpose. That purpose is to wage war against the enemy. He does so very efficiently and if teamed up with his fellow Black Shield Corporation members, they become a very deadly asset.
Yet, this story isn’t about a bunch of mercenaries doing their thing and that’s the strange part of the book right out of the gate. Kent-9464 has become obsolete to the Black Shield Corp (BSC) and is being sold off. Yeah, he’s not considered a free human since he was grown at the expense of the BSC. He was also trained all his life to fight in combat. He’s learned his lessons very well and has never lost a battle. But, the time for his disposal has come, but instead of being finally disposed of, he’s given a new mission outside of his military role that he’s know all his life.
Now, going back to the “grown” part. Kent-9464 was genetically tailored for combat and the chaos of war. He’s very different than other “unenhanced” soldiers. He has no need for emotions which can negatively effect his fighting efficiency, so they have been tampered out through a special drug he is periodically given. He is highly intelligent, much more than the average human, his reflexes are faster and he has increased stamina and above average healing abilities. He also has a much higher Agression Quality (AQ) which will not let him not complete his mission no matter what obstacles he has to overcome.
So, what has happened to him. Well, he’s been sold off to a new company, the Rodon Corporation and placed on the colony ship, Exodus Ark. This ship is now headed away from Earth to a new colony world, one that has never been explored or colonized by humans. Kent-9464 is now the Mission Ward for the colony ship Exodus Ark. In plain English, he’s the Head of Security for the entire ship and it’s mission. While that’s not a military job, it’s the one he has and since he can’t show emotions, he accepts his new mission and move on. He’s supposed to be in stasis as are the majority of the colonist until they reach their new home planet.
Everything is going just fine as Mission Ward Kent-9464 is quietly sleeping in stasis and has been now for hundreds of years! That is until he is awoken to gunfire! Things are already happening on the Exodus Ark that should not be happening and the fact that he is just finding this out isn’t too promising. He is just going to have to find out who or what is attacking the Exodus Ark and eliminate it before it eliminates him and everyone else. The ship is infected and he’s just one guy. He doesn’t remember ever having odds of survival this bad.
Great start to a new series. I would have like to read some of Kent-9464’s exploits as part of a BSC team, but that could be a whole new series for Mr. Chaney. Still, this one is off to a good start, unless everyone gets killed, so I look forward to this series continuing. I kind o
In this book we get to meet a number of new characters, but, due to the circumstances, that number is limited to a very manageable few. First and foremost is Chief Mission Ward Kent-9464. Yes, that’s his name and designation. He’s one strange guy, but that due to his upbringing and creation! You see, he is a genetically enhanced and grown human built for one purpose. That purpose is to wage war against the enemy. He does so very efficiently and if teamed up with his fellow Black Shield Corporation members, they become a very deadly asset.
Yet, this story isn’t about a bunch of mercenaries doing their thing and that’s the strange part of the book right out of the gate. Kent-9464 has become obsolete to the Black Shield Corp (BSC) and is being sold off. Yeah, he’s not considered a free human since he was grown at the expense of the BSC. He was also trained all his life to fight in combat. He’s learned his lessons very well and has never lost a battle. But, the time for his disposal has come, but instead of being finally disposed of, he’s given a new mission outside of his military role that he’s know all his life.
Now, going back to the “grown” part. Kent-9464 was genetically tailored for combat and the chaos of war. He’s very different than other “unenhanced” soldiers. He has no need for emotions which can negatively effect his fighting efficiency, so they have been tampered out through a special drug he is periodically given. He is highly intelligent, much more than the average human, his reflexes are faster and he has increased stamina and above average healing abilities. He also has a much higher Agression Quality (AQ) which will not let him not complete his mission no matter what obstacles he has to overcome.
So, what has happened to him. Well, he’s been sold off to a new company, the Rodon Corporation and placed on the colony ship, Exodus Ark. This ship is now headed away from Earth to a new colony world, one that has never been explored or colonized by humans. Kent-9464 is now the Mission Ward for the colony ship Exodus Ark. In plain English, he’s the Head of Security for the entire ship and it’s mission. While that’s not a military job, it’s the one he has and since he can’t show emotions, he accepts his new mission and move on. He’s supposed to be in stasis as are the majority of the colonist until they reach their new home planet.
Everything is going just fine as Mission Ward Kent-9464 is quietly sleeping in stasis and has been now for hundreds of years! That is until he is awoken to gunfire! Things are already happening on the Exodus Ark that should not be happening and the fact that he is just finding this out isn’t too promising. He is just going to have to find out who or what is attacking the Exodus Ark and eliminate it before it eliminates him and everyone else. The ship is infected and he’s just one guy. He doesn’t remember ever having odds of survival this bad.
Great start to a new series. I would have like to read some of Kent-9464’s exploits as part of a BSC team, but that could be a whole new series for Mr. Chaney. Still, this one is off to a good start, unless everyone gets killed, so I look forward to this series continuing. I kind o
October 14, 2021
I generously am rating this 3 stars, when it is at most a 2.5 star.
This book takes a lot of inspiration from other, better, works. It is about a soldier who is trained from birth to be the perfect, emotionless, unquestioning killing machine, who is then discarded when the new model rolls out. This is basically the premise of the Kurt Russell movie Soldier.
Our main character is then forced to be with normal people, in a stressful situation and keep them alive. This is also very Soldier like, but also feels like Murderbot. Especially as he makes no end of references to how he doesn't understand humans.
And we also have a zombie, alien, plague, which all feels generally familiar, but also specifically similar to Ken Lozito's First Colony series.
There is nothing inherently wrong about drawing influence from other sources, even ripping them off directly can be OK. But you need to be as good or better, or at least take a different spin on the subject.
If it's just going to be a worse version of something that already exists, then why bother.
This book is kind of interesting, but also is definitely "why bother". The main character is completely flat and lifeless. He is supposed to be emotionless, but also shows signs of frustration and annoyance, so I guess those don't count. He is not just rude, but sarcastically rude to people around him, which doesn't fit the personality trying to be conveyed. His voice and descriptions of things are very monotone and simple and just plain boring.
The secondary character are similarly one note. This could be excused as a result of the pov being a emotionless human, but I have to think that even if he didn't understand the emotions being displayed, their actions/reactions should still come through and the characters shouldn't feel like robots themselves. There's no meaningful back stories or character development. Just a bunch of 1 dimensional characters to follow the 1 dimensional main character.
The setting is dull, the inside of the ship. Nothing new or exciting there.
The plot is fine at best. It is limited and mostly just run and gun. It answers none of the questions it raises and I suspect they are being left for a future storyline, but I found it disappointing that it couldn't deal with its own issues it raised.
The voice narration, by Jeffrey Kafer, is substandard and really negatively impacts the book. The main character is a monotone robot type character, and the narrator reads him like this. However, he also reads every other character like this. There is no emphasis or emotion to any of the characters or situations. He provides no voice differentiation between characters and it is hard to follow what's going on, sometimes, when everyone sounds the same.
All in all, this is a dull book with dull characters and an uninspired plot. It is simplistic and tries to be intriguing but fails to deliver. It borrows heavily from other works, but fails to deliver as good an experience. The voice narration only serves to reinforce the dull characters and fails to bring the experience to life. It it didn't come as a 2 part audiobook, I would not proceed any further.
This book takes a lot of inspiration from other, better, works. It is about a soldier who is trained from birth to be the perfect, emotionless, unquestioning killing machine, who is then discarded when the new model rolls out. This is basically the premise of the Kurt Russell movie Soldier.
Our main character is then forced to be with normal people, in a stressful situation and keep them alive. This is also very Soldier like, but also feels like Murderbot. Especially as he makes no end of references to how he doesn't understand humans.
And we also have a zombie, alien, plague, which all feels generally familiar, but also specifically similar to Ken Lozito's First Colony series.
There is nothing inherently wrong about drawing influence from other sources, even ripping them off directly can be OK. But you need to be as good or better, or at least take a different spin on the subject.
If it's just going to be a worse version of something that already exists, then why bother.
This book is kind of interesting, but also is definitely "why bother". The main character is completely flat and lifeless. He is supposed to be emotionless, but also shows signs of frustration and annoyance, so I guess those don't count. He is not just rude, but sarcastically rude to people around him, which doesn't fit the personality trying to be conveyed. His voice and descriptions of things are very monotone and simple and just plain boring.
The secondary character are similarly one note. This could be excused as a result of the pov being a emotionless human, but I have to think that even if he didn't understand the emotions being displayed, their actions/reactions should still come through and the characters shouldn't feel like robots themselves. There's no meaningful back stories or character development. Just a bunch of 1 dimensional characters to follow the 1 dimensional main character.
The setting is dull, the inside of the ship. Nothing new or exciting there.
The plot is fine at best. It is limited and mostly just run and gun. It answers none of the questions it raises and I suspect they are being left for a future storyline, but I found it disappointing that it couldn't deal with its own issues it raised.
The voice narration, by Jeffrey Kafer, is substandard and really negatively impacts the book. The main character is a monotone robot type character, and the narrator reads him like this. However, he also reads every other character like this. There is no emphasis or emotion to any of the characters or situations. He provides no voice differentiation between characters and it is hard to follow what's going on, sometimes, when everyone sounds the same.
All in all, this is a dull book with dull characters and an uninspired plot. It is simplistic and tries to be intriguing but fails to deliver. It borrows heavily from other works, but fails to deliver as good an experience. The voice narration only serves to reinforce the dull characters and fails to bring the experience to life. It it didn't come as a 2 part audiobook, I would not proceed any further.
March 21, 2022
It’s just a dumb action movie. Not a shred of intellectual curiosity.
If Michael Bay had to adopt Bungie’s 1994 video game “Marathon” to the big screen on half the budget and only the shallow story points were carried over, you’d get something nigh-on identical to the first of the two books of this series that I got in a combined audiobook package. And it doesn’t get more creative than there.
The dialogue is all as boring and stereotypical as you’d expect from an action movie, and the inside of the main character’s head is about the same. Every sci-fi element or setting-backstory detail sounds like it could have deep thought or subtly-explored ramifications behind it, tempting you to read into everything that characters mention or gloss over… only for the story to later make you feel like an idiot by having NOTHING come of any of it. Only the most obvious, tropey things are allowed to happen, and only with the flimsiest, easiest justifications. There’s essentially no science. Not just unexplored or barely mentioned— the writer clearly didn’t have the PATIENCE to imagine the implications of a smarter-than-human Artificial Intelligence trying to accomplish a crucial task or communicate (or lie in a way that would stand up to the first probing question), or of a complex Xenological situation. No, the author just threw in whatever met their cheesiest visualizations of things they wanted to see happen with only the most CASUAL regard for the excuses they’d need to throw at you to get there, and was BLIND to anything they didn’t personally care about. I won't get into the second book here, but just trust that it gets worse-- nigh-Earth-identical-temperate-forest-on-an-alien-planet-with-no-justification-or-even-questions worse.
If all you want is a mindless action romp, go ahead. But if you’re hungry for the personality of the Murderbot Chronicles, the scientific curiosity of Project Hail Mary, or the careful worldbuilding thought that went into Children of Time, you’ll be left utterly starving.
If Michael Bay had to adopt Bungie’s 1994 video game “Marathon” to the big screen on half the budget and only the shallow story points were carried over, you’d get something nigh-on identical to the first of the two books of this series that I got in a combined audiobook package. And it doesn’t get more creative than there.
The dialogue is all as boring and stereotypical as you’d expect from an action movie, and the inside of the main character’s head is about the same. Every sci-fi element or setting-backstory detail sounds like it could have deep thought or subtly-explored ramifications behind it, tempting you to read into everything that characters mention or gloss over… only for the story to later make you feel like an idiot by having NOTHING come of any of it. Only the most obvious, tropey things are allowed to happen, and only with the flimsiest, easiest justifications. There’s essentially no science. Not just unexplored or barely mentioned— the writer clearly didn’t have the PATIENCE to imagine the implications of a smarter-than-human Artificial Intelligence trying to accomplish a crucial task or communicate (or lie in a way that would stand up to the first probing question), or of a complex Xenological situation. No, the author just threw in whatever met their cheesiest visualizations of things they wanted to see happen with only the most CASUAL regard for the excuses they’d need to throw at you to get there, and was BLIND to anything they didn’t personally care about. I won't get into the second book here, but just trust that it gets worse-- nigh-Earth-identical-temperate-forest-on-an-alien-planet-with-no-justification-or-even-questions worse.
If all you want is a mindless action romp, go ahead. But if you’re hungry for the personality of the Murderbot Chronicles, the scientific curiosity of Project Hail Mary, or the careful worldbuilding thought that went into Children of Time, you’ll be left utterly starving.
March 26, 2021
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of J. N. Chaney's novels when he is the co-author. They may be a tad formulaic after your read a few series, but the ideas are cool, dialog snappy, characters involving, and action almost non-stop. Great examples of this are the Ruins of Earth series and The Messenger series. Chaney really seems to shine when he's working with someone else.
Sadly, I found that magic missing in Exodus Ark. I'm halfway through the 2nd book in this series and it hasn't really gotten better so I'm not sure I'll be coming back for book three. I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that it was just a slow start, but I feel like he's just not putting his all into these books. The premise is good and the ideas solid and but the potential is untapped. If this was an early work of his I might understand it, but this is recent stuff. It is just too repetitive and things that could be interesting seem to get glossed over. He plays fast and loose with the technology aspect too. I'm not really connecting with the characters either, and the nemesis is rather nebulous.
This is popcorn reading, but the popcorn is stale and the butter not salty enough. Please do read his other works where he is not the only author - those I recommend for fans of action-packed sci-fi and military fiction. I would feel a bit cheated if I weren't reading this with my Kindle Unlimited account.
~ Kort
Sadly, I found that magic missing in Exodus Ark. I'm halfway through the 2nd book in this series and it hasn't really gotten better so I'm not sure I'll be coming back for book three. I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that it was just a slow start, but I feel like he's just not putting his all into these books. The premise is good and the ideas solid and but the potential is untapped. If this was an early work of his I might understand it, but this is recent stuff. It is just too repetitive and things that could be interesting seem to get glossed over. He plays fast and loose with the technology aspect too. I'm not really connecting with the characters either, and the nemesis is rather nebulous.
This is popcorn reading, but the popcorn is stale and the butter not salty enough. Please do read his other works where he is not the only author - those I recommend for fans of action-packed sci-fi and military fiction. I would feel a bit cheated if I weren't reading this with my Kindle Unlimited account.
~ Kort
September 24, 2023
_Exodus Ark_ by J.N Chaney receives three stars from me. Think the book sets out to do what it wants to do; however, at times, I was just ready for it to be over.
First this was an audio book so I need to address the reader. Jeffrey Kafer read this novel. I thought his voice was familiar, and I did listen to another book read by him. He has a deep masculine voice that fits well for military high testosterone books. He didn't disappoint here either. I enjoyed his interpretation of the novel and the main character.
The novel.
This is a plot driven text. One might say, there is some character development, but for me it was minimum. Like the least amount required in order to say there is some character development. I love a plot driven high energy thriller. And usually if there is much character development in those--one is suprrised and overjoyed. However, for me in this novel, the plot was going to a point and it reached it but for me, there are some gaps or maybe solutions that just happen so fast that I wonder why didn't this happen at the beginning.
Recommended: wEll, if you like a plot driven text, you might like this. I you like space, you might like this. If you like zombies, you might like this. Because essentially it's a zombie novel.
First this was an audio book so I need to address the reader. Jeffrey Kafer read this novel. I thought his voice was familiar, and I did listen to another book read by him. He has a deep masculine voice that fits well for military high testosterone books. He didn't disappoint here either. I enjoyed his interpretation of the novel and the main character.
The novel.
This is a plot driven text. One might say, there is some character development, but for me it was minimum. Like the least amount required in order to say there is some character development. I love a plot driven high energy thriller. And usually if there is much character development in those--one is suprrised and overjoyed. However, for me in this novel, the plot was going to a point and it reached it but for me, there are some gaps or maybe solutions that just happen so fast that I wonder why didn't this happen at the beginning.
Recommended: wEll, if you like a plot driven text, you might like this. I you like space, you might like this. If you like zombies, you might like this. Because essentially it's a zombie novel.
April 21, 2025
It's funny - this is one of those books where if you read the reviews, you go in expecting for it to be written badly. However, that's personal to each reviewer, and I actually liked this a lot despite what I read.
I really like the main character. The stuff he runs into was so interesting. Made me think of the movie with Kurt Russell about a "discarded" soldier bred for fighting wars. But with Kent, we get into his head and see what he's thinking and feeling rather than just watching what he does.
Chaney starts to build a team here, and those characters are equally great. My only problem would be with pacing, because although the plot moves steadily, it's still slightly slow. But stick with it - I'm really glad I did. Good story.
And I really like Jeffrey Kafer. It took time for me to get used to him as a narrator on audio because of his style, but overall he's a great conveyor of emotion and action. One thing, though. Certainly not a deal breaker, but what is going on with that British accent? Doesn't matter, I still think he's good. I hope he gets it down.
I really like the main character. The stuff he runs into was so interesting. Made me think of the movie with Kurt Russell about a "discarded" soldier bred for fighting wars. But with Kent, we get into his head and see what he's thinking and feeling rather than just watching what he does.
Chaney starts to build a team here, and those characters are equally great. My only problem would be with pacing, because although the plot moves steadily, it's still slightly slow. But stick with it - I'm really glad I did. Good story.
And I really like Jeffrey Kafer. It took time for me to get used to him as a narrator on audio because of his style, but overall he's a great conveyor of emotion and action. One thing, though. Certainly not a deal breaker, but what is going on with that British accent? Doesn't matter, I still think he's good. I hope he gets it down.
December 18, 2020
This book is written from a rather peculiar point of view. The main character is a genetically engineered super soldier that has been drugged all his life in order to suppress his emotional reactions. Awoken early in the middle of a century-long colony trip to a star system that has been chosen to be a suitable destination for thousands of colonists sleeping in stasis for the trip. Kent must deal with his own body's twitchy withdrawal symptoms from his lifetime of suppression drugs when he is awakened by the ships artificial intelligent to respond to a bizarre unwelcome boarding party.
Chaney once again proves himself a master of imagination and action drama, set against a unique backdrop of both the massive ship and two competing AIs battling for dominance - each with its own conflicting agenda.
Chaney once again proves himself a master of imagination and action drama, set against a unique backdrop of both the massive ship and two competing AIs battling for dominance - each with its own conflicting agenda.
March 23, 2021
I finished book one of this new series pretty fast, and started book two 'Max Frontier'- it was purchased as an audible set, so the first book flows nicely into the next in the series. The one thing I loved the most was how this new character, Kent, was introduced. I really appreciated how the reader learned about him through his struggles of waking up in 'a new world' and how he's learning to be more 'human'. As much as the action and suspense kept the story moving, it was Kent's progression that intrigued me the most. So to have a book that captures such great action and characterization is a win-win in my world. Overall, the book did feel a little short, and the ending was tied up rather fast, but with the second book ready to go, it actually feels like the first 2 in the series are one great read together. I highly recommend, especially if you're already a Chaney fan.
September 26, 2023
A rogue AI or two, a black substance and altered people!
The black open soldiers are genetically modified and emotion dampened to make them the best killing machine possible. Unfortunately a new version us in the pipeline so the old ones are sold off. One is assigned to the Exodus Ark, a ship designed to take humanity to a new planet and colonize it. However, while in stasis, the ship gets contaminated by a black substance that alters people into violent entities....Thus starts a desperate mission to save the other people awake on the Ark, work out which of the two AI's is rogue and defeat the infected.
There is suspense, action, violence, military protocols, combat, surprises, withdrawal symptoms and much more in this fun adventure.
The black open soldiers are genetically modified and emotion dampened to make them the best killing machine possible. Unfortunately a new version us in the pipeline so the old ones are sold off. One is assigned to the Exodus Ark, a ship designed to take humanity to a new planet and colonize it. However, while in stasis, the ship gets contaminated by a black substance that alters people into violent entities....Thus starts a desperate mission to save the other people awake on the Ark, work out which of the two AI's is rogue and defeat the infected.
There is suspense, action, violence, military protocols, combat, surprises, withdrawal symptoms and much more in this fun adventure.
August 29, 2024
Interesting Read. It is about a group of colonists who left earth and are traveling to another planet to start a new life. Kent, a bioengineered soldier, who has been decommissioned and sold to the highest bidder, which in this case a Corporation looking for cheap labor. He is the ship's Head security officer. He is awaken by the ships main AI, AMI, in order help her fight off a mysterious invasion that has happened on the ship and is killing the colonists. Faced with the lack of MEDs he was used to having to blunt his emotions which in turns makes him a very effective killing machine, he struggles to save the colonists and understand the emotions he has never had to face due to withdrawal.
February 2, 2021
Book one
Mistakes: Well written without any problems that I saw.
Plot: An elite genetically engineered human in charge of security on a colony ship must defend against an alien attack that infects crewmembers.
I did not like how all the infected drop dead at the end. A cheap tactic to keep from having to write about clean-up.
Characters: Other than the MC being a drug addict I found him interesting. The author spends a lot of time going on about withdrawal symptoms, but breezes over his recovery.
6/10
Mistakes: Well written without any problems that I saw.
Plot: An elite genetically engineered human in charge of security on a colony ship must defend against an alien attack that infects crewmembers.
I did not like how all the infected drop dead at the end. A cheap tactic to keep from having to write about clean-up.
Characters: Other than the MC being a drug addict I found him interesting. The author spends a lot of time going on about withdrawal symptoms, but breezes over his recovery.
6/10
March 1, 2021
A very interesting beginning to another series by a talented author.
Again this was a well written book with a lot of action and with an interesting protagonist as I have come to expect from Mr. Chaney. My only criticism is that the fight against the alien invader became prolonged and repetitive by the end of the book and is the only reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. That said, the alien threat was quite imaginative and I look forward to reading the next installment in the series.
Again this was a well written book with a lot of action and with an interesting protagonist as I have come to expect from Mr. Chaney. My only criticism is that the fight against the alien invader became prolonged and repetitive by the end of the book and is the only reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. That said, the alien threat was quite imaginative and I look forward to reading the next installment in the series.
November 10, 2020
Just this side of DNF. Uninspired action, characters that were flat, and not just because the main character is supposed to have his emotions stripped from him, and a mixture of long distance space travel without any idea what it means.
I mean why bother colonizing privately if you have 400+ years of round trip travel time. I mean I could see building a colony ship for someone else’s but that’s not how this works.
So yeah, too many things that just didn’t add up.
I mean why bother colonizing privately if you have 400+ years of round trip travel time. I mean I could see building a colony ship for someone else’s but that’s not how this works.
So yeah, too many things that just didn’t add up.
December 10, 2020
JN Chaney has written a lot of really good science fiction books. Exodus Ark isn't one of them. I thought I would never get to the end; all meaningless special effects and action; zero story line. I was 30 chapters deep before a story started showing up, and that's just too long to wait, and too close to the end of the book to make me want to buy the next installment. Want some really good reading? Try his Amber Project.
November 2, 2021
Decent but repetitive story
This novel kicks off with a bang pretty quick. I like the main character, but there is a lot of discrepancies with him. While he's on mood suppressors his internal thinking is filled with curses, humor, and notes that don't fit with how he portrays himself. A vast majority of the book is the same scenario repeated over and over. Meet infected crew, shoot infected crew, carry on. Hopefully the next book is better
This novel kicks off with a bang pretty quick. I like the main character, but there is a lot of discrepancies with him. While he's on mood suppressors his internal thinking is filled with curses, humor, and notes that don't fit with how he portrays himself. A vast majority of the book is the same scenario repeated over and over. Meet infected crew, shoot infected crew, carry on. Hopefully the next book is better
November 3, 2020
Exciting Security Action unfolds.
9464 and Tara fight a developing enemy presence
With resolve and a developing relationship between an ex special Security operative and an young woman who shows she has what it takes to succeed in new and the exciting Times of Colonization of a new planet. Can t wait to see the next chapter (Book) in this new saga!
9464 and Tara fight a developing enemy presence
With resolve and a developing relationship between an ex special Security operative and an young woman who shows she has what it takes to succeed in new and the exciting Times of Colonization of a new planet. Can t wait to see the next chapter (Book) in this new saga!
November 8, 2020
Alien zombies, different but good.
I enjoyed the premise it was different and someways but a very well done book. The characters were interesting and enjoyable. It was a fresh new book for this author I enjoyed it very much waiting to read the next one. There were also plenty of twists and turns you did not know who to believe or who to trust. As I said before well done.
I enjoyed the premise it was different and someways but a very well done book. The characters were interesting and enjoyable. It was a fresh new book for this author I enjoyed it very much waiting to read the next one. There were also plenty of twists and turns you did not know who to believe or who to trust. As I said before well done.
January 23, 2021
Interesting book
Took several chapters to warm up to this book. Good action and fast paced. To believe or not to believe... friend or foe... good or bad... these are decisions you have to figure out as you read this book as well as the main character while battling several fronts!
Took several chapters to warm up to this book. Good action and fast paced. To believe or not to believe... friend or foe... good or bad... these are decisions you have to figure out as you read this book as well as the main character while battling several fronts!
March 28, 2024
I am a big J.N. Chaney fan - many of his other series have interesting plots and engaging characters. Unfortunately Exodus Ark just isn't very good. The action is repetitive and the main character is not particularly likeable or memorable. I made it about halfway through and moved to the "abandoned books" shelf. Alas, not every idea can be a homerun, even from a master storyteller.
October 31, 2020
Well written military sf but not my cup of tea
I’m absolutely certain that there are people out there who will love reading this. But I personally could not generate enough interest in the characters.
I’m absolutely certain that there are people out there who will love reading this. But I personally could not generate enough interest in the characters.
November 1, 2020
Excellent Excellent Excellent!!!
Wonderful new series from J.N.Chaney! The Characters are likeable, and the action is nonstop.
If you like a cross between firefly, and Mass Effect look no further. I definitely recommend giving this book a chance.
Wonderful new series from J.N.Chaney! The Characters are likeable, and the action is nonstop.
If you like a cross between firefly, and Mass Effect look no further. I definitely recommend giving this book a chance.
November 4, 2020
Fantastic
Wow a great storyline and a great first episode.. First I thought it was going to be something similar to SOLDIER a film with Kurt Russell but no totally different so well done. Well thought out and written
Wow a great storyline and a great first episode.. First I thought it was going to be something similar to SOLDIER a film with Kurt Russell but no totally different so well done. Well thought out and written
December 29, 2020
Interesting new story from a good author
J. N. Chaney is the or one of the writers on many of my favorite recently read novels. Exodus Ark is another hit. An entertaining story with just enough not revealed to keep you wanting to know more. The story has plenty of action and the universe building makes me want to know more.
J. N. Chaney is the or one of the writers on many of my favorite recently read novels. Exodus Ark is another hit. An entertaining story with just enough not revealed to keep you wanting to know more. The story has plenty of action and the universe building makes me want to know more.
January 18, 2021
Invading Exodus
J.N. Chaney brings you in hook, line and sinker. I wasn't able to put Exodus Ark down. Quick paced and loaded with fighting. Definitely getting book 2. This is a must read.
J.N. Chaney brings you in hook, line and sinker. I wasn't able to put Exodus Ark down. Quick paced and loaded with fighting. Definitely getting book 2. This is a must read.
September 27, 2021
hmmmm
This book left me wanting more, it wasn’t close to perfect and I could see if people were to read some and then stop reading it, but it has an intriguing storyline and I think it’s gonna be worth reading the next book
This book left me wanting more, it wasn’t close to perfect and I could see if people were to read some and then stop reading it, but it has an intriguing storyline and I think it’s gonna be worth reading the next book
December 8, 2021
Been a while. It started strong (intro, premise, setup) then went paper thin and repetitive. Honestly now I can’t remember whether I fished or abandoned it….either way my impression is vague disappointment.
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