Disciples

Nel Bently #0.5

by V.S. Holmes

Can Lin save their lives when she's forbidden to get involved?
Lin wakes from cyrosleep with a mission: her mercurial brother needs her to monitor their organization's newest investment, an archaeological site on Earth. It proves the existence not only of extraterrestrials, but their human students abducted from South America 13,000 years ago. Students that include Lin and thousands of others scattered among the stars.

Then Lin's glorified babysitting turns into a web of conspiracies, violence, and complex cultural heritage. She must choose between her brother's orders and the lives of the archaeologists she put in danger.​
Disciples is a novella set in the Nel Bently Universe and takes place simultaneously with Travelers.

Genres: Science Fiction

Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2021

About the author

V. S. Holmes is an international bestselling author of dark, speculative fiction, from fast-paced hard sci-fi to slow-burn gothic fantasy and everything in between. He has two finished series: Stars Edge: Nel Bently Books, a queer archaeological sci-fi, and the dark fantasy Blood of Titans. Smoke and Rain, the award-winning first book in his fantasy quartet, became an international bestseller in 2018. Travelers is also included in the Peregrine Moon Lander mission as part of the Writers on the Moon Time Capsule. In addition, he writes game content for Stone Blade Entertainment and published short fiction in several anthologies.

He is currently working on a folk horror, inspired by death, sex, and their Frisian and Celtic heritage.
​
Beyond the keyboard, he lives in western Massachusetts, and like to garden, feed the birds, and watch the river change with the seasons. V worked as a contract archaeologist for over a decade before becoming an electrician. V is a trans guy, among other flavors of queer, and married to a fellow archaeologist. They enjoy quiet evenings with food, games, and films with a sweet lab-rottweiler, Rory and the not-so-quiet brown mutt, Millie.

Reviews

[Qukatheg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lin is assigned to a position on Earth, overseeing Nel Bently's archaeological work from a distance. But when things start going wrong, she has to choose between following orders or doing what's right.

This was a lovely little prequel to the Nel Bently series, but it very much leaves off with a open ending. I'd really recommend reading this after you've finished Travellers, as there is a major spoiler for Travellers in this story. But if spoilers don't bother you, be advised that you'll probably want to read Travellers directly after finishing this because you'll want to know more about what happened.

I'm happy I read this, even though it wasn't great as a standalone story, because it was told from Lin's point of view. I loved learning a bit more of about her backstory and where she came from. Lin definitely isn't as colourful a character as Nel, but she is definitely intriguing.

[Josie ❃The Bubbly Book Reviewer❃ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would not recommend reading this book as a standalone, but as suggested by others, this may be a good read after reading the Travellers series and as a prequel. (I learnt this after completing the book.)
There was potential in this story, but I was left feeling like this was Part 1 of a 2 part book, and I found the ending unsatisfying.

Favourite Quote:
“The first thing she noticed was the air. Before, she could not have named the scent of home if she had to. Nothing. Home smelled of nothing. Sterile. Here, however, were hundreds of scents.Most with no name in her mind, just vague ideas, or colours. There. A hot, dry smell of sand. The warmth of brown vegetation desiccating in the sun. Sweat. I haven’t smelled sweat in years.”

I would like to thank "Voracious Readers Only" and author V.S.Holmes for my complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Booknerder42 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars

The characters in this book were well developed and story flowed nicely.
I highly recommend this book to lover of science fiction.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent start to this series from V S Holmes! Like the style, mix of sci fi & archaeological, good strong characters & leaves you desperate for the next book in the series!

[Suzanne Cruz Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to thank you V. S. Holmes for sending me this book.

I like the book. It has all the components of SciFi in my opinion and I felt like there was "humanity" in the characters. Well thought of and we'll developed I thought and I could only described it as one of the interesting and good SciFi books I read so far.

I like the part that it has that archaeology feel to it and finding or searching for something kind of vibe, that's the only way I can describe it.

Truly is a wonderful read.

[Debbie Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was ambivalent about this book. Perhaps I needed to read the Travellers series beforehand to have a better understanding of the world. I did find it well written, and would like to read more of the main character, Lin. I found her to be complex and interesting and the overall premise of the book was enjoyable.

[Bren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the full series that goes with this book 0, and considering that, this was a very good book. I love the idea of “aliens” that still descended from the human race (and vice versa). The character growth of Lin in just this book was great, too, and I imagine that she just keeps getting better. I hope to continue this series and read the rest of it soon!!

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Lin to be a character with somewhat inconsistent traits. And I didn't get to care enough about her to care what happened, nor what happens after the end of the book.

Regardless, it was a relatively easy read and relatively easy to follow. Perhaps it would have been improved had I had the chance to read the rest of the series first before reading this.

[Hannah Baller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story, I wasn't originally aware that it was a prequel to the rest of the Travelers Series, but I thought the way it's written was really clever, and the world in which V.S Holmes created was very consistent.
I could tell the author has created something of a monster, with the amount of detail to ensure the reader understands that this is a world based in a futuristic world, where the MC is initially based in a spacecraft above the earth. Never having lived on the planet and seems repulsed at the idea of living in, what voiced to me, a dirty world where she would feel potentially alone.
I am glad that I now know I can continue the story into the next book, as I felt I needed more - so WARNING - this is not a standalone book, and is designed to grip you into the next installment, which you should definitely do.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Sci-Fi, but I just loved the way the author has built this world, consistently using the correct names of the tech she's created and how beautiful the description is. Right from the first page I could see that she has a real knack for the written language, with just one or two edit issues, but nothing that is problematic or terribly noticeable. I only notice because I proof read in my work and help indie authors edit their work.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, and now I will be getting the rest of the series!
This was obtained as a free book from Voracious Readers Only.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disciples, a short story by V.S. Holmes, is an intriguing appetizer to the author's Nel Bently book series. The main characters are relatable, and the storyline is fun and interesting.

The story begins with Lin awakening in a futuristic space station where she has been brought to accept a new mission. The mission is based on Earth and although Lin is human, she deplores the idea of spending the next few months on the planet she only ever visited in her youth. After arriving at the site, Lin finds that she is very curious regarding the subject of her mission. Although dull in the beginning, Lin soon learns the true dangers of her situation and why her presence is crucial for the mission's success.

I began this novella, which I received as a complimentary copy from the author via Voracious Readers Only, wondering how the author would weave together the futuristic science fiction world with the history-based world of archeology. The result was clever and entertaining. Holmes manages to find balance between the novella's two seemingly polar opposite genres and leaves the audience hungry to learn more about Nel Bently and her discoveries in her own book series.

If you enjoy reading science fiction, history, and mystery genres, you will likely enjoy Disciples and I recommend you give it a read.

[Tally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book unaware that it was a prequal and have not read any of the other books in the series.

I love the authors style of writing and the idea of the story is really gripping. The story as a standalone book was lacking and it kills me to give it such a low score as it had so much protental. I honestly believe that if you have read the other books in the series, it would make more sense and bring more excitement to the story.

I love the characters and the settings, but parts seam to drag and then move on to quickly without an understanding of what it happening leaving me to fill in some gaps.

I don't recommend reading this before the others in this series, and plan to re-read and review this book after reading the rest of the series.

[Rochelle D'Anvers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only. It was interesting but confusing. The background and motivation behind the characters and plot is revealed slowly as the book progresses, and by the end of it, I still only had a vague idea as to what was going on. Of course this means that I would want to read the next books in the series, in order to get answers to my questions.

[Si Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lin wakes up from cryosleep and – before she can even orientate herself, she’s is assigned to watch over archaeologist Nell Bently on Earth.

Although this is billed as 0.5 in the series, I felt like I was missing a lot of context from not having read the rest of the books first.

I am curious to read further, but I don’t think I’d recommend starting here if you’ve not read the other books in the series first.

[Gale Basden Maurer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this ebook through Voracious Readers.

This book has me intrigued. The story line is very good but I was thoughly confused until the end. I understand it is a prequel but it seems to be missing a lot of basic info that would have been helpful to understand what is happening.

I will be looking into other books by this author.

[Amanda Hallam-Taillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book intriguing and it made me want to read the rest of the series. The plot is interesting, and the characters develop well.

I received a copy of this book through Voracious Readers Only.

[Darrah Steffen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short story. It is exciting. The characters are very well developed in the short time you follow them. It leaves you wanting to know the rest of the story.

I recieved this through voracious readers.

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't get into the book. It took me a couple tries to get past the first chapter. However it was well written.

I received this book from Voracious Readers Only.

[Claudia Foglein-Goins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't get into this freebie from Voracious Readers. It sounded interesting but lost me early on. A good read for folks who like technical so Tories.

[Meigan Garrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complementary copy of this book through voracious reader‘s. I enjoyed this book immensely and once I started reading, I could not put it down. The book grabbed my imagination from the first page. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really the type of thing I would usually read, but the summary looked interesting so I thought I'd try it. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the series before reading this one. Though, it has intrigued me enough that I might read the series and then return to this one again. I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.

[Meredith Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, and honestly one I'm still thinking through!

Marked as "Nel Bently Book 0", I went in realizing it was a prequel novella and also quickly realized it starred a different protagonist than the subsequent books. This made for some strange expectations going in -- I wasn't sure how much it would be its own story and how much it would be a prologue for a book I would have been expected to have probably already read (given that it's marked as a prequel, I assume it was written after at least book 1 of Nel Bently).

The writing is fantastic--a very well-written and cohesive narrative voice, well-developed characters with strong voices and complicated relationships, and a solid foot in both its sci-fi origins and its terrestrial archaeological setting. The pacing was a bit off, which might be a bit of prequelitis--from the perspective of knowing the other stories follow the terrestrial archaeologist Nel, having 50% of the book be focused on Lin's life and backstory in space makes sense in filling out some of that side of things. But from reading it as the first book in a series, it means that...well, you get to 50% of the book before anything actually happens beyond the initial setup.

One weird thing I couldn't quite shake was the slow realization that this is essentially a "second contact" story, ie, an Ancient Aliens story. In other words,our protagonist was from a group of space-faring humans who had separated from earth many thousands of years ago after aliens first visited earth and shared some of their technology and wisdom, and was trying to determine if and when humanity should realize that aliens had been there previously. I kept waiting for the book to address it directly (Nel muttering something about it when she found some of the 'weird' results, or Lin herself musing about how humanity might or might not be ready because of the fringe beliefs about 'ancient aliens') and it never actually commented on it despite the obvious connection. I want to say that obviously this was a story about humans who were now spacefaring who were going to remake contact with other humans, and about POC as well, so it avoided the pitfalls of the ancient aliens tropes (especially because it never commented that like, oh yes, all these things humans did they did with the help of aliens -- as far as we know, humans still did all their big achievements) but it was just a sort of weird "...is this going to mention it at all?" thing hanging over my head. I assume it was deliberate (The author is also an archaeologist so there's no way they're unfamiliar with Ancient Aliens as a constant public interest hound snapping at the heels of archaeological studies) but I almost would have liked it put to bed in text earlier so I could stop chewing on "...is this going to come up directly" while reading. This isn't so much about the quality of the book in any way so much as something that kept distracting me while reading because the silence around it was so loud despite the hallmarks of it being so present in the story.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to reading the first main Nel Bently book -- what we see of her through Lin is delightful, and I'm excited for what is certain to be a very fiery f/f relationship to develop.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Disciplies through the Voracious Readers Only programme.

I read Disciples unaware that it was a prequel book to a larger series - as a result I found a number of aspects confusing and was constantly wondering if I had missed important plot points or explanations of events and factions. I suspect that I would have enjoyed this novella much more if I was already immersed in the setting.

As a stand alone story I was disappointed, it left too much hanging and I never really engaged with the protagonist or her troubles. Similarly the ending was too open ended to support the story on its own but I again expect would have been stronger if I had read book 1 in the series first rather than this 'book 0'.

[A Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this science fiction work - the author did an excellent job at introducing new technology/terms without it being overwhelming. The tension between siblings, the tension at the archaeological site - it all creates a fascinating and engaging world. Also it was easy to see that Lin was a well-developed character in only a few short pages. As an archaeologist I loved the mention of dirty beers, Munsells, and soil samples. Excited to read more in this series!
I received a complimentary copy of this work through Voracious Readers Only in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a free copy of this book from the author via voracious readers only in exchange for an honest review* Easy read, good world building and good pacing throughout. My only problem was I thought that the main character could have used a bit more depth to her but it was a good science fiction novella.

[Brittni Kitten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short story that pulls you in. Showcases the split in humanity in a new way with "space" being a new race. It's funny how a change in circumstances can change your perspective. Eagerly awaiting the next book.

[KappaBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this short prequel and it made me want to reread/continue the series!