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Starship Freedom #1
Starship Freedom
The starship Freedom was once a mighty warship. Today she's a tourist attraction.
The space wars ended long ago. The Freedom is now a flying museum. The tourists love it. The Changing of the Guard, the starfighter aerobatics, the starboard cannon salute . . . it's the best show in the galaxy.
James King commands the starship Freedom. He hates his job. He was a real soldier once. Back when the Freedom was a real warship. He never imagined himself running a tourist trap. Right after Christmas, he plans to retire.
Then, on Christmas day, the aliens attack.
Horrifying aliens. Creatures of claws, fangs, and endless malice. Within hours, they devastate Earth's military. Millions die.
So much for retirement.
The aliens spare the starship Freedom. After all, she's only a tourist attraction. But not to Commander King. He will get his beloved starship battle-ready. He will enter the fight. The Freedom will fly to war again!
The space wars ended long ago. The Freedom is now a flying museum. The tourists love it. The Changing of the Guard, the starfighter aerobatics, the starboard cannon salute . . . it's the best show in the galaxy.
James King commands the starship Freedom. He hates his job. He was a real soldier once. Back when the Freedom was a real warship. He never imagined himself running a tourist trap. Right after Christmas, he plans to retire.
Then, on Christmas day, the aliens attack.
Horrifying aliens. Creatures of claws, fangs, and endless malice. Within hours, they devastate Earth's military. Millions die.
So much for retirement.
The aliens spare the starship Freedom. After all, she's only a tourist attraction. But not to Commander King. He will get his beloved starship battle-ready. He will enter the fight. The Freedom will fly to war again!
415 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 27, 2021
837 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Arenson
148 books879 followersDaniel Arenson is a bookworm, proud geek, and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. His novels have sold over a million copies. The Huffington Post has called his writing "full of soul." He's written over forty novels, most of them in five series:
EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.
REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.
MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.
ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.
EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.
REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.
MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.
ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
July 7, 2022
I just finished reading one of the worst books I have ever read. I honestly can't believe I finished reading it. This book is a science fiction book, but its reading level must have topped out at about 5 or 6 year olds! I hope no one who reads science fiction thinks this book was worth the paper it was written on! I just didn't like this book at all.
What's it about. Well, it's supposed to be about some ancient old starship that played a significant part in winning World War III. It apparently did a great job in that war and won all the accolades that it should, but that war is now long over. Unfortunately, the former Captain of the ship, Commander James King, hasn't left his command. Nether has his XO or Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Larry Jordan. Now these guys have to be old, I mean real old and why they are still on this ship is something I'm still not sure about. They are still apparently members of the Alliance Space Navy and some where on this vast ship is a crew that does some kind of military duties of some sort, but this great ship has become a joke! It's a floating museum complete with its own fake crew. Various decks on this old starship have been contracted out to civilian businesses so they can make money from tourist. The starship Freedom, as its called, is nothing but a floating casino and amusement park and has no real military function. So why is there a Captain (who calls himself "Commander") still on-board this ship and why hasn't it been decommissioned as it should have been and either sold to these civilian companies or used for scrap at the orbiting space shipyards!
Oh, and we also have a deep, deep space station called Rubicon (Space) Station which has only two people on it, an American and a Russian. This is supposed to be an early warning station in case something comes from the depths of space that humanity has not yet explored! But, this outpost is also a joke because no one ever figured it would be of any use and so it was just a show of how the Alliance and the Red Dawn could get along and do something together other than fight! Well, right now it's current crew consist of a alcoholic Russian and a sniveling coward of an American who doesn't want to be there. Then, surprise, they see something coming from the depths of space!
So now we find out that it just so happens to be Christmas Day! What has been reported by Rubicon Station gets cut off in transmission which really didn't matter since no one was listening to it anyway. Everyone on Earth are all busy with Christmas activities even those who apparently have nothing to do with the Christian religion! And since Commander James King, Captain of the starship Freedom never has anything to do, he manages to intercept the message and now understands that Earth my be under attack very soon. So, he tries to warn everyone on Earth, but no one will listen, absolutely no one. Therefore his next logical act it to prepare for the coming invasion by getting the starship Freedom ready to fight. Only, this thing is a museum and has no ammo of any kind, its fighter wing(s) have only stunt pilots and it also has thousands of drunk and semi-drunk tourist all over its main decks! Yet, Commander King is going to fight the great threat coming to Earth! We're all dead!
What a crock of stupidity. This book is so badly written that it must have started out as a proposed comedy or something. Every paragraph sounds like it was made for some of those old, old Batman and Robin TV shows with the "Bang!", "Biff!", and "Boom!" icons all over the place. It's just a very bad and hard to read book, again, all in my humble opinion. I think I'm writing this review in hopes that whomever reads it will not waste their time in reading the entire book like I did. It is a total waste of time. And with that, I'm not going to waste much more time writing this review on a terrible, terrible book. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but it comes very close. You have been warned! Good luck!
Oh, yeah, I also read a series title, "Earthrise" by Daniel Arenson and I got to book 8 before it got pretty stupid and ridiculous, so I should have know this author had the potential to screw this book up also. But, I'm certainly not going to be reading the second book in this series. I don't care how many humans the giant English speaking alien spiders, eat! It's stupid!
What's it about. Well, it's supposed to be about some ancient old starship that played a significant part in winning World War III. It apparently did a great job in that war and won all the accolades that it should, but that war is now long over. Unfortunately, the former Captain of the ship, Commander James King, hasn't left his command. Nether has his XO or Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Larry Jordan. Now these guys have to be old, I mean real old and why they are still on this ship is something I'm still not sure about. They are still apparently members of the Alliance Space Navy and some where on this vast ship is a crew that does some kind of military duties of some sort, but this great ship has become a joke! It's a floating museum complete with its own fake crew. Various decks on this old starship have been contracted out to civilian businesses so they can make money from tourist. The starship Freedom, as its called, is nothing but a floating casino and amusement park and has no real military function. So why is there a Captain (who calls himself "Commander") still on-board this ship and why hasn't it been decommissioned as it should have been and either sold to these civilian companies or used for scrap at the orbiting space shipyards!
Oh, and we also have a deep, deep space station called Rubicon (Space) Station which has only two people on it, an American and a Russian. This is supposed to be an early warning station in case something comes from the depths of space that humanity has not yet explored! But, this outpost is also a joke because no one ever figured it would be of any use and so it was just a show of how the Alliance and the Red Dawn could get along and do something together other than fight! Well, right now it's current crew consist of a alcoholic Russian and a sniveling coward of an American who doesn't want to be there. Then, surprise, they see something coming from the depths of space!
So now we find out that it just so happens to be Christmas Day! What has been reported by Rubicon Station gets cut off in transmission which really didn't matter since no one was listening to it anyway. Everyone on Earth are all busy with Christmas activities even those who apparently have nothing to do with the Christian religion! And since Commander James King, Captain of the starship Freedom never has anything to do, he manages to intercept the message and now understands that Earth my be under attack very soon. So, he tries to warn everyone on Earth, but no one will listen, absolutely no one. Therefore his next logical act it to prepare for the coming invasion by getting the starship Freedom ready to fight. Only, this thing is a museum and has no ammo of any kind, its fighter wing(s) have only stunt pilots and it also has thousands of drunk and semi-drunk tourist all over its main decks! Yet, Commander King is going to fight the great threat coming to Earth! We're all dead!
What a crock of stupidity. This book is so badly written that it must have started out as a proposed comedy or something. Every paragraph sounds like it was made for some of those old, old Batman and Robin TV shows with the "Bang!", "Biff!", and "Boom!" icons all over the place. It's just a very bad and hard to read book, again, all in my humble opinion. I think I'm writing this review in hopes that whomever reads it will not waste their time in reading the entire book like I did. It is a total waste of time. And with that, I'm not going to waste much more time writing this review on a terrible, terrible book. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but it comes very close. You have been warned! Good luck!
Oh, yeah, I also read a series title, "Earthrise" by Daniel Arenson and I got to book 8 before it got pretty stupid and ridiculous, so I should have know this author had the potential to screw this book up also. But, I'm certainly not going to be reading the second book in this series. I don't care how many humans the giant English speaking alien spiders, eat! It's stupid!
April 28, 2021
A distressing message from the space station Rubicon
poised at the outskirts of the solar system, about aliens attacking, then nothing from the station. A giant alien spider-looking thing attacked and abducted the grandmother of Master Sergeant Alice Allenby, senior NCO of Badgers Company, which Colonel Bastian King commanded. James " Bulldog" King, commander of the FAS Freedom, father to Bastian, received the fragment of a message aboard the Freedom and activated yellow alert. It was Christmas day, but Commander King was taking no chances. Nobody from the admiralty could be pulled away from their Christmas celebrations. And without fanfare, with no-one hearing the warning, the skies opened and Earth was at war!
An amazing new storyline, told by a master storyteller brings the characters to life. Their hopes and aspirations revealed to us, bringing them into our lives as friends and comrades, family even. This apocalyptic sci-fi adventure will bring tears to your eyes and large lumps stick in your throat, but there are smiles, some chuckles and deep sobbing breaths of relief when plans come together. Join Commander King and the crew of the FAS Freedom and Bastian and Rowan King and the Freedom Brigade, Badger Company. Fight at their sides and inspire them to greater heights! This is a great read!
poised at the outskirts of the solar system, about aliens attacking, then nothing from the station. A giant alien spider-looking thing attacked and abducted the grandmother of Master Sergeant Alice Allenby, senior NCO of Badgers Company, which Colonel Bastian King commanded. James " Bulldog" King, commander of the FAS Freedom, father to Bastian, received the fragment of a message aboard the Freedom and activated yellow alert. It was Christmas day, but Commander King was taking no chances. Nobody from the admiralty could be pulled away from their Christmas celebrations. And without fanfare, with no-one hearing the warning, the skies opened and Earth was at war!
An amazing new storyline, told by a master storyteller brings the characters to life. Their hopes and aspirations revealed to us, bringing them into our lives as friends and comrades, family even. This apocalyptic sci-fi adventure will bring tears to your eyes and large lumps stick in your throat, but there are smiles, some chuckles and deep sobbing breaths of relief when plans come together. Join Commander King and the crew of the FAS Freedom and Bastian and Rowan King and the Freedom Brigade, Badger Company. Fight at their sides and inspire them to greater heights! This is a great read!
April 30, 2021
An interesting book
This book is a little slow at first because the author is giving the background for the storyline. It will fill in the details to keep you interested in the characters and story. With great characters and an intriguing storyline as well as lots of action and suspense it is well worth reading
This book is a little slow at first because the author is giving the background for the storyline. It will fill in the details to keep you interested in the characters and story. With great characters and an intriguing storyline as well as lots of action and suspense it is well worth reading
February 26, 2024
It appears I'd have been well advised to check whether I'd read anything by this author before - because turns out I have, and I didn't much care for it.
As far as "switch off your brain and grab the popcorn"-style sci-fi action thrillers go, this had a fairy decent premise and some moments that would probably look pretty impressive on a big screen. It is also very American. Painfully so, in fact, to the point where I found myself wondering whether it was intended as satire. Parts of this just read like a badly written propaganda leaflet, scripted in prose so purple it hurts. The characters exhibit about as much nuance and complexity as your average gossip rag. Continuity errors, repetitive phrasing, and characters acting like idiots abound. And the worst thing? The next time I'm in the mood for brainless entertainment, I might actually grab the next part (and complain about it just as much, probably).
As far as "switch off your brain and grab the popcorn"-style sci-fi action thrillers go, this had a fairy decent premise and some moments that would probably look pretty impressive on a big screen. It is also very American. Painfully so, in fact, to the point where I found myself wondering whether it was intended as satire. Parts of this just read like a badly written propaganda leaflet, scripted in prose so purple it hurts. The characters exhibit about as much nuance and complexity as your average gossip rag. Continuity errors, repetitive phrasing, and characters acting like idiots abound. And the worst thing? The next time I'm in the mood for brainless entertainment, I might actually grab the next part (and complain about it just as much, probably).
May 2, 2021
Excellent
This is such an exciting book.
I give it 5 stars!!! It reads like a fine sci-fi movie.
The only bad thing about this book is going to be the waiting for the rest of the story.
This is such an exciting book.
I give it 5 stars!!! It reads like a fine sci-fi movie.
The only bad thing about this book is going to be the waiting for the rest of the story.
July 7, 2022
Warning SPOILERS!!! (So many eye rolls) great premise great story, characters were good, the writing tho….
Where to start, in serious need of continuity editor and or grammar editor.
1. 1 moment the earth forces have never seen energy shields, then suddenly the oldest ship in the fleet a floating museum has them
2. No ammunition for the big magnetic rail gun except a hollow metal dummy but plenty of fireworks to load in secondaries. (Hint a hollow projectile filled with explosives is a shell, or load with all the metal later used for chaff to make a big kinetic mass impact)
3. They have a one shot way to get around enemy shields “once”,….a day later enemy shields don’t seem to be a problem for the fleet as a whole…. You know the exact same fleet that was pretty much destroyed to all but a few stragglers just a few chapters back because their weapons couldn’t penetrate….
4. Like 12 year olds playing in a clan on a new fps for some reason keeping communications open in battle is a sudden and novel idea for an experienced marine officer.
5. Stif repetitive Bridge conversations and the exhaustive restating of the obvious over and over and over and over …. You get my drift.
Glad this was free
Hope the subsequent books got a better editor and proof readers.
Very good and compelling storyline but the writing was so very close to making me quit I’m still not sure how I finished it
Where to start, in serious need of continuity editor and or grammar editor.
1. 1 moment the earth forces have never seen energy shields, then suddenly the oldest ship in the fleet a floating museum has them
2. No ammunition for the big magnetic rail gun except a hollow metal dummy but plenty of fireworks to load in secondaries. (Hint a hollow projectile filled with explosives is a shell, or load with all the metal later used for chaff to make a big kinetic mass impact)
3. They have a one shot way to get around enemy shields “once”,….a day later enemy shields don’t seem to be a problem for the fleet as a whole…. You know the exact same fleet that was pretty much destroyed to all but a few stragglers just a few chapters back because their weapons couldn’t penetrate….
4. Like 12 year olds playing in a clan on a new fps for some reason keeping communications open in battle is a sudden and novel idea for an experienced marine officer.
5. Stif repetitive Bridge conversations and the exhaustive restating of the obvious over and over and over and over …. You get my drift.
Glad this was free
Hope the subsequent books got a better editor and proof readers.
Very good and compelling storyline but the writing was so very close to making me quit I’m still not sure how I finished it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2024
This was the first book I've read of author Daniel Arenson's and I must say he rocked the genre! Military SciFi combined with an alien invasion hasn't been so satisfying since I read John Ringo's 'Hymn Before Battle' of the Aldenata series.
We have a gritty old character, Captain James King, who commands the museum ship, 'Freedom'. We have a Christmas day invasion of aliens with overwhelmingly superior technology. We have impossible odds.
We have horrible, spider-like invaders who must invade to eat prey--it's in their religion. We have gory deaths and horrific casualties. We have interpersonal struggles between the main characters.
Daniel Arenson hit so many of the tropes of the genre, I had to look to see when it was published: 2021. It felt like it was written thirty years ago or so.
Highly entertaining, if you like military scifi and high action, high tension adventure. I plan to read the rest of the series.
We have a gritty old character, Captain James King, who commands the museum ship, 'Freedom'. We have a Christmas day invasion of aliens with overwhelmingly superior technology. We have impossible odds.
We have horrible, spider-like invaders who must invade to eat prey--it's in their religion. We have gory deaths and horrific casualties. We have interpersonal struggles between the main characters.
Daniel Arenson hit so many of the tropes of the genre, I had to look to see when it was published: 2021. It felt like it was written thirty years ago or so.
Highly entertaining, if you like military scifi and high action, high tension adventure. I plan to read the rest of the series.
November 3, 2022
I’d definitely agree that this story is Battlestar: Galactica meets Starship Troopers. An aging starship, the Alliance warhorse of WWIII, is turned into a museum complete with dummy torpedoes and an amusement park. Commander James King is on the brink of retirement when he gets a chilling warning from a far space station that aliens are real and they’re on the way. When his calls to his superiors get no response on Christmas Day, King puts his ship on alert. It was a smart move considering portals open in space and out pops an entire enemy fleet. They ignore his unarmed relic of a ship and attack Earth. The Starship Freedom escapes and flees to an armory near the sun. Will they be battle-ready in time to save humanity? Stay tuned for the next episode. Relentless battle sequences, horrific aliens, and well-drawn characters make this a riveting read.
July 26, 2021
Cross between Battlestar Galactica/Starship Troopers and Aliens.
The theme of the story started off as interesting, like a new take on the Battlestar Galactica story. I did force myself to finish the book though.
Unfortunately I found the military aspects of this story to be weak and brittle. Military structure with poor discipline, ranking members placing personal decisions above that of their subordinates and military responsibility.
Ground combat was terrible. Where was all the heavy weapons? No 50cal type machine guns, anti-armor rockets or missiles.
Aliens were somewhat overpowered from an intelligence gathering point of view. Why the enemy felt like they needed to personally know about the lead characters and their family members (names of children), out of a planet of billions of humans, I struggle to understand. This felt like a thin veneer for a poor explanation of how powerful these Aliens are. Again, I don't know why the Aliens would need to personally know the background of certain characters and why some conflicts became kind of personal from the Aliens perspective.
Overall it made the story feel lacking in substance.
The theme of the story started off as interesting, like a new take on the Battlestar Galactica story. I did force myself to finish the book though.
Unfortunately I found the military aspects of this story to be weak and brittle. Military structure with poor discipline, ranking members placing personal decisions above that of their subordinates and military responsibility.
Ground combat was terrible. Where was all the heavy weapons? No 50cal type machine guns, anti-armor rockets or missiles.
Aliens were somewhat overpowered from an intelligence gathering point of view. Why the enemy felt like they needed to personally know about the lead characters and their family members (names of children), out of a planet of billions of humans, I struggle to understand. This felt like a thin veneer for a poor explanation of how powerful these Aliens are. Again, I don't know why the Aliens would need to personally know the background of certain characters and why some conflicts became kind of personal from the Aliens perspective.
Overall it made the story feel lacking in substance.
June 2, 2021
Jesus christ
When I first saw this I wasn't that interested... That is until I saw what looked like a damn rail gun at the front and for me I LOVE spaceships and so that sparked my interest, so I read the description and was like, ya let me just read this all in one sitting. So now here I am at 3:15 in the morning around 7-9 hours after I had first picked this up and now I'm wishing I had the money to buy the entire series, because when the aliens were first introduced to humans I got created the f### out and loved it...so definitely one of my new favorite sci-fi starship series.
When I first saw this I wasn't that interested... That is until I saw what looked like a damn rail gun at the front and for me I LOVE spaceships and so that sparked my interest, so I read the description and was like, ya let me just read this all in one sitting. So now here I am at 3:15 in the morning around 7-9 hours after I had first picked this up and now I'm wishing I had the money to buy the entire series, because when the aliens were first introduced to humans I got created the f### out and loved it...so definitely one of my new favorite sci-fi starship series.
September 30, 2021
Awesome story
Many of the pages tell of unspeakable tragedy. However, throughout the story unspeakable courage is shown. A lot of the story concerns a major battle that I didn’t think would end well. A must read if you enjoy space stories filled with action.
Many of the pages tell of unspeakable tragedy. However, throughout the story unspeakable courage is shown. A lot of the story concerns a major battle that I didn’t think would end well. A must read if you enjoy space stories filled with action.
October 4, 2021
Quite the nail-biting page-turner. Kind of creepy and if you don't like spiders...
February 20, 2022
I was initially going to give this book four stars.
I've read the first six books in Daniel Arenson's Earthrise series, and they were all five-star reads.
This book does recycle the aliens from Books 4-6 in that series, because Daniel Arenson already wrote about large alien spiders that want to eat humans. He already wrote about giant men at last two other times (the Earthrise series and another series).
The story starts off simple enough. An observation station on the fringes of colonized space is attacked by giant alien spiders. That was written well.
There are possible spoilers ahead, so don't read the rest if you don't want to know what happens.
After that inciting incident, the beginning of the book starts off a little slower than I usually like, because it described Commander James King and Princess Emily going about their lives a little too long. That, plus the recycled aliens, are why I wanted to take off a star. Note that this is a personal preference. I have a short attention span because there are thousands of books on my wishlist, and I'm a millennial, so other people may find the pacing more to their liking.
The last 50% of the book really hooked me though. Once the action got going, there were two or three battles going on in space and on the ground, and the conflict escalated, increasing the tension.
The last battle in space was especially amazing, because I've never read an alien being blasted out of a spaceship cannon before. I don't think it would be possible because an alien doesn't fit a cannon, and there might be safety mechanisms in place to prevent foreign objects from being fired out of a cannon, but it was such a slap in the face of the spiders that it was wonderful to read.
The androids were some of the best parts of this book. Especially the way they power up. That's something I've never read before in science fiction. Each one even has a personality, even though they all look the same.
Princess Emily also really stepped up and went from a spoiled rich girl to being a warrior. At first I didn't really care for her character too much because everyone was treating her like British royalty, and I didn't think the British treated their royalty like real royalty anymore, but according to what I read online people still say "Your Majesty" so I let it go. As a "commoner", her part felt excessively royal, but I think that will go away soon.
Niles the drone felt a little underwhelming though. I would've liked to see him as a combat machine, because he was created to defend the princess' life. Yet he couldn't even kill one alien, and he kept getting knocked around and losing his jewels. He wasn't a very good defense drone.
And the payoff of the slow build that showed the tension between Commander James King and his son, a captain in the military on Earth, payed off in the end of the book as they both fought grueling battles and had to put their differences aside in order to fight a common enemy. I especially liked how Bastian, the son, realized he was very similar to his father by the end. It gave a poetic feel to his character development.
Commander King also had to make some big sacrifices throughout this series, and that added to his character development. It really showed that being a leader isn't easy, and that one must make difficult choices, choices that make it difficult to sleep at night.
While Daniel Arenson already wrote about alien spiders, these alien spiders felt more fleshed out than in his previous books. These alien spiders actually have a culture in which they frown upon eating food grown on farms, and it added to the worldbuilding.
Finally, there were some things that I had mixed feelings about. For one, the Alliance was basically composed of mostly Western countries, and the Red Dawn, the equalists, was basically Russia, China, North Korea, and some Middle Eastern countries (some of them fought with the Alliance as well).
I know this is an alternate future, and everyone does work together in the end, having to put aside their differences, but right now in real life some racists are comparing China to North Korea without fully understanding the impact of US imperialism in China and other parts of the world, so Daniel Arenson pitting them as the enemy without even showing any Chinese characters hurts Chinese representation and does little to address the US' tendency to always portray Russia, the Middle East, and now China as the enemy. The US even fought a war in Iraq over fake weapons of mass destruction, so it's insensitive to always be villainizing other countries through propaganda. Daniel Arenson said "The women-defiled. Their children-murdered." in reference to the Red Dawn being the perpetrators, as if this never happened in US, Canadian, Australian, or UK history (see the Native Americans, Opium Wars in China, India, and countless other countries that've suffered at the hands of the "war for freedom").
But who knows. James King had to set aside his biases in order to fight the enemy, so it's not all bad.
There were also more inaccuracies. One thing to note is that Russia doesn't have Premiers anymore. They have Presidents. Another thing that makes no sense is that World War III was fought in trenches in this book. Trench warfare is already known to be an ineffective strategy for warfare, and has already been phased out in recent decades, so there's no way people engage in trench warfare in the 22nd century. Another plot hole was a katana could slice through a spiderweb but a fight plane wing couldn't. Another big plot hole was how did Katyusha destroy three clawships by herself when other human spaceships couldn't even get through alien energy shields that easily?
I've purchased book 2 and 3 and will continue to read this series.
I've read the first six books in Daniel Arenson's Earthrise series, and they were all five-star reads.
This book does recycle the aliens from Books 4-6 in that series, because Daniel Arenson already wrote about large alien spiders that want to eat humans. He already wrote about giant men at last two other times (the Earthrise series and another series).
The story starts off simple enough. An observation station on the fringes of colonized space is attacked by giant alien spiders. That was written well.
There are possible spoilers ahead, so don't read the rest if you don't want to know what happens.
After that inciting incident, the beginning of the book starts off a little slower than I usually like, because it described Commander James King and Princess Emily going about their lives a little too long. That, plus the recycled aliens, are why I wanted to take off a star. Note that this is a personal preference. I have a short attention span because there are thousands of books on my wishlist, and I'm a millennial, so other people may find the pacing more to their liking.
The last 50% of the book really hooked me though. Once the action got going, there were two or three battles going on in space and on the ground, and the conflict escalated, increasing the tension.
The last battle in space was especially amazing, because I've never read an alien being blasted out of a spaceship cannon before. I don't think it would be possible because an alien doesn't fit a cannon, and there might be safety mechanisms in place to prevent foreign objects from being fired out of a cannon, but it was such a slap in the face of the spiders that it was wonderful to read.
The androids were some of the best parts of this book. Especially the way they power up. That's something I've never read before in science fiction. Each one even has a personality, even though they all look the same.
Princess Emily also really stepped up and went from a spoiled rich girl to being a warrior. At first I didn't really care for her character too much because everyone was treating her like British royalty, and I didn't think the British treated their royalty like real royalty anymore, but according to what I read online people still say "Your Majesty" so I let it go. As a "commoner", her part felt excessively royal, but I think that will go away soon.
Niles the drone felt a little underwhelming though. I would've liked to see him as a combat machine, because he was created to defend the princess' life. Yet he couldn't even kill one alien, and he kept getting knocked around and losing his jewels. He wasn't a very good defense drone.
And the payoff of the slow build that showed the tension between Commander James King and his son, a captain in the military on Earth, payed off in the end of the book as they both fought grueling battles and had to put their differences aside in order to fight a common enemy. I especially liked how Bastian, the son, realized he was very similar to his father by the end. It gave a poetic feel to his character development.
Commander King also had to make some big sacrifices throughout this series, and that added to his character development. It really showed that being a leader isn't easy, and that one must make difficult choices, choices that make it difficult to sleep at night.
While Daniel Arenson already wrote about alien spiders, these alien spiders felt more fleshed out than in his previous books. These alien spiders actually have a culture in which they frown upon eating food grown on farms, and it added to the worldbuilding.
Finally, there were some things that I had mixed feelings about. For one, the Alliance was basically composed of mostly Western countries, and the Red Dawn, the equalists, was basically Russia, China, North Korea, and some Middle Eastern countries (some of them fought with the Alliance as well).
I know this is an alternate future, and everyone does work together in the end, having to put aside their differences, but right now in real life some racists are comparing China to North Korea without fully understanding the impact of US imperialism in China and other parts of the world, so Daniel Arenson pitting them as the enemy without even showing any Chinese characters hurts Chinese representation and does little to address the US' tendency to always portray Russia, the Middle East, and now China as the enemy. The US even fought a war in Iraq over fake weapons of mass destruction, so it's insensitive to always be villainizing other countries through propaganda. Daniel Arenson said "The women-defiled. Their children-murdered." in reference to the Red Dawn being the perpetrators, as if this never happened in US, Canadian, Australian, or UK history (see the Native Americans, Opium Wars in China, India, and countless other countries that've suffered at the hands of the "war for freedom").
But who knows. James King had to set aside his biases in order to fight the enemy, so it's not all bad.
There were also more inaccuracies. One thing to note is that Russia doesn't have Premiers anymore. They have Presidents. Another thing that makes no sense is that World War III was fought in trenches in this book. Trench warfare is already known to be an ineffective strategy for warfare, and has already been phased out in recent decades, so there's no way people engage in trench warfare in the 22nd century. Another plot hole was a katana could slice through a spiderweb but a fight plane wing couldn't. Another big plot hole was how did Katyusha destroy three clawships by herself when other human spaceships couldn't even get through alien energy shields that easily?
I've purchased book 2 and 3 and will continue to read this series.
January 10, 2024
I barely made it through the prologue because it was so absurd, I almost quit reading then but decided to give it a chance in case the prologue wasn't an indicator of what the rest of the book was like.
Unfortunately, it didn't get better. It reads like a children's book, there's part of me that thinks it must be meant as a parody or satire though even if it is it still doesn't save it.
The bulk of it is describing the same stuff, over and over and over again. How many times do you need to describe the same room when someone enters it? How many times do you need to describe the completely unrealistic English speaking alien spiders? Ok, the spiders tap into the mindweb created by the implants to know how to speak English and to know the personal details of the characters. This isn't in the book, mind you, I can only assume that's the explanation for it.
I won't go into how nonsensical the technology is, gears and pistons in the engines of a space ship vs brain implants and AI androids linked into the ship that sounds more like an old ocean going ship battleship than a spaceship.
And the political/patriotic stuff? That's gotta be meant as satire or parody, it's just too much.
I managed to get through it all, the story had a lot of potential but the writing was, I hesitate to say bad, but if this was meant to be a serious science fiction series, it falls way short.
This, the first book, I got free as I have other series where they give you the first book to hook you into buying and reading the rest of the series. I'd have to say that the author failed to do that in this case, I don't think I'd spend money on the rest of the series unless it's a really small amount of money. Even if I got the rest of the series for free, I'm not sure I'd be able to read it. Maybe to see where this trainwreck ends up.
Edit: A reviewer of one of the sequels likened this series to Starship Troopers, which it does in a way resemble. It doesn't compare, otherwise, to Starship Troopers which was much better written.
Unfortunately, it didn't get better. It reads like a children's book, there's part of me that thinks it must be meant as a parody or satire though even if it is it still doesn't save it.
The bulk of it is describing the same stuff, over and over and over again. How many times do you need to describe the same room when someone enters it? How many times do you need to describe the completely unrealistic English speaking alien spiders? Ok, the spiders tap into the mindweb created by the implants to know how to speak English and to know the personal details of the characters. This isn't in the book, mind you, I can only assume that's the explanation for it.
I won't go into how nonsensical the technology is, gears and pistons in the engines of a space ship vs brain implants and AI androids linked into the ship that sounds more like an old ocean going ship battleship than a spaceship.
And the political/patriotic stuff? That's gotta be meant as satire or parody, it's just too much.
I managed to get through it all, the story had a lot of potential but the writing was, I hesitate to say bad, but if this was meant to be a serious science fiction series, it falls way short.
This, the first book, I got free as I have other series where they give you the first book to hook you into buying and reading the rest of the series. I'd have to say that the author failed to do that in this case, I don't think I'd spend money on the rest of the series unless it's a really small amount of money. Even if I got the rest of the series for free, I'm not sure I'd be able to read it. Maybe to see where this trainwreck ends up.
Edit: A reviewer of one of the sequels likened this series to Starship Troopers, which it does in a way resemble. It doesn't compare, otherwise, to Starship Troopers which was much better written.
October 12, 2022
This book is horrible, the language is simplistic, the history is predictable and simple and the Science of Science-fiction has been forgotten.
This book it resembles more a book about: I hate spiders and communism because I do and I am not going to explain why and if you ask me why you are a communist spider.
If at least they author would have dedicated more time explaining how the spiders has gotten so much knowledge of earth and the main characters, maybe it would have more sense, however, the spiders just arrived to the solar system, just hack all our communication (or used telepathy, who knows, as they author does not explain) and they know every detail of every single person in the world (in a few hours).
The story feels like... there is no history behind the characters, except for: he got injured during the war, then he won the war, now works in a museum.
If i want war, heroes and battles I will go for Galaxy's Edge. If i want star fight, I would go for skippy the magnificent (if you dont know what i mean spend a few dollars in Columbus Day, the first book and let me know).
I think a book would reflects the views of the author and will express the opinions and of course, put them in a conversation, explain why communist are the worst, why they will destroy freedom and so on... but they dont, they repeat the dogmas of the cold war trying to portrait the same image of hate of the unknown.
Anyway, In resume, poor writing, poor story, unimaginative development....
I hope you are not reading this too late.
This book it resembles more a book about: I hate spiders and communism because I do and I am not going to explain why and if you ask me why you are a communist spider.
If at least they author would have dedicated more time explaining how the spiders has gotten so much knowledge of earth and the main characters, maybe it would have more sense, however, the spiders just arrived to the solar system, just hack all our communication (or used telepathy, who knows, as they author does not explain) and they know every detail of every single person in the world (in a few hours).
The story feels like... there is no history behind the characters, except for: he got injured during the war, then he won the war, now works in a museum.
If i want war, heroes and battles I will go for Galaxy's Edge. If i want star fight, I would go for skippy the magnificent (if you dont know what i mean spend a few dollars in Columbus Day, the first book and let me know).
I think a book would reflects the views of the author and will express the opinions and of course, put them in a conversation, explain why communist are the worst, why they will destroy freedom and so on... but they dont, they repeat the dogmas of the cold war trying to portrait the same image of hate of the unknown.
Anyway, In resume, poor writing, poor story, unimaginative development....
I hope you are not reading this too late.
April 9, 2022
Spoiler alert!!!
It took me a long time time get into this book, perhaps because the first two characters we meet are completely unlikeable. I Must have liked it well enough to finish it, but I didn’t like it well enough to read the next book.
First of all, the aliens seemed to be written as the most repulsive, horrible things you can imagine. Sadly, that means there’s nothing to relate to. Even the early Star Trek Klingons had a code of honor that we could relate to. Without any way to understand them, they just seemed improbable to me. Made for clunky reading that interrupted my reading groove.
Then there’s the fight scene between King and Hel-rah. Hmmm, was that ripped off from the scene in Aliens where Ripley fights in a mech suit? Or perhaps The Matrix, when the sentinels breach Zion and the “pilots” are in huge autobot type rigs. Wherever it was taken, it was plagiarized, right down to King’s comments as he blasts the beast out of the ship. I suspect we’ll see hel-rah again.
I also thought the book was just too long. I realized that it was character development for a sequel. I’m not interested in a sequel. At least little Rowan is in the company of the Princess when we last see her.
It took me a long time time get into this book, perhaps because the first two characters we meet are completely unlikeable. I Must have liked it well enough to finish it, but I didn’t like it well enough to read the next book.
First of all, the aliens seemed to be written as the most repulsive, horrible things you can imagine. Sadly, that means there’s nothing to relate to. Even the early Star Trek Klingons had a code of honor that we could relate to. Without any way to understand them, they just seemed improbable to me. Made for clunky reading that interrupted my reading groove.
Then there’s the fight scene between King and Hel-rah. Hmmm, was that ripped off from the scene in Aliens where Ripley fights in a mech suit? Or perhaps The Matrix, when the sentinels breach Zion and the “pilots” are in huge autobot type rigs. Wherever it was taken, it was plagiarized, right down to King’s comments as he blasts the beast out of the ship. I suspect we’ll see hel-rah again.
I also thought the book was just too long. I realized that it was character development for a sequel. I’m not interested in a sequel. At least little Rowan is in the company of the Princess when we last see her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2023
Didn’t Even Finish 1st Chapter
If there’s anything I can’t stand in a novel, or the beginning of a series for that matter, is a giant, glaring plot hole. In this case, there is this space station that is supposedly guarding the solar system from alien invaders. It’s located in the heliopause. This author, like so many science fiction authors recently, seem to forget that space is in 3 dimensions. If this one, tiny space station is guarding the entire solar system from one point in space along the heliopause, then how in hell is it supposed to monitor the entire circumference of the solar system. The idea is so ludicrous it’s quite unforgivable. As if the approach to our solar system can only be accessed by a single path through space…and that single path has a space station to guard it. What a giant plot hole to begin your story! How can an author be so careless. Now, there are ways around this…like transit points, or FTL pathways, etc…but this author did not do that. I can’t imagine what science baboonery is in store for the next chapters. I won’t find out.
If there’s anything I can’t stand in a novel, or the beginning of a series for that matter, is a giant, glaring plot hole. In this case, there is this space station that is supposedly guarding the solar system from alien invaders. It’s located in the heliopause. This author, like so many science fiction authors recently, seem to forget that space is in 3 dimensions. If this one, tiny space station is guarding the entire solar system from one point in space along the heliopause, then how in hell is it supposed to monitor the entire circumference of the solar system. The idea is so ludicrous it’s quite unforgivable. As if the approach to our solar system can only be accessed by a single path through space…and that single path has a space station to guard it. What a giant plot hole to begin your story! How can an author be so careless. Now, there are ways around this…like transit points, or FTL pathways, etc…but this author did not do that. I can’t imagine what science baboonery is in store for the next chapters. I won’t find out.
January 28, 2022
Giant spider like aliens on a universe wide conquering spree set their multiple eyes on the solar system. The main defense for earth and the solar system is a old dreadnought, now orbiting museum/theme park commanded by a hero of the space based WWIII between the western democracies and the communists 40 years earlier. Our hero is James King, decorated fighter pilot, but cranky curmudgeon, contemplating retirement when the aliens arrive. He heeds the call once again and the Starship Freedom answers the call, Jurassic park mini-golf and all. The aliens are bad dudes, really hate all other sentient beings and looking to conquer the universe and use their conquered populations for food. It's was an OK read, and while the plot line is right in my wheelhouse, the book's style is a bit of a clinker for me. Turns out, this book is #1 in a series. Kindle unlimited (ie easily downloadable and free). As a result, I'm reading the series...
February 22, 2022
Worst dreck of any genre I’ve ever read
This may have been for young adults, though I didn’t see that in the description. Nonetheless I’ve read plenty of YA fiction and nothing is as terrible as this garbage. I finished the book, which makes me feel dirty, like making a poor choice to hookup and feeling bad about it in the morning.
The story is all plot driven , leaden character development, characters that are two dimensional at best. I was insulted by the fact that entire passages of descriptions and rousing speeches were cut and pasted from one part of the book to the next. Zero attention to physics, military process, communications, small unit tactics or basic space flight mechanics.
I can only assume that all of the good reviews were paid shills.
Why did I finish? I didn’t need to find out how it ended. I didn’t need to feel this gross. Obviously I’m the problem.
Save your money and buy anything else.
This may have been for young adults, though I didn’t see that in the description. Nonetheless I’ve read plenty of YA fiction and nothing is as terrible as this garbage. I finished the book, which makes me feel dirty, like making a poor choice to hookup and feeling bad about it in the morning.
The story is all plot driven , leaden character development, characters that are two dimensional at best. I was insulted by the fact that entire passages of descriptions and rousing speeches were cut and pasted from one part of the book to the next. Zero attention to physics, military process, communications, small unit tactics or basic space flight mechanics.
I can only assume that all of the good reviews were paid shills.
Why did I finish? I didn’t need to find out how it ended. I didn’t need to feel this gross. Obviously I’m the problem.
Save your money and buy anything else.
December 3, 2023
The start is quite slow, with details about a starship officer about to retire, and the dreadful world war which escalated across the inhabited parts of the Solar System. With that behind them, the crew of a dreadnought are left as a museum piece, the younger members having grown up in peacetime. Then a desperate message comes in from a station at the heliopause. Attack is under way.
The battles start fast and dirty, and seldom let up for a page. Aspects remind me of Independence Day and War of the Worlds. Battles are fought in space and on Earth, brave people going hand to hand with giant armoured spiders. The weirdness of a princess armed with a sword fighting spiders amid a room of dinosaur toys will stay with me for a long time.
Some people who enjoy horror books will probably relish parts of the story more than I did; my eyes skipped over several patches. Well written, with suspense, gruesomeness and detailed planning.
This is an unbiased review.
The battles start fast and dirty, and seldom let up for a page. Aspects remind me of Independence Day and War of the Worlds. Battles are fought in space and on Earth, brave people going hand to hand with giant armoured spiders. The weirdness of a princess armed with a sword fighting spiders amid a room of dinosaur toys will stay with me for a long time.
Some people who enjoy horror books will probably relish parts of the story more than I did; my eyes skipped over several patches. Well written, with suspense, gruesomeness and detailed planning.
This is an unbiased review.
December 16, 2024
This is a terribly and badly written book. First, the writing level seem to be aimed at preteens it was so immature. Then there was the ridiculous amount of repetitiveness and driving home stupid boring points about the historical aspects of the characters.
Then we have an alien fleet that somehow sneaks up on a space station that's supposed to be watching for this kind of thing, so theoretically they have the ability to travel quickly... And they're heading towards Earth, but somehow, Even though they can travel vast this is very fast, somehow there's enough time for all kinds of other stuff to happen on earth until they get there. Lots of repetitive boring stuff. The timing just did not make any sense whatsoever.
I got about 20 to 25% of the way through and couldn't finish it... I think it was the robotic bull as a transportation vehicle that did me in.
This waste of paper has no place being called "science" fiction.
Then we have an alien fleet that somehow sneaks up on a space station that's supposed to be watching for this kind of thing, so theoretically they have the ability to travel quickly... And they're heading towards Earth, but somehow, Even though they can travel vast this is very fast, somehow there's enough time for all kinds of other stuff to happen on earth until they get there. Lots of repetitive boring stuff. The timing just did not make any sense whatsoever.
I got about 20 to 25% of the way through and couldn't finish it... I think it was the robotic bull as a transportation vehicle that did me in.
This waste of paper has no place being called "science" fiction.
June 18, 2021
Overall I enjoyed the story. I did however need to raise my level of suspending my disbelief. In several descriptions, powerful weapons were described in terms of clanking, and gigantic size, intermixed with some new physics/science. Also, in some of ship chaises, the description of the movements, seemed a bit weird to my sense of the physics.
I enjoyed the take on the aliens. But felt the description of the attacks, were a bit overdone. But that is probably a mater of taste. I also liked the family dynamics with the tension between duty and time with family.
I am looking forward to the next book, and I believe that if you work to suspend your disbelief, you will enjoy the read.
I enjoyed the take on the aliens. But felt the description of the attacks, were a bit overdone. But that is probably a mater of taste. I also liked the family dynamics with the tension between duty and time with family.
I am looking forward to the next book, and I believe that if you work to suspend your disbelief, you will enjoy the read.
May 22, 2021
Overall, the book was good. It was an action packed space adventure occurring here in our solar system. The “freedom“ was a big war ship the space war of World War III in the future. Then they turned it into a museum and the craggy old Commander who was a war hero somehow became the curator of that museum and amusement theme park. Then, an enemy shows up and the Commander had to muster his forces and use the decommissioned starfighter again as a warship. The plot was pretty good. The enemy was quite scary. But a lot of the dialogue was sappy. And, there was several points of repetition that I didn’t think was necessary. Will I read books 2& 3? I don’t know, I’m thinking about it.
Tom
Tom
March 20, 2022
Better Writing than Story
The author has talent and writes well, but the story just has too many issues. Space ships ramming one another as though they are ancient triremes, aliens that cannot be killed by asset rifles but die from pistols, unrealistic space combat, unrealistic military relationships and organizations, and I can go on. I enjoyed the characters overall, although they tended to fade into simple, two dimensional personalities.
Unfortunately, I shall not continue the series. If you are completely unfamiliar with military culture and do not care for realism in your space and ground combat depictions, you may enjoy this series.
The author has talent and writes well, but the story just has too many issues. Space ships ramming one another as though they are ancient triremes, aliens that cannot be killed by asset rifles but die from pistols, unrealistic space combat, unrealistic military relationships and organizations, and I can go on. I enjoyed the characters overall, although they tended to fade into simple, two dimensional personalities.
Unfortunately, I shall not continue the series. If you are completely unfamiliar with military culture and do not care for realism in your space and ground combat depictions, you may enjoy this series.
September 23, 2022
The main character is hard to like and really believe. The war’s been over for 30 plus, he’s given up on his family for his military career. When his whole job now is being in charge of a mothballed museum of a battleship turned amusement park.
The Aliens seem to know everything about all Alliance ships but nothing about the Red Dawn ships, hmmm! When the Alliance ships fires weapon at the rah ships, the rah ships have have laser shields which protect them. But when the Red Dawn dreadnaught fires on three rah ships to save Kings ship, they have No Shields? Very inconsistent story line.
The Aliens seem to know everything about all Alliance ships but nothing about the Red Dawn ships, hmmm! When the Alliance ships fires weapon at the rah ships, the rah ships have have laser shields which protect them. But when the Red Dawn dreadnaught fires on three rah ships to save Kings ship, they have No Shields? Very inconsistent story line.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2021
Not sure where the whole spaceship was a museum piece, then gets reinstated as a full fledged warship themes came from over the last few years, but I'm pretty sure this is the third or fourth book in that vein I've read, and while the where's and the hows change, the stories are pretty similar. If you haven't gotten to read any of those, this book is not a bad one to read, but if you have, it may seem a bit repetitive. Still, as a stand-alone story, it's not bad, and I'd wager most scifi fans will like it.
March 4, 2022
Concept copied, clichéd, corny!
The minute I read the blurb I thought of the movie Battleship which I really enjoyed as a light hearted American we can beat anything action movie. But I thought maybe the author has really developed the concept into something more, so I bought it. What a waste of my time and money. It is so bad, words fail me. I did come back to it a second time thinking maybe it will get better but no such luck. If I had bought a hard copy I would give it away. I wouldn’t want it in my library. Do your self a favour and do not read it.
The minute I read the blurb I thought of the movie Battleship which I really enjoyed as a light hearted American we can beat anything action movie. But I thought maybe the author has really developed the concept into something more, so I bought it. What a waste of my time and money. It is so bad, words fail me. I did come back to it a second time thinking maybe it will get better but no such luck. If I had bought a hard copy I would give it away. I wouldn’t want it in my library. Do your self a favour and do not read it.
June 27, 2022
I am amazed this book was published unless it was just because it was self published. The early part of this book approx half of the first 20 chapters were within a mustaches hair of the initial episode of Balltestar Galactica. Close enough to be a copyright infringement.
Then the rest of the story is chop chop bleed chop chop slice slice shooter up kill the bad guys and get to the distant ammo center again pulled completely out of Battlestar Galactica.......
Save your time buy or watch batelestart Galactica it is a whole lot better .... and original.
Then the rest of the story is chop chop bleed chop chop slice slice shooter up kill the bad guys and get to the distant ammo center again pulled completely out of Battlestar Galactica.......
Save your time buy or watch batelestart Galactica it is a whole lot better .... and original.
July 14, 2024
ordinary writing, but interesting concept
⭐️ - awful, probably DNF
⭐️⭐️- didn’t like but not terrible, actually finished it
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - it was ok, passed the time
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - good story, good writing, entertaining, just not great
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - great, could not put it down, excellent writing and story
The writing was tedious, and repetitive, but the overall story concept was different and interesting. Pretty sure I won’t bother with any more in this series. There are other books, better written, in my kindle library.
⭐️ - awful, probably DNF
⭐️⭐️- didn’t like but not terrible, actually finished it
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - it was ok, passed the time
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - good story, good writing, entertaining, just not great
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - great, could not put it down, excellent writing and story
The writing was tedious, and repetitive, but the overall story concept was different and interesting. Pretty sure I won’t bother with any more in this series. There are other books, better written, in my kindle library.
May 8, 2021
Wow! You won’t believe this amazing,one of a kind,thrilling ride!
I have not read such a thrilling, heart-wrenching book in years.
Arenson had me in his grasp from page one! I can’t seem to use enough exclamation points to describe this exiting adventure. It has all the elements of being the best sci-fi novel I have ever read. I am ready to begin the next one as soon as I submit this review. Fabulous!
I have not read such a thrilling, heart-wrenching book in years.
Arenson had me in his grasp from page one! I can’t seem to use enough exclamation points to describe this exiting adventure. It has all the elements of being the best sci-fi novel I have ever read. I am ready to begin the next one as soon as I submit this review. Fabulous!
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