The Orbs Series: Books 1-4

Orbs #1-4

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Anthony J. Melchiorri

While training for a manned mission to Mars, Dr. Sophie Winston and her team of scientists find themselves cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped inside a biosphere deep within the confines of Cheyenne Mountain, Sophie and crew discover they are the survivors of a brutal alien invasion. But as they struggle to stay alive, they realize their safe haven is far from safe and that they must team with other survivors around the world to defeat the aliens before it's too late for humanity, and the Earth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Aliens, Post Apocalyptic

1429 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2021

About the author

Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than forty novels with two million copies sold. Before his writing career, he served at Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management, a background that inspired many of his story concepts. A two time Ironman triathlete, he enjoys running, biking, and hiking. Nicholas also loves traveling, especially to his cabin in Northern Minnesota where he weaves his tales. He lives in Iowa with his wonderful wife and their son and daughter.

Note: Nicholas is no longer an active user on Goodreads and does not use the platform. If you want to connect with him on social media here are some links. He would love to hear from you.

Facebook Fan Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NSSFa...
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Website: nicholassansburysmith.com
Instagram: instagram.com/author_sansbury/

Reviews

[Kavita Favelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an enjoyable series, that tells a fascinating and cleverly plotted story across 4 books. I love that this is sci fi at its storytelling best rather than the look-how-much-science-I-know subtype!

The characters and plot and different threads that weave in and out are all captivating, and the characters really drew me in and onwards.

There were points through the book where I thought there were inconsistencies in the backstory of the aliens, but the author cleverly addressed those all in the closing book!

I read all four back to back, so I can't recall whether reach book individually ended at a satisfying plot point it not! I did appreciate the two bonus short stories, they filled in what felt like missing chapters in the story arcs of Jeff and David.

[Bianca Schulte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addicting

One of the most addicting sets of books I’ve ever read. There is so much about this series I love, especially it is an emotional roller coaster that keeps you on the edge of your seat and flipping through pages when you know you should be sleeping. Truly Masterful.

[Leverna Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome series. If you love Scifi you'll love this series. If you're not, give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

[William (Mr. Bill) Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

ORBS: The Complete...Series- don't pass this by

This is a truly excellent Sci-Fi thriller. Having all four books together gives the reader a full experience of the events that affected the cultures and worlds throughout the universe during a brutal invasion by unknown beings. Nicholas Sansbury Smith has a number of incredible books to his credit, including The Hell Diver Series. The books ORBS along with writer Anthony J Melchiorri will please any Sci-Fi fan. For an added experience, I recommend the audio performance by Bronson Pinchot. -Mr.Bill

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story. I can see this being a movie one day.

Enjoyed the story and great writing. Only thing I didn't care for was all people being killed. Next book dont kill off the strong people. Not sure I'll read another book by this author because it depressed me.

[Michael Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Training for life on the surface of Mars, the crew of the Cheyenne Mountain Biosphere faces an uncertain future.

Dr. Sophie Winston had been training for the Mars mission all her life, it seemed. Now finally the preparation was nearly complete. As Team Leader for the first Mars colonists she would lead her crew into the Biosphere in Cheyenne Mountain They would be learning how to survive in the enclosed environment simulating the journey to Mars on board the Secundo Casu, humanity's Second Chance, and the maintenance of the Biosphere on Mars. Dr. Hoffman, CEO of the New Tech Corporation and designer of the spacecraft and biosphere habitat on Mars, accompanied Dr. Winston and introduced her to her crew.

Joining Dr. Winston in the Cheyenne Mountain Biosphere were Saafi Yool, engineer, Dr. Emanuel Rodriguez, biologist, Dr. Holly Brown, psychiatrist, and Timothy Roberts, programmer. Sophie knew Emanuel from the team investigating the Solar Storms of 2055, when a huge Coronal Mass Ejection baked and irradiated 15% of the Earth's surface. Investigation into the event showed that magnetic forces originating on Mars had guided and intensified the CME. The results of that investigation had led to the development of the Secundo Casu and the Mars project.

The Biosphere was entered through a series of airlocks and decontamination chambers, leading into a series of chambers or biomes where a garden would be grown, a huge pool of water to supply their needs, laboratories, living quarters and kitchen/cafeteria. There were also some livestock to supply them with eggs, milk, and meat. The team quickly adjusted to living in the Biosphere, as they had trained to survive in the harsh conditions of Mars.

Conditions quickly began to deteriorate as they lost contact to the outside world. Something caused the deaths of the livestock. They seemed to go crazy, battering themselves to death trying to escape their confinement. Something was driving the animals to madness. Investigations outside indicated that an alien force or presence was stealing the water from the world's surface. Thousands of glowing blue orbs littered the ground, each orb proving to contain a human or animal being drained of the water in their bodies. Strange alien creatures were processing the harvest of water as the planet's surface was turned into an arid wasteland. The Earth is losing it's future to the invaders, and everything is not going well.

The characters quickly become familiar, facing certain extinction, their strengths and weaknesses become apparent as they learn to deal with their survival, and discover that things are not as they seem. The action is desperate as the survivors fight for their existence.

With surprising twists and unexpected developments, the storyline is character driven. And the characters deal with fear and frustration as they fight for the survival of the Earth. This is a remarkable series. As the surviving characters fight to continue existence in a world being extinguished, the storyline breaks from Earth to the supposed safety of the inner planets. What awaits them on Mars is . . . for you to find out for yourself! Scratch, scrape! I heartily recommend enjoying this dystopian future!

[Barb Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

appocolyptic series with harrowing non stop perils

Well written appocolyptic series with harrowing non stop perils.. Following a group of characters who have to figure out what to do about the aliens which are everywhere.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

First contact nightmare for Earth

I gave this book 5 stars because it was very well written with a fantastic plot. Great, depth in all of the characters.
Non stop excitement and terror. I will definitely check out other books by this author.

[Jesse Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic post apocalyptic fiction novel. Nicholas Sansbury Smith is one of the very few authors who doesn’t disappoint. I highly suggest this.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Love this series the gets better with each book. I have to ask when is book 5 going to be released.

[KERRY MIDDIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting story, relatable characters with a great ending.

[Leslie Mallard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific invasion series

Good characterisation and well written action. I hate to see the end of this series. The authors make you feel like you are right there.

[Saurin Desai]

A good story that paints a bleak picture with decent, interesting characters.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the story but not the telling of it. What bothered me was the unpolished rough draft feel and the over dramatization of the text. When every piece of dialogue is yelled out as an exclamation, it loses the effect. The characters also needed a lot more development to be a more serious story. This was a cool B Movie series with a lot of potential. It's interesting though to go back and see earlier work from a favorite author and how they've evolved. I started out with Hell Divers so my expectations were high. The sci-fi creativity is great here with a disastrous apocalypse and terrifying creatures. There are many things I like to think of as Nick motifs, like small survivor groups facing daunting odds, grotesque monsters with round mouths full of teeth and small or no eyes, unique scary noises made by the monsters, gene science, tough heroic kids and soldier leadership.

[Marcin W · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked B1/the set-up, but then it just tries to scare us with overly descriptive apocalyptic deaths and aliens(that did not make sense imo) & does not progress throughout all B2. Once i skipped around B3, i just didnt care to find my place anymore. Someone who likes horror & less plot, might like this.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book series as the idea had a lot of potential. Unfortunately I could not finish the last book as the inner thoughts of some of the main characters were so repetitive and to me unimaginative and not really representative of what they should have been thinking by book 4 in my opinion.

[Teresa Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orbs review

If you like drama, adventure, suspense, science, and horror......this is the series for you! Very well written, likeable characters (for the most part). There could be more books written to continue the storyline, or made into a made for tv series.

[Dean Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read...

[Kristen Ransom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good premise for a distopian future. I enjoyed the atmosphere in this book. I did, however, find the characters to be abit lacklustre and clieche.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather dark but held my interest through 4 books wanting to know conclusion.

[Bhuwan Chand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished the first two books of this series of humans facing the alien challenge in the post apocalyptic world, taking a pause for a few month before I come back and finished he whole series...

[Tandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The eBook came with the prequels White Sands and Red Sands. The only issue I had was that they came AFTER the main story. That made them much LESS interesting than they could have been and didn't contribute to the main story as much as they could have.

[Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not for me