Drake's Law

by Andrew Stanek

Very hard, slow-burning, contemplative sci-fi with no violence in it, written in the highest traditions of intellectual science fiction. Test pilot Michael Almers has always believed that the terms of the Drake Equation make alien life an inevitability, and he intends to be the first human to contact an extraterrestrial intelligence. He and his co-captain, rocket engineer Sally Ledford, want to go to the asteroid belt to chase their ambitions in space, but their ship only has 7,000 m/s delta-v. When salvager Ryan Pinkerton approaches them with an offer that will get them to the belt for free, it seems almost too good to be true. The adventure that follows will push back humanity’s horizons in space. Problem solving in space, speculative particle physics, and novel interpretations of special relativity, all in Drake’s Law. By author Andrew Stanek, whose sentience has never been proven.

775 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2021

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Annoying and poorly conceived

The author clearly doesn’t understand command structure, or why it’s so important. You simply can’t have two captains of a ship, especially in emergency or battle conditions when time is critical. You can’t wait for the second captain to agree before an order is carried out. It’s just stupid and will end badly.

The author also refers to the theft of military weapons and hardware as petty theft. That one speaks for itself, I believe.

The male captain prefaces many of his sentences with “Incredible”. Not so much stupid as annoying. Same with the AI saying “Output” before stating anything.

And finally, the two captains dream of (probably more of a joke) of finding an asteroid made of solid gold to get out of debt. It doesn’t take an economist to see that introducing that much gold into the global economy would reduce the value of gold to less than the paper a dollar bill is printed on.

If I had to guess, I’d say the author is young and has more imagination than life experience or common sense.

[Garry Whitmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read the author's postscript to this novel you learn he went out to write a no violent, science-based hard sci tale. In this, he succeeds to a high level. This novel certainly fulfils these criteria magnificently and is the best novel of this type I've read in many years.

Despite this, I still had issues with the book that made me nearly give it up a couple of times. Firstly the four main characters are totally unlikeable. OK, I can understand having heroes with flaws but this crew are all badly broken. When the snarky AI comes over as the most lovable character, you've got it a touch over the top for the other characters. Secondly, the author sometimes gets bogged down in the science and slows the plot down so much it drives you mad wanting something to happen.

As this was a free download from Amazon I can hardly complain but these issues did stop me from giving it a 5-star rating. A worthy attempt at something different to a lot of the sci-fi produced today.

[Mary Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, and wonderful!

I have to admit that a lot of the science was beyond me but I really enjoyed trying to get my head around it! The story is long but I really felt sorry to close the book when I was done.
It reminded me of some of the hard science science-fiction that the giants in the genre wrote in the beginning. What really endeared the book to me is the story-telling, the character-development, and the world-building. Andrew Stanek is a stellar writer and this book is a gem. Thank you for persisting and creating something so worthwhile.
He paints pictures with words that I could see and feel. He's right, I'm tired of stories about space battles and unbelievable aliens. I want stories that go somewhere, are complicated, and that aren't predictable.
I'll be adding him to my list of authors to follow.
P.S. I hate that authors don't get paid well enough. Are you on Patreon?

[Lois Pipkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!

Actually, I was expecting absurd humor, like most of his other books, but really, the only funny part was played by the AI navigator. However, it just so happens that I love sci-fi, especially when it's not just about fighting between spaceships. This is the best sci-fi book I've ever read! The characters were so well-described that I could totally relate to them. It's about first contact with aliens, looking for a daughter who disappeared after her spaceship crashed, and a dad who refuses to give up looking for her. Also another dad who will do anything for his daughter, but he can't cure her disease. Sally just wants to build the best engines a rocket can have and a way to combine her engines with a fuel that allows them to travel faster than light.

[Mary Dulle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and Heavy

Science fiction has always attracted me, despite my studying English Lit & History. Much of the science in this tome was beyond my comprehension, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy or validity.

But it’s a good story, with plenty of human drama, alien life forms doing their best and a snarky artificial intelligence. There are a few loose ends: do Sally & Michael ever manage to pay off their ship? Is Ryan cured of his radiation exposure? Are they hailed as heroes on their return to Earth? Will Andrew find a good copy editor before he launches his next book?

All in all, I’m glad I spent the time reading it.

[Rhane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this!

I hope that Drake’s Law is right and that our first meeting with alien intelligence is just this positive. Of course, if the ancient astronauts theorists are right, intelligent aliens may be here among us. Either way curiosity is better than conquest and we don’t ever know what we don’t know. The characters are people I’d like to know. CosMOS is what I hope AI turns out to be—smart and funny.

[willysnutlive.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theritical physics at it's best

This was one of the most entertaining books I have read in the Last 2 years and that would be over 200 books. I have studied math, physics, astronomy and computer science in college so this book was right up my ally. Yes, it is long but even though there is a lot of scientific stuff it it, it's an easy to understand fun read. Highly recommended.

[Hugo S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good sci-fi!

I read sci-fi for the science and a good plot but mostly for the science. This story hit on two of the main reasons I look for books of this type specially with a title like this one. Though the characters were sort one dimensional in their interactions with each other I let it slide because the main plot made up for it so I still thought it earned the 5 stars I gave it!

[Cynthia Stiefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. No violence, no sex, lots of action. Some of the conversations got a little long, especially the "technical" ones. However, I did finish the book and I'm so glad I read it. I can usually finish a book in a day (I read a lot); this one took four days, so expect to invest some time in this one.

[malcolm rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book 📖 perhaps just a bit longer than it should have been but I am not a author ✍️. I would highly recommend this book was different in a good way.
I very seldom give 5 stars ⭐️ rating will look out for other books from this author

[Marmalade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite book by this author but still enjoyed it

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Although the technical stuff was way over my head, I still enjoyed the book. I liked the ending a lot and how you brought it all together.

[Gerard E. Trigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, at times a bit "wordy,"