Pike's Passage

Sandy Pike #2

by John Spearman

Pike’s Passage is the second entry in a new series from the author of the Halberd books. Alexander ‘Sandy’ Pike watches as the Planetary Alliance loses its war. With the surrender, Pike embarks on a risky new career, as unexpected turmoil rocks political boundaries.

About Pike’s Passage:

“Pike’s Passage is Patrick O’Brien and C.S. Forester on a galactic scale!” — Martin Roy Hill, author of The Fourth Rising.

★★★★★The action sequences were fantastic; I felt like I was watching a space opera in the cinema. — Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite

★★★★½ Pike's Passage by John J Spearman is a stellar second installment of his sci-fi saga. Capturing the same authenticity in terms of detail and world-building, this follow-up turns inwards to a more adventurous and character-driven drama, rather than a sprawling epic. —Self Publishing Review

Genres: Science Fiction

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 12, 2021

About the author

John Spearman is an award-winning author. In the past, he served a Latin teacher and coach at a prestigious New England boarding school. Before joining the world of academia, Spearman had been a sales and marketing executive for 25 years.

Reviews

[Milton]

Well above average Space Opera

The writer does well in building characters, relationships, and stays within reality where military terms and organizations are used. There are none of the nerve jangling errors that rattle this reader when the writer gets it wrong. World building is within the common bounds for the genre, and all is tasteful, fast paced and fun. Write more Mr. Spearman, and just as carefully. I am a fan.

[Sarah Smithers]

That certainly was a fun and interesting pivot when the war ended.... What's a military man to do.... Hmmm...

Exactly that! And we're off on another ride!

And I'm curious enough to want to know how setting up a shipping business would go.. Fascinating.. Not boring to me.. (That's always bothered me before when someone decides to start a business, there's gotta be more to it than just saying it out loud...)
And, damn!, that was a great way to end it!

I wasn't real happy that human trafficking was in the plot lines, because for me just that's its still a big thing is infuriating.. And realistically it probably will always be.. Not giving that character any redeeming qualities was fine..

I loved the shipboard comraderie.. And yes, I'm also talking about the casual dating.. Be young, have fun..

Again, full disclosure, the author is giving me books for reviews since we've known each other forever.. And yes, that's what our parents cocktail parties were mostly like..
But I still wouldn't say I like a thing that I didn't, and I absolutely love his books!
This is setting up to be a great series and I can't wait for the next one.

[Monty]

*EDIT*

--- This review pertains to the retracted audiobooks released in late 2021 and may not be pertinent to the current versions of the story on Amazon Kindle. ---

---

This... supposedly starts up just days after book one ends. That said less than 9 minutes into the audiobook the first blatant in your face error shows up.

Apparently its been "a few years" since the MC served on the AllieKat, or however its spelt in the text version of the book, when in fact it can't have been even close to that time wise, maybe not even a year. So now the subpar handling of the passage of time in book one comes to roost in a manner that I found exceedingly discordant.

There are errors and then there are ERRORS and the first book was already borderline in so many ways that I just do not consider this acceptable.

This is getting a one out of five rating from me and I'm moving on. Just disappointing.

[Tony Hisgett]

I enjoyed the first book, although I was puzzled by the disconnected ending. Unfortunately I now realise the author had decided to completely alter the nature of the series and to take the story off at a tangent.
The way the author had the Alliance total capitulate was ridiculous. (In the next book he tries to explain these decisions, but his explanation doesn't hold water)

By chance I had read the author's Mercenary Navy books before this one, so the rest of the book was like reading an episode from that series. It also suffered from similar problems, with the main character ignoring obvious warnings. (e.g. having watched the Karkinos navy murder surrendering foes, they then surrender themselves when they still had a very good chance of escaping)

[Mike Desmond]

Second in a new series. Fast paced, no 10 pages to describe one small battle, just a few paragraphs and move on. Characters are getting more complex, and politics are reaching everywhere in the military and civilian side to this book. Storyline again is great like the first book. Looking forward to the next in the series.

[Mick Bird]

Another great read

Once again Captain Pike find himself at the wrong end of the stick. The alliance navy fails in listening to the what information they are given. So Captain Pike decides to start his own business, with the help of some old crew mates they do very well. But they also pick up a few enemies along the way as well.

[Jesse Shook]

In the Sandy Pike series, The author builds the story's skeleton from various tropes from all of this other books set in this universe, and fills it out with interesting characters and good writing. You'll notice repeating themes, but you wont care, because it's ultimately a fun read.

[Jim Gutzwiller]

Pikes Passage

Nice space opera kind of thing. Good guys, bad guys, ships and fighting, you know, good old space war/cowboy story!
Well written, and engaging, will last a day or so of a rainy day to get through.

Thank you!

[Dan Donovan]

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this novel more than the first of the series, which also was worth reading. Fast paced in several ways.

[Liz See]

Decent book

A decent book that was fairly well written. It was able to keep my interest and I will read the last book in the trilogy.

[Steve Krawcke]

better than the first one

Good to see that this story was not just a rehash of the other series. I hope that the third one will have an original story.

[Mem Morman]

The second book was a little better than the first. I read it pretty much straight through and thought it well done. If there were a third book, I would get it now.

[Arnold Coley]

Good story

I did not read the first book, but the second is good all by itself. A solid good read that went by too fast.