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Swarm Rising #1
Swarm Rising
When Danny is kidnapped by Adi – who can run through brick walls and make cars drive on water – he realises that all humans are in danger. Adi is part of a super-advanced hive mind, the Swarm, which intends to protect the Earth from the environmental catastrophe caused by the human race.
Adi – Alien Digital Intelligence in the form of a girl – can bend the laws of physics and control digital data, but as a digital being she wants to know what it’s like to be human. Which is where Danny comes in.
But what exactly is the ‘help’ the secretive Swarm is offering? Can Danny and his friend Jamila help Adi stop the Swarm Agents and give humanity a second chance?
Adi – Alien Digital Intelligence in the form of a girl – can bend the laws of physics and control digital data, but as a digital being she wants to know what it’s like to be human. Which is where Danny comes in.
But what exactly is the ‘help’ the secretive Swarm is offering? Can Danny and his friend Jamila help Adi stop the Swarm Agents and give humanity a second chance?
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2021
About the author
Tim Peake
29 books110 followersMajor Timothy Nigel "Tim" Peake CMG (born 7 April 1972) is a British Army Air Corps officer, European Space Agency astronaut and a former International Space Station (ISS) crew member.
He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second astronaut to bear a British flag patch (the first was Helen Sharman, who visited Mir as part of Project Juno in 1991), the sixth person born in the United Kingdom to go on board the International Space Station (the first was NASA astronaut Michael Foale in 2003) and the seventh UK-born person in space. He began the ESA's intensive astronaut basic training course in September 2009 and graduated on 22 November 2010.
He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second astronaut to bear a British flag patch (the first was Helen Sharman, who visited Mir as part of Project Juno in 1991), the sixth person born in the United Kingdom to go on board the International Space Station (the first was NASA astronaut Michael Foale in 2003) and the seventh UK-born person in space. He began the ESA's intensive astronaut basic training course in September 2009 and graduated on 22 November 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 22, 2022
In 1974, scientists sent an interstellar message from Arecibo, Puerto Rico to a star system 25,000 light years away. It contained basic information about humanity and Earth.
What if the aliens heard us?
Danny Munday is just living his regular kid’s life, hanging out with his neighbour Jamila, when Mum returns home. She’s a researcher in radio astronomy and they’ve just received a series of FRBs (or Fast Radio Bursts) she’s trying to decode.
These FRBs are how ADI, short for Alien Digital Intelligence, invades Danny’s digital life through the thumb drive into Mum’s laptop, the wifi system and then into his phone. Imagine that?
Adi is a scout for the aliens, who gave up on their physical form millions of years ago. They exist only in “dataswarm” and are an intelligent hive mind.
As Adi gets to know Danny, and learns to appreciate simple pleasures in life, the dataswarm decides that the best way to save this ravaged earth, is to “advance” all seven billion of the humans into a deep, dark, seething mass of data.
Danny, Jamila and Adi have to outwit the hive mind to save humanity.
This book by astronaut Tim Peake and writer Steve Cole is brilliant in concept but slightly patchy in execution.
It is rare to find a middle grade sci-fi piece of this complexity though, and budding sci-fi fans will be fascinated by this. It reminds me of Prey by Michael Crichton, about hostile “humans” formed by a swarm of nano bots. 😮😮
Thank you, @definitelybookskids for my Advance Reader Copy - the published title is now at bookstores.
What if the aliens heard us?
Danny Munday is just living his regular kid’s life, hanging out with his neighbour Jamila, when Mum returns home. She’s a researcher in radio astronomy and they’ve just received a series of FRBs (or Fast Radio Bursts) she’s trying to decode.
These FRBs are how ADI, short for Alien Digital Intelligence, invades Danny’s digital life through the thumb drive into Mum’s laptop, the wifi system and then into his phone. Imagine that?
Adi is a scout for the aliens, who gave up on their physical form millions of years ago. They exist only in “dataswarm” and are an intelligent hive mind.
As Adi gets to know Danny, and learns to appreciate simple pleasures in life, the dataswarm decides that the best way to save this ravaged earth, is to “advance” all seven billion of the humans into a deep, dark, seething mass of data.
Danny, Jamila and Adi have to outwit the hive mind to save humanity.
This book by astronaut Tim Peake and writer Steve Cole is brilliant in concept but slightly patchy in execution.
It is rare to find a middle grade sci-fi piece of this complexity though, and budding sci-fi fans will be fascinated by this. It reminds me of Prey by Michael Crichton, about hostile “humans” formed by a swarm of nano bots. 😮😮
Thank you, @definitelybookskids for my Advance Reader Copy - the published title is now at bookstores.
September 20, 2026
Danny Munday is an ordinary boy, living an ordinary life in London and gaming in his spare time with his best friend Jamila.
Until one day Danny's mum returns home from working her astronomy data job and declares that a signal sent from earth to space in 1974 has possibly been answered by the extra terrestrials out there in the galaxy somewhere.....
And then Adi shows up (alien data intelligence)... She is a defector of a digital alien Hive Mind who seek to study and convert all human behaviour and brain waves into a huge digital 'Swarm', effectively wiping out all human existence on planet earth for good.
Danny and his best friend Jamila are then suddenly launched into a very dangerous mission, helping Adi to fight back against the Hive Mind and tear them down from the inside out.
This was a very enjoyable read and something a bit different for what is classified as a 'children's book'. There is somewhat complicated science fiction and molecular structure manipulation involved in the plot and at times there is even mention of death and (effectively) murder!
Safe to say I was not expecting the more 'grown up' themes in this book, but they really did help to make the reading experience that bit more entertaining, especially reading as a 34 year old.
There is a book 2 in this series, 'Swarm Enemy' and I'm looking forward to purchasing it very soon and continuing Danny, Jamila and Adi's quest to bring forth the destruction of the Hive Mind once and for all!
Until one day Danny's mum returns home from working her astronomy data job and declares that a signal sent from earth to space in 1974 has possibly been answered by the extra terrestrials out there in the galaxy somewhere.....
And then Adi shows up (alien data intelligence)... She is a defector of a digital alien Hive Mind who seek to study and convert all human behaviour and brain waves into a huge digital 'Swarm', effectively wiping out all human existence on planet earth for good.
Danny and his best friend Jamila are then suddenly launched into a very dangerous mission, helping Adi to fight back against the Hive Mind and tear them down from the inside out.
This was a very enjoyable read and something a bit different for what is classified as a 'children's book'. There is somewhat complicated science fiction and molecular structure manipulation involved in the plot and at times there is even mention of death and (effectively) murder!
Safe to say I was not expecting the more 'grown up' themes in this book, but they really did help to make the reading experience that bit more entertaining, especially reading as a 34 year old.
There is a book 2 in this series, 'Swarm Enemy' and I'm looking forward to purchasing it very soon and continuing Danny, Jamila and Adi's quest to bring forth the destruction of the Hive Mind once and for all!
October 2, 2022
Danny Munday and his best friend Jamila, who lives next door, love gaming. Danny's parents are both into physics and astronomy but have separated because they couldn't stop fighting. Danny lives with his mother, who is so into her job that Danny doesn't get much attention, even if she's at home.
A surge through Danny's computer messes his tablet screen, but he saves the unusual message he sees. He's messaged by Adi, turns out she's like Danny, loves gaming, same interests and wants to meet. What Jamila realises is that Danny's been hacked. The message was binary code. Danny realises Adi isn't some predatory hacker. She's an alien. A rouge Aline. What does she want Danny to do? How does Danny untangle the mess?
I enjoyed the scientific and astronomical details in the story.
Recommended for readers 10 years and above especially those interested in gaming and aliens.
A surge through Danny's computer messes his tablet screen, but he saves the unusual message he sees. He's messaged by Adi, turns out she's like Danny, loves gaming, same interests and wants to meet. What Jamila realises is that Danny's been hacked. The message was binary code. Danny realises Adi isn't some predatory hacker. She's an alien. A rouge Aline. What does she want Danny to do? How does Danny untangle the mess?
I enjoyed the scientific and astronomical details in the story.
Recommended for readers 10 years and above especially those interested in gaming and aliens.
July 6, 2022
Science-heavy, fast paced, mind-bending adventure, twists and turns were wholy unpredictable, which is refreshing. Alien invasion in format you don't expect. Interesting and thought-provoking reflection of what is means to be human and individuality (from point of view of an alien). Intriguing read.
December 31, 2023
Mind numbingly terrible. Wouldn’t even recommend for adults to read this to children. Writing so awful it will give you migraines
Just because the man went to space, doesn’t mean you publish his book
Burn after reading
Just because the man went to space, doesn’t mean you publish his book
Burn after reading
February 23, 2022
Would appeal to fans of Christopher Edge books as it mixes science with adventure - this time with aliens. Aimed at MG - though younger readers may get a bit bogged down with the science.
March 11, 2024
I think this book is very interesting and has a good storyline. It has a sad ending but is good for people who are interested in space stuff
August 17, 2024
captivating to the end.
June 26, 2025
An interesting take on the alien invasion trope, and a good cautionary tale about technology and progress, and reminder of what's important about being human
September 18, 2026
Read it like 3 years ago sooo gooooddddd
September 11, 2023
Enjoyed the book
November 29, 2021
I don't often pick up books written by celebrities, but I love kids' sci-fi so I had to try this out (and at least this one is not ghostwritten, Steve Cole's name is on the cover). I'm very glad I did, because I loved it.
The story is very atmospheric, thrilling and occasionally chilling. It's fast paced, action-packed and gripping; I couldn't put it down.
I was mildly disappointed that a book Co-written by an astronaut didn't really capitalise on that: there was some science, but much less than, say Christopher Edge puts in his middle grade novels; and the book was set mostly on Earth. Still, that's not really a criticism of the book itself.
I highly recommend this book, I loved it.
The story is very atmospheric, thrilling and occasionally chilling. It's fast paced, action-packed and gripping; I couldn't put it down.
I was mildly disappointed that a book Co-written by an astronaut didn't really capitalise on that: there was some science, but much less than, say Christopher Edge puts in his middle grade novels; and the book was set mostly on Earth. Still, that's not really a criticism of the book itself.
I highly recommend this book, I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews