What do you think?
Rate this book
A Galaxy Unknown #1
A Galaxy Unknown
June 6th, 2267 - A life-pod, missed by rescuers following the mysterious explosion of a Space Command vessel a decade earlier, is discovered by a passing freighter in deep space. A young officer, still cocooned in stasis sleep, is found inside. When revived, Ensign Jenetta Carver learns of the lawlessness that now suffuses interstellar space. Pirates and slavers seem able to attack and pillage with impunity. Space Command has committed its full resources to stopping the anarchy, but criminal groups have grown immensely powerful.
Although determined to rejoin SC as soon as possible, Jenetta is captured by pirates before that can happen. At first she fears for her life, but when she's indelibly marked as a pleasure slave, she gets mad; fighting mad. And when they tamper with her DNA to make her appear sexier, she gets even madder; killing mad.
Can a petite blonde, cut off from Space Command, create more mayhem among the criminal elements than a full decade of SC effort? You'd better believe it!
Although determined to rejoin SC as soon as possible, Jenetta is captured by pirates before that can happen. At first she fears for her life, but when she's indelibly marked as a pleasure slave, she gets mad; fighting mad. And when they tamper with her DNA to make her appear sexier, she gets even madder; killing mad.
Can a petite blonde, cut off from Space Command, create more mayhem among the criminal elements than a full decade of SC effort? You'd better believe it!
426 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 17, 2008
133 people are currently reading
1549 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
October 26, 2011
Interesting storyline hobbled by lackluster writing.
To the people who gave this book five stars: Five stars? Seriously? You are saying this book ranks right up there with Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land", Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game", or Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"? I would encourage each of you to read those novels or any sci-fi novels you typically find in the top 100 science fiction lists and re-evaluate your rating of this book.
To the people who gave it 1 star: Writing is harder than you think. There are definitely some good ideas in here and it deserves more acclaim than a single star.
This novel has potential that is never realized. The plot starts with a good premise and gets particularly interesting about halfway through, when things go downhill for the protagonist. Although it does have a few plot holes that are in need of rapair, if a military sci-fi great like Stephen Baxter or David Weber would take on this plot, I think it would be a best seller.
Having said that, though, it's really hard to enjoy the storyline due to the sometimes mediocre, but often atrocious writing. The dialog is particularly painful, but there are problems with many different areas of the writing and I think this really highlights the primary problem with self-publishing in the Kindle store -- the lack of an editor. A good editor would have called this version of the story an early draft and gone through many more drafts with the author.
Although I'm not a fan of this book, the author has potential and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work when he has honed his talent a bit more.
To the people who gave this book five stars: Five stars? Seriously? You are saying this book ranks right up there with Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land", Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game", or Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"? I would encourage each of you to read those novels or any sci-fi novels you typically find in the top 100 science fiction lists and re-evaluate your rating of this book.
To the people who gave it 1 star: Writing is harder than you think. There are definitely some good ideas in here and it deserves more acclaim than a single star.
This novel has potential that is never realized. The plot starts with a good premise and gets particularly interesting about halfway through, when things go downhill for the protagonist. Although it does have a few plot holes that are in need of rapair, if a military sci-fi great like Stephen Baxter or David Weber would take on this plot, I think it would be a best seller.
Having said that, though, it's really hard to enjoy the storyline due to the sometimes mediocre, but often atrocious writing. The dialog is particularly painful, but there are problems with many different areas of the writing and I think this really highlights the primary problem with self-publishing in the Kindle store -- the lack of an editor. A good editor would have called this version of the story an early draft and gone through many more drafts with the author.
Although I'm not a fan of this book, the author has potential and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work when he has honed his talent a bit more.
June 4, 2012
This is the first of a series of eight (yes, EIGHT!) books. So far. And it is the first in my shameful secret reading of the last month. It is one of my husband's cheap, sci-fi kindle books, and I read it when I was struggling to get into some other, more serious literature.
The stories are generally predictable, but there are enough ideas here that it held me through each of the eight books. The writing is generally very easy to read, with the exception of the occasional time the author tries to get clever, pulls out an archaic or unusual word from the dictionary, and throws it in with his otherwise simple writing style. It jars, it spoils the flow of the book, and it often doesn't even seem to be used in the right context, or perhaps more accurately, in the right grammatical context. It made me shudder. The writer can't write very good dialogue, and is dreadful at emotion. Fortunately, emotion isn't really required. Sometimes there was too much detail. I get tired of books that have to spend ages spelling out the background or detail. The descriptions too don't leave a lot to your imagination - assume the reader doesn't want nuance and just wants to know what happens and then get to the action asap.
I've given all these books two stars, simply because I can't bring myself to give these books (I'm not going to review every one) any more - and equate the writing with writing by authors I admire much more. That said, I'm almost certainly going to read the 9th book when it is out. I'm embarrassed. But it's a fact.
The stories are generally predictable, but there are enough ideas here that it held me through each of the eight books. The writing is generally very easy to read, with the exception of the occasional time the author tries to get clever, pulls out an archaic or unusual word from the dictionary, and throws it in with his otherwise simple writing style. It jars, it spoils the flow of the book, and it often doesn't even seem to be used in the right context, or perhaps more accurately, in the right grammatical context. It made me shudder. The writer can't write very good dialogue, and is dreadful at emotion. Fortunately, emotion isn't really required. Sometimes there was too much detail. I get tired of books that have to spend ages spelling out the background or detail. The descriptions too don't leave a lot to your imagination - assume the reader doesn't want nuance and just wants to know what happens and then get to the action asap.
I've given all these books two stars, simply because I can't bring myself to give these books (I'm not going to review every one) any more - and equate the writing with writing by authors I admire much more. That said, I'm almost certainly going to read the 9th book when it is out. I'm embarrassed. But it's a fact.
December 30, 2010
Imagine Chet Donnelly fucking a thesaurus while thumbing through pictures of Robert Heinlein. Congratulations. You've now read A Galaxy Unknown.
June 16, 2016
I enjoyed this book, mainly because it wasn't a hard read. The premise of the story is good, and I enjoyed the universe that was created within the book.
For me there were two main criticisms. Firstly, Jenetta Carver, the main character had way too many good outcomes. You can believe one or two, or even three or four, but after a while I realised that she was always going to succeed, no matter what happened. Secondly, the rather strange foray into the edges of BDSM. While I understand that this may have been the author's way of trying to emphasise the stakes in this part of the plot, the detail was jarring, and seemed completely out of place.
This is a fun book to read. It's not deep or particularly meaningful, but it's an enjoyable space opera in a relatively believable universe. The military bits (to my uneducated thinking) were well done, and probably the strong point of the book.
I will read further in the series, but I'm hopeful that the main character gets to suffer a bit more at some point. Surely she can't be perfect.....!
For me there were two main criticisms. Firstly, Jenetta Carver, the main character had way too many good outcomes. You can believe one or two, or even three or four, but after a while I realised that she was always going to succeed, no matter what happened. Secondly, the rather strange foray into the edges of BDSM. While I understand that this may have been the author's way of trying to emphasise the stakes in this part of the plot, the detail was jarring, and seemed completely out of place.
This is a fun book to read. It's not deep or particularly meaningful, but it's an enjoyable space opera in a relatively believable universe. The military bits (to my uneducated thinking) were well done, and probably the strong point of the book.
I will read further in the series, but I'm hopeful that the main character gets to suffer a bit more at some point. Surely she can't be perfect.....!
May 25, 2020
Note to self: weird sex slave plot at 2/3. Annoyed by trial and making the heroine feel isolated, criminal and abandoned after saving everyone and stopping big bad evil.
Sequels involve heroine being cloned and now there's three of her running around being awesome and heroic
Sequels involve heroine being cloned and now there's three of her running around being awesome and heroic
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2013
Another great female protagonist in the vein of Honor Harrington, Kris Longknife and Kylara Vatta. Ensign Jenette Carver does a great impression of Alice falling down the rabbit hole when she finds her first ship assignment falling apart around her to begin an epic journey into a truly incredible life that she never even dreamed of. Jenette Carver starts her journey by joining the "family business" by becoming a space navy officer like her grandfather, father and 4 older brothers. She eventually gains a shipboard assignment as science officer on a supply ship. When the ship suffers a massive engineering failure that cause the engines to overload and explode, young Jenete finds herself adrift in a damaged scape pod and rather than suffer continuing bouts of depression from the long term isolation and facing potential starvation from ever dwindling food and water supplies she opts to put herself into stasis to await whatever the fates have in store for her. She wakes 12 years later to find herself in the company of civilian merchant spacers on board a commercial freight hauler who are under constant threat possible of attack by pirates who have become a menace to the spaceways in the intervening years since her ship was lost. Through a series of accidents, attacks by pirates and through acts of innovative tactics and demonstrations of personal courage and leadership, Jenette gains the trust, loyalty, and friendship of her crew and others who come into her life. When she, herself is captured by pirates, she is made to suffer at their hands when she becomes a victim of medical experimentation designed by the pirate leader to turn her into a sex slave for the brothels of an alien world where she is to be sold. Using her innate skills and talents for strategy, and "out of the box" thinking she engineers an amazing escape from the pirates, and in the process, returns many other captives as well as a couple of powerful warships stolen by the renegades, to Galactic Alliance territory. It is a story that grabs you and has you anticipating where this young woman will end up in the books yet to come.
February 9, 2013
I almost quit reading after the first paragraph.
Frankly, it was awful, an almost comical compilation of how NOT to write well. The author's over-use of adjectives and adverbs and his love affair with the thesaurus were at times difficult to read. The first third of the book was filled with pages of boring exposition and back-story that added little if anything to the narrative.
But...
I read a number of reviews here that said it got better and...it did. Yes, Jen is too perfect and somehow always gets out of difficult situations, coming off as the humble hero. Yet somehow I found it entertaining, enough to move on to the second book.
In an ideal world, I'd love all the books I read both to be written well and to tell a good story. If I have to choose only one or the other, I'll choose the latter every time. Sometimes, to escape the everyday difficulties of real life, it's fun and relaxing to read a book that simply entertains.
I'm embarrassed at times by my choices in entertainment. But, hey. That's what ebook readers are for. No one can see what I'm reading.
Frankly, it was awful, an almost comical compilation of how NOT to write well. The author's over-use of adjectives and adverbs and his love affair with the thesaurus were at times difficult to read. The first third of the book was filled with pages of boring exposition and back-story that added little if anything to the narrative.
But...
I read a number of reviews here that said it got better and...it did. Yes, Jen is too perfect and somehow always gets out of difficult situations, coming off as the humble hero. Yet somehow I found it entertaining, enough to move on to the second book.
In an ideal world, I'd love all the books I read both to be written well and to tell a good story. If I have to choose only one or the other, I'll choose the latter every time. Sometimes, to escape the everyday difficulties of real life, it's fun and relaxing to read a book that simply entertains.
I'm embarrassed at times by my choices in entertainment. But, hey. That's what ebook readers are for. No one can see what I'm reading.
August 4, 2020
Great Sifi Great Space Opera
True fast moving Space Opera. Great plot chapters with depth. A real page turner. Just the right level of tech. Thank you Mr Deltona for a great read. Moving on to book2e
True fast moving Space Opera. Great plot chapters with depth. A real page turner. Just the right level of tech. Thank you Mr Deltona for a great read. Moving on to book2e
April 12, 2011
To me, this book is a more palatable version of the Honor Harrington novels by David Weber. It is very derivative lacking much originality, but it is derivative of many things that I enjoy, while at the same time repeating some of my least favorite tropes.
The writer is talented, but needs a hand at some of the plotting of the book, as well as some editting of the final product. There are several needlessly clunky assumptions made. I'll give you an example: There is an assumption made, and stated outright several times that those who learned skills in the military are light years more skilled than those that learned skills anywhere else. An army mechanic is worth 100 freighter mechanics. I think the book would have been much stronger if there was less reliance on this assumption (and several others), and at least one competent character who wasn't trained by the military.
Also, there are several sections that differ in tone so radically from the rest of the book that there is a genre shift. One shift into smut, another shift into some sort of legal drama. The author is clearly less equipt to write a kinky sex-slave book or a legal drama than he is a sci-fi adventure story. Huge sections of the book could be condensed to make for a more consistant tone.
You can read this book if you are really attached to military sci fi tropes. If not, you should probably give it a pass.
The writer is talented, but needs a hand at some of the plotting of the book, as well as some editting of the final product. There are several needlessly clunky assumptions made. I'll give you an example: There is an assumption made, and stated outright several times that those who learned skills in the military are light years more skilled than those that learned skills anywhere else. An army mechanic is worth 100 freighter mechanics. I think the book would have been much stronger if there was less reliance on this assumption (and several others), and at least one competent character who wasn't trained by the military.
Also, there are several sections that differ in tone so radically from the rest of the book that there is a genre shift. One shift into smut, another shift into some sort of legal drama. The author is clearly less equipt to write a kinky sex-slave book or a legal drama than he is a sci-fi adventure story. Huge sections of the book could be condensed to make for a more consistant tone.
You can read this book if you are really attached to military sci fi tropes. If not, you should probably give it a pass.
April 14, 2012
A Galaxy Unknown
I've never read anything from this author before but decided to take a chance on this book and I'm so glad I did. A Galaxy Unknown is a fabulous read and worth every penny! When first starting any book, I sometimes I have a hard time getting into it but I was completely engrossed into this story from the very beginning. The only negative aspect of this book is sometimes the author would drone on just a bit too long on the technical aspect of the story. Other than that, this story completely blew me away!
I usually like to watch my SF (i.g. SG1, SGA, SGU, Torchwood, Farscape, BSG, etc.) and normally read my dark urban fantasy (Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersson, Ilona Andrews, Jaye Wells, etc.) but aside from a few select authors, I've been a bit bored with fantasy as of late. For those fellow dark urban fantasy readers wanting to try something new but don't want to end up with a romantic space opera, give this book a try. The style of writing is similar to an urban fantasy read. Also this book's full of excitement and adventure and keeps you guessing.
I highly recommend this book to fellow dark urban fantasy readers who are looking for something different and I also look forward to reading the next book Valor At Vauzlee.
I also recommend:
Song of Scarabaeus
Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1)
Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1)
I've never read anything from this author before but decided to take a chance on this book and I'm so glad I did. A Galaxy Unknown is a fabulous read and worth every penny! When first starting any book, I sometimes I have a hard time getting into it but I was completely engrossed into this story from the very beginning. The only negative aspect of this book is sometimes the author would drone on just a bit too long on the technical aspect of the story. Other than that, this story completely blew me away!
I usually like to watch my SF (i.g. SG1, SGA, SGU, Torchwood, Farscape, BSG, etc.) and normally read my dark urban fantasy (Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersson, Ilona Andrews, Jaye Wells, etc.) but aside from a few select authors, I've been a bit bored with fantasy as of late. For those fellow dark urban fantasy readers wanting to try something new but don't want to end up with a romantic space opera, give this book a try. The style of writing is similar to an urban fantasy read. Also this book's full of excitement and adventure and keeps you guessing.
I highly recommend this book to fellow dark urban fantasy readers who are looking for something different and I also look forward to reading the next book Valor At Vauzlee.
I also recommend:
Song of Scarabaeus
Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1)
Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1)
February 7, 2014
It Get's Better
First of all, this is more a short critique of the series than of this one book. I'm currently on book 8.
Ok, here's the deal...
It's basically a steal of the Honor Harrington series by a guy nowhere near as talented as David Weber. But the cool thing about this series, for me, is watching an absolute HACK become a half-decent writer. You truly get a feel for the guy going through the sequence from utterly horrible (first third of the first book), through the "Now I'm going to throw in big words that I don't really know the definitions of" stage (second book)...and then suddenly there's a breakthrough and he starts to become a writer. By book 5 he's not too bad.
The story's not bad, the characters (with one glaring exception: Hubera) are appealing - once you get past the first couple of books.
To this book I, perhaps over-generously, give two stars. To the series, 3.5. (High, considering I may have given two 5s in my life.)
Yeah, I'm now an actual Jen Carver fan.
First of all, this is more a short critique of the series than of this one book. I'm currently on book 8.
Ok, here's the deal...
It's basically a steal of the Honor Harrington series by a guy nowhere near as talented as David Weber. But the cool thing about this series, for me, is watching an absolute HACK become a half-decent writer. You truly get a feel for the guy going through the sequence from utterly horrible (first third of the first book), through the "Now I'm going to throw in big words that I don't really know the definitions of" stage (second book)...and then suddenly there's a breakthrough and he starts to become a writer. By book 5 he's not too bad.
The story's not bad, the characters (with one glaring exception: Hubera) are appealing - once you get past the first couple of books.
To this book I, perhaps over-generously, give two stars. To the series, 3.5. (High, considering I may have given two 5s in my life.)
Yeah, I'm now an actual Jen Carver fan.
June 26, 2016
B-movie sci-fy fun.
Yes this if pure wish fulfillment, but its fun. At the begin of the story Ensign Jenetta Carver has to rush an escape pod to escape her dying spaceship. Add a bit of bad luck when her pod is missed by the rescue pick-up and she only awakens 11 years later at a cargoship half a secor away. Add more bad luck when she discovered that in the time she was gone raiders took over and almost nothing of her safe and ordered life remains.
All things considered this is a bit of a silly story. For those observant enough you'll find some elements from various sci-fy series (Honor Harrington and Vatta's war), but all of it combined in a fun uncomplicated story. The writing is a bit unpolished and some of the exposition a bit clunky, but overall its an entertaining read.
Yes this if pure wish fulfillment, but its fun. At the begin of the story Ensign Jenetta Carver has to rush an escape pod to escape her dying spaceship. Add a bit of bad luck when her pod is missed by the rescue pick-up and she only awakens 11 years later at a cargoship half a secor away. Add more bad luck when she discovered that in the time she was gone raiders took over and almost nothing of her safe and ordered life remains.
All things considered this is a bit of a silly story. For those observant enough you'll find some elements from various sci-fy series (Honor Harrington and Vatta's war), but all of it combined in a fun uncomplicated story. The writing is a bit unpolished and some of the exposition a bit clunky, but overall its an entertaining read.
January 21, 2015
A Galaxy Unknown better then Star Wars.
I'd like Jenata, she is a babe with guts. Very kickass and COOL.
Mr. Thomas DePrima made this adventure very fun. I looking forward to reading more of his books. Thank you for bringing me into this adventure. I really think this is better than Star Wars.
See you again Jen. It a pleasure.
May Space command be with you.
If you like action, spaceships and explosions and bad guys getting hurt and kill and battles in space and babes and adventure. This book is for you.
PS Mr DePrima if there is moore stars on the ratings then five I'd would give you TEN.
I'd like Jenata, she is a babe with guts. Very kickass and COOL.
Mr. Thomas DePrima made this adventure very fun. I looking forward to reading more of his books. Thank you for bringing me into this adventure. I really think this is better than Star Wars.
See you again Jen. It a pleasure.
May Space command be with you.
If you like action, spaceships and explosions and bad guys getting hurt and kill and battles in space and babes and adventure. This book is for you.
PS Mr DePrima if there is moore stars on the ratings then five I'd would give you TEN.
June 11, 2020
One star
To simply put it, the book is brilliant!
I enjoyed the book a lot tbh, it's just the tidbits of prejudices, biases, a sprinkle of racism and sexism which I encountered in this book that made me dislike it.
Other than that it's a go-to book for the people who love reading space adventures and for even those who don't. The plot is so ingenious it reels you in and keeps you engrossed for hours on end, which is not even a challenge but a promise this series guarantees.
To simply put it, the book is brilliant!
I enjoyed the book a lot tbh, it's just the tidbits of prejudices, biases, a sprinkle of racism and sexism which I encountered in this book that made me dislike it.
Other than that it's a go-to book for the people who love reading space adventures and for even those who don't. The plot is so ingenious it reels you in and keeps you engrossed for hours on end, which is not even a challenge but a promise this series guarantees.
February 10, 2011
I read this book because the bad reviews at amazon amused me so much. I agree, it was bad... In a 80s cliche space hero kind of way. And really, a whole chapter on the history of FTL and the military? Ugh. And the first chapter is overly "look at me I know super big words". My sachrymal glands are annoyed with this. Ha.
December 23, 2011
This series blew me away. I just finished reading all (current) eight books. It is a fantastic Read! For those who enjoy good Sci-Fi epics you need to read these. This series is very much like The David Weber Honor series crossed with a little Babylon 5, some Star Trek, and the writings of Robert heinlein. If you read anything this year read these.
February 16, 2013
Good book overall but the female protagonist is a massive mary sue albeit not as annoying as I found Honor Harrington. It's still enough to throw me out of the book every now and then when large parts of a chapter are spent with people discussing how completely amazing the heroine is.
February 8, 2011
Not bad at all. There are some parts where it feels like the author swallowed a thesaurus, but other than that it's a decent entry in the genre of military SF.
March 1, 2011
I loved it--action, adventure, brave female protagonist, everything and more. It is one of the best "space opera" series I have read.
August 31, 2020
This is the first of a currently-twelve-book series. It's a space opera in the Horatio Hornblower tradition. Ensign Jenetta Carver is an underestimated science officer with a latent genius for tactics and strategy. In this book she takes command of a barely-armed space freighter and uses it to win several battles against incredible odds.
In each subsequent book in the series she rises in rank, faces ever-worse odds, and never fails to pull a battle-winning rabbit out of a hat. (The enemy always has an overwhelming force advantage and always falls for her tricks.)
I would have given this three stars - formulaic but fun to read - but I then read the next dix books over the next few days, so it gets another star for being an effective page-turner.
I lost interest at the end of book seven. The next enemy is getting ready to invade because they've heard ominous rumors and it's apparently easier to cross the galaxy with a fleet than it is to try some diplomacy first. These books were fun to read, but at some level it's the same book each time, and I read them until they wore out their welcome.
In each subsequent book in the series she rises in rank, faces ever-worse odds, and never fails to pull a battle-winning rabbit out of a hat. (The enemy always has an overwhelming force advantage and always falls for her tricks.)
I would have given this three stars - formulaic but fun to read - but I then read the next dix books over the next few days, so it gets another star for being an effective page-turner.
I lost interest at the end of book seven. The next enemy is getting ready to invade because they've heard ominous rumors and it's apparently easier to cross the galaxy with a fleet than it is to try some diplomacy first. These books were fun to read, but at some level it's the same book each time, and I read them until they wore out their welcome.
March 8, 2017
My actual rating would be more of a 3.5 because while I did enjoy the plot very much (I'm always a fan of a kickass smart heroine and the genetic experiments were for me the cherry on top) the dialogues we're pretty mediocre and fell flat. On top of that the writing style and explanations often were more complicated than necessary. I understand that when someone writes science fiction they will use a lot of scientific notions and more difficult words but often I had to look up +4 words each page this did lessen my enjoyment of this book.
But aside from those complaints I liked galaxy unknown. If you like an almost too perfect heroine, lots of action and fast paced book than this is a must read you will not be bored for one minute.
But aside from those complaints I liked galaxy unknown. If you like an almost too perfect heroine, lots of action and fast paced book than this is a must read you will not be bored for one minute.
September 30, 2018
What I liked:
- An engaging story that moves along with plenty of action (for the most part)
- A fairly interesting main character
What I didn't like:
- Extraneous story elements (for example, the protagonist is genetically altered to become a sex goddess...yet that fact doesn't ever really become relevant)
- Unrealistic consideration of logistics and economics in the "galaxy" built by the author
Lastly, the author's ridiculous use of obscure multi-syllabic words is annoying. It got to the point that I had to believe the author was mocking his readers. I didn't appreciate it.
Now having said all that, I read the entire book and actually "enjoyed" it. But I would have enjoyed it even more if the book had received good editing
- An engaging story that moves along with plenty of action (for the most part)
- A fairly interesting main character
What I didn't like:
- Extraneous story elements (for example, the protagonist is genetically altered to become a sex goddess...yet that fact doesn't ever really become relevant)
- Unrealistic consideration of logistics and economics in the "galaxy" built by the author
Lastly, the author's ridiculous use of obscure multi-syllabic words is annoying. It got to the point that I had to believe the author was mocking his readers. I didn't appreciate it.
Now having said all that, I read the entire book and actually "enjoyed" it. But I would have enjoyed it even more if the book had received good editing
December 25, 2023
I rarely give one star to books. If it’s that bad I tend to not finish the book. The book as an all is not one star but the chapter about women prisoners turned to prostitution made me furious. Never have I read something like that about a male leading character. It’s about the author’s choice in portraying the “madness” of that pirate character, in his description of feme fatal characters where men can be soft in the middle, in indecisive to adequately then angelic portrait of main character (during trial and when received promotion) or the spite and hate of that last female character. Al that were writer’s choices! I still want to see her evolving in the next book, and I hope that other nonsense doesn’t come up.
August 25, 2025
Thomas DePrima was an early success story for Amazon’s independent publishing platforms, producing five novels between 2008 and 2010. His last book was released in 2013, and he has not been heard from since, though the nine books in the A Galaxy Unknown series continue to sell.
The first volume has a pure space opera zinger of an opening. Jenetta Carver, a young science officer on her first interstellar mission, is the last person off her exploding spaceship. Her escape pod fails to fire its retros, and she spends eleven years in suspended animation until she is picked up by space pirates who want to make her a sex slave. Pulp never got pulpier.
If you mute your critical faculties, it still entertains. 3.5.
The first volume has a pure space opera zinger of an opening. Jenetta Carver, a young science officer on her first interstellar mission, is the last person off her exploding spaceship. Her escape pod fails to fire its retros, and she spends eleven years in suspended animation until she is picked up by space pirates who want to make her a sex slave. Pulp never got pulpier.
If you mute your critical faculties, it still entertains. 3.5.
July 3, 2019
Well this one is hard for me, I am going to be honest and say that it marked every box for me of a book I will enjoy, but at the same time the author went and gave it to much over exposition, there was info that I really don’t need to know. Then the logic of the same book seems either biased in an aspect or lack a tremendous deep analysis. Either way even with those complaints I can say that the book delivers what it offers which is a fast paced action packed story. In resume I loved the formula, but not so much the implementation.
August 17, 2019
Love at first flight
What a ride this book was! Ensign Janetta Alicia Carver is a surprise. She tough, resourceful, intelligent, and a lot of fun to read. I have read this book and the rest of "A Galaxy Unknown" series a number of times. When I can't find something new, I fall back on this story. Janetta is lost in space, then found and then the fun begins, she is a critical thinker who leads from the front. Now I'm off to read " Valor At Vauzlee"
What a ride this book was! Ensign Janetta Alicia Carver is a surprise. She tough, resourceful, intelligent, and a lot of fun to read. I have read this book and the rest of "A Galaxy Unknown" series a number of times. When I can't find something new, I fall back on this story. Janetta is lost in space, then found and then the fun begins, she is a critical thinker who leads from the front. Now I'm off to read " Valor At Vauzlee"
June 4, 2017
Excellent book
Quite frankly I would not have bought this book if I had know it was the adventures of a female captain. However I am glad I purchased this book albeit by mistake, because I would have missed a great adventure story. How much did I enjoy it? I finished it 30 minutes ago and bought the sequel 15 min ago!
Quite frankly I would not have bought this book if I had know it was the adventures of a female captain. However I am glad I purchased this book albeit by mistake, because I would have missed a great adventure story. How much did I enjoy it? I finished it 30 minutes ago and bought the sequel 15 min ago!
February 3, 2025
When I began reading this book I was a bit put off by some of the reviews although it was also admitted that the entire series was bought! I throughly enjoyed this book and also plan on acquiring the entire series. If you are a military science fiction buff I would highly recommend this book!Thank you for an awesome read Mr. DePrima!
October 3, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read this book on a dare by my brother. And I am glad I did. It was easy and fast read. It keep my interest the entire way. I recommend this book for the young and old at heart.
March 15, 2018
An extraordinarily good book. This is a Space Opera, with a determined antagonist that makes Captain, destroys Raiders, and literally turns the Galactic Alliance on it’s head!
It also a thoroughly developed story, with well grounded environment, world building. A thoroughly good read 5/5!
It also a thoroughly developed story, with well grounded environment, world building. A thoroughly good read 5/5!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews