Void Shaper

Starship Medusa #3

by David Collins

In the first book, On Mars, Jason stumbled across the escape pod to a 3,500 year old derelict spacecraft. The AI for the ship then informed Jason that due to him having traces of alien DNA, he was now the Captain of a massive alien Starship. That 'should' have been good news. But the bad news was that Jason's DNA has an additional trait, one that shouldn't be there... The last time that anyone had one of the forbidden DNA traits, it started the war that left the ship a derelict. To fight the aliens that want him dead, Jason must become something from their nightmares... The second book starts with the ultimate bad hair day (with fangs). With the ship finally with a full crew, and outfitted with the most creative weapons that Earth had managed to come up with. They take off to their first interstellar destination, a Mauron (Gorgon) shipyard, that turns out to be run more like a penal colony. While their ship is in the repair bay, they get attacked by a state of the art Felinog battleship. The Felinog were not counting on the unusual Earth weapons that had been added, and some very creative tactics. Who is the Darkness? Who are the Claws? Where does Jason and his ship fit into their conflict? What new secrets hide beneath the strange ship they find, in a world of darkness? In this third book, now with over half the crew having transformed into aliens, they need to escape from the void prison that they accidentally created. While stuck in another dimension, they manage to pick up several new alien refugees. If they screw it up, they will be stranded a very long way from home, a home where the Fenilog are waiting for them. Having failed to kill them the last time they met, they have now scheduled a jousting match, with starships. The battle will be between the Medusa, the patched up former derelict ship of Jasons, using historical Earth technology, against the most advanced weapons the Felinog have yet come up with. Jason has discovered that he can create strange shapes out of several different voids. He knows that to solve this puzzle will give him mastery of the void portals. That will be needed to escape from the void prison. But what are these shapes, and why do they completely terrify everyone that has seen one, except for Jason?

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2022

About the author

I am a retired software engineer who has worked on various medical/robotic hardware, oceanographic mapping, telecommunications, and submarine communication systems. He currently resides in New Hampshire and has decided to try writing some science fiction books.

Reviews

[Nick Rizzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a confusing book. So many plot lines not resolved. Others conclusions don’t even make sense. The author seems to have lost the plot mid convo and characters will says stuff that makes no sense. The captain/mc goes around telling anyone and everyone his 2 strands which he’s been told not to do….

[Daniel J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lacked personal interest before that ending

I have plenty of little things I'd like to see done differently. More family centered, more chances to help people out and make the universe a better place, more choices in his and his crews hands, and better leveraging of his powers and growth capacity; just to name a few.

The thing I want to talk about, though, is our MC's choices. In particular, his choices in regard to personal security. And not just in a safety sense. The story starts with him recognizing the need to divorce himself from the greed of others. That's followed by him constantly submitting himself to the whims and leverage of others. He has no safe place. He has few chances to develop beyond being a space vagabond. Frankly, I saw little chance of him surviving, at least with his crew. When you agree to cooperate with someone trying to kill you repeatedly but it costs them little, and you won't do the same... that has one outcome.

!!Very Slight SPOILER!!

This is why I'm happy about the ending. A chance to right all those little things. But we'll see. I'd normally dislike and complain about such a development, but I'm looking forward to what the author might do with this.

If the series doesn't continue, then I see the ending as somewhat pointless. Though that could just be me. I suppose it opens the door for me to imagine what 'should' happen.

[clifford h leighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 excellent books

I read this series, in order, in rapid succession, so for me, this was just one long story. It started out a little slow but picked right up and became very interesting. It has a large cast of characters and species, which I found a little difficult to keep track of, but otherwise, very good reading.
Many of the technical issues are rehashing of old sci-fi ideas, but the interspecies relationships are extremely interesting and well thought out.
I think the series ended too soon, I wish that more books were in the works.

[John Tyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was awesome

This should be made into a animated series. It was an awesome read and I throughly enjoyed every word. It has some excellent twists, and ways of telling a story you won't expect. The protagonist is a interesting character with additional character world building. I don't usually like to use spoilers but since Amazon insist my review needs to belonger I will say this. The ending isn't what you think it would be.

[Joseph Szutarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big WOW!

I discovered David Collins when I read his "Endless War" series. I just gave four star reviews to each of those books, then I started the Void Ripper books.
Well this series I gotta give a decent review.
I am an avid Science Fiction reader and I took a chance with Mr. Collins books and I love them. Finding an author the writes so engagingly is special, but these stories are so fresh that I can't put them down.
I highly recommend exploring his worlds.

[Bob C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another awesome Starship Medusa book!

As always, Author David Collin’s delivers yet another awesome Starship Medusa book! Just when you think this storyline can’t get any better, it does. Off the charts action and unbelievable character development. And, amazingly enough a fantastic conclusion that has me begging for a sequel. This story absolutely must continue!! More, more, more! Read this book & this series. You WILL be very glad you did! :)

[Dr susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sci fantasy adventure

Shaper definitely crossed the Void into fantasy. The worldbuilding is good with fascinating non-humans. There is graphic violence as Jason continues trying to do the right things. The ending wasn't what I would have liked, but it didn't ruin the series for me.

[Lois Raymond Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five stars if edited

Wrong character names, first/third person shifts, plot holes, missing quotation marks (or extras), gibberish sentences, many many typos - on an extremely inventive and well written story. Alternated between wanting to toss my Kindle across the room and stay up for "just one more chapter." Getting the next book. Sigh.

[Barb Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ending a little hard to understand

A culmination of good deeds creates followers that become a crew. Space exploration makes for the unexpected to happen and finding a population nearly destroyed by a sun exploding is just such a thinng.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an ending.

This three book series was a great read. Great character development, very interesting plot. All three books fit well together telling a great story. The ending was satisfying. I look forward to his other series.

[Ruth Marchese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun ideas! Terrible editing.

The punctuation and grammatical errors became more and more of an issue as I progressed through this otherwise very interesting story. They were so distracting that I couldn't stay absorbed in the plot! Come on, people!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow that's a impressive ending

I enjoyed the series and binged ithis last book had a very interesting certainly wrapped up an arc, but there's always the future, right? I enjoyed it and the whole series. I kind of enjoy the running around and saving people thing.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good ending

This was a really interesting and well imagined set of stories. There are many parts that were hard to grasp but I think I would enjoy reading them again some time. If you like hard sci-fi don’t miss this series.

[Mike Hanford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly, the author ran out of ideas after the first two books. The third is devoid of plot, direction, or any initiative by the characters. The ending is a HUGE cheat. Guess he got tired of puting random thoughts on paper.

[Bill Lents · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisting in chaos....

The story has so many twists, I had to pay extra attention, so as to not lose my place. Enjoyed it so much, I am looking forward to more.

[Michael Bonkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one fascinating interesting ending to the series

The story is very exciting and engaging to read. The ending is both satisfying and intriguing at the same time.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ookk what just happend

What in the world, that got weirder as it went. But enjoyed the ride and hope for a new chapter some time.

[Carol Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird happenings

This story is so interesting I would love to read more. Please don't stop here, what comes next. Good Read.