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Slip Runner #1
Slip Runner
Cole Riker is a Slip Runner.
A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book.
Find salvage, turn it in, get paid.
But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more...
A brand new form of ancient alien life.
Such a thing could change the entire Alliance, the Galaxy, and everything between, but most of all, it could change Cole's life for the better.
A shift in humanity’s future is at hand and Cole is the one holding the key. He just has to survive long enough to use it.
A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book.
Find salvage, turn it in, get paid.
But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more...
A brand new form of ancient alien life.
Such a thing could change the entire Alliance, the Galaxy, and everything between, but most of all, it could change Cole's life for the better.
A shift in humanity’s future is at hand and Cole is the one holding the key. He just has to survive long enough to use it.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 30, 2022
1174 people are currently reading
2765 people want to read
About the author
J.N. Chaney
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
December 13, 2022
Surprised
I had no expectation for this book to be anything but average chain written space opera. I was wrong.
Enjoyed this book from start to finish and was sad to read the final words. It had everything I look for in this genre. Nothing about the story was mind blowing but the characters have nice depth, appropriate level of strengths and weaknesses, and above else there is a theme of honor and sacrifice.
You just feel better about humanity when you read a book like this one. I know the authors see the world similar to how I do and what are the important parts of life.
I had no expectation for this book to be anything but average chain written space opera. I was wrong.
Enjoyed this book from start to finish and was sad to read the final words. It had everything I look for in this genre. Nothing about the story was mind blowing but the characters have nice depth, appropriate level of strengths and weaknesses, and above else there is a theme of honor and sacrifice.
You just feel better about humanity when you read a book like this one. I know the authors see the world similar to how I do and what are the important parts of life.
November 10, 2022
I find JN Chaney's books to be hit or miss, and this one is no different. Based on the cover I figured that Cole and his team would find a stargate (maybe even SG1).
I'm sorry to disappoint, but they don't. The book is still worth reading, don't get me wrong. Cole is a renegade, someone who wants to live free of governments and rules. Except he got caught shipping drugs, and now he's living out his days finding salvage as part of his penance.
For someone who is supposed to be sharp and who knows all the angles, Cole has a surprising amount of anger and gets himself into bad situations over and over again. Which I suppose was the point, because it's no fun to read about Mr. Average Joe who does everything right.
There is a minor antagonist who shows up from time to time, but he's less a true antagonist and more of a thorn in the side to Cole. His single beef is that Cole found something -- what, he doesn't know -- and he wants it. That's it.
This reminds me of the sci-fi paperbacks I used to read when I was a kid. If you bought a used book, it was fifty cents (twenty-five on sale days) and you could find a lot of good reading for a couple bucks. Not all of it was gold, but it was entertaining for a kid in a small town where nothing much happened.
The story chugs along as you would expect from a seasoned writer. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll read book 2. 5/5*
I'm sorry to disappoint, but they don't. The book is still worth reading, don't get me wrong. Cole is a renegade, someone who wants to live free of governments and rules. Except he got caught shipping drugs, and now he's living out his days finding salvage as part of his penance.
For someone who is supposed to be sharp and who knows all the angles, Cole has a surprising amount of anger and gets himself into bad situations over and over again. Which I suppose was the point, because it's no fun to read about Mr. Average Joe who does everything right.
There is a minor antagonist who shows up from time to time, but he's less a true antagonist and more of a thorn in the side to Cole. His single beef is that Cole found something -- what, he doesn't know -- and he wants it. That's it.
This reminds me of the sci-fi paperbacks I used to read when I was a kid. If you bought a used book, it was fifty cents (twenty-five on sale days) and you could find a lot of good reading for a couple bucks. Not all of it was gold, but it was entertaining for a kid in a small town where nothing much happened.
The story chugs along as you would expect from a seasoned writer. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll read book 2. 5/5*
October 4, 2023
No surprise given JN Chaney's prolific output, this is a wee bit formulaic and not that deep. But, that’s OK, I knew that going in. Sometimes a girl wants "popcorn" reading. 😉
3.5, rounded up to 4 because goshdarnit, it’s interesting enough and “light“ enough for me to want to read the next book in the series during a really busy stressful work week.
3.5, rounded up to 4 because goshdarnit, it’s interesting enough and “light“ enough for me to want to read the next book in the series during a really busy stressful work week.
April 20, 2023
Space Opera at it’s best! I so enjoyed reading this book that I’ve already purchased the second book in the series. Can you tell the first book left me wanting more? More Riker, more Gray, more Camila, more Deacon and yes, even more Barrick and Selina. Can’t wait to meet the ‘new’ bad guys since, well, I’m not going there with a spoiler, nope.
This book pulls you in from the beginning and is just plain filled with bad guys, shoot outs, chasing and getting away or getting caught. Our hero, Riker, is not Mr. SqueakyClean citizen but a parolee serving his sentence by sliprunning which is the gathering of Alien tech, equipment, scrap, whatever left over from the battles with the Celestials. With his trusty but rusty ship the Nebulous and engineer Deacon and the parole required AI whose job is to keep him from breaking anymore laws our hero heads out into space. One of the best parts of this book is the interactions between Riker and Poe, his AI, and just how their relationship develops. Yes, I did say AI, Artificial Intelligence.
I love space operas with their good guy vs. bad guy stories and all the shootouts which of course remind me of another favorite genre, Westerns, so, I couldn’t help but love this book.
I won this ebook in a First Reads giveaway. Thank you to the authors J.N. Chaney and M.F. Lerma.
This book pulls you in from the beginning and is just plain filled with bad guys, shoot outs, chasing and getting away or getting caught. Our hero, Riker, is not Mr. SqueakyClean citizen but a parolee serving his sentence by sliprunning which is the gathering of Alien tech, equipment, scrap, whatever left over from the battles with the Celestials. With his trusty but rusty ship the Nebulous and engineer Deacon and the parole required AI whose job is to keep him from breaking anymore laws our hero heads out into space. One of the best parts of this book is the interactions between Riker and Poe, his AI, and just how their relationship develops. Yes, I did say AI, Artificial Intelligence.
I love space operas with their good guy vs. bad guy stories and all the shootouts which of course remind me of another favorite genre, Westerns, so, I couldn’t help but love this book.
I won this ebook in a First Reads giveaway. Thank you to the authors J.N. Chaney and M.F. Lerma.
January 11, 2023
I read 2/3 of this book before I realized it's a sequel/spin-off to a 17 novel series. Which does explain why so much of the worldbuilding is spoken briefly as an aside or barely explored. But it did make it a bit more difficult to get into the story.
It's not the main issue I had with the story, though. My main issue is the pacing, particularly in the second half of the story. The first half is very enjoyable, building the world and characters more gradually by showing us their lives and thoughts and decisions. But the second half is a breakneck chase going from fight-scene to fight-scene, gathering new crew members without learning to get to know them. It's very disappointing.
Speaking of fight scenes, most of them are against nameless bruisers and goons, and aren't very exciting or interesting. A lot of them also have the bad habit of being resolved with a deus-ex-machina.
The villain of the book is very bad too. He's just an annoying guy with a habit of showing up to kidnap and beat up the protagonist for no good reason. He is also dispensed with just as unceremoniously as he shows up.
The last thing I have an issue with is the lack of cause of effect. A lot of time events just happen with no logical throughline of why they happen. Scenes occur and characters do stuff because the story needs it to move forward and not because it makes sense for them to do it. This isn't 100% of the novel, but it's frequent enough that it gets annoying.
Still, there're good things. Particularly in the first half, like I mentioned. I like the old-school sci-fi setting, combining a wild west frontier feel with futurism and space travel. I also think the characters have potential, though as of right now they're not all that well developed or unique. The setup for the next novel is also interesting, and if it weren't for the lackluster writing of this novel, I'd be jumping on to read it right now.
As it is, this novel is probably a 2.5, but I'm gonna be generous and give it 3 because I appreciate the author's clear devotion and work ethic.
It's not the main issue I had with the story, though. My main issue is the pacing, particularly in the second half of the story. The first half is very enjoyable, building the world and characters more gradually by showing us their lives and thoughts and decisions. But the second half is a breakneck chase going from fight-scene to fight-scene, gathering new crew members without learning to get to know them. It's very disappointing.
Speaking of fight scenes, most of them are against nameless bruisers and goons, and aren't very exciting or interesting. A lot of them also have the bad habit of being resolved with a deus-ex-machina.
The villain of the book is very bad too. He's just an annoying guy with a habit of showing up to kidnap and beat up the protagonist for no good reason. He is also dispensed with just as unceremoniously as he shows up.
The last thing I have an issue with is the lack of cause of effect. A lot of time events just happen with no logical throughline of why they happen. Scenes occur and characters do stuff because the story needs it to move forward and not because it makes sense for them to do it. This isn't 100% of the novel, but it's frequent enough that it gets annoying.
Still, there're good things. Particularly in the first half, like I mentioned. I like the old-school sci-fi setting, combining a wild west frontier feel with futurism and space travel. I also think the characters have potential, though as of right now they're not all that well developed or unique. The setup for the next novel is also interesting, and if it weren't for the lackluster writing of this novel, I'd be jumping on to read it right now.
As it is, this novel is probably a 2.5, but I'm gonna be generous and give it 3 because I appreciate the author's clear devotion and work ethic.
December 29, 2022
DNF at 15%
December 17, 2022
Brilliant. Go read this.
Loved it. Well written, great characters. If you are into this Genre, go get it. I am Very glad I did.
Loved it. Well written, great characters. If you are into this Genre, go get it. I am Very glad I did.
March 24, 2024
This is usually not the genre of book I typically read, but I totally enjoyed it. Very nicely narrated too.
January 29, 2023
I received this as a Goodreads Giveaway. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had known it was a spin-off of another series, the characters and war that were mentioned seemed like a piece of a puzzle that didn’t fit. The beginning had good character building but at the end people showed up out of the blue with no background. After learning of the prequel series maybe they were more characters from that series?
The “villain” was an annoying character who had an unsatisfying end.
I read this in one go and it was fun but seemed like a sequel to a story I had just read by Glynn Stewart. Maybe I’ll check out the prequel series & go back to this again later to see if my opinion changes.
The “villain” was an annoying character who had an unsatisfying end.
I read this in one go and it was fun but seemed like a sequel to a story I had just read by Glynn Stewart. Maybe I’ll check out the prequel series & go back to this again later to see if my opinion changes.
December 2, 2022
Gripping
Exciting, lots of loops and connections. Keeps you reading for the next action point. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Exciting, lots of loops and connections. Keeps you reading for the next action point. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
November 28, 2022
Don't take a slip
When you know how to live life it gives you some pleasure to enjoy life with the ones you love. What a great read.
When you know how to live life it gives you some pleasure to enjoy life with the ones you love. What a great read.
November 26, 2022
Enjoyed reading during Thanksgiving break!
Jn Chaney's new sci-fi universe has an enjoyable character group and good pacing on the character development and is a nice read!
Jn Chaney's new sci-fi universe has an enjoyable character group and good pacing on the character development and is a nice read!
November 10, 2022
A terrific storyline!!!
I wasn't even a bit disappointed with the story! Big smile, I enjoyed every moment of it. Like Renegade Star, it was impossible to put it down. Fortunately, Tropical Storm Nicole put in an appearance, so expectations for me to do some think productive disappeared. Now, i'll find myself doing those things while awaiting the next book!
I wasn't even a bit disappointed with the story! Big smile, I enjoyed every moment of it. Like Renegade Star, it was impossible to put it down. Fortunately, Tropical Storm Nicole put in an appearance, so expectations for me to do some think productive disappeared. Now, i'll find myself doing those things while awaiting the next book!
November 10, 2022
Not evero.he is bad
A fat read and fun I read it in a couple of days. A man with no parents take.s up being an outlaw in space. He was punished by the powers at the time a never ending job similar to slavery. It is about his escape and finally paroled.
A fat read and fun I read it in a couple of days. A man with no parents take.s up being an outlaw in space. He was punished by the powers at the time a never ending job similar to slavery. It is about his escape and finally paroled.
November 8, 2022
Loved it.
Been away from the Renegade universe for too long. This was a fun addition taking place 10 years after the Celestial War. Adventure and mayhem ensue. Liked the new character’s and it was good to see how some of the earlier characters have grown in the last 10 years.
Been away from the Renegade universe for too long. This was a fun addition taking place 10 years after the Celestial War. Adventure and mayhem ensue. Liked the new character’s and it was good to see how some of the earlier characters have grown in the last 10 years.
Read
November 9, 2022Very good!
I personally loved the renegade star series. So a new book series to be based in the same universe made me so happy!
The characters are really good, there's some old faces making a reappearance which is awesome. The action is solid, and the story is very intriguing.
Do yourself a favor and read it.
I personally loved the renegade star series. So a new book series to be based in the same universe made me so happy!
The characters are really good, there's some old faces making a reappearance which is awesome. The action is solid, and the story is very intriguing.
Do yourself a favor and read it.
November 9, 2022
I liked Riker but it took him the entire book to stop being a dick. But Poe, his AI, was even worse. I liked Grey most of all and Eckert the least, he was such a jerk.
No romance and the F-bomb was used 10 times.
As for the narration: Neill Thorne did a fantastic job on the voices and his emotions.
No romance and the F-bomb was used 10 times.
As for the narration: Neill Thorne did a fantastic job on the voices and his emotions.
November 8, 2022
Great Reboot
This is a great book for introducing the Renegade Universe as well as a reboot of a fantastic series. JN Chaney and Molly Lerma exceeded my expectations in creating a new series as riveting (maybe more) as the original. Looking forward to the upcoming stories
This is a great book for introducing the Renegade Universe as well as a reboot of a fantastic series. JN Chaney and Molly Lerma exceeded my expectations in creating a new series as riveting (maybe more) as the original. Looking forward to the upcoming stories
November 8, 2022
Good
A good start to the book series, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book released.
A good start to the book series, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book released.
November 4, 2022
Great new Chaney series that takes place just after the time frame of the Renegade series including some of the existing characters. Captain Cole Riker is a great new character and interacts well with his AI, Poe and the many other new characters. Well written and very engrossing right from the start. Can't wait for the next one!
December 31, 2022
Man, J. N. Chaney is one prolific writer. He has teamed up with so many other writers to bring more science fiction to my book library than any other author. Now he's teamed up with M. R. Lerma whom I've never read, but if this team are as good are this first book in the Slip Runner series, then I'm going to enjoy reading everyone they write.
This is not a military sci-fi book which I normally prefer, but still it's about a guy who had done something wrong, but isn't really a bad guy. His name is Cole Riker who is 26 when he starts his prison sentence. This one time, he was a drug runner transporting something called Fade, a lot of Fade. He got caught and now was going to have to face some heavy prison time. He had been caught by Alliance forces which was better than having been caught by the Union or the Sarkon Empire. The Alliance was a combination of the Union and the Sarkon Empire and a band of Renegades from Earth led by Jace Hughes. Jace had managed to broker a treaty or an alliance between the Union, the Sakon Empire and his Renegades established on old Earth. This Alliance stood together against the Celestials in a war that killed millions. Cole Riker was a Renegade, but certainly not Jace Hughes.
Surprisingly, Riker wasn't going to spend the rest of his years on a penal colony or securely looked behind bars. No, he got a notice one day after his incarceration that he had a visitor. His name was L. Rigby and he made Cole and offer he couldn't really refuse. During the war, there had been a lot of destruction by both sides. It had occurred in space and on various planets and now was just junk either falling on planets or making navigation in space very hazardous. Additionally, the "junk" the Celestials had left behind were some high tech stuff that the new Alliance could put to good use. Slip Runners were paid by the amount of junk they collected and turned into depots for processing. If they found and tuned in Celestial tech, they found themselves very rich. But, the chances of that happening weren't great since most everything by now had been picked over.
This is where Riker gets his offer. He's going to become a Slip Runner for at least the next five years picking up space junk where they tell him and turning it in like he's supposed to do. He'll have a quota to meet and every time he does his sentence gets shorter. Not meeting his quota gets his sentence lengthened and if he's not productive at all, he'll go to a penal colony to break rocks! Cole Riker likes space and doesn't like being cooped up. So, of course he'll take the offer. They'll even give him back his family transporter, the Nebulous, simply because it wasn't worth much and no one wanted it or even to take the time to get it scrapped. Still, the Nebuluos, was his and that's what the would do his Slip Runner job in for the next 5 to 6 years, maybe!
Five years later, we find that Cole Riker has been making headway on getting his sentence completed. Meantime, he's taken on a crew member by the name of Deacon Smith. Deacon isn't a criminal and he's kind of required for anyone hauling Celestial junk since he's an engineer and an assessor. He can tell what's Celestial and what's not. He gets paid a percentage and the Alliance had to approve his hiring. After four years together, they had been getting along pretty well. Still, there was one other arrangement that Cole Riker was not happy with. His ship-board AI was an advanced AI installed by the Alliance to monitor his every action. This AI (POE69 - Parole Office Enforcer 69) or POE for short, was a strictly by-the-book, no nonsense, egotistical non-human entity that Cole Riker hated, but had to tolerate. He could command it do certain things, but in matters pertaining to Riker's sentence, the AI was the judge. The two had been bickering for the past four years!
So, where is this story going. Well, Riker gets some information that a new sector is opening up that hasn't been cleared. There could be prime Celestial junk or even technology floating around in space near this planet or even on the planet itself. Riker needed to find a way to get in on this new sector from the start. The Alliance granted some Slip Runners a weeks head-start in exploring the area if they had the right connections. Riker didn't have anywhere near those kind of connections, but then his Parole Officer changed. His new Parole Officer or Liaison Officer, as she preferred, was one Camilla Abernathy. And she was different! She actually treated Cole Riker like he was somebody and not just another criminal. Still, she didn't cut him any slack, but she had connections, lots of connections, all the way back to Jace Hughes!
So, Riker eventually gets permission to access a sector of space not cleaned up in anyway. He realizes that with luck and the right collection of junk and more along the lines of Celestial tech, he could get his sentence greatly reduced or terminated. Only things didn't turn out so well at first. He has a competitor in this business named Silas Eckert. Some how Mr. Eckert, who was also a criminal, but he had competed his sentence, was always tracking Riker and managed to take some of the same junk Riker was after a lot of times. But, this time that wasn't going to happen since Riker didn't figure Eckert new about this new sector. Things were looking up for Cole Riker, but the planet they were assigned to collect stuff from some how shut down the Nebulous just as they were trying to land. Some kind of signal was coming from the planet and it shouldn't be there. So, the had to find its source and shut it down. That was something they could do until they found the alien!
Ok, so this is a great start to what appears to be a very interesting new series. I'm definitely going to be reading the rest of the books in the series starting with book 2, "Dark Peace". It's already on my reading list for 2023. I suggest you read along with me. Have a Happy New Year!
This is not a military sci-fi book which I normally prefer, but still it's about a guy who had done something wrong, but isn't really a bad guy. His name is Cole Riker who is 26 when he starts his prison sentence. This one time, he was a drug runner transporting something called Fade, a lot of Fade. He got caught and now was going to have to face some heavy prison time. He had been caught by Alliance forces which was better than having been caught by the Union or the Sarkon Empire. The Alliance was a combination of the Union and the Sarkon Empire and a band of Renegades from Earth led by Jace Hughes. Jace had managed to broker a treaty or an alliance between the Union, the Sakon Empire and his Renegades established on old Earth. This Alliance stood together against the Celestials in a war that killed millions. Cole Riker was a Renegade, but certainly not Jace Hughes.
Surprisingly, Riker wasn't going to spend the rest of his years on a penal colony or securely looked behind bars. No, he got a notice one day after his incarceration that he had a visitor. His name was L. Rigby and he made Cole and offer he couldn't really refuse. During the war, there had been a lot of destruction by both sides. It had occurred in space and on various planets and now was just junk either falling on planets or making navigation in space very hazardous. Additionally, the "junk" the Celestials had left behind were some high tech stuff that the new Alliance could put to good use. Slip Runners were paid by the amount of junk they collected and turned into depots for processing. If they found and tuned in Celestial tech, they found themselves very rich. But, the chances of that happening weren't great since most everything by now had been picked over.
This is where Riker gets his offer. He's going to become a Slip Runner for at least the next five years picking up space junk where they tell him and turning it in like he's supposed to do. He'll have a quota to meet and every time he does his sentence gets shorter. Not meeting his quota gets his sentence lengthened and if he's not productive at all, he'll go to a penal colony to break rocks! Cole Riker likes space and doesn't like being cooped up. So, of course he'll take the offer. They'll even give him back his family transporter, the Nebulous, simply because it wasn't worth much and no one wanted it or even to take the time to get it scrapped. Still, the Nebuluos, was his and that's what the would do his Slip Runner job in for the next 5 to 6 years, maybe!
Five years later, we find that Cole Riker has been making headway on getting his sentence completed. Meantime, he's taken on a crew member by the name of Deacon Smith. Deacon isn't a criminal and he's kind of required for anyone hauling Celestial junk since he's an engineer and an assessor. He can tell what's Celestial and what's not. He gets paid a percentage and the Alliance had to approve his hiring. After four years together, they had been getting along pretty well. Still, there was one other arrangement that Cole Riker was not happy with. His ship-board AI was an advanced AI installed by the Alliance to monitor his every action. This AI (POE69 - Parole Office Enforcer 69) or POE for short, was a strictly by-the-book, no nonsense, egotistical non-human entity that Cole Riker hated, but had to tolerate. He could command it do certain things, but in matters pertaining to Riker's sentence, the AI was the judge. The two had been bickering for the past four years!
So, where is this story going. Well, Riker gets some information that a new sector is opening up that hasn't been cleared. There could be prime Celestial junk or even technology floating around in space near this planet or even on the planet itself. Riker needed to find a way to get in on this new sector from the start. The Alliance granted some Slip Runners a weeks head-start in exploring the area if they had the right connections. Riker didn't have anywhere near those kind of connections, but then his Parole Officer changed. His new Parole Officer or Liaison Officer, as she preferred, was one Camilla Abernathy. And she was different! She actually treated Cole Riker like he was somebody and not just another criminal. Still, she didn't cut him any slack, but she had connections, lots of connections, all the way back to Jace Hughes!
So, Riker eventually gets permission to access a sector of space not cleaned up in anyway. He realizes that with luck and the right collection of junk and more along the lines of Celestial tech, he could get his sentence greatly reduced or terminated. Only things didn't turn out so well at first. He has a competitor in this business named Silas Eckert. Some how Mr. Eckert, who was also a criminal, but he had competed his sentence, was always tracking Riker and managed to take some of the same junk Riker was after a lot of times. But, this time that wasn't going to happen since Riker didn't figure Eckert new about this new sector. Things were looking up for Cole Riker, but the planet they were assigned to collect stuff from some how shut down the Nebulous just as they were trying to land. Some kind of signal was coming from the planet and it shouldn't be there. So, the had to find its source and shut it down. That was something they could do until they found the alien!
Ok, so this is a great start to what appears to be a very interesting new series. I'm definitely going to be reading the rest of the books in the series starting with book 2, "Dark Peace". It's already on my reading list for 2023. I suggest you read along with me. Have a Happy New Year!
November 4, 2022
awesome read!
Once I started I didn’t want to put it down. If you liked the renegade series then you’ll love this book!
Once I started I didn’t want to put it down. If you liked the renegade series then you’ll love this book!
November 1, 2022
JN Chaney and MF Lerma have an outstanding series started with Slip runner
With tenuous ties to the original Renegade series this takes us on a wild ride with a new renegade hero! Follow along as he builds a new crew to evade capture and grow into the leader he is meant to be
Outstanding read.
With tenuous ties to the original Renegade series this takes us on a wild ride with a new renegade hero! Follow along as he builds a new crew to evade capture and grow into the leader he is meant to be
Outstanding read.
October 31, 2022
Great sci fi adventure
I have not read the Renegade series, but I think that will have to change. Cole and his crew (especially Poe and Gray) are wonderful. Yes, there's a body count, but some characters were evil and stupid. I'm looking forward to the group's continuing adventures in Dark Peace.
I have not read the Renegade series, but I think that will have to change. Cole and his crew (especially Poe and Gray) are wonderful. Yes, there's a body count, but some characters were evil and stupid. I'm looking forward to the group's continuing adventures in Dark Peace.
February 18, 2023
This is a story about a FedEx space driver that is on parole and a crap ton of expose of bragging for being a YA.
Its boring AF and no interesting story
Its boring AF and no interesting story
March 10, 2023
Very good story
Humor, action, friends, enemies, everything needed for a good story. The story has a hint of Heinlein, and Paol Anderson. Now all we need is an Azimov robot.
Humor, action, friends, enemies, everything needed for a good story. The story has a hint of Heinlein, and Paol Anderson. Now all we need is an Azimov robot.
March 1, 2023
Book #: 23
Title: Slip Runner
Author: J.N. Chaney
Series: Slip Runner #1
Format: Kindle Edition, 327 pages, Goodreads win, SF
Pub Date: Published October 30th 2022 by Variant Publications
Started: 12/30/22 Ended: 3/1/23
Awards: none
Categories: First Book in a Series
Rating: *** three out of five stars
Cole Riker is a slip runner, a contractor who collects alien salvage, and turns it in for credits, hoping that some piece of technology abandoned by the Galatics, a star-faring race that disappeared eons ago, can be reverse engineered and make everyone rich. But as a convicted smuggler, he's now forced to work for the government, going on riskier assignments for possibly more valuable prizes. No one mentioned the possibility of finding an actual Galactic in suspended animation. Or what do to when his presence activated the machinery into waking him up!
It took me two months to read because it was so-so and I just couldn't get into it. I don't like Cole Riker. I read it mostly in bed after reading the news. It's the first of a series, I won't be bothering with the rest.
Title: Slip Runner
Author: J.N. Chaney
Series: Slip Runner #1
Format: Kindle Edition, 327 pages, Goodreads win, SF
Pub Date: Published October 30th 2022 by Variant Publications
Started: 12/30/22 Ended: 3/1/23
Awards: none
Categories: First Book in a Series
Rating: *** three out of five stars
Cole Riker is a slip runner, a contractor who collects alien salvage, and turns it in for credits, hoping that some piece of technology abandoned by the Galatics, a star-faring race that disappeared eons ago, can be reverse engineered and make everyone rich. But as a convicted smuggler, he's now forced to work for the government, going on riskier assignments for possibly more valuable prizes. No one mentioned the possibility of finding an actual Galactic in suspended animation. Or what do to when his presence activated the machinery into waking him up!
It took me two months to read because it was so-so and I just couldn't get into it. I don't like Cole Riker. I read it mostly in bed after reading the news. It's the first of a series, I won't be bothering with the rest.
May 21, 2023
I don't recommend this book. My two biggest issues:
1) None of the action was described well. If you're reading about a space battle, you want to feel the action and energy of it, and this book was SO far away from that. The battles honestly didn't even feel well thought-out; the pacing and descriptions of where everything was in relation to each other didn't really make sense. This lack of good description extended beyond just the action scenes, too: there were "stations" the characters visited where it was never even made clear if it was a station on a planet with atmosphere, a station on a airless moon, or an orbital station. If you want a good sci-fi novel with action scenes that feel real and authentic, I recommend the Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepard instead.
2) The main character kind of sucked. It was so clear that the authors thought he was a really cool action hero, with quippy comebacks and always reluctantly doing the right thing, but for me at least the "quips" all fell flat--they felt like what a thirteen-year-old would write. So, instead of being "cool", the main character just felt like a jerk, and was not fun to read about.
1) None of the action was described well. If you're reading about a space battle, you want to feel the action and energy of it, and this book was SO far away from that. The battles honestly didn't even feel well thought-out; the pacing and descriptions of where everything was in relation to each other didn't really make sense. This lack of good description extended beyond just the action scenes, too: there were "stations" the characters visited where it was never even made clear if it was a station on a planet with atmosphere, a station on a airless moon, or an orbital station. If you want a good sci-fi novel with action scenes that feel real and authentic, I recommend the Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepard instead.
2) The main character kind of sucked. It was so clear that the authors thought he was a really cool action hero, with quippy comebacks and always reluctantly doing the right thing, but for me at least the "quips" all fell flat--they felt like what a thirteen-year-old would write. So, instead of being "cool", the main character just felt like a jerk, and was not fun to read about.
February 27, 2023
I came to this book without going through any books in the Renegade series. With that in mind I was not familiar with the background of the world at the time, but it is not needed to enjoy the book. We have a story of an individual who was caught shipping illegal material and given a "second chance" to go out and find material left over from a battle with a group they call "celestials". Cole Riker is on a ship with a snarky AI who is "kind of" his parole office, although he does get one of those as well.
This basically turned into a story of him finding an alien, who they call Grey, who has some super human abilities, like phasing, and they combat others to keep the alien safe and avoid harm. Eventually they succeed and are given a special task to find the home planet of the alien and that is where the book ends. By and large an ok story that I did enjoy.
This basically turned into a story of him finding an alien, who they call Grey, who has some super human abilities, like phasing, and they combat others to keep the alien safe and avoid harm. Eventually they succeed and are given a special task to find the home planet of the alien and that is where the book ends. By and large an ok story that I did enjoy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2023
Like all of Chaney's books that I've read, this is a fast-paced space opera with swashbuckling characters, lots of chase scenes (read: running from the law), and aliens.
Cole is a renegade, someone who wants to live free of governments and rules. Except he got caught shipping drugs, and now he's living out his days finding salvage as part of his penance.
He's got an annoying AI on board his ship, an engineer (who honestly doesn't play a big part in the plot) and a new parole officer - a woman who believes in second chances. And, you guessed it, Cole is her second-chance project.
When Cole and his crew encounter an unknown alien trapped inside a cave on an uninhabited planet, they - predictably - free him, and things go from bad to worse after that.
The book is enjoyable, the characters have depth, and Cole's character arc takes him through some proper growth.
Cole is a renegade, someone who wants to live free of governments and rules. Except he got caught shipping drugs, and now he's living out his days finding salvage as part of his penance.
He's got an annoying AI on board his ship, an engineer (who honestly doesn't play a big part in the plot) and a new parole officer - a woman who believes in second chances. And, you guessed it, Cole is her second-chance project.
When Cole and his crew encounter an unknown alien trapped inside a cave on an uninhabited planet, they - predictably - free him, and things go from bad to worse after that.
The book is enjoyable, the characters have depth, and Cole's character arc takes him through some proper growth.
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