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Androne

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Humanity’s new war is an enigma with an enemy threat beyond all imagination in this near-future novel of mind-blowing adventure where the fate of mankind rests in the choices of one ordinary soldier.

In one terrifying event called the Ninety-Nine, all major military installations on earth were eviscerated. But by whom? Foreign powers, AIs, ETs? Every conceivable adversary was ruled out. Reeling from massive casualties and amid hundreds of conspiracy theories, humanity creates Andrones: bipedal android drones piloted remotely by soldiers who will never again need to be on the field of battle. Newly minted Androne pilot Sergeant Paxton Arés has now been deployed into a fight against an enemy no one understands or has ever seen.

Passing mostly uneventful days patrolling an unidentified desert, Paxton spends time communicating with his pregnant girlfriend back home and reflecting on his impending fatherhood. But as he is drawn deeper into military camaraderie and begins quickly rising up the ranks on the strength of his father’s military legacy, Paxton starts to question the swirling rumors about the nature of the conflict. What he’s encountered in the shifting dunes—something inexplicable, indomitable—fills him with the fear that whatever is out there is destined to win.

Whether it’s curiosity, ambition, or a newfound paternal instinct, Paxton has a driving need to understand the dangerous truths of this strange, invisible war. And the choices he must make have the power to change everything.

329 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2023

2421 people are currently reading
4552 people want to read

About the author

Dwain Worrell

3 books70 followers
Dwain Worrell is a filmmaker, Chinese interpreter, and novelist.

The Barbadian native now works as a film and television writer and producer in Los Angeles. His writing credits include Marvel’s Iron Fist, CBS’s Fire Country, and the Disney+ series National Treasure, among others.

For more information please visit www.dwainworrell.com

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5 stars
1,140 (32%)
4 stars
1,296 (36%)
3 stars
783 (22%)
2 stars
225 (6%)
1 star
89 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews
Profile Image for Tom.
509 reviews20 followers
April 15, 2024
"Future vs Now" war is a terrific concept but too many plot holes to ignore/forgive. Why would such a war start in the first place? Read through to the end to find out but never got an answer. Very illogical. Characters do things without reason, or worse, make completely illogical/inane choices, just to keep the story afloat for a bit longer. There's even a moment where the author is admitting to this, in a scene where the character mentions things feeling like "a movie twist to keep the audience guessing." And then, just then, before revealing important news, we're distracted by a phone call.

Which brings up an unforgivable issue with this book. That scene is during a military debriefing, wherein a colonel is about to make an important reveal to our (lower ranking) hero. But the hero is interrupted by a call to his personal phone and says, "Sorry, I have to get this."

BULLSHIT.

There is no world, future or imaginary, where a colonel would allow such insubordination, regardless of "nepotistic ties" (the colonel is the hero's godfather). In fact, the entire military structure in the novel is so superficial and loose -the author seems to base it upon what he's learned from watching random movies or TV shows. There is no military discipline, no structure, no training, no chain of command. People get "promoted" from sergeant to lieutenant by putting in "office hours." Barracks mix male and female, and seem to operate like preteen summer camps. Soldiers walk around with weapons loaded for no good reason. Non commissioned officers and enlisted personnel salute each other. Million (billion?) dollar units of military equipment are allowed to be used (misused) with zero oversight and accountability. This lack of research (or care?) for military culture; especially for a book purportedly set in a military environment... I find it offensive.

And setting aside the military and science errors - even simple logistical errors here are hard to ignore. Why would this administration not simply debrief their billion dollar android pilots after each patrol? Why would they need to build isolated, secured, individual chambers to control these androids? Why would they not have all pilots in a monitored facility, where they are in direct contact with superiors, and each other? Especially when they are searching for a potential traitor?

So frustrating. However, I did read through to the end. But that might be more of a "me" problem than anything to do with the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Monica.
711 reviews293 followers
October 26, 2023
Excellent! This is a fast paced, sci-fi novel with complex characters and world problems to solve!

After several unexpected twists to this story, it ends on a true cliff hanger. I'm excited to see where this is heading next! Recommend for any Andy Weir fans.
5 reviews
October 24, 2023
I forced myself to read this book through to the end in the hope that there would be some explanation for all of the ridiculous plot holes, but alas it was not to be.

This book really strains credulity more than a badly scripted horror movie where the actors do exactly the wrong thing every time.

We are being asked to believe that:

1. in a future where we can entangle photons, we have designed war machine pods which do NOT record and relay inputs and outputs to an external system (i.e. the pilot is the only one who can ever know what is going on with its machine);

2. after being told that pilots take regular breaks during their 12-hour shifts for food and toilet breaks, all mention of this then disappears and Ares is somehow going through 12 hour shifts without anyone wondering why he never takes a break from walking in a sandbox;

3. when they finally find out that the culprit is an injured Spartan, they decide NOT to just log into every single Spartan (with only about a hundred said to be active) to check its physical status (oh, and yeah apparently physical status is not related to the base?);

4. Bella was a spy designed to identify the collaborator and yet after fighting the Spartan and clearly recognising it (in her first fight) she decides to mislead everyone and the reason why is never explained;

5.the pods are apparently made out of 5-feet wide chromium and designed to be locked from the inside, but no reason is given for this absurd design, other than it helps ensure that Ares gets about an hour or more of peace whilst an entire army is trying to get into his flimsy pod - seriously it's more secure than a bank vault?!);

6. with literally hundreds of andrones and furies having had eyes ON the Spartan, not one of them could identify the serial number;

7. it goes on and on...

The author resorts to lazy nepotism to explain away all of this nonsense, as if that somehow made it less egregious, but it does not.

It was an interesting idea but the setting was made so incredible (in the true sense of the word) that it absolutely ruined any hope of immersion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
8 reviews
July 5, 2023
ARC REVIEW
Androne is great science fiction action thriller. Lots of genres there and it blends them very well. No spoilers but there are 3 great twists in the novel, each one building on top of the other. And it’s the twists that did it for me. Definitely a page turner and definitely recommend.
Profile Image for Carl.
123 reviews2 followers
August 3, 2023
Interesting (if flawed) concept - engrossing read.
Profile Image for Ian.
502 reviews149 followers
Read
August 8, 2023
DNF after the prologue.
Life's too short.
3 reviews2 followers
August 6, 2023
Very fun read and keeps you interested

I really enjoyed the story. It took a little while to get going and was overly descriptive in parts that made it distracting but overall was still interesting and kept you wanting to know more throughout the book.
Profile Image for Tifni Dockter.
141 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2023
Amazing

What a way this man has with words. Written like poetry at times, could have highlighted a thousand passages. Checked every box of sci fi, time travel, war, character, detail, and heart. A unique and inspiring novel about past, present, and future. If anyone is a fan of reading a novel outside of the rhythm and flow of most authors interpretations....and enjoys a mind bending in depth story about the things we do today affect the future of tomorrow. Read this young man's book. Loved every page. Can't wait to read more from Dwain Worrell. Keep them coming.
1 review1 follower
August 3, 2023
Wow! I read this in 3 days with limited reading. Could not put it down. Such a good writing style, pulls you right into this world with a really interesting concept. The plot twists are great, I get really annoyed when I can see the plot twist from a mile away, this book was not like that. It had me on the edge of my seat! I loved the characters and the ending was heartfelt and intense. Cannot wait for more from the Author!
27 reviews
August 10, 2023
A Marvel movie in printed form.

The plot and the premise are interesting but the writing is laden with indecipherable metaphors and the action repeatedly relies on feats that defy the laws of both physics and physiology. It reminds me very much of a Marvel action movie in that believability is routinely sacrificed, logic is stretched beyond the breaking point, in order to advance the plot or provide a griping action sequence.
46 reviews
August 16, 2023
History Always repeats

If history always repeats itself; then what happens to the future. In a world faced with new emerging AI, what happens to the worlds they can build? Is our future already being built with new technologies? The wars that are fought with these technologies can have consequences for the soldiers of the future? Take a look at at some of those soldiers and see what they see. Thought provoking.
39 reviews
August 6, 2023
Interesting sci-fi with a compelling and interesting premise.
Profile Image for Sophia.
Author 5 books399 followers
November 26, 2023
With Artificial Intelligence being something of a hot button across global industries, a futuristic military thriller with AI as a prime element caught my interest. I was also eager to give a new to me author’s debut effort a go.

Androne doesn’t leap out of the gate and takes a bit to get going. I also found the writing style… hmm, wordy? Dense? Well, it was tough to get used to.

I didn’t mind the pacing because, personally, I like to get well settled into a complex sci-fi world before racing off to fight the bad guys. It eventually got moving and the pace was feverish at times. There were moments when the plot hit some stunning twists and I do have to say right now that a true cliffhanger awaits readers. But, good news, this is a duology so the cliffhanger won’t be repeated in the next book.

Character and relationship development was moderate. In this action-based sort of sci-fi, I don’t need to poke into every crevice of a character so the amount of backstory worked for me.

However, this is a military sci-fi and the characters are mostly military. This is where I started to ticky-tack about small things that distracted me. I’ll warn others who maybe, like me, grew up around a military base and military personnel that you’ll need to let a lot of little things go for the sake of enjoying a fictional tale. Some of the plot pushed my fiction-loving credulity too far like things related to what a human is actually capable of- again, it’s make believe so I plowed ahead envious of the endurance of these people.

But argh, those dumb decisions on the part of the leadership and the main characters- those had me shaking my head. Yeah, things like that escalated the suspense, but got me frustrated too.

That said, the bones of this plot were sizzling with exciting and suspenseful action. My heart raced a few times and I didn’t want to set the book down when in the moment.

All in all, it was a decent start with a few iffy things. Sci-fi fans who like to see battle action and military intrigue in their stories will enjoy this most.

I rec'd a finished print copy via publisher and marketing to read in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post at That's What I'm Talking About Nov 16th.
Profile Image for Linda Galella.
1,043 reviews103 followers
October 29, 2023
Argh! If I hadn’t won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway, I wouldn’t have finished reading it. As it is, it took me 13 days to finish what would normally take a few hours…

“Androne”, by Dwain Worrell, is dystopian science fiction. It’s also a slog to read, imho. The world building is boring! Too much drawn out description and too much repetition that’s coupled with a lot of sand makes for a dry read on multiple levels. The only people who will be thrilled about that aspect will be the set designers, if this ends up being an Amazon Video production, and/or the very techie most SciFi nerds.

Author, Worrell, does write well, from a nuts & bolts perspective; good grammar, spelling, etc. Unfortunately, I didn’t care about any of the characters and the plot belongs in a Swiss cheese factory. If Worrell was counting on volume 2 for filling in the blanks, it wasn’t a good plan📚
4 reviews1 follower
September 8, 2023
Time well spent reading this story!

I ran across this book after seeing it on a list of books I may be interested in. I don't generally select those titles as I've had mixed results.
I read this book in two days. The story was just the kind of tale I enjoy. The author kept the threads, twists and turns and overall flow moving at a great pace. Sometimes SF books can be overwhelmed with technical jargon that makes your hair hurt trying to follow along. Androne is not one of those stories. Once you start reading it just flows. Would make a great movie.
Already pre-ordered the second one
Note: I rarely take the time to review a book, but believe this one was worth the effort.
Profile Image for Kay .
730 reviews6 followers
September 26, 2023
I have to give this 2 stars for it was okay. I was attracted to this story because of the drones and AI theme. The central mystery is - at one time all of the Earth's militaries are destroyed. The main character is a soldier's soldier from a family of soldiers driven to find out what's going on. There's so much testosterone brimming from the main character that I appreciated when later in this story some strong female characters were emphasized. Still, this all felt awkward to me. This is the first of a two part story. Although there was an end, it definitely implied that more was to come. I certainly don't want to detract from the surprises in this story. I will say that I found the plot more interesting than the characters.
Author 2 books2 followers
August 18, 2023
Made no sense, poorly written

The characters were inconsistent, there were so many plot holes. Grammatical errors galore. And the worst part of the whole book was that it was incredibly boring. Also, I'm fairly certain stories about a war with the future have already been done (and better), so this particular story didn't really add anything new or interesting to the science fiction genre. Hackneyed and lacking sums it up.
32 reviews1 follower
August 20, 2023
Wow!

I have always admired the imagination of science fiction writers, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. Maintaining the gripping flow through an intricate storyline was impressive, as was the descriptive ability that held my attention during fight sequences - something that no one has been able to do before. I hope there is a follow-up!

1 review1 follower
August 11, 2023
ANDRONE WAS THE BEST SCI FI I HAVE READ IN YEARS!

I absolutely could not put Androne down. I read it all in one night. Wish I could read the next book. I'm sure it will be great also.
4 reviews1 follower
August 14, 2023
Great story!

This was such a good read. It was fast paced, imaginative, and exciting. Will be on the lookout for more from the author. Thanks for a great adventure!
3 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2023
Unputdownable

An incredible offering. I had to pace myself to stop from reading it all at once. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in this series!
Profile Image for Alex.
34 reviews
August 20, 2023
Compulsive reading...

...though it doesn't really make any sense when you think about it for more than a few seconds lol.

Enjoyable sci-fi fantasy (with the emphasis on fantasy).
Profile Image for L.G..
1,036 reviews20 followers
January 13, 2024
Rating: 3 stars

This was an interesting premise. A sequel (Alliance) is listed with a June 2024 release date. It's difficult to write a review without spoilers. The "reveals" in the plot are complicated, but I found that hanging in there was worthwhile.
 
In one terrifying event called the Ninety-Nine, all major military installations on earth were eviscerated. But by whom? Foreign powers, AIs, ETs? Every conceivable adversary was ruled out. Reeling from massive casualties and amid hundreds of conspiracy theories, humanity creates Andrones: bipedal android drones piloted remotely by soldiers who will never again need to be on the field of battle. Newly minted Androne pilot Sergeant Paxton Arés has now been deployed into a fight against an enemy no one understands or has ever seen.
Profile Image for Diana.
214 reviews4 followers
June 25, 2025
Interesting concept and well paced for me but held back a star because I didn't dive in super hard on this one. It wasn't a time eater - meaning I didn't lose hours because I was so immersed I lost track of time. Also, not sure the lack of sleep, food, showers and bathroom breaks were realistic- couldn't even assume it was left out because several times it's mentioned how depleted and rough looking they are.
Found the characters well thought out to the atmosphere it's set in. Absolutely considering purchasing the 2nd book.
Profile Image for A.davis.
38 reviews1 follower
August 26, 2023
Great sci-fi story!

I picked this up on the First Reads list. I was intrigued by the idea of Amercan society fighting a war against a secret enemy. I liked the Main Character Paxton. His inner monolog was relatable.
The reveal happens fairly early, and left me with more questions. I was delighted to be so suprised. I read alot, and this concept was a fresh take.
The fighting scenes were fun.
I will find more Dwain Worrell books to enjoy.
4 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2023
Riveting

A drone is a disjointed, convoluted, totally engrossing novel about how technology and human emotions intertwine and conflict to produce the future. It is a story that will keep you guessing and reading every page.
Profile Image for Patty.
46 reviews
November 4, 2023
Thrilling!

A roadtrip in a armored robotic that twists, turns and tosses the minds eye all over the place. All the characters will grow on you! There is grit but also love and tenderness …..
Profile Image for Savannah Reads.
123 reviews3 followers
May 5, 2025
This was actually SO GOOD with some of the best descriptive writing I have ever read I didn’t guess a single plot twist before it happened and the ending had me yelling wtf. Definitely recommend if anyone’s in need of a sci fi read/audiobook
Profile Image for Owen.
158 reviews
June 14, 2024
Wow - the first word which comes to mind when I think of Androne, almost 12 hours after finishing reading - I cannot fathom how intricate and beautifully crafted a world Worrell has created, especially in his debut novel.
When I was first introduced to Sergeant Paxton Ares, I immediately knew I was onto a winner. What I didn’t expect was for him to become arguably my favourite book character - his mannerisms, reactions and down to earth humanity in a world where it was sorely lacking made him instantly loveable and I was actively praying for his success the entire time.
Whilst there is so much I still want to say, the book is heavily reliant on its twists and is thus infused with spoilers throughout, preventing me from delving too much into the details at the risk of spoiling it for future readers.
What I will say is that it’s one of the most uniquely told stories that I have ever had the pleasure of reading - everything that happens serves a bigger purpose, all of my favourite themes are present and it culminates in such a bittersweet way that I felt a part of me missing once I turned the final page. I have grown such an attachment to Paxton and his comrades that I cannot wait to read more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews

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