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Doom Star #3
Battle Pod
The war of extinction enters a horrifying new round as the cyborgs arrive from the Neptune System, in this, the third book of the series.
The Highborn are remorselessly crushing the obsolete Homo sapiens. Gambling with humanity’s existence, Supreme Commander James Hawthorne attempts to lure the dreaded Doom Stars into a trap. Social Unity’s combined Battlefleet is the bait. The cyborgs are Hawthorne’s secret weapon.
Unfortunately, for Marten Kluge, a vast space battle threatens to take place around Mars. And that is exactly where he and Omi need to go to refuel their stolen shuttle. To reach the Jupiter System, they will need more than luck and Marten’s stubbornness.
BATTLE POD is the story of long-range beams, stealth-capsules and survival of the fittest in a techno-battle hell.
The Highborn are remorselessly crushing the obsolete Homo sapiens. Gambling with humanity’s existence, Supreme Commander James Hawthorne attempts to lure the dreaded Doom Stars into a trap. Social Unity’s combined Battlefleet is the bait. The cyborgs are Hawthorne’s secret weapon.
Unfortunately, for Marten Kluge, a vast space battle threatens to take place around Mars. And that is exactly where he and Omi need to go to refuel their stolen shuttle. To reach the Jupiter System, they will need more than luck and Marten’s stubbornness.
BATTLE POD is the story of long-range beams, stealth-capsules and survival of the fittest in a techno-battle hell.
329 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2010
164 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Vaughn Heppner
147 books569 followersYou can visit Vaughn at www.vaughnheppner.com
I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine.
I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.
I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine.
I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 1, 2020
Well written, as he usually does. The continuing story has enough characters being included in this serial to hold your attention from book to book so there are new personalities to figure out.
This series has a good blend of new, and familiar characters so that the action of these people keeps you on their trail.
This series has a good blend of new, and familiar characters so that the action of these people keeps you on their trail.
July 29, 2020
Another great SciFi
November 25, 2010
The Doom Star series of books are one of the best sci-fi book series I've read in a very long time!
They're set in the distant future where Earth and most of the inner planets in our solar system are ruled by the communist Social Unity, who brutally repress their subjects. The main character, Martin Kluge, starts the first book by escaping the Sun Works Factory, an enormous space station ringing Mercury. He flees to Earth where most people live in giant cities buried miles deep into the ground.
As bad as things are under the Social Unity rule, they could get worse, and very quickly they do. The SU rulers had previously created a genetically enhanced super race called thr Highborn, designed to be their army and fight their wars for them. Unfortunately for the SU, the Highborn rebelled and attached the SU and an interplanetary war began.
If they SU were the worst sort of communists, the Highborn took more or less the opposite approach, admiring the Nazis of 20th century Earth, emulating the German assumption that they were of a superior race. Genetically speaking, the Highborn were right, being bigger, stronger, and smarter than normal humans.
Kluge hasn't been getting along very well on Earth and when the Highborn attack it first helps save his life. He soon finds himself drafted into a human army fighting on the Highborn side of the war, but between the Nazi-like Highborn and communist Social Unity, neither side are the "good guys". Kluge wishes nothing more than to find another option, possibly on Mars, home to a group of humans who have rebelled against SU but have not (yet) fallen to the Highborn, or maybe to the outer planets where there are rumors of free humans remaining...
Having finished books one through three very quickly, I cannot wait for book four to be released.
They're set in the distant future where Earth and most of the inner planets in our solar system are ruled by the communist Social Unity, who brutally repress their subjects. The main character, Martin Kluge, starts the first book by escaping the Sun Works Factory, an enormous space station ringing Mercury. He flees to Earth where most people live in giant cities buried miles deep into the ground.
As bad as things are under the Social Unity rule, they could get worse, and very quickly they do. The SU rulers had previously created a genetically enhanced super race called thr Highborn, designed to be their army and fight their wars for them. Unfortunately for the SU, the Highborn rebelled and attached the SU and an interplanetary war began.
If they SU were the worst sort of communists, the Highborn took more or less the opposite approach, admiring the Nazis of 20th century Earth, emulating the German assumption that they were of a superior race. Genetically speaking, the Highborn were right, being bigger, stronger, and smarter than normal humans.
Kluge hasn't been getting along very well on Earth and when the Highborn attack it first helps save his life. He soon finds himself drafted into a human army fighting on the Highborn side of the war, but between the Nazi-like Highborn and communist Social Unity, neither side are the "good guys". Kluge wishes nothing more than to find another option, possibly on Mars, home to a group of humans who have rebelled against SU but have not (yet) fallen to the Highborn, or maybe to the outer planets where there are rumors of free humans remaining...
Having finished books one through three very quickly, I cannot wait for book four to be released.
November 24, 2013
"Battle Pod," the third novel in Vaughn Heppner's Doom Star series, takes our unlikely hero Marten Kluge and his former gang enforcer Omi into serious interplanetary political intrigue. The two are the sole survivors of the Highborn experiment to land human shock troopers on devastatingly powerful battleship. The troopers were treated like fodder again and Marten got sick of it, spacing three Highborn and taking control of their ship. He fixes Omi and the two take their chances with the Martians, who have declared independence because of the war between Social Unity, which still controls most of Earth, and the Highborn, who rule space. Mars is almost and afterthought and has very little power. It's into this vacuum that Marten descends. He's enlisted by Mars to train its ragtag group of resistance fighters into warriors. He succeeds, somewhat. They do damage. However, Marten is more interested in winning fuel and passage to Jupiter. He respects the fledgling Mars government's goals for individual freedoms. But he wants more. And mostly he wants to be left out of the conflict. He does not get his wish. However, he does form a pretty interesting alliance toward the end of this book as Heppner brings together some of his disparate story lines. A provoking new character is a ship captain who finds a way to pull something of a win from a space battle with the Highborn.
February 12, 2011
Ack -- so close, but no closure! Book Four better be in the works. :)
Marten Kluge and his friend Omi, the only one who has survived with him to this point, continue to make their bid for freedom, to escape both Social Unity and the genetically enhanced Highborn soldiers. They become wrapped up in the smoldering conflict between the Mars "rebels" and Social Unity, with their eyes always on the prize of escape. Yet a new factor -- cyborgs -- enters the fight, changing the balance. In whose favor, we aren't sure yet.
Marten, in the 24th century, wants what probably most of us want -- the chance to be his own person, to think his own thoughts, to live his life as he sees fit.
Marten Kluge and his friend Omi, the only one who has survived with him to this point, continue to make their bid for freedom, to escape both Social Unity and the genetically enhanced Highborn soldiers. They become wrapped up in the smoldering conflict between the Mars "rebels" and Social Unity, with their eyes always on the prize of escape. Yet a new factor -- cyborgs -- enters the fight, changing the balance. In whose favor, we aren't sure yet.
Marten, in the 24th century, wants what probably most of us want -- the chance to be his own person, to think his own thoughts, to live his life as he sees fit.
December 9, 2010
I have very mixed feelings about this whole series.
The author is clearly not polished. Much of the writing is quite good, then I'll come across an incorrect word usage (verses vs. versus, used repeatedly), awkward sentence construction, or just something a bit weird that a good editor would correct. Which leads me to believe that these are self-edited and self-published.
The overall plot is interesting, although it has some holes. The characters are a bit shallow/cardboard, as well.
And that said, I've read the first few books in the series because I wanted to see how it all comes out.
The author is clearly not polished. Much of the writing is quite good, then I'll come across an incorrect word usage (verses vs. versus, used repeatedly), awkward sentence construction, or just something a bit weird that a good editor would correct. Which leads me to believe that these are self-edited and self-published.
The overall plot is interesting, although it has some holes. The characters are a bit shallow/cardboard, as well.
And that said, I've read the first few books in the series because I wanted to see how it all comes out.
December 21, 2014
Detailed battle moves...
If you enjoy battle moves with the intricacies of a chess game, then this is you book.... Personally I prefer reading about relationships more than battle tactics.
As much as I like Marten, digging his story out of this book was more like panning for gold. I was able to find the occasional nugget here and there.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series, but it may be the last one I read if it drags out the military battle sequences to the same degree as this one.
If you enjoy battle moves with the intricacies of a chess game, then this is you book.... Personally I prefer reading about relationships more than battle tactics.
As much as I like Marten, digging his story out of this book was more like panning for gold. I was able to find the occasional nugget here and there.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series, but it may be the last one I read if it drags out the military battle sequences to the same degree as this one.
July 1, 2013
Book 3 of the Doom Star Series is an enjoyable follow-up to book 2. More intrigue, betrayal and a new nemesis that puts this novel up another notch. I really enjoy the universe in which Vaughn has created in this series. Looking for ward to Book 4!
PS. Please get a better editor as there are a number of typos!
PS. Please get a better editor as there are a number of typos!
December 25, 2010
a litle slow on this one but still worth the read!!!!
June 20, 2011
This is an interesting take on the future. I really enjoyed reading it.
August 2, 2011
very good book. the story is getting epic.
July 23, 2013
Great stories but the author seriously needs an editor. Spelling, grammar and punctuation errors plus poor sentence structure and repeat sentences fill the pages of these books.
November 29, 2014
This series just keeps getting better. Excellent story and characters. Starting book 4 today.
April 21, 2015
See my review of book 2. No more reviews unless things improve.
February 9, 2016
Another good book in this series
This is an exciting read. The introduction of the cyborgs is a great plot twist. I have enjoyed the book and will read the next one.
This is an exciting read. The introduction of the cyborgs is a great plot twist. I have enjoyed the book and will read the next one.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews