User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Mostly Disappointing
I appreciate the efforts of these authors and certainly would like to encourage them, though considering the number of published works listed at the end of this book, they are doing OK as it is. Unfortunately, I found this book, the first for me from their works, to be unsatisfactory.
It appears the two authors are of two minds - one up in space and one impossibly inserted into their derrière. There is just no other way to explain the inconsistencies and diametrically opposed technologies employed by these Earthers. It’s like the author has blended cutting edge sci-fi from the 1950s with conceptual science from contemporary sci-fi and the result is a confusing mess of contradictory realities.
They have synthetic workers, androids in any other stories, which perform all level of manual and technical labor. They have starships and faster-than-light travel, but the railguns are crewed by humans? The railguns have 3D printers which can produce munitions as fast as the guns can fire but the munitions have to be handled by people who are manually loading the guns, moving things by hand? Seriously? How bizarre!
This society builds starships which grow real food, like fruit trees and chickens because no one has what - thought of using any other sort of food source? No science to create anything like a replicator, or nutrient synthesizer because that is more difficult than the AI synthetic people they’ve created?
Their spaceships have advanced electronic systems, and society has mastered neural implants for human communications, but the spaceships do not have computers which can manage their power requirements and people have to manage it?
As the story continues, it gets even more bizarre. They load a shuttle into a launch cylinder on the spaceship and when launched in space, there is an audible "whoosh" as it leaves? The shuttle lands on the moon and the landing ramp opens to the moon’s surface. The soldiers use mag boots to attach to the deck and walk out the ramp and we are told there is a metal clank as they travel along the ramp. There is no sound in a vacuum. No "whoosh", no "metallic clank". There might be sound transferred through the battle suits but that is not how it was written.
Once our intrepid explorers land on New Eden, the story devolves even further. The advanced technology the humans from Earth deploy is easily offset by the stupidity of actions they invoke. They observe an obvious guard/prisoner situation and calmly send two unarmed diplomats into the middle of it. There is a huge battle, many people and aliens are slaughtered, aliens prisoners are taken, the humans leave. On their ship, holding these alien prisoners, the humans continue to display technical prowess and behavioral stupidity. Enough so one of the aliens manages to escape and kill several soldiers and nearly kill the ship’s admiral, before it is killed.
At this point (approximately 70%) the story had become an annoying mishmash of technology and human stupidity that made it difficult to continue. No shame for anyone who drops out here, or even those who quit much sooner. This book is a mess. For example, faster-than-light travel is usually abbreviated FTL in the majority of books I have read. In this one, it is frequently FLT and sometimes listed as FTL. No consistency and sadly, sometimes both versions in the same paragraph. Then there are the occasional glitches like this one "…and fifty percent larger their than own ship." Obviously, editing was not a major endeavor for this book.
As others have written, the behavior often does not make sense, not in light of the technology portrayed in the story nor the Earth history detailed in the many long-winded history expositions. The total number of characters presented for this standard length novel apparently exceeds the authors' capacity to develop and at best we get snippets of character development for each of the major players with many more names and faces thrown in which seem to serve no purpose.
Overall this was a disappointing experience and while the authors' blurb makes me want to like their efforts, I just do not like their story. I wish them well but I will not continue this series.
Rating: really liked it
Nice idea , bad executionThe overall story could have been interesting except it was killed by execution.
A few examples about book 1 and 2 (not in order) :
The time line is non-existent, no reference to what happened, when you find yourself suddenly X years from an important event. I n the meantime the enemy took a break apparently.
No real data about the tech: speeds, ranges etc.
A ship travels 12 light years in 3 days. After that it detects a stargate in a solar system that is so far away that it would take it 2 days in FTL to get to it. That means 8 light YEARS!! Hello, that is in another star system eventually, not in the one you are in!!!
A ship wants to hide after emerging from FTL or from a stargate, so what do they do? They go to full power because a MPD drive is so lo observable.
A 3D printer can print ammunition (30 something inch shells) as fast as a gun can fire, yet it take years to build anything .
And so on.
Rating: really liked it
Bad Story Badly Told“Into the Stars” is a bad story badly told.
It’s a pc-riddled, woke, Silicon Valley product placement story in the late 21st century where ‘Earthlings’ after gaining FTL speed stumble upon an apex predatory alien empire through naïveté and hubris.
The writing is horrendous - stilted, stiff, repetitive, and without any narrative flow; basically a bonafide train wreck making one wonder if English is the authors’ second language. It’s that bad.
Not recommended and read via Kindle Unlimited.
Rating: really liked it
My Book Review Number 202:
This review is on Into the Stars (Book One Of The Rise Of The Republic) by James Roscone. This is the first book I have read by this talented author. This is a very good Military Science Fiction story about space exploration, first contact with aliens and humanity’s efforts at colonizing the stars.
The story begins with a Prologue in the year 2050 A.D. World War III left the world in ruins with two billion dead. New governments formed after the war which includes the Asian Alliance, the Republic and the Greater European Union (GEU). A new Space Exploration Treaty (SET) is formed to allow humanity to share technology, colonize Mars and the solar system. The exploration of deep space begins.
In 2075 A.D. Commander Miles Hunt and Vice Admiral Chester Bailey of the Republic are overseeing the first test of a Faster-Than-Light (FTL) space craft operated by a semi-intelligent, synthetic humanoid robot. Future space exploration to the stars depends on the success of this test and FTL Program. FTL technology is based on the Alcubierre drive creating a warp bubble that protects the occupants inside the craft and allows FTL speeds. Previous tests have failed and all hopes depend on the outcome of this test. Dr. Katherine Johnson and her team spent two decades working on this program. After the test all efforts turn to building spaceships capable of travelling to the stars to find habitable planets for humans.
In exchange for the Alcubierre FTL drive technology, the GEU offers to transfer neurolink implant technology that allows communications between human minds. The Asian Alliance offers to exchange inertial dampening and artificial gravity technologies. All these technologies and more are needed to begin the expansion of humans throughout the solar system and beyond.
By 2090, space travel has advanced a great deal. However, not all is peaceful in space. Resources are scarce and people still fight each other to keep what they work for from being taken away. In particular, space pirates operate near mining operations and attack miners for their goods. Ways of dealing with this situation have to be developed and implemented by SET members.
Commander Hunt is called on a special assignment to Mars to handle a sensitive matter. A new habitable world is discovered by deep space probes. It is located in a star system called 42 Rhea 1460 AUs away. The problem is the Republic would like to claim the planet for itself and not include the rest of the SET members. This secret may cause problems with other SET members unless some sort of compromise can be made.
The rest of the story develops around the efforts to colonize the new planet and what they discover on the planet. It leads to the first encounter of other intelligent life forms that have unexpected consequences for all of humanity.
I give this book Five Stars because the story is compelling, interesting and full of surprises. The story builds a new universe with advanced technology, scary alien creatures and cultures. The main characters are memorable and well developed. The plot is expansive and straight-forward in timeline. The dialogue and writing style are excellent. The science and technology is believable and creative. This is a very good MSF story written by an imaginative writer. I look forward to reading Book 2 in this new series to see what happens next to humanity and the main characters.
Keep reading good science fiction and let me know when you find an interesting novel or author.
Rating: really liked it
An enjoyable read. On to the next book!
Rating: really liked it
Great New SeriesI would definately recommend other space junkies to read this. Its fast paced and I can't wait for "Going Into Battle" to be released. I was extremely suprised and glad to hear your donations are going to be used for PTSD and veterans causes. As I'm a combat wounded, medically retired Vietnam Veteran and was one of the first to be diagnosed with PTSD was accepted into the DMS 3 at that time. For more insight into my own fight with PTSD google Scott Cameron Iraq or contact me at vetforjustice8@ gmail.com. I went back to Vietnam about 13 years ago and after going back to the place I was wounded coming into a very hot LZ to try to 'look the dragon in the face' and face down much of my PTSD problems I ended up staying in Asia. I now live with my new family on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Keep writing my friend as you have a new follower here. Peace.
Rating: really liked it
My favorite. Alien encounter. Really most would people would rate it 4 stars.
Rating: really liked it
Read this book in one day, that being said no sure why so many people are hard on this book. Enjoyed every last minute of it and I am happy this is a long series.
Rating: really liked it
This is the first book in a series projected to be five books in all, so this is the place setter. The Earth was set-up into two empires which were both working on FTL (faster than light) engines and the colonization of the nearest star systems. When the Republic (western hemisphere) withdraws from an agreement with the rest of the world, they go to the Rhea star system, while the others go to Alpha Centauri.
When the get to the Rhea system, they find that the planet they had suspected could sustain human life, had two species already living on it. One species was almost humanoid and spoke an ancient human language related to Sumerian. The other species was a blue insectoid species (Zodark) who were 10 feet tall with four usable arms. It appeared that the Blue species used the humanoids as slaves.
When the members of the expedition tried to make contact with the Zodarks, they were immediately attacked. The Zodarks were a militant species that fought like the Japanese did on the Pacific Islands during WW 2. They took no quarter and fought to the death while savaging their opponents. Having survived to get off the planet and head back to Earth, the Explorers realized that there was a new implacable foe for the Earth.
All the nations on Earth realized that if they didn't plan to repulse the Zodark, they could enslave the whole population of the Earth, while probably killing off a large part of the population. A large Space Force was built that would return to Rhea and make a stand against the Zodark before they learned in which system Earth was.
Rating: really liked it
Did not finish. Got about three chapters (PG 55 of 515 in Kindle) in and realized I wasn't enjoying the reading experience. The premise was intriguing, but my tolerance for bland or high-school-level quality writing has dropped significantly and I am more protective of my valuable free time now.
The writing is rote and formulaic. For the most part it reads a bit like a shopping list or dispassionate daily log (A direct quote: "Hunt yawned and brushed off the blanket as he placed his feet on the floor and slid them into his boots. After he fastened them, he put on his military jacket. Grabbing his tablet, he made his way over to the bar to grab a quick breakfast." The paragraphs before and after were fairly similar in structure, just a listing of actions) or a Game Master's description of a location in preparation for a fight in Dungeons & Dragons. (A direct quote: "Along the metal walkway, planters one meter tall by two meters wide were spaced every fifteen meters. Inside the planters, tall trees, underbrush, and flowers grew." This was in the middle of an info-dump about the Mars terminal, and reflective of how the author sets scenes.)
There's a place and time for these kinds of details, and it's in setting up the world and scenery enough to make it real and solid for the author. It's very useful to make sure things are consistent. As a world-builder and engineer I understand the tendency. But the key then is to *trim most of that out*, keep it in a separate reference file. In the final draft sentence structure should vary more, and hopefully give a hint of the person's personality or outlook (e.g. "Hunt silenced the insistent alarm. Yawning, he brushed off the blanket. He dressed with military precision before grabbing his tablet and heading for the bar for breakfast.") and scenery should be more scenic than an engineering drawing in transcribed into words (e.g., "The metal walkway was lined with large planters filled with trees and flowers, a mini-forest to supplement the oxygen production of the spaceport.")
Over all it feels like a second or third draft, the basic outline is there, no major gaps in the writing and the overall story arc is set (I assume, but I didn't get far enough to say for sure), but the writing itself needs trimming and - in general - polishing.
Other problems.
The name dropping of real life big name companies is annoying. It will probably make this feel very dated very quickly, like some of the cold-war-era sci-fi and spy thrillers written in the late '80s.
Chapter 2 was essentially pointless, though swapping 1 and 2 may have fixed that. Throw away characters are expected in the first chapter - an extended prologue if you will - but Chapter 1 starts strong but once you get to 2 it feels like throwaway world-building and people. Chapter 2 - ok more world-building, getting better character development though head hopping issues.... Nope throwaway too. Chapter 3 - eh, wait time jump? And is that someone we met before?
Head-hopping / POV issues.
Bad science - our asteroid belt is not dense like Star Wars movies show. It also looked like there was going to be issues in general with 'conventional' (not FTL) speed/motion/maneuvering of ships in space too - I was trying not to think too hard about it in the first few chapters, but from what I read I'm sure there will be errors and they will be noticeable enough to bother me.
Generally just info-dumping the world and world-building than more organic and subtle introduction of the mundane (to the characters) nature of the world.
I wish Amazon made it easier to tell whether a book is essentially self published through their system or if it comes from a more traditional publisher. This is not the first book that I've been tricked into thinking it would be more polished. However I'm getting better about bailing when it's clear its going to be annoying to read, and I'm starting to recognize the common signs of mediocre books in the Kindle store. I'm glad I did not have to pay money for this book.
Does anyone know how to get Amazon to stop spamming me to read additional books by the authors I've read one book from, that I rated one star?
Rating: really liked it
I would say the best part of this universe is the effort placed on elaborating engineering decisions of futuristic technology. There's not a lot, but more than you'd expect.
The story is both overly wordy and content-light. One of the most interesting characters is completely ignored for 90% of the book. Meanwhile, any interesting point is repeated redundantly to make sure you are paying attention.
I was perhaps most disappointed at the shallowness of the military commanders. This is a pop novel intended to be a fun escape at an affordable price, which is its saving grace. After reading Book 1, it feels like most of the plot "hasn't happened yet" -- reserved for future books -- like a movie that is purposefully split into multiple sequels to sell more tickets.
Worth checking out for light reading, but okay to skip as well. 2.5/5
Rating: really liked it
Books 1 to 3:
I almost gave up on this series after the first book but I persisted and in the end I found it to be not great but fairly entertaining after all.
I guess what got me to persist was that it is a kind of story that I like. Humanity begins to explore the stars, finds out that they are not alone and that what’s out there is not at all friendly.
Luckily humanity’s knack for violence and warfare comes into play and the plans of the, somewhat overconfident, aliens … well let’s just say that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.
I quite like the overall story of these books. As I mentioned, this is my kind of story.
However, the implementation sometimes leaves something to be desired. For the first book I could only bring myself to give it 2 stars out of 5. The implementation is somewhat simplistic and sometimes the solutions are bit fast and far fetched.
However, what irked me the most though, is the author’s consistent borrowing of names and expressions from all over the place. Come on, “Elon Musk Industries” is really brown nosing to the ignorant Musk fan base. Actually, I found few names used in the books that where not either more or less ripped from somewhere else or derived from somewhere else. I found that quite annoying.
Well, at least the story wasn’t too bad and there where quite a lot of decent battles going on, both in space and planet side.
The second and third book was somewhat better than the first but not more than three out of five stars worth. On the whole the series is an entertaining read but not much more than that.
The third book had a somewhat interesting ending though and I am quite looking forward to what the author does with that in the fourth, not yet published, book. There’s certainly a buildup for some surprises for the rest of the people back home whether it’s earth or their colonies.
Rating: really liked it
I wanted to like this book. It had some very interesting concepts at the start, but my enjoyment was tamped down by the inconsistencies and downright silliness of the story line. Who in their right mind finds evidence of life on a planet with evidence that it uses tools and mines resources and sends a group to colonize the planet? Really? "Hi Earthlings, we're gonna drop a colony here on this place you call Kansas. You don't mind, right?" And unfortunately, that was just the start of the silliness. I will NOT be reading the rest of this series...
Rating: really liked it
In to the Stars James RosoneThis si-fi adventure occurs after the year 2050. WWIII has occurred and the earth has been devastated. The loss of life and environmental damage is devasting. Space exploration is occurring and Mars and the Moon have been colonized. There is a mutual agreement of understanding and trust with the governing nations of power. America, Russia, Japan China and Germany. The human elements of deception are still in play. A new planet has been discovered. It's environment is similar to Earth. Upon further exploration a powerful, brutal species called Zodarks control the planet and use earth like species called Sumerians as slave labor. The living conditions for the Sumartians are harsh and brutal. Life expectancy is short. The Zodarks control all aspects of their known universe. The Zodarks are bluish in color and extremely tall in comparison to the human race. They have four arms, talons as fingers and canine teeth. They are a race which rules by total dominance and brutality. Their ships technology and weaponry are by far superior to any other race. The problem is Earthlings now know of their existence and the Zodarks have now considered them worthy of domination as slaves. The race is on in preparation for Earthlings survival. This is an extremely fast paced read which I enjoyed immensely! Can't wait for book two in this series!
Rating: really liked it
Interesting but I had a couple of problems...
Spoilers:
1) why do they think it is acceptable to colonize a world with other intelligent beings on it?
2) Why wouldn't they be concerned that the aliens might follow them back to Earth? Don't know how advanced their technology is....
3) Wouldn't they be more concerned about first contact? Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They "knew" they were going to find alien life. Why would they think they are the smartest people in the universe?
