War from a Distant Sun

Reasonable military sci fi adventure. good characters with some background development although the maverick captain whose been done wrong by an admiral was not exactly new. Technology for once is different and not over blown. I know it's required by the setup but the usual Earth forces are at breaking point and about to loose to warlike aliens is pretty common. Overall I did enjoy the book and read it in a day an will likely read the follow ups. No criticism of the book or it's author but am I the only one that wishes for a bit more innovation in this genre of literature rather than the same old tropes rolled out over and over again.

<strong>Not for military buffs</strong><br /><br />Wow he is such a joke, bad attitude, no attention to detail slovenly deletes emails not checking them, eats at his console, doesn’t make a ship wide call when coming into contact with the enemy so crew die due to ppe, talks to his boss like crap, takes over the marines and does a shit job. The biggest joke is how he can’t even recognize something extraterrestrial. You would think being a captain he would have a navy education. How he is still alive is amazing. <br />The book lacks details we don’t know what the crew look like or their backgrounds, don’t know why they are at war....

<strong>New book same as the old books</strong><br /><br />Just a rehash of the authors old books, stupidly massive ships crewed by a handful of people controlled by handlebars, most of the people and tech are the same just with a new name

<strong>This book hurt</strong><br /><br />This book could have been so much more. <br /><br />The problem was timing. Everywhere Recker went, his enemy was ten seconds behind. Every time he made a game-changing discovery, the enemy appeared out of nowhere and messed it all up. Every time. <br /><br />It became cliche. As a reader, whenever something good happened, I knew the enemy was ten seconds from appearing. <br /><br />I realize this is all fiction. But some attempt at believability should be made. <br /><br />When this is rewritten, hopefully the author will slow down the enemy a bit and give Recker and his band of merry men a chance to have some dialogue and maybe add some depth to the book.

<strong>Fun read, but glaring deficiencies in the science. </strong><br /><br />Author has a number of fundamental misunderstandings of science, tech, and space travel. One example — At one point the ship’s hull is overheating. One of the officers suggest going into space to cool it down quickly, but the vacuum of space is an insulator; the dissipation of heat is one of the biggest engineering challenges in space travel.<br />

New book series, and it's pretty good! Not loving the cliffhanger at the end, forcing you to buy the second book... but still, the premise is good, not too unbelievable and good plot!<br />Highly recommended!

Rating: minus 5<br /><br />This is the usual pointless low end space adventure. As I rewrite my reviews, I sometimes check to see what other reviewers thought but usually am blocked by Goodreads. With an overall rating higher than 2 for this book, I don't think that any of them will be particularly helpful. At least with comments blocked, I am not subjected to additional masked commenter ID's on my reviews. You write one negative review of a "ridiculous libertarian rant written by a government employee) and suddenly being a communist is a bad thing. Who knew.<br /><br />I still can't shake my last lurker. Why Goodreads won't allow me to drop Dr. Susan Hamilton (a Maths professor at University of Tennessee?) from my friend list is a puzzle. She wrote a bad series about vampires but has posted nothing for two years and won't do me the favor of dropping me from her list. <br /><br />After no response to four messages, I think about those Goodreads authors with a gazillion friends. I think this is a sales strategy to generate high numbers for a writer of no particular merit. I had another "friend" who also spent a year accumulating a zillion friends but posted nothing before I dropped him. <br /><br />If curious, see my review of "Dark Horse", a good romance/space adventure by Diener or Powers of the Earth (a ridiculous libertarian rant written by a government employee) and comments from a Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi). If anyone knows about this Claes Rees, Jr or Susan Hamilton, a message would be appreciated.<br /><br />Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710<br />Don't be a numpty, be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.<br /><br />The US State Dept. has finally admitted that Russians have relocated as many as two million Ukrainian civilians to Siberia, including the separation and kidnapping of several hundred thousand children. Hopefully this next will not upset Tucker Carlson or Claes Rees, Jr. With the verification of the torture, mutilation, rape and murder of Ukrainians seemingly treated as a perk of enlistment in their army, I always remind myself to write. <br /><br />GLORY TO UKRAINE !! GLORY TO ITS FIGHTERS !!<br /><br />This book has the usual plucky hero, who as usual has not a clue about whatever this mission was. Wait there's more. His tiny ship is pursued relentlessly by the evil aliens. Was Buck Rogers this bad? Probably but this is 2021. <br /><br />The evil aliens have what motivation again. I can not remember. I do not think that anyone can care after a chapter or two of this book. The hero is going to save the human race in some mysterious manner that seems less and less plausible with each unexplained reappearance of the dread alien battleship. I think these scenes were meant to be tense, instead of being boringly predictable.<br /><br />If he can not escape this evil ship, how exactly is he going to save humanity. I was unable to understand just how he was going to accomplish it. I did not understand just what he was going to do. Plot contrivances are not a replacement for a plausible narrative flow in the storytelling. <br /><br />The book has no character worth caring about, no story thread, no tension, no big idea, no point. It is a platform for nonsense battles fought for Reasons (which will never be disclosed because they don't exist). If you want a HALO, Star Engineer, Star Trek online, Resident Evil or other scenario, this may fit your needs. For a better entertainment experience, just play the game.<br /><br />I have moved away from science fiction over the last two years because of the number of bad books in Amazon's selection science fiction, fantasy, steam punk and related genres. The streaming services at their worst are entertaining, better written and only cost ninety minutes of your time. Netflix also has a nice multinational library that can be fun. <br /><br />I started watching YouTube for science fiction channels and stumbled across a treasure trove of science fiction news, fan productions, other special interest channels and best of all book channels. The book tubes have created a fun, enthusiastic and thoughtful community of readers excited by good storytelling, good writing and all things bookish really. I recommend a visit to some book channels for any reader and I list some below. If Amazon/Goodreads reads as a toxic or juvenile site, then YouTube is a must. <br /><br />There are also documentaries and very good essayists on YouTube, as well as samples of educational sites such as The Great Courses, Magellan, Curiosity Stream/Nebula, Epic History TV and others. Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.<br /><br />Ship Happens, Some More News, Tom Nicholas, Philosophy Tube, Owen Jones, Zoe Baker, Tara Mooknee, Sarah Z, Big Joel, Novara Media, Lady knight the Brave, France 24, Chloe Stafler, Prime of Midlife, Tiny Wee Boat, Boat Time, Cruising Alba, Renegade Cut, Alize, Mrs Betty Bowers, Alice Cappelle, Savage Daughter, Tulia, Alt Shift X, Pro Robots, Quinn's Ideas, We're in Hell, Lady of the Library, Endevr, Make Better Media, France 24, Noah Samsen, Alayna Joy, 2Cellos, Lily Alexander, Swell Entertainment, The Armchair Historian, The Juice Media, Ancient Americas, Natasha's Adventures, The Narrowboat Pirate, The Budget Museum, Kings and Generals, Lindsey Stirling, The Narrowboat Chef, Cruising Alba, Maggie May Fish, Kathy's Flog in France, Malinda, Northern Narrowboaters, Linguoer Mechanic, Three Arrows, IzzzYzzz, Dr Becky, Hello Future Me, Adult Wednesday Addams, The Amber Ruffin Show, Sabine Hossenfelder, A Life of Lit, Jessica Gagnon, Noelle Gallagher, Ryan Chapman, Neringa Rekaslute, Elena Taber, Christy Anne Jones, The Gravel Institute, Spacedock, World War Two, Lady of the Library, , The Library Ladder, The Great War, Books with Emily Fox, Armored Archives, History Hit, I'm Rosa, Melodie Rose, GK Media, Hailey in Bookland, Practical Engineering, A Clockwork Reader, Real Time History, Answer in Progress, The Templin Institute, Karolina Zebrowska, Books and Lala, Kings and Generals, Artificial Intelligence Universe, The Irish Reader, Merphy Napier, Emmie, Art by Annamarie, Jack Edwards, Dakota Warren, Austin McConnell, Books with Emily Fox, Filaxim Historia, BrandonF, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Celtica, Reading Wryly, Tibees, Military Aviation History, Vlad Vexler, Real Engineering, Traveling K, Camper Vibe, Boat Time, Jill Bearup, Cold Fusion, Jake Tran, A Cup of Nicole, Engineering with Rosie, Abbie Emmons, Max Joseph, Kelly loves Physics and History, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Books with Brittany, Munecat, Nomadic Crobot, Wizards and Warriors, The Leftist Cooks, Then &amp; Now, The Present Past.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy a sunny morning. an invigorating afternoon, a relaxed evening and a restful night. <br /><br />Hope protects and drives toward thoughtful action.<br />President Zelensky

Format: Kindle eBook (Kindle Unlimited)<br /><br />Thoughts:<br /><br />Well I have to say I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. After getting about 2/3 of the way through, and growing a little tired of what seemed like a bit of a copy and paste job, Recker and his crew couldn't do anything for 5 minutes before being interrupted by an enemy warship popping out of light-speed again and again.<br /><br />But the final third of the book felt a bit more dynamic and more action packed, with much less running and more adrenaline pumping engagement of the enemy.<br /><br />The characters, especially captain Carl Recker feel a bit cheesy at times, especially with their dialog, but in some way, that adds to the entertainment value.<br /><br />As it stands, it was an enjoyable read, it's not trying to be more complicated than what it is and the fact that this is the first of seven books in the series leads me to believe the slower start to the story is part of the author playing the long game.<br /><br />The book did enough for me to download book two. I'm sure if you're particularly into your sciences, then some of the more technical bits may grate on you, but if you take it with a pinch of salt you'll enjoy the ride.<br /><br />Considering this book was free as apart of Kindle Unlimited, I'd say it's definitely worth checking out. I personally wouldn't have been disappointed even if I had paid a couple of quid for it either!

<strong>Gripping</strong><br /><br />I was hooked from the first page. Seriously, the action began on page one and it never let up. There were some lulls for the reader, and book characters, to catch their breath, but that's it. <br /><br />Everything is told from the captain's point of view, so no extra insight on any of the other characters beyond the captain's own musings. We get a little background on him, but not much. I'm guessing that later books will explain a few missing details that are alluded to throughout the book...<br /><br />A handful of grammatical errors, but nothing too distracting. <br /><br />I will definitely have to fit the next book into my personal entertainment budget!

The book starts with a new Daklan Destroyer just about to arrive to give Captain Recker and the <i>Finality</i> a very bad day. The first third of the book is nonstop with <i>Finality</i> constantly on the edge of disaster. <br />In some ways this was engaging, but I wasn’t convinced by the technology, I mean piloting a massive FTL spaceship by hauling on a control bar, this isn’t a Dan Dare comic. Then there are the last second timings, which were just a bit too ‘Hollywood’.<br /><br />Unfortunately the author seems to want to write Hollywood screenplays, when the action arrives it is always frantic and doesn’t bear close examination, but the author obviously has the wide screen, Technicolor version in his head.<br /><br />Overall the story wasn’t bad and I finished it in just a couple of sittings. There is very little character development, by the end of the book I didn't know much more about Recker and next to nothing about the rest of the crew. If possible I would have given 2.5 stars.