Yeah i think that was the main problem, the author set up an interesting world, and the characters had a lot of potential, but the actions and the process of moving those characters through the world were painful, and not very well thought out... Ryk has a well developed and logical plot and stupid decisions by characters are shown to be stupid and they grow from them, or face the consequences...
One of my favorite books ever (The Martian by Andy Weir) has been in progress of having a movie made, and the first trailer just came out. I know that movies are often disappointing compared to their source books, but I still can't wait!
Damn that looks good!
Anyone read the scrapyard ship series? The reviews of the first book were mixed, but enough positive for me to give it a try, but i just had to stop after the first third of the book, as the last bit was just becoming to hard to believe. The reviews say it gets progressively better but at this point i am looking for anyone who has read it for sure and says it gets better. My main problem is the way the characters think, "OK so we are going to test some weapons on our new ship (good idea) int the middle of the Texas desert (bad idea), after we fired of some anti-matter/nuclear ordinance we are going to sit in the same spot (bad idea) and do some training exercises (good idea) and gee wow we are completely surprised that the US military sends fighter jets and attack troops at the alien vessel we are in (just plain stupid).... And then to deal with the negotiation with the US Military we are just going to land the damn ship in the center of the pentagon and have a quick talk with the joint chiefs who are just fine with coming aboard the ship.... OH and all this while a hostile alien warship is orbiting the earth, but apparently is ignoring this ship even though it was the reason they are there... The thing is there are a lot of cool and nifty ideas in there as well, so if anyone has read it and made it though this part let me know if it really gets better!
Thanks
I've more-less enjoyed the series so far (I've read the first 6 books and reading other books before I get to 6th), so I didn't think it's too bad Randy, but I'm not sure the logic get's much better. So if that's your issue, I'm not sure the series is for you.
As for the scene you point out, seemed like the main character was distracted though most of that. The pentagon bit seemed more like there not being much of a choice. The main character's ship's presence was also something of an implicit threat, and perhaps useful in the situation. Was it the best idea? Not really, but it did the job for the most part.
Overall, I think if you can give the characters a bone and accept that they don't always make the best decision, and overlook some of the other issues, you should find the series a decent read to pass the time.
Kind of sci-fi ish, the Red Rising trilogy. Recently finished book 2, now have to wait for book 3, scheduled for a January 2016 release. It started out slow, but I really enjoyed it. While I'm (still) waiting for Episode 14, I'm reading Finders Keepers by Stephen King.
OK Thanks, I will give it another try after the next series i moved on to, Empires at war. This one i am really enjoying the writing, and am glad i read some reviews before hand, the first book seems to be mostly world building to an extraordinary degree, hopefully to be built on in the next few books... But over all very impressive so far.
Star Force series by Aer-ki Jyr is a great series. He has built the episodes kinda like Ryk does, only he is putting them out every 2 weeks. Now some people would think this would make is a lousy read.... They would be wrong. I have read thousands of sci fi books and Aer-ki Jyr has done a great job on the stories. His spelling is not the greatest(english spelling). BUT english is not his first language he is Portuguese. Here is a link to his goodreads list of books.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6151456.Aer_ki_Jyr
His website is:
http://www.aerkijyr.com
I highly recommend these books while we wait for Ryks next book!!.
They are available on Kindle unlimited with the exception of his latest book. Aeri puts previous books in the starforce series on KU after the latest release comes out.
From another post on this forum I read TI Wade – America One.(not sure if this has been mentioned) This is a 7 book series, really a lot of fun to read. It is along the same lines as Troy Rising and Rise of the empure.
Haven't read much else of value lately. Anyone else?
I'm in book 2 of the Black Fleet Trilogy by Joshua Dalzelle. The first book, Warship, sucked me in quickly, and as I said, I'm just a bit more than halfway through book 2, Call to Arms. Because of Ryk's Frontiers Saga series, I've been reading more in the last year than I think I have in the past 10 years, and all on my Kindle. I find it so much easier reading on my Kindle or my iPhone than reading a hard cover or paperback.
I like a lot of the books I have seen in this post, here are my thoughts on the recommendations.
Forever War, great book
Enders Game, good as well.
Schronicity wars, really good.
Scrapyard ship series, however, got old with the stupid ways the prime character put himself in stupid bad situations, gave up halfway through the second book.
Legend of Zero series, really excellent and looking forward to the next one
The Human chronicles saga, I got tired of it in the 5th book and never finished it.
Frontiers saga still beats all of them though.
Here are a few not mentioned that I think deserve credit.
Poor mans Fight, and Rich mans war by Elliott Kay(rereading this one while waiting on #14)
Ready Player one, by earnest Cline not space opera fiction, but worth a read imho
Steel World series by BV Larson
Sub-Human, Post-Human, TransHuman, etc, were all interesting.
The second ship series, although it takes place mostly on earth, by Richard Phillips
All you need is Kill, the book that is the basis for the movie "Edge of Tomorrow"
and for a lighthearted read, Earthman Jack vs The Ghost Planet
I recommend the Man of War series by H. Paul Honsinger. Think Master and Commander in space.
The Synchronicity War (1-4) by Dietmar Authur Weir - Space war with aliens, AI and time travel. every now and then it does something stupid, but for the most part its good. 4/5 stars
The Redemption Trilagy (1-3) by Mike Smith - Space opera, emperor dies, sh*t gets real, one commander uses his knowledge of the emperor to rise up and take the mantel 4.5/5 stars
Contact Series (1-5) by Mike Freeman - currently on book 2. book 1 had a tough lead in with a confused start, but its a space opera about first contact (with a second alien race/ the first didn't go well and the book is very vague about it) and different human nations are vying for the honor of representing Human Kind... with spy's and self interest fueled betrayals, substance exposure and alien parasite infection you really get an exciting tale of Battle, subterfuge, Expanding of Minds, Shear Bad luck, and did I mention that I'm only on book 2? 4/5 (-1 because of the confused start... that sets up the main character and has to be read...)
Also shout out to:
The Painted Man (1-4) by Peter V Brett - World of swords and spears by day, and magic "wards" and monsters by night. Fear rules the night, but for the monster of the night they fear the painted man.
The Wheel of Time (1-14) by Robert Jordan - Great books, and eventually they will make a movie or a miniseries and it will be Great (Hopefully... Red Eagle Entertainment still have the rights unfortunately and they are squandering them)
I found John Ringo's Troy series entertaining enough to loan my paperback copies to a friend after reading them twice. Then I bought the Kindle edition and read it twice. I also enjoyed his zombie apocalypse series a good read.
You can't go wrong with any of the Golden Age authors, especially Heinlein. Pournelle and Niven are usually very good either individually or jointly. Taylor Anderson has a good alternate universe series in Destroyermen.
I've read some of the series mentioned like the Lost Fleet which was just OK for me. Omega Force is decent.. its good enough to pass the time waiting for Frontiers :).
There are a few series I put up there with Frontiers, and I do not say that lightly. I am very very picky.. but to each their own.
1. Crimson World Series by Jay Allan. This is an excellent series, very gritty and can be heart wrenching at times. There is a spin off called Crimson Worlds Refugees - You could read it without reading Crimson Worlds but it would be much more enjoyable having read the original series. HIGHLY!!! Recommended
2. Red Rising Series (currently 2/3 books) - Ive seen this one mentioned and its a very very good series. Not so much a space opera... kind of in book 2. Its an EXCELLENT! read. They are making a movie out of it.
3. The Exiled, The Last Exodus - Paul Tassi - Paul Tassi is a columnist for Forbes that reports on Tech and games. I bought this on a whim... its a very very good book. The books are pretty long compared to what we are used to. It deals with the end of Earth and an escape.
4. The Black Fleet Trilogy - Love it, very gritty - deals with complacency in the military. An excellent series; lots of action.
