Danke @demian, mir geht es gut. 🙂 Mein einziges Problem ist, dass ich zu schnell lese. Nun muss ich hier wieder warten, bis es weitergeht. :-/ (I am fine. I have a problem. I am a fast reader and now i have to wait far too long for the next book(s).)
Yes, too many open ends. But the story comprises 75 books. I think we will see even more open ends soon!
I thought each 15 books contain a separat story plot. Something like i.g. exploring the galaxy and finding Aliens (quite obvious) or the civil war in PC or the building of a new colony somewhere far away or the returning of the digital plague (maybe it was /will be used as a weapon against the Jung).
When the Jung get the Jump Drive they will win. The Jung are too powerful and would be unstoppable for the Alliance with the few ships/resources. It was shown that the Jung do not have problems destoying planets or glassing them. There is no defense against an enemy willing to do this outfitted with Jump Drives. Because of that I expect a short war against the Jung.
Just a thought. The Alliance does have the same problems as the Jung. Their ships can although be killed with a KKV. The Jung too can outfit a ship with a KKV and send it to Earth. The ship ends it flight somewhere near the outer planets ... take a look around ... and send a KKV to the Karazua (or whatever it is spelled). It all can do this without fear of detection. As Long as the light has not reached a sensor the ship does not exist. It just takes the Jung ship a while longer to get there.
I think Ryk said that the 5 parts (15 episodes each) will each be set 100 years after one another!
But I would love to have some of the same characters (either through freezing or longer life expectancy...) It would be cool to have some one in a life pod picked up in Part 2 and have been there since the Jung War.
The alliance recognized your KKV against Karuzara. This is why they cleared out 20 light years. Between that and patrols, they should be able to keep FTL ships from making it to the outer solar system.
As far as I know, only the battle bases have that type of FTP that warps space. The others can be shot down while in FTL flight.
From the trailer at the bottom of the home page....
The Frontiers Saga is a series of Science Fiction novels that covers a century of human adventures in space. Part one is 15 episodes, with each episode being released at regular intervals. All story arcs begun within a part are concluded during that part. There will be 5 parts to the series, with 15 episodes per part, for a total of 75 episodes.
The name "Frontiers Saga" has always struck me as odd.
Maybe the arc ends but not as a victory but the entire thing is a tragedy. Along the lines of BSG or Empire Strikes back. I could see a conclusion with Earth split in half, the PC under hostile leadership and all our heroes running for their lives.
Just a happy thought.
That kind of happened in Ep8 Celestia. The Earth was captured by the Jung and the only surviving ship running to Jupiter to hide.
-> In favor of Earth being KKV'ed
Earth isn't the staging point it should be due to radiation etc.
If it was gone, I imagine that the freed worlds around it would sign on to the Alliance quickly (why would the alliance stay and protect non alliance members if the Earth is gone)
I see the PC civil war being more detrimental to the Alliance war effort then the loss of Earth. In fact the loss of earth free's up resources for the war effort. And that thought makes me feel dirty. Would it be advisable to sacrifice the Planet to save the Cause?
Tanna being renamed Terra seems appropriate to me, as the site of the new homeworld of the Sol Alliance members.
-> In favor Earth being OK
Its central location is very handy.
It is the Homeworld of all Mankind.
The Jung want Earth for themselves so its out of character for them to destroy it.
The Characters from Earth would become darker.
Is it wierd the Jung nanites are killing people on earth (by preventing other nanites from healing them), wouldn't it have made more sense to allow them to function as peepers?
I am a German guy.
Damit wären wir dann schon zu dritt. (That makes three of us.) Okay, so I'm not exactly a guy, but at least German. 😉
When the Jung get the Jump Drive they will win. The Jung are too powerful and would be unstoppable for the Alliance with the few ships/resources. It was shown that the Jung do not have problems destoying planets or glassing them. There is no defense against an enemy willing to do this outfitted with Jump Drives. Because of that I expect a short war against the Jung.
Which is why I think that, somehow, they won't get their hands on a jump drive. After re-reading part 13, I'm very much convinced that Captain Nash is still on board of his ship. After all, the Aurora only saw four escape pods eject, which were all destroyed by the Jung ship. So, either Captain Nash will be able to do something about it, or the Alliance will jump after the Jung ship and attack and/or destroy it.
However, there are still some more obstacles in the Jung's way:
*The distance between the stars. They still have to transport the captured Scout to another system where it can be analyzed.
*The computing system. At the very least, all algorithms need to be translated into Jung as well as the Jung's version of Computerese.
*Re-creating the jump drive and outfitting their ships with them. Remember, the Jung prefer massive ships.
Is it wierd the Jung nanites are killing people on earth (by preventing other nanites from healing them), wouldn’t it have made more sense to allow them to function as peepers?
I don't think that the Jung nanites are supposed to (accidentally) kill their hosts, it's more like collateral damage. The Jung nanites are spybots, so to speak. And they're probably programmed to attack all other nanites that don't identify themselves as Jung nanites in order to prevent hostile take-overs of their hosts. After all, you'd rather have a dead spy than one that got turned against you - especially if your mind set matched that of the Jung. They do seem rather fond of expediency, after all.
I just finished Episode 13, and like many people here I kept yelling at my Kindle every time Jessica said anything. I was bewildered by why Ryk would write Jessica so out of character. When she went to earth (Episode 9) to hook up with the underground she trusted no one and was very closed mouth even after she was captured by the good guys. I awoke this morning still pondering this problem when I came up with a thought: It was her mission to spread some form of dis-information campaign. Okay she did say a lot of true things but SOMEHOW it really was a way to miss-inform the Jung. I have no idea where Ryk is taking us but that is why I love this story so much, he has done this many times before and it keeps me waiting, not so patiently, for the next episode.
The other story line that was completely out of character is Prince Casimir. HOW could a man that was so careful with his life and that of his family, be so dumb that he creates a volatile situation where he knows it's dangerous (it has already killed his youngest) and did not take steps to protect himself???? Do not tell me politics. He could/should have awakened all of the Ghatazhak and had them in reserve. What about a better prearranged escape plan? It just struck me as to contrived, almost as if Ryk took the easy way to get where he wants to go with the story. This disappoints me as this is also out of character for Ryk.
I just hope Ryk has not allowed his editors/proof readers to change the story line, it does seem like the change in characters and the lack of humane interaction in this last episode is very different then Ryk's style of writing the earlier episodes. No dinners with Vlad, Jessica, Cameron, no kidding each other, no human interest, just killing, killing and more killing in this episode. Perhaps this is necessary to get us to the end of the first book, hopefully Ryk returns to the writing style of the first 10 or so episodes that we all liked so much in the next book.
Interesting concept, Jessica Nash being talkative so as to draw attention to herself so that the Jung are not focused on external threats to the system... clever enough to get me over how stupid her telling everyone, everything was!
The thing about Casmir not having a good escape route is that attacking to kill is an easier mission then defending and keeping safe. He should have woken the Ghatazack, he already looked bad for killing the 3x nobles, why not wake the troops? what impact would that have had really? the other nobles were coming for him anyway...
Just a few things to point out. First, I don't have content editors, only copy editors and proofreaders, so story decisions are all mine.
Second, nothing is ever done without a reason. Jessica did not reveal anything that the Jung didn't already know. And anything that she did reveal that might have been questionable would not have made a difference. Did she trust the contact too much? Possibly. But never assume any character in the saga is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. If they didn't they would not be real. However, in Jessica's case, I don't think she made any actual mistakes. The best way to get information from someone is to make them trust you. Sharing information with them, be it true or false, is a great way to get someone to start sharing information with you.
Third, Casimir's only real mistake was, as he said, not killing the entire dragon. Everything else he did was for a reason. Did he take risks? Yes. Could he have protected his family better? Possibly, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. It was against Takaran Law for him to take command of the Ghatazhak to protect his own house. Navarro did so only after his ship was attacked, constituting an illegal threat against the legal government of Takara. However, by the time House Ta'Akar was attacked, less than 24 hours had passed since Navarro began waking up Ghatazhak, which wasn't really enough time to get them ready for action. Casimir was acting within the law, even though doing so all but doomed him and his house/family. He knew that his time would come, and he chose to die honorably, fighting within the laws of Takara. And again, he had a plan. You just don't know his plan... yet.
Again, one of the problems with writing such a long tailed series is that readers are forced to pass judgement before all the facts are in. It's no one's fault, it's just the nature of the beast, really.
Mr. Brown,
You say:
Jessica did not reveal anything that the Jung didn’t already know. And anything that she did reveal that might have been questionable would not have made a difference. Did she trust the contact too much? Possibly. But never assume any character in the saga is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. If they didn’t they would not be real. However, in Jessica’s case, I don’t think she made any actual mistakes. The best way to get information from someone is to make them trust you. Sharing information with them, be it true or false, is a great way to get someone to start sharing information with you.
After reading your explanation I agree with you, but... (well there is always a but...:-) ) I think that you should have given us, readers, some tips about her work methodology, what she was thinking, what she intended to do. Readers pass judgement about something with the facts they have on hand.
You show us that you have made an extensive research on how spec ops do their job but I'm not sure that most of your readers know how they think or act (me included). Maybe you could give us some clues about their thoughts on how they will act so we can avoid to jump on conclusions based on what we read and our ignorance of spec ops procedures.
Anyway this is just my opinion.
I would like also to congratulate you for having almost all your books in the top 100 best selling in Amazon US.That just prove how gifted writer you are. Can't wait for EP 14.
How to tell someone is infected with Jung Nanites without further research:
1) Isolate them.
2) Blindfold them.
3) Cut their hand.
4) Give them Corinarian nanites to heal the wound.
5) Shoot the ones with Jung Nanites. (or you know treat them or something)
6) If someone doesn't consent to being checked, revert to point 5.
Just finished it. For the most part it was good. This series has become the standard by which all other series are measured for me, and that is not insignificant.
BUT when the Jung ran off with that jump drive, I basically just went "bah, not this". I don't know about anyone else, but for me, the heroes succeeding is a very important part of good storytelling. They should work for it, sure, and it's good to let the unthinkable (main characters dying, the earth getting hammered) happen every so often, but it feels more and more like the Frontiers Saga is all about abusing the good guys as much as possible. Writing an exciting story is one thing, writing a depressing one is entirely something else.
Then there are the cliffhangers. I just finished the latest Lost Fleet book before this, and the ending there actually had an impact on me - and also closed the story arc of the book in a way that makes me excited to read the next chapter of the story when it comes out. With this book however, so much hit the fan that I didn't even really care about Casimir at the end, and with the jump drive cliffhangar it felt like someone ran off with my Kindle half way through a book and promised to send it back to me sometime this summer.
I found this series with 11 episodes available, with 12 being available by the time I finished 11. I enjoyed all of them, but catching up has changed that slightly. At this point, this series feels like a series best enjoyed after it's finished...and after I make sure it doesn't pull a Chuck and has a horrible ending.
The captain Scott character bothers me now and I can't stand his incompetent character. He regressed, even for himself, in this book. He became somehow even dumber/more naive/more indecisive. After all he's been through, he should have died or become James T. Kirk...instead he often reminds me of Forest Gump commanding a star ship....he needs to man up or be replaced. He's a lame idiot at this point in time and just not a credible large ship commander anymore.
Captain Scott's Reactions were pretty much on the money in this book.
From all we have seen the fact that the Battleship escaped with the Scout ship is a fair representation of the abilities of a battleship.
Scout ship 3 was supposed to be self destructing. Scott as the on site leader of the Alliance had the responsibility to protect Alliance interests but as Captain Nash was to self destruct the Ship, its not Scott's fault that Nash was unable to do so due to the sabotage of one of his men.
As soon as the self destruct option was ruled out, Scott should have immediately shot at and destroyed the Scout ship. He was unprepared to shoot friendlies when he really should have.
Giving the crew a chance to escape was a calculated decision that was the wrong one in this case. However it has not been a Jung Tactic to expand shields in a battle, that was a Takaran Tactic. So it is unfair to blame Scott for giving time to the crew to escape.
I would like to point out that no one on the Bridge, or in Combat called him on that decision. Capt Nash who should have ordered it done, didn't, so it was a failure for multiple people. Possibly due to the fact that most of the Tactical people are relitivly new to their roles. (Capt. Nash, LT. Luis, Cmdr. Williams, who ever was on Science/Sensors should have mentioned the possibility too)
