Matthew; I appreciate your comments, and I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just wish to explain my positions.
1) I hear ya about military buildup, but there was really no way to simply jump forward past the buildup without explaining it, lest what they ended up with looked to contrived and convenient. And, of course, some people like the buildup better than the battles.
2) Yup, stalemates are unsatisfying when all you want to see is the bad guys to get what's coming. However, I felt anything but a stalemate would be completely unbelievable, given the circumstances.
3) The Jung remained underdeveloped throughout part 1 on purpose, since neither the EDF nor the Alliance knew much about them. This was on purpose on my part. Now that some dialog exists between the Alliance and the Jung, I suspect that we will learn more about the Jung.
a) Most of the actions and motivations of the Jung are taken straight out of Earth history. It is because the Jung have been underdeveloped in this part that their actions are difficult to understand. Considering that the Jung ARE undeveloped, I don't see how anyone (other than myself) can judge their actions and motivations to be unbelievable. This is one of the drawbacks of writing a series vs a standalone book. The reader is asked to trust the writer to reveal enough information over the course of the series to make everything understandable. That's a tough haul. I really wish I could tell everyone everything, but that would make for one very long book. Besides, in real life, no one knows everything. We think we know why people do the things they do, but the truth is that only the individual knows, and sometimes not even them.
b) No one said the Jung MILITARY have all the ships. I said that the JUNG have all the ships in the CORE, meaning that the locals did not have ships of their own. I never said that the Jung MILITARY were the only ones with ships, especially not in the core of the Jung sector. And even if they did, the military doesn't have the money. The money comes from the government, and from the Jung economy. (Probably in the form of taxes.) Without public and government support, ANY military would quickly become paralyzed.
c) Glassing planets whose populations are difficult or impossible to control makes perfect sense, especially considering the travel times between worlds. Glass it, come back in ten years and distribute automated equipment to cleanse the radiation, then rebuild and repopulate how you see fit. The only reason the Jung don't do this from the start is because NOT doing so gets them a productive world up front. However, once the cost of controlling a world appears to be more than simply glassing it and starting over, logic dictates glassing. It's the same as it's cheaper to tear an old, poorly constructed building down and rebuild than it is to remodel, and live with the ongoing headaches and costs associated with maintaining a poorly constructed building.
4) No one ever said that propellant was limited or precious. Just that it was necessary to move ships. When the Aurora returned, she had little propellant left, mostly because she burned so much escaping from the black hole's gravity well. Tanna's propellant supply gave the Alliance both propellant to use, AND to sell. Selling it back in the Pentaurus cluster gave them an advantage as theirs was a supply that was NOT controlled by the Takarans. Therefore, they could under sell them and raise considerable revenue in short order. Those funds bought the resources that the Alliance needed for their efforts in the Sol sector. There are plenty of sources of propellant in the universe, as their are plenty of gas giants out there. Having the infrastructure to harvest, refine, and distribute is another story. Tanna gave that to the Alliance. It's loss meant that the Alliance had to look elsewhere for their propellant needs. Not an impossible task by any means, but still one that would have to be dealt with.
a, b, c) To what end? The whole point was that the more the Alliance provokes the Jung, the more force the Jung are going to through at them. The Jung have hundreds of times more resources, ships, and infrastructure. Wipe out one propellant supply chain, and four more will pop up in their place. Sure, you could jump around quickly and take out ALL of their propellant, but I guarantee you that the Jung would respond by sending everything they could toward Earth. And it only takes one battleship colliding with Earth at near relativistic speeds, while dropping the containment fields around her antimatter reactors, to completely destroy the Earth.
5) See above. Really, it makes no sense to KKV the Jung homeworld. That would guarantee that the Alliance would lose. They simply do not have the resources to destroy the Jung empire as a whole. As I said, it only takes one Jung ship to doom Earth, IF that's what the Jung decide to do. KKVing their homeworld would simply force them to retaliate in kind. That is the theory of mutually assured destruction, after all. And as frightening a scenario as MAD is, it DID keep the US and the USSR from wiping one another out for several decades. In my opinion, the only logical way for the Alliance and the Earth to survive over the long term was to force a stalemate using mutually assured destruction. Even if it only works for 5-10 years, it still buys all the worlds of the Alliance time to build more ships, build defenses, and develop technologies, all in the hopes of defending themselves should the Jung ever decide to break the cease fire.
Again, I'm not trying to create an argument. I'm just sharing my thoughts on why I chose the course I did.
Thanks again for your comments.
Ryk,
Great ending to part 1 of a great series. I personally have loved every book. Even the things I would have like to see play out differently were still great because life never goes exactly as we want it to or think it should. And more importantly...it is YOUR story, and you are the one telling it. We are along for the ride. You have every right to tell it the way you want it to be told, so never stop doing that.
I am looking forward to part 2 and cant wait to see whats next. Another more powerful empire that was driving the Jung to expand away from it? An Alien force that the alliance will need to cooperate with the Jung to defeat? Only you know the answer to that, so keep telling your stories and I for one will keep listening (reading).
Thanks for the ride so far Ryk.
Glassing planets in the long run is a bad thing. Words gets out, and then others start to figure might as well go all out total resistance if the planet is going to get glassed.
If you look at our world history, countries (pretend they are planets) which are taken over, always have at least low level of resistance and insurgency. So even if the Jung come and take over a planet, there will always be resistance somewhere at least for the first few generations (until the population who remember being free or stories of being free die off).
How does word get out about your glassing a planet if you control all interstellar space travel and communication within your empire?
The Ta'Akar broadcast their "Cleansings" on the nightly news, yes. But, the Ta'Akar were using such actions as demonstrations of their power to terrorize their subjects into submission. The Jung have no need to take similar action.
Quoting Ryk: "
Even if it only works for 5-10 years, it still buys all the worlds of the Alliance time to build more ships, build defenses, and develop technologies, all in the hopes of defending themselves should the Jung ever decide to break the cease fire.
"
I would say that it is not IF but WHEN, which will most likely make up either the second or third set of 15 books. 🙂
I was expecting to see one line while Admiral Dumar was explaining to Captain Scott why he is the focal point of the Jung's hatred...
"After all, you are Na-Tan!"
Doesn't matter that the Jung do or don't know of the Na-Tan legend, it's just that that's pretty much how/when Dumar & Scott met.
Thanks for an enjoyable series.
Ryk,
I have really enjoyed the series, all 15 books. Having read your comments regarding Kindle Self-Publishing, you made the right decision. I find it easy to find and purchase your books via Amazon/Kindle. No reader should have to "submit to a cavity search" just to find an author/book.
I have a few theories about how part 2 will unfold. I'll keep them to myself, for now. As you've stated in previous comments, and I paraphrase: "Only the author REALLY knows how things will unfold. And, if I'm being honest as a fan, guessing the plot/arc direction and being right lessons the enjoyment, for me.
Lastly, I appreciate the fact that reading this series has been more enjoyable than any Sci-Fi movie series, including Star Wars/Star Trek, that I've experienced in my 62 years. I've been through the list of top "hard sci-fi" and even the top "military sci-fi" books. Yet, I keep coming back to the Frontier Saga and buying the next installment, via Kindle, because I find it a much more engrossing and entertaining series.
I also found "The Expanse" series to be a close 2nd. I have read the entire published library of The Expanse series and have also watched the entire TV production. As a multi-media specialist it has become clear that trying to take a great series of books and turn them into an equally compelling and engrossing episodic TV series or movie is much more difficult task.
If indeed you are offered a TV series, I wish you the best of luck.
Ryk, thanks for your response.
Some of your explanations aren't particularly convincing. I'm not going to dwell on what has already been established though. I'm looking forward toward part2 and hopefully getting to read more about the wonderful Frontiers universe you have created.
Keep up the good work.
Ryk, dude, I JUST finished power reading the WHOLE series in about a week, and that final chapter left me panting for breath.
This was a GREAT series, and have told the other hardcore sci fi geeks I know on social media to pick up the series.
I have one question:
What happened to Vladmir's kitten, Cosmos? He wasnt mentioned afterwards.
I would also LOVE to see Telle's backstory or a side series about him and his troops, he was one of my fave characters, besides Josh & Loki.
Speaking of Josh & Loki, did you pattern them two after Maverick & Goose from Top gun?
for some reason everytime I read their combat scenes, I can almost hear "Danger Zone"
I HATED Danger Zone & Top Gun.
I guess being an Army vet, I'm a little biased against the Navy....
Thanks again for a great series, looking forward to June's release of EP 16
Thank you for the great series! I also just got done reading the entire series though it took me a month.
Just wanted to say I hope you don't kill off Nathan. I know you've already got the story decided and are working on the next book but I really want to see what happens next. I think its a great opportunity to not only learn more about Jung society but also what does the alliance do now that Nathan is in enemies hands (by his own choice). Also what is Nathan now that he is separated from his ship (his happiness by his own admission) and expects never to return. It's a great situation for character development as its basically forcing Nathan once again into politics, which he hates. And this is politics make no mistake. The general is playing the game and got Nathan where he wanted him.
If the next book talks about the trial at all, it will revolve around the Jung castes and lots of political maneuvering as that's one way Nathan may end escaping death. It wouldn't be surprising that in a society like the Jung where strength is everything that a "great warrior" who gives himself up for peace may be given the option (through political maneuvering) to either die or perform some great act for the Jung. The story of Hercules comes to mind.
It also provides a somewhat welcome break from all the space battles, which I love, as its nice to mix it up. You have Nathan dealing with Jung society and the other characters get brought more into spotlight with him out of the picture. Cameron for one I would like to see more of and with Nathan gone (for now) she can take command of the ship.
I think there is still a lot more character development left for Nathan (away from the ship) and maybe even redemption. I think it would be a waste if he just got killed off by the Jung now, especially if we come to book #16 and we just learn yep the Jung executed him. Its not the best of ways to go out. Also it would fall into the old Jesus cliche I see a lot in other books where look this guy sacrificed himself for all of us so we could be forgiven (by the Jung).
I guess what I'm saying is that I really want to see what happens next for Nathan and how the other characters react to this new development. With a cease-fire (for now) and overall goal reached (protect Earth), what becomes the new goalpost? I'm guessing something is going to happen in book #16 to get everything running again. Some new danger or old? Anyways Nathan doesn't have to continue being the central character but I do hope we get to keep seeing him in each book moving forward and whats happening with him.
It would be so weird for Nathan to be released in a prisoner exchange of some sort only to find out that the Alliance had cloned him without his knowledge and that his clone was living out his life on Earth/ in the Alliance in his stead.
Hmm. Pondering what could set things off in second series. I'm thinking that without intervention that the Jung will be building a strike fleet to launch a preemptive attack on Earth. Their schedule might be five to ten years after the end of book 15. So, what would interfere with such plans? I'm guessing either a larger force on the far side of Jung space, a rebellion in the ranks of the Jung, or a non-human intelligence popping up.
Perhaps something so scary to the Jung that they need Na-Tan to lead their forces against the new threat. Perhaps on a leash held by General Bacca...
I know those of you who watched the 1970s Battlestar will get this, but can you picture Dubnyk returning at the head of an AI machine army?
I think that Rumors of a Jung Defeat in the Sol Sector could lead to mass rebellion in other Jung held sectors in Near Sol space.
Bringing a fleet officer of the Alliance to some of these systems to confirm that the Alliance is present in the Sol System but that they have agreed with the Jung to hold those borders, might be a way to stem rebellion and to limit the glassing of worlds (which would be beneficial to the Jung because the Jung don't have as many as they once did / Nathan would do this because he doesn't like the idea of glassing planets)
Being out in the open like this might allow the Alliance to liberate him.
Being in the good books with the Jung could help hold them back from launching an attack on Sol/Alliance.
Gives Nathan a chance to get to know the Enemy which could be very useful for strategy and story elements going forward.
Love it... Am now working my way through in audio format and one thing caught my attention and i had forgotten it... The first few batches of Gatazhak (I know that's not spelled right is it?) were programmed to protect Nathan.... i know most of those are dead now, but Telles isn't and he is the commander of all of them... when orders contraband programming what happens... Just my two cents on how Nathan can survive, though not sure thats a good thing, but who wouldn't want to see Telles commanding a massive attack/rescue mission tearing apart the Jung Homeworld...
I also have to think about what is good for the franchise. I’m trying to tell a really long story here, in a way that either has not been done before, or at the very least is rarely done. (I don’t know, as I haven’t read every sci fi book out there.) I have to keep the franchise alive long enough to finish the story, or I’m not doing right by those that follow the entire series.
Wow, I'm surprised a Sifi writer has never heard about the foundation series by Issac Asimov. Umm, to say that he didn't create a story that stretched, hundred of thousands of years, civilizations, tied it all together and made a wonderful world and character developments that at least did have an ending to story archs good or bad. I mean, how many people have not at least heard of him. And there are few parallels between this story and star trek so I wouldn't be so in love with your self over your "original" story.
I have so many other things to point out but MAYBE now I know why I started disliking the books, you got a ego because of early success and I did read your bio about your hardships in life and I think it added to my enjoyment of the books. You had a solid series there but this is nothing amazingly ground breaking here buddy. I guess I'm glad I checked in to see what other people through a little time after the release; now I don't even have to bother buying the next book.
