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Fear the Sky

(The Fear Saga #1)

by
4.07  ·  Rating details ·  5,471 ratings  ·  384 reviews
In eleven years time, a million members of an alien race will arrive at Earth. Years before they enter orbit, their approach will be announced by the flare of a thousand flames in the sky, their ships’ huge engines burning hard to slow them from the vast speeds needed to cross interstellar space.

These foreboding lights will shine in our night sky like new stars, getting e
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Kindle Edition, 394 pages
Published April 26th 2014 by Stephen Moss
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Stephen Moss I don't think this has adult themes, per se, though some scenes have some fairly graphic violence and adult language. As others have said, I would…moreI don't think this has adult themes, per se, though some scenes have some fairly graphic violence and adult language. As others have said, I would think its is nothing that a teenager would balk at. Hope you enjoy it. (less)

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Average rating 4.07  · 
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 ·  5,471 ratings  ·  384 reviews


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Bailey
Jan 08, 2015 rated it it was ok
I'm not sure why I'm not giving this book one star. I'm not even sure why I finished this book.

And yet... I'm not sure why I want to read the next book in the series, either.

Clearly it did something right, but GOODNESS, the quality of the prose was painful at times. Excess commas, comma splices, and run on sentences were all over the place. I put it up with it, though. I made it through to the end, despite the weird pacing, where months would pass with no comment, and then a chapter
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Smythe99
May 22, 2014 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
This appears to be Stephen's first novel and it is a first class piece of work. After a slow start, the pace builds rapidly. This is no ordinary SF novel, the depth of the characters, the speed and complexity of the plot, the technology encountered and developed by the protagonists and, most of all the power politics puts this in the top echelon of science fiction and even general fiction. Don't start reading it if you don't have time to keep at it, it will devour your spare time.

Well done Step
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Jono Hayward
Mar 31, 2015 rated it did not like it
Badly written, badly edited, immature in its execution... And yet difficult to put down. This book manages to nail that somewhat rare combination of being utterly trashy but still compelling enough to keep you reading it (and just maybe to read its sequels, like I did. I'm still not sure why).

The story is cliché, the dialogue is unrealistic, and I can only think of one female character who isn't blatantly objectified by having her physicality described at length in her introduction w
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Kaleb Fischer
Jun 27, 2015 rated it did not like it
Terrible. The worst book I've experienced all year. It read like it was written by a 14 year old. The poor sentence and paragraph structure as well as questionable grammar and vocabulary use are are very distracting. There is a total lack of nuance and the author is very fond of "telling" instead of "showing" (like the book equivalent of Wiseau's "The Room"). There was no suspension of disbelief because the author has no understanding of how people interact/work or how groups of people behave. M ...more
Sean T.
Sep 30, 2015 rated it really liked it
In many books where humans encounter aliens, the aliens are knowable even if their technology is advanced. Take for example Worldwar: In the Balance by Harry Turtledove; the aliens were advanced when compared to the humans they had come to conquer, but their technology was understandable. Moss throws that concept completely out the window and describes a technology--and the entities on Earth that embody it--that is so advanced it is impossible to comprehend.

This creates a problem for the book i
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Gerod
May 24, 2017 rated it it was ok
Should be called fear the thesaurus. Couldn't finish it, too hard to get past the shoddy writing style. Sorry. Might have some fun ideas but a third of the way through I was bored. Not my type of story.

Mr. Moss, here are some synonyms for 'vast': huge, extensive, expansive, broad, wide, sweeping, boundless, immeasurable, limitless, infinite; enormous, immense, great, massive, colossal, tremendous, mighty, prodigious, gigantic, gargantuan, mammoth, monumental;
giant, towering, mo
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Sinisa Mikasinovic
Jan 05, 2017 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Sci-Fi fans
This was a fun one!
In an omg-the-end-is-coming scary kind of a way.

Alien race is coming. Obviously, they are more technologically advanced, otherwise we'd be coming to them. So... be exhilarated or be afraid?

Afraid, as we soon find out. They already did to their planet what we're now doing to ours and need to find a new home. And they really like our planet.

But they know we have nukes.

And the fear of making the entire planet uninhabitable in our pa
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AudioBookReviewer
ABR's full Fear the Sky audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

A great book that trips over itself.

Mankind is infiltrated by powerful, greedy aliens who are going to wipe humankind off the planet so they can use it for themselves. However, they need to do this subtlety and efficiently, so mankind doesn’t find out, panic and launch nukes. No sense taking over a planet if it is spoiled. The aliens plant personalities into eight, super-strong, smart androids wh
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Kevin
Mar 03, 2015 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
WINNER!

What a gripping story. We have a combination of excellent sci-fi with espionage, infiltration, military action, generally smart characters with excellent and varied personalities - including the AI and embedded personalities.

There's action on the sea, land, air, and space. The character Neil almost reminds me of Ellie from Contact. Humble beginnings but blossoms into full-blown center of focus. The military officers are more patriotic than selfish.

The d
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Lenny S
May 24, 2014 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
This one was a surprise to me. It lulls you into a false sense of security, even as it hints at something bigger, and then it really hits you. Then things return to normal and it seems almost safe for a while again and then the ground opens up underneath you and you are falling on a roller coaster to the very end. A lot going on here. Very creative. I am super keen for the next book.
Yossi
Aug 10, 2017 rated it really liked it
This is what a book would be like if Tom Clancy wrote sci-fi. A fun thriller, albeit a bit simplistic, with technical undertones and non-stop action. My only complaint is the characters. They are too perfect. It feels like Stephen Moss is in love with them and they can do no wrong.
Aaron Bunce
Feb 10, 2017 rated it it was ok
Shelves: dnf
Fear the Sky sounds interesting enough. The synopsis hooked me, after all, and being on a huge sci-fi kick, I eagerly added it to my Audible library. Oh boy. Disclaimer: I gave up on this book at 20%, roughly 12 chapters in. You might say, "you didn't give it a chance." But I counter, at 20% in, I had already dedicated over 4 and a half hours! If a book can't hook you in that time, there is a problem. Or many problems!

Fear the Sky moves at an arduous pace, not unlike tree sap in the
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Stephanie
Nov 01, 2015 rated it it was amazing
This feels more like a political action thriller, even though there are aliens and a bit of advanced tech. The setting is present-day, and the focus is primarily on the human side of the struggle so this is probably more like near-fi than true sci-fi. But that's just being picky, because I loved it! The story was very engaging, and I couldn't stop until it was over. I thought the author did an excellent job of deftly weaving the alien threat into modern day life, just enough to make it believabl ...more
Antonio
Jun 13, 2015 rated it liked it
All alien invasions are not alike!
(an audiobook review)

This story will take you down the a path to a whole other way our lonely blue world could be invaded. For once, the reasons why are thoroughly explained. Its not just some random invasion. A complete plan is presented and the story is told from several sides as this tale spreads out.

That characters are pretty well explained. Some a bit one directional in their purpose but its not done poorly. Coming to planet wi
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Banner
Oct 04, 2015 rated it liked it
Shelves: sci-fi, alien
This definitely had a Niven feel to it. An Alien invasion story that involves characters from around the world, different cultures and background all coming together to save humanity. I thought the plot was well developed without dragging. Once the action started it was hold on to your set time.

The aliens themselves were extremely interesting and as with many trilogies we don't get as much info as we would like in this first book. The aliens did not pass my personal test of "aliennes
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Jimbo
Jun 25, 2014 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
This book is brilliant. Really grabs hold of you and doesn't let you off, which is why I found myself still reading it at 1:15 in the morning before finally finding a chapter end where I could pause.

However, there are a number of spelling/grammar issues in it (you're instead of your, loosing instead of losing), which surprised me. Needs a better editor.

Really looking forward to the next one though.
Trae
May 23, 2015 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Riveting! A nail biter from start to finish. It is full of science fiction technology that is grounded just enough in real science that you believe that the fiction can really happen. This aspect pulls the reader in deeper than if it made this new technology more magic than science. Good book!
Erika Warner
Apr 13, 2015 rated it did not like it
Tediously Boring

Do not get this book! I do not understand the Raving reviews. I skipped pages only to find that still nothing was happening. Author needs to get his head out of his own butt.
Ross Alon
Apr 28, 2018 rated it liked it
It's an Okay book. Like the twists and turn of the story, but the characters all sound the same.
A nice read, will give the next one a try.
Susan
Oct 11, 2015 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Fear the Sky by Stephen Moss An odd comet is visible through telescopes and scientist Neal Danielson is intrigued. His calculated predictions of how the comet will break up turn out correct. However, there are pieces that enter the atmosphere, each one crashing into an ocean at different points around the globe. With a small covert US government team, they try to locate one of these objects. Their efforts start a chain of events that is just the beginning in what may very well be the endgame for ...more
Rhiannon
Sep 01, 2019 rated it it was ok
I'm sure this is great for some people, it was a serious struggle for me
John
Jul 09, 2015 rated it really liked it
Riveting, gripping and just absolutely brilliant!

Easily classifiable as an action and thriller story, this book is definitely hard science fiction at heart. And what a fantastic job the author does and hitting all the genre points.

The story starts with a slowness that is crafted to lull you into a false sense security and hints at a larger impending doom looming in the sky and the invasion headed to Earth. Although there are quite a bit of members, the cast of characters
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Meghan
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. I'm still reaching to play more. It's a bit hard knowing the other two books are not out on audio yet. I bought it strictly because I am a huge fan of RC Bray (narrator). I want him to narrate every scifi book I ever read now. Truthfully, I'd listen to him narrate the dictionary. I think I have a voice crush.

This doesn't get a full 5 stars mostly because this went overly long. There were a lot of places that should have been edited dow
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Alissa
Mar 22, 2016 rated it really liked it
Shelves: series, sci-fi
So, I listened to this book with R.C. Bray as the narrator, who honestly is just fantastic. I couldn't ask for a better narrator when it comes to highly technical and science driven books. Which this was. (A side note, he also read The MartianThe Martian and it was awesome)

All that out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. It's not something I would have picked up and physically read, but it was so SO good in audio form and well worth the 20 hours of listening time it took to finish it.

The whole story
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Jacob Cooper
May 18, 2015 rated it really liked it
I have to admit, I was skeptical about this book. It started out pretty good but being in third person omniscient was a little jarring to me at first. You are never in anyone's point of view for long and that is typically not done in books too much now. So, the point-of-view ping pong will take a little getting used to. HOWEVER, once I settled into it, it was a great thrill ride. The concepts were well thought out. I always appreciate good science in a science "fiction" book, but obviously if it ...more
Tim
Dec 29, 2015 rated it it was amazing
So this is kind of a hard book to review. The writing was not great. At times it reminded me of some of the very dry classic works of sci-fi like say Rama. However it is different from those as Moss wants to inject humanity into the cast, it just doesn't always work and the prose is a bit rough.

Based on other reviews I'm very happy that I listened to this book. I didn't have to worry about commas and the narration was very good.

Now, why am I rating this five stars? Well,
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mirkka
Jan 01, 2016 rated it liked it
The story and the characters in this book are great, however the storytelling itself gets awfully boring at times and I frequently found myself spacing out during the audiobook while the author went into long rambles of run on sentences occasionally splattered with technical jargon. Even the wonderful narrator R. C. Bray couldn't hold my interest during some parts of the book. The author also has a rather annoying habit of repeating words in a sentence instead of rephrasing when he needs to refe ...more
Whiskeyjack
Dec 30, 2017 rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: Cruncher
This is a whole lot of fun to read! I would class it as a sci-fi techno thriller, but the techno really comes in part 2 of the series. This first book in the series starts as a thriller with not much action. But the pace is relentless and the suspense builds quickly.

The book isn't without its faults though. Some pretty big leaps are taken in how characters evolve in the book and there are quite a few moments where I was completely thrown of by how much time suddenly had passed from one page to
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Benjaminivor
Mar 13, 2016 rated it really liked it
Ok, this isn't new territory, but honestly, for anyone reading this - you don't really care! Admit to yourself you love first contact, secret plans to eliminate humanity, A.I. of questionable moral integrity, and a strategy to defeat a superior interstellar foe. These are the elements of a great story. Who cares about total originality when you're working with our kind of escapist carnivore? We're going to find and devour anything in the genre anyway, the only question is if it stands out from t ...more
Louis Skye
Nov 10, 2016 rated it liked it
I'm glad I listened to the audiobook because I understand the physical book had numerous mistakes in it.

The book is a fairly straightforward sci-fi novel about humans trying to fend off an alien attack. However, what I liked about it was that it didn't centre entirely on America or the UK and white characters, but was diverse with its characters and settings.

Having said that, I found some of the characters a bit annoying and some of the text repetitive. I also felt the book was much longer tha
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Book one of the Fear Saga 3 7 Aug 04, 2019 10:34PM  

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317 followers
Stephen Moss was born in England, but spent time as a child in wildly diverse places, including several years in Brazil, Belgium, and Malaysia.

He eventually settled in New York, but still travels avidly, something he uses as inspiration and input to his writing. Stephen is a fan of Hard SF by masters such as Iain M. Banks, Orson Scott Card, Peter F. Hamilton and the many other fantasti
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Other books in the series

The Fear Saga (3 books)
  • Fear the Survivors (The Fear Saga, #2)
  • Fear the Future (The Fear Saga #3)
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