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Dark Universe #1
The Last Stryker
Nothing lasts forever. Least of all, peace. Seventeen and sole heir to the richest House in the galaxy, Ramya Kiroff has a life anyone would kill for. Only to Ramya, it is a living nightmare. Her father Tyrsten has no use for a female heir, except as bait. When Ramya is handed a diktat--she must marry a stranger who will run the Kiroff business empire in her stead--she decides she has had enough. Ramya's plan to escape her trappings is flawless. Until she steps into the Endeavor--the one ship Trysten Kiroff is desperate to get his hands on . . . Former Captain of the Confederate Fleet, Terenze Milos is the hero of the Locusta-Vanga wars, said to have brought the galaxy back from the brink of extinction. Now he lives in obscurity, running a freight operation on the derelict ship, Endeavor. When Captain Milos recognizes the unmistakable signs of deadly Locustan technology in a salvaged fighter craft--the Stryker--he sounds a warning. But the Confederacy isn't listening . . . Caught between a corrupt Confederacy and an old enemy intent on eradicating life from the galaxy, the Endeavor and its crew find themselves on the run. Captain Milos knows, time is running out fast. And a young stowaway aboard the Endeavor with an unlikely bond with the Stryker may be the galaxy's last line of defense. A grizzled old captain with a mysterious past, a ragtag crew, and a stowaway with a secret--can this band of misfits save the galaxy from annihilation?
216 pages, Paperback
Published May 10, 2017
70 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 30, 2017
"C" Rating for Tale of a Angst-Driven, Young Heiress
First time author, Alex Sheppard, has penned a mediocre SciFi tale, "The Last Stryker (Dark Universe Series Book 1"), of a young, privileged, angst-driven heiress, who runs from her dysfunctional (uber "daddy issues") elitist family, joins a deep space freighter's crew, and becomes central to conspiracies, captured hybrid human/alien tech, and sundry other plots.
The book started off well for this reviewer, centering on the freighter's small, eclectic crew (or to paraphrase the author: weird and wacky), who are commanded by a former war hero. The plot then took a sudden pivot, which became the book's focal point, and followed the heiress of an immensely wealthy, connected, powerful, and ruthless family. Herein, the wheels came off for this reviewer.
Two (2) issues unfolded: firstly, the MC is not a very sympathetic nor likable character. She is self-centered, has severe anger management issues, and so very needy. The other characters, the cargo ship's crew, a snarky AI, and an alien entity are all much more engaging and entertaining. Secondly, the author, unfortunately for readers, might have a decent tale, but is incapable of writing execution. The incessant repetition of descriptions ("...fists clenched...," "...looking at herself in mirrors...,") are mundane and plodding. The stretching of credulity the author requires of a reader, to bridge the many holes in the plot lines and plot devices, is onerous. A good sweep through by a competent editor, and perhaps a shift to another character as the MC (captain, navigator, AI, or alien entity are all solid candidates) would enhance the story for this reviewer and perhaps other readers.
Overall, "The Last Stryker," is narrowly recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
First time author, Alex Sheppard, has penned a mediocre SciFi tale, "The Last Stryker (Dark Universe Series Book 1"), of a young, privileged, angst-driven heiress, who runs from her dysfunctional (uber "daddy issues") elitist family, joins a deep space freighter's crew, and becomes central to conspiracies, captured hybrid human/alien tech, and sundry other plots.
The book started off well for this reviewer, centering on the freighter's small, eclectic crew (or to paraphrase the author: weird and wacky), who are commanded by a former war hero. The plot then took a sudden pivot, which became the book's focal point, and followed the heiress of an immensely wealthy, connected, powerful, and ruthless family. Herein, the wheels came off for this reviewer.
Two (2) issues unfolded: firstly, the MC is not a very sympathetic nor likable character. She is self-centered, has severe anger management issues, and so very needy. The other characters, the cargo ship's crew, a snarky AI, and an alien entity are all much more engaging and entertaining. Secondly, the author, unfortunately for readers, might have a decent tale, but is incapable of writing execution. The incessant repetition of descriptions ("...fists clenched...," "...looking at herself in mirrors...,") are mundane and plodding. The stretching of credulity the author requires of a reader, to bridge the many holes in the plot lines and plot devices, is onerous. A good sweep through by a competent editor, and perhaps a shift to another character as the MC (captain, navigator, AI, or alien entity are all solid candidates) would enhance the story for this reviewer and perhaps other readers.
Overall, "The Last Stryker," is narrowly recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
January 9, 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book and it was a pretty good read - a bit better than okay but not quite great
Young heiress fleeing the inevitable ends up with a band of misfits who stagger the lines of political correctness - packed with action, suspense, and espionage - hidden twists and turns that keep you curious
Sheppard provided us with some really great characters and the world building was also very innovative - it was the slow feel of the story that had me wavering a bit - there were a couple twists here and there but I felt as with many authors he/she tried to put too much into the series intro and it caused it to drag a bit
I am going to move on with book two as I have also found that many times the second book outshines the first and there is a lot of potential here
Young heiress fleeing the inevitable ends up with a band of misfits who stagger the lines of political correctness - packed with action, suspense, and espionage - hidden twists and turns that keep you curious
Sheppard provided us with some really great characters and the world building was also very innovative - it was the slow feel of the story that had me wavering a bit - there were a couple twists here and there but I felt as with many authors he/she tried to put too much into the series intro and it caused it to drag a bit
I am going to move on with book two as I have also found that many times the second book outshines the first and there is a lot of potential here
January 6, 2018
The last stryker
“ What would happen after that was anybody’s guess,” a common thought for Ramya and the crew of the endevour.
Alex Sheppard takes the reader on a adventure through space, as we try to find allys in a distopian life of politics and money.
We have here a good book at times it may slow and from time to time forget a bolt here and there, but Alex Sheppard has given us a window into another wold in time and space that leaves you wanting more.
“ What would happen after that was anybody’s guess,” a common thought for Ramya and the crew of the endevour.
Alex Sheppard takes the reader on a adventure through space, as we try to find allys in a distopian life of politics and money.
We have here a good book at times it may slow and from time to time forget a bolt here and there, but Alex Sheppard has given us a window into another wold in time and space that leaves you wanting more.
May 31, 2023
Too many coincidences, too many YA tropes.
The cold open has a battlecruiser that’s been converted into a freighter run into a debris field of destroyed spaceships. They find a single survivor. Very mysterious and dun-dun-dun. Smash cut to: teenage girls coming out of flight training at a school.
Our heroine is the daughter of one of the richest men in the galaxy. He’s cruel and has decided she will no longer be allowed to stay at her very expensive boarding school but will instead be married off to a suitable partner who can take over the family business eventually. She’s not allowed because she’s a girl. Because this is a far-future galactic confederacy but also 1830.
At school she hears about confederacy government types recruiting because an entire fleet was destroyed somehow. But that doesn’t matter because she’s going to make a daring escape into the galaxy’s hinterlands to find her beloved uncle and recover a family heirloom to prove to papa that she’s worthy. As she leaves during the big dance she runs into one of these confederacy dudes who insists that she dance with him. She reluctantly does so because hormones, but leaves him to go to the powder room but actually is taking a powder.
On her way to the spaceport where she’s going to hitch a ride out of town using a fake ID, she sees a guy getting beat up by two thugs. She decides to intervene. He JUST SO HAPPENS to be the sole survivor of the incident in the prologue.
After a while the coincidences just pile up and it stops being a fun beach read and starts becoming annoying. It also does that thing that happened in Star Wars where this massive galactic empire and all its machinations come down to the same seven people. It diminishes the scope of the piece.
It then manages to devolve even further by becoming a borderline Mary Sue story. Which is a bummer, because the book starts off so promisingly but then just becomes a coincidental paint-by-numbers affair.
The cold open has a battlecruiser that’s been converted into a freighter run into a debris field of destroyed spaceships. They find a single survivor. Very mysterious and dun-dun-dun. Smash cut to: teenage girls coming out of flight training at a school.
Our heroine is the daughter of one of the richest men in the galaxy. He’s cruel and has decided she will no longer be allowed to stay at her very expensive boarding school but will instead be married off to a suitable partner who can take over the family business eventually. She’s not allowed because she’s a girl. Because this is a far-future galactic confederacy but also 1830.
At school she hears about confederacy government types recruiting because an entire fleet was destroyed somehow. But that doesn’t matter because she’s going to make a daring escape into the galaxy’s hinterlands to find her beloved uncle and recover a family heirloom to prove to papa that she’s worthy. As she leaves during the big dance she runs into one of these confederacy dudes who insists that she dance with him. She reluctantly does so because hormones, but leaves him to go to the powder room but actually is taking a powder.
On her way to the spaceport where she’s going to hitch a ride out of town using a fake ID, she sees a guy getting beat up by two thugs. She decides to intervene. He JUST SO HAPPENS to be the sole survivor of the incident in the prologue.
After a while the coincidences just pile up and it stops being a fun beach read and starts becoming annoying. It also does that thing that happened in Star Wars where this massive galactic empire and all its machinations come down to the same seven people. It diminishes the scope of the piece.
It then manages to devolve even further by becoming a borderline Mary Sue story. Which is a bummer, because the book starts off so promisingly but then just becomes a coincidental paint-by-numbers affair.
January 1, 2018
Out On The Fringe of the Universe💫
Ross is the commander on the Endeavor🚀, a space battle cruiser turned freighter, but his Captain, Milos, is a highly decorated Ship Captain from the last big Confederation war, the Locusta -Vanga War.
Somehow, while on a delivery, they get knocked out of light speed and out of the wormhole they were traveling through. They end up in a star system💫 50 hours away from the next wormhole they need. So the delivery Will be very late.
Then Ross discovers a large amount of debris around one planet. It's the debris from a destroyed fleet, and there's a distress beacon! The Endeavor🚀 has to investigate and pick up survivors.
They find one eerie, strange fighter🚀 of unknown origin, with a living man inside, and pull it into their cargo bay. The pilot finally emerges, he's an GSO officer. He feigns loss of memory but he tells them the fleet was destroyed by four Strykers, as he calls the ships, but his was the only one to survive.
Meanwhile, Ramya💋, the 17 year old daughter and only child of Trysten Kiroff🐺, a uber rich and powerful leader and owner of numerous ore rich planets, is a cadet at a military academy sponsored by her father on their home planet🌍 of Nikoor. When she gets in a fight with another cadet they try to suspend her for a month but her father intervenes and tells her in a letter she is done there and will be married off to a strategic ally, a man he will choose for her.
That does it for her and she sneaks off the school grounds and to the spaceport🚀, where she is able to get aboard the Endeavor! The GSO officer from the Stryker🚀 is attacked in an alley on the planet and she helps save him, along with two crew members, so Captain Milos tells her she can stay and become part of his eccentric crew.
Ramya💋 knows her father is looking for her. She wants to go to a remote place in space💫 called the Fringe, and look for her Uncle there. She wants to get far away from her all powerful father, but his power and reach is as big as the universe💫!
The book📙ends in a Cliffhanger!
ARC Received for a Voluntary and Honest Review.
This is a well told and very interesting tale of intrigue in space! Highly recommend for sci-fi fans!
Ross is the commander on the Endeavor🚀, a space battle cruiser turned freighter, but his Captain, Milos, is a highly decorated Ship Captain from the last big Confederation war, the Locusta -Vanga War.
Somehow, while on a delivery, they get knocked out of light speed and out of the wormhole they were traveling through. They end up in a star system💫 50 hours away from the next wormhole they need. So the delivery Will be very late.
Then Ross discovers a large amount of debris around one planet. It's the debris from a destroyed fleet, and there's a distress beacon! The Endeavor🚀 has to investigate and pick up survivors.
They find one eerie, strange fighter🚀 of unknown origin, with a living man inside, and pull it into their cargo bay. The pilot finally emerges, he's an GSO officer. He feigns loss of memory but he tells them the fleet was destroyed by four Strykers, as he calls the ships, but his was the only one to survive.
Meanwhile, Ramya💋, the 17 year old daughter and only child of Trysten Kiroff🐺, a uber rich and powerful leader and owner of numerous ore rich planets, is a cadet at a military academy sponsored by her father on their home planet🌍 of Nikoor. When she gets in a fight with another cadet they try to suspend her for a month but her father intervenes and tells her in a letter she is done there and will be married off to a strategic ally, a man he will choose for her.
That does it for her and she sneaks off the school grounds and to the spaceport🚀, where she is able to get aboard the Endeavor! The GSO officer from the Stryker🚀 is attacked in an alley on the planet and she helps save him, along with two crew members, so Captain Milos tells her she can stay and become part of his eccentric crew.
Ramya💋 knows her father is looking for her. She wants to go to a remote place in space💫 called the Fringe, and look for her Uncle there. She wants to get far away from her all powerful father, but his power and reach is as big as the universe💫!
The book📙ends in a Cliffhanger!
ARC Received for a Voluntary and Honest Review.
This is a well told and very interesting tale of intrigue in space! Highly recommend for sci-fi fans!
May 24, 2023
I enjoyed this book overall. It took a while to get started and I had issues getting fully invested in the main character. Ramya is the daughter of the richest, most powerful man, in the story. She starts out as someone who has spent her entire life trying to gain her parent's approval and failing miserably. The disappointment finally reaches a breaking point and we see Ramya run. She runs right into the motley crew of the Endeavor. She is looking for an escape from her father but they hold a secret of their own. And so, we find our cast of characters thrown into the void with, what seems, the entire galaxy out to get them.
Ramya was an interesting character. I found myself pulling for her in the beginning as she suffered through the tyranny of her father. But then she meets the crew of the Endeavor and she never misses an opportunity to remind the reader of her high-born status. Her constant flux between her own arrogance, her panic-inducing fear, and her snap judgment of others' behavior as arrogant, started to get a bit hard to swallow. Thankfully, the rest of the crew makes up for it.
In the end, the story carried all the characters forward. You find yourself wanting to know what happens next. The book was a quick read with an interesting universe. The characters started out interesting enough that I suspect they will only get better as you ride along with them on their adventure. Book 2 should be fun.
Ramya was an interesting character. I found myself pulling for her in the beginning as she suffered through the tyranny of her father. But then she meets the crew of the Endeavor and she never misses an opportunity to remind the reader of her high-born status. Her constant flux between her own arrogance, her panic-inducing fear, and her snap judgment of others' behavior as arrogant, started to get a bit hard to swallow. Thankfully, the rest of the crew makes up for it.
In the end, the story carried all the characters forward. You find yourself wanting to know what happens next. The book was a quick read with an interesting universe. The characters started out interesting enough that I suspect they will only get better as you ride along with them on their adventure. Book 2 should be fun.
June 8, 2023
The Last Stryker is the first book in the Dark Universe series by Alex Sheppard. In this fast-paced space opera, we follow Ramya Kiroff and Captain Terenze Milos
Ramya is the heiress to Tyrsten Kiroff's empire, can’t seem to do anything right and all her father wants to do is marry her off to create an alliance and expand his empire. Ramya wants nothing but to escape her father and his arranged marriage.
Captain Terenze Milos is a former Captain of the Confederate Fleet in the Locusta-Vanga wars and now owns his freighter, the Endeavor, hauling freight for others. Captain Milos is recognizing signs of Locustan technology coming back and fears another war.
The Endeavor takes on a new crew member as they find themselves on the run. Time is running out as the new crew member bonds with the Stryker and may be the galaxy’s last line of defense.
The Last Stryker is an interesting fast-paced Sci-Fi with some plot twists, an easy-to-read writing style, and engaging albeit angsty, characters. A must-read for Sci-Fi space opera fans.
Ramya is the heiress to Tyrsten Kiroff's empire, can’t seem to do anything right and all her father wants to do is marry her off to create an alliance and expand his empire. Ramya wants nothing but to escape her father and his arranged marriage.
Captain Terenze Milos is a former Captain of the Confederate Fleet in the Locusta-Vanga wars and now owns his freighter, the Endeavor, hauling freight for others. Captain Milos is recognizing signs of Locustan technology coming back and fears another war.
The Endeavor takes on a new crew member as they find themselves on the run. Time is running out as the new crew member bonds with the Stryker and may be the galaxy’s last line of defense.
The Last Stryker is an interesting fast-paced Sci-Fi with some plot twists, an easy-to-read writing style, and engaging albeit angsty, characters. A must-read for Sci-Fi space opera fans.
January 2, 2018
This book is difficult for me to review because it just struck me as so average. It's definitely not horrible, but it's also not great. If you enjoy space operas with strange technology and eclectic crews, you'll probably enjoy it.
The technology was definitely fun and interesting (shout out to the hilarious, snarky AI) and most of the characters were interesting and mysterious. Honestly, I wish that more time was spent with the crew of the Endeavor, because the main character is where the story begins to fall apart. To put it simply, she's a bit of a spoiled brat, quite immature, and pretty unlikeable overall. This, unfortunately, made the book difficult for me to read. However, if you can get past her, the rest of the novel is quite enjoyable.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
The technology was definitely fun and interesting (shout out to the hilarious, snarky AI) and most of the characters were interesting and mysterious. Honestly, I wish that more time was spent with the crew of the Endeavor, because the main character is where the story begins to fall apart. To put it simply, she's a bit of a spoiled brat, quite immature, and pretty unlikeable overall. This, unfortunately, made the book difficult for me to read. However, if you can get past her, the rest of the novel is quite enjoyable.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
January 14, 2018
“A grizzled old captain with a mysterious past, a ragtag crew, and a stowaway with a secret--can this band of misfits save the galaxy from annihilation?”
This was a fun book. Mostly because how fun the well-crafted characters were. This is especially true of the “grizzled old captain”, former hero the Locusta-Vanga who discovers unmistakable signs of “deadly Locustan technology” in a salvaged fighter craft, the eponymous Stryker and and is the last hope against total eradication of life after a corrupt Confederacy ignores his earning. It’s even more true of Ramya Kiroff, beautifully complex, heiress of the galaxy’s richest House and now fleeing her tyrant father. Add this to an excellent thriller of a plot and great galaxy-building and you’ve a recipe for total enjoyment. I certainly found it to be such.
Highly recommended.
This was a fun book. Mostly because how fun the well-crafted characters were. This is especially true of the “grizzled old captain”, former hero the Locusta-Vanga who discovers unmistakable signs of “deadly Locustan technology” in a salvaged fighter craft, the eponymous Stryker and and is the last hope against total eradication of life after a corrupt Confederacy ignores his earning. It’s even more true of Ramya Kiroff, beautifully complex, heiress of the galaxy’s richest House and now fleeing her tyrant father. Add this to an excellent thriller of a plot and great galaxy-building and you’ve a recipe for total enjoyment. I certainly found it to be such.
Highly recommended.
September 21, 2019
Dark Universe Series, Book 1
This debut book in the Dark Universe series will capture your interest right away. As heiress to the richest House in the galaxy, Ramya Kiroff appears to have everything a girl could want. But her father has plans that don’t include her wishes. He means to marry her off as a pawn in his power games and end her training at the military academy. Ramya decides to run away and find a ship to take her off-world. Along the way, she encounters a man who’s being viciously attacked in an alley. Her arrival chases off his assailants, and she helps him reach his ship. Will the ship’s captain allow her to hitch a ride? She joins his crew and escapes the planet, only to be thrust into a greater, more deadly conflict. Fast-paced action, a sympathetic heroine, space battles, and hostile aliens, what more could you want? I couldn’t wait to get the sequel.
This debut book in the Dark Universe series will capture your interest right away. As heiress to the richest House in the galaxy, Ramya Kiroff appears to have everything a girl could want. But her father has plans that don’t include her wishes. He means to marry her off as a pawn in his power games and end her training at the military academy. Ramya decides to run away and find a ship to take her off-world. Along the way, she encounters a man who’s being viciously attacked in an alley. Her arrival chases off his assailants, and she helps him reach his ship. Will the ship’s captain allow her to hitch a ride? She joins his crew and escapes the planet, only to be thrust into a greater, more deadly conflict. Fast-paced action, a sympathetic heroine, space battles, and hostile aliens, what more could you want? I couldn’t wait to get the sequel.
January 1, 2018
Terrific space opera.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting universe with an intriguing back story. The characters are an eclectic group who mesh well together.
No sign of angst-bearing adolescents, (thank heavens), just one young woman justifiably peeved with her disdainfully oppressive father and determined to escape his clutches.
Great technology, plenty of action and twists that had me rapidly flipping the pages.
Definitely a series worth checking out if this first book is any indication it's going to be a winner. And that's me hooked yet again…
I received an ARC and had no hesitation whatsoever writing a review. This was a ripper of a read!
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting universe with an intriguing back story. The characters are an eclectic group who mesh well together.
No sign of angst-bearing adolescents, (thank heavens), just one young woman justifiably peeved with her disdainfully oppressive father and determined to escape his clutches.
Great technology, plenty of action and twists that had me rapidly flipping the pages.
Definitely a series worth checking out if this first book is any indication it's going to be a winner. And that's me hooked yet again…
I received an ARC and had no hesitation whatsoever writing a review. This was a ripper of a read!
July 17, 2022
Barely Acceptable
The author tried and the basic story premise has promise but the construction and grammatical errors are simply too insurmountable for the storyline to survive. The narrative is awkward and unfocused frequently, which does not benefit the story. Even simple things, like how to spell (the word is dreadnaught not dreadnot) leave the reader disadvantaged. Much as I like the potential storyline, I will not continue to follow this series.
The author tried and the basic story premise has promise but the construction and grammatical errors are simply too insurmountable for the storyline to survive. The narrative is awkward and unfocused frequently, which does not benefit the story. Even simple things, like how to spell (the word is dreadnaught not dreadnot) leave the reader disadvantaged. Much as I like the potential storyline, I will not continue to follow this series.
March 31, 2020
Mediocre writing and big jumps in plot. Not recommended.
June 1, 2023
Very decent as a first book in the setting! I wished it went just a bit more, at times it feels like little has happened. But the setting and character building is quite nice! Intrigued for more.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews