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Final Flight of the Ranegr
A deepening crisis aboard a deep-space colonisation vessel has forced most of its crew to evacuate to the nearest planet.
During the evacuation, a ship carrying three young friends to safety malfunctions and strands them in interstellar space.
It's not long before the Ranegr - a drifting ship of outlaws - captures their derelict vessel.
Put to work in the reactor core amidst hardened brutes by a captain with conquest on his mind, and stalked by bizarre creatures in the shadows, the children's bid to escape and return home is just one thread in a web of ambition and clashing desires, bringing them ever nearer to an ancient mystery lurking in the cosmos.
During the evacuation, a ship carrying three young friends to safety malfunctions and strands them in interstellar space.
It's not long before the Ranegr - a drifting ship of outlaws - captures their derelict vessel.
Put to work in the reactor core amidst hardened brutes by a captain with conquest on his mind, and stalked by bizarre creatures in the shadows, the children's bid to escape and return home is just one thread in a web of ambition and clashing desires, bringing them ever nearer to an ancient mystery lurking in the cosmos.
- GenresScience Fiction
293 pages, Paperback
Published January 16, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 11, 2019
It saddens me to report that this very articulate book left me with a bad case of cold feet. The author's sharp command of English, which never shines more than in the dialogues, unfortunately does not extend to the technicalities of narratology: whereas not only each of the three alien protagonists, puny fighter Zeers, blue-blooded tomboy Neliya, and genious boy-scientist Fyuren, but even the most sporadic secondary or tertiary characters are given their own personality through each statement they utter and each replica they made, mostly but by no means solely through the clever resort to brogues, archaic language, neologisms or a mishmash of all three devices, the same cannot be said about the leads' specific narrative voice whenever a section happens to report their POV, since their internal discourse is then invariably spotty, flat, and otherwise unremarkable (this defect most glaringly affects the introductory chapter which takes place on their race's huge mothership). The external focalization most of the story is written in otherwise permeates it with a sense of aloofness and distance, if not estrangement, which goes a long way towards disconnecting the protagonists from the reader, while falling pray to the technical objection of inconsistency since Mr Cooper often veers temporarily into internal focalization to delivers information which even an omniscient narrator could hardly presume to know (or should really have imported in different patterns). Let me provide an illustration of both gripes (italics are as they stand in the original; I put all external focalization in Roman and in bold the shifts to internal focalization):
"For a long while, Fyuren rocked at the foot of the bed, chanting, “Mum and Dad’re looking for me.” When that stopped working, he found a piece of old chalk under a film of dust in the corner, and took to scribbling his tunnelling theory on the walls. “It keeps my mind off things,” he saidwhen asked.
Zeers often found himself restless after work, and took to push-ups and other exercises. His periodic grunting annoyed his already troubled friends-turned-roommates, though they admitted he looked fitter.
Neliya spent her nights watching her music player’s battery indicator drain. A soft spoken part of mind suggested she ask Allo to charge the battery, but it fell silent long after the device away its last tune. Too much of her mind was overrun with a single thought."
You wanted off the Othala.
“Not here,” she would growl deliriously.
You want to go back?
“No!”
You’re stuck … Like always.
The cycle repeated for hours until she returned to sleep and dreamed of a pipe shrinking around her. Somehow, she managed to clean the real pipes every day.
The crew paid them little mind in those first months.
The only thing Allo said to them, except which pipes to clean, was, “Mind the Nightshift.” It was that consistent warning, among other things, that put nightmares in their heads. Every now and then, Neliya or Fyuren would point out shadows at the end of a rusty corridor. Zeers was always quiet, however, and brushed off their sightings as, “just seein’ things.”
One night, as they trudged back to their room with sore shoulders once more, Neliya looked down a corridor, the lights of which had been replaced recently. At the end of the corridor was an intersection, the walls of which were bathed in shimmering red light. Then, slowly and sinisterly, a silhouette crept into the light: a burly creature, seemingly multi-armed, with a pair of sharp horns. Neliya’s whole body trembled with horror, absolutely certain that the thing’s eyes were glowing at her."
Fyuren believed her, and went into another spiral of panic that lasted the entire night. When the children asked Allo for a weapon in case something came after them, he just laughed."
The, rather silly, internal dialogue that takes place between the alien girl and her own self could not have been most awkwardly inserted, for it occurs in the midst of a temporal ellipsis which it disrupts for no discernible reason (on logical grounds, one indeed expected here nothing but a fuller sketch of the ways in which the newest additions to the crew of the Ranegr were adjusting while time was rushing by), and I must confess a measure of hilarity as to the obnoxious 'slowly and sinisterly'. An entire, full-length tale of space adventures and mayhem narrated this way is almost more than I could suffer with equanimity, for every few paragraphs I was thrown out of the story's flow, no matter how hard I had to concentrate. The same criticism must, unfortunately, be levelled at the handling of the emergency that has the three leads evacuate the mothership, thereby launching their odyssey: it is very weakly rooted in a vague collapse of the biosphere whose sole manifestation turns out to be an infestation of bugs throughout the entire residential areas of the ship. Obviously the distinguished author never paused to ask himself whether the dictum parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus applied here. It would be tedious, as well as overlong, to parse some of the similarly fake narrative shortcuts the story allows itself to rest upon, though I cannot confine to silence the laughably minuscule length of time the trio spends inside the tiny vehicle which was supposed to deliver them to their own world (the reader has not sooner digested the fact that something wrong happened during the launch through Mr Cooper's equivalent of a wormhole that already the lads and lass are boarded by the Raneger - such a great rush is ambience-killing and a sheer killer in terms of pacing); even in the case of a YA novel, a genre which almost inevitably requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, the adorable main cast deserved rather better than such expedients and sleights of hand.
Mr Cooper, it has to be said, excels beyond all other things at depicting the cultural, material and technological aspects of science fiction, from space-faring and technology down to xenomythology and language-related topics; his book outshines in this respect even such superb works as David Brin's Uplift Universe (though it falls quite short, in my opinion, of the fabulous Startide Rising). Yet I never felt that his aptitudes for universe-building were top notch, mostly out of a lack of interest in minute description- neither the mothership, nor the Ranegr, her crew, or the trio of leads itself elicit more than painfully desultory sketches. Mind you, it takes some forty pages to be told that Zeers and co. are yellow-skinned, four-fingered humanoids (and that very last tidbit has to be puzzled out by the reader on their own, since the trio is obviously anthropomorphic, so much actually that they even clean water cubicles as a punishment for being waggish at school!), while the carer of one of the three is different, qua an 'Earthen' (not an human, despite the wording, since that character is said to have leathery skin). The absence of a lexicon of the most commonly-used alien words and designations, along with a table of the cast providing at least some basic statistics for each and every player, could not have been more detrimental to the understanding of this complex universe.
Two stars and a half, rounded up to three because the basics of the story, the characters, the events, the invented universe, all showcase an impressive array of literary prowess. Too bad this was not nearly as immersive and cohesive as the sheer ambition of the project would have warranted.
"For a long while, Fyuren rocked at the foot of the bed, chanting, “Mum and Dad’re looking for me.” When that stopped working, he found a piece of old chalk under a film of dust in the corner, and took to scribbling his tunnelling theory on the walls. “It keeps my mind off things,” he saidwhen asked.
Zeers often found himself restless after work, and took to push-ups and other exercises. His periodic grunting annoyed his already troubled friends-turned-roommates, though they admitted he looked fitter.
Neliya spent her nights watching her music player’s battery indicator drain. A soft spoken part of mind suggested she ask Allo to charge the battery, but it fell silent long after the device away its last tune. Too much of her mind was overrun with a single thought."
You wanted off the Othala.
“Not here,” she would growl deliriously.
You want to go back?
“No!”
You’re stuck … Like always.
The cycle repeated for hours until she returned to sleep and dreamed of a pipe shrinking around her. Somehow, she managed to clean the real pipes every day.
The crew paid them little mind in those first months.
The only thing Allo said to them, except which pipes to clean, was, “Mind the Nightshift.” It was that consistent warning, among other things, that put nightmares in their heads. Every now and then, Neliya or Fyuren would point out shadows at the end of a rusty corridor. Zeers was always quiet, however, and brushed off their sightings as, “just seein’ things.”
One night, as they trudged back to their room with sore shoulders once more, Neliya looked down a corridor, the lights of which had been replaced recently. At the end of the corridor was an intersection, the walls of which were bathed in shimmering red light. Then, slowly and sinisterly, a silhouette crept into the light: a burly creature, seemingly multi-armed, with a pair of sharp horns. Neliya’s whole body trembled with horror, absolutely certain that the thing’s eyes were glowing at her."
Fyuren believed her, and went into another spiral of panic that lasted the entire night. When the children asked Allo for a weapon in case something came after them, he just laughed."
The, rather silly, internal dialogue that takes place between the alien girl and her own self could not have been most awkwardly inserted, for it occurs in the midst of a temporal ellipsis which it disrupts for no discernible reason (on logical grounds, one indeed expected here nothing but a fuller sketch of the ways in which the newest additions to the crew of the Ranegr were adjusting while time was rushing by), and I must confess a measure of hilarity as to the obnoxious 'slowly and sinisterly'. An entire, full-length tale of space adventures and mayhem narrated this way is almost more than I could suffer with equanimity, for every few paragraphs I was thrown out of the story's flow, no matter how hard I had to concentrate. The same criticism must, unfortunately, be levelled at the handling of the emergency that has the three leads evacuate the mothership, thereby launching their odyssey: it is very weakly rooted in a vague collapse of the biosphere whose sole manifestation turns out to be an infestation of bugs throughout the entire residential areas of the ship. Obviously the distinguished author never paused to ask himself whether the dictum parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus applied here. It would be tedious, as well as overlong, to parse some of the similarly fake narrative shortcuts the story allows itself to rest upon, though I cannot confine to silence the laughably minuscule length of time the trio spends inside the tiny vehicle which was supposed to deliver them to their own world (the reader has not sooner digested the fact that something wrong happened during the launch through Mr Cooper's equivalent of a wormhole that already the lads and lass are boarded by the Raneger - such a great rush is ambience-killing and a sheer killer in terms of pacing); even in the case of a YA novel, a genre which almost inevitably requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, the adorable main cast deserved rather better than such expedients and sleights of hand.
Mr Cooper, it has to be said, excels beyond all other things at depicting the cultural, material and technological aspects of science fiction, from space-faring and technology down to xenomythology and language-related topics; his book outshines in this respect even such superb works as David Brin's Uplift Universe (though it falls quite short, in my opinion, of the fabulous Startide Rising). Yet I never felt that his aptitudes for universe-building were top notch, mostly out of a lack of interest in minute description- neither the mothership, nor the Ranegr, her crew, or the trio of leads itself elicit more than painfully desultory sketches. Mind you, it takes some forty pages to be told that Zeers and co. are yellow-skinned, four-fingered humanoids (and that very last tidbit has to be puzzled out by the reader on their own, since the trio is obviously anthropomorphic, so much actually that they even clean water cubicles as a punishment for being waggish at school!), while the carer of one of the three is different, qua an 'Earthen' (not an human, despite the wording, since that character is said to have leathery skin). The absence of a lexicon of the most commonly-used alien words and designations, along with a table of the cast providing at least some basic statistics for each and every player, could not have been more detrimental to the understanding of this complex universe.
Two stars and a half, rounded up to three because the basics of the story, the characters, the events, the invented universe, all showcase an impressive array of literary prowess. Too bad this was not nearly as immersive and cohesive as the sheer ambition of the project would have warranted.
April 12, 2026
I want to say first off, I got this book from my local library's book sale.
the author is very obviously talented and I enjoyed his writing, some parts dragged away and felt kind of a chore to read. The story was fun! I think the change needs to come with making the characters more engaging in themselves. Some things I need to see in their behaviors without being told every thought the side characters are having.
the author is very obviously talented and I enjoyed his writing, some parts dragged away and felt kind of a chore to read. The story was fun! I think the change needs to come with making the characters more engaging in themselves. Some things I need to see in their behaviors without being told every thought the side characters are having.
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Want to Read
January 30, 2025Oof. Thought I'd try out the audiobook because it was read by the author -- and while he's actually a pretty gifted reader, he did NOT have a professional recording set-up. It sounds like he's reading the book inside a tin can. I'll have to drop this and get a copy of the physical book instead.
July 22, 2020
Final Flight of the Ranegr Review
First off, this book was a hail storm of emotion and adventure. There wasn’t a moments rest after the initial introduction to our candid team of protagonists, and I enjoyed much of what this story offered.
This book is one of the most creative tales I’ve ever read, the beginning to a series I believe could grow to be its own being, akin to Star Wars, but with a definitive and strong flair towards characters with huge depth and a love for the small details that make it stand out all on its own.
The plot was great, one second I’m on a spaceship, the next, well… It was epic! The main themes of strength in teams, sticking together and striving to live, instead of playing for the future were prevalent in every character’s actions’. The conflicts that arose and the areas we were taken to were amazing, if not a little lacking in description and I really became one with the people, as their struggles were so realistic. The author created a language, and while at first I thought this would be a hindrance, it quickly became a prevalent piece of the story and served use in some of the greatest story scenes I’ve EVER had the pleasure of reading. The language barriers between the aliens and the main cast were real and I loved the interactions and character growth that became present as the story grew.
The story was really long! Which was weird, considering the size of the book, and though I think it definitely could have been split down the middle in terms of where it could have ended, I tip my hat to the author for delivering a thorough story. The other plot driven issue was tiny, but that the story seemed to jump around a bit, a casualty to the volume of knowledge you’ll gain through reading it. This became less of an issue as the story developed though, because I became more engrossed in the tale and was wrapped with attention.
The language used in this book was exceptional. The author gave each character a voice, I especially loved the characters of Neliya and Fyuren, these two protagonists took up the majority of my love with their witty and thoughtful lines and Neliya has the greatest development I’ve ever seen a character go through in the length of 1 book.
That said, there were a few mistakes littered throughout the book, the main bits that detracted from this fun were the ample amount of alliterations (just like that) that became more and more prevalent as the story went. The other thing was that there was some times a lack of description to bigger details, such as the planet and ship sizes. The image at the front of the book even, has a hard to describe size and yet in the book it seems that the Ranegr is a huge ship, at points. (I’m not a space ship engineer though, so you’d have to ask Fyuren)
The characters in the Final flight of the Ranegr are so deep! They’re realistic, with real goals, real interactions and a sensational amount of sass and strength. Each voice was their own, and their weaknesses became strengths as they forged through a rough universe that threatened to crush them in the vacuum of space! I was engrossed in their thoughts and feelings and without revealing spoilers, I loved the last third of the book most of all, hands down. Their trials and tribulations grew and they had to grow to meet them, and the resolution of the book was the most moving I’ve ever read. ALSO a special note goes to the antagonist and the rival they fight as well as the end, because these bits were literally the best fights I’ve seen in sci-fi/magic/real stories. It was so realistic and yet still held me in the stories suspension of disbelief.
Final thoughts;
I think this book is very special in its creative detail and I can’t wait to read the next book! When I look up to the stars tonight, I think I might just see the Ranegr, flying above me. Though it is long, the story is well worth the time it took me to read it, and the invention of a language and thorough characters really brought the story to life, so much so that the quick changes and minor mistakes were far overcast in the light of the brilliance of the story.
A must read for anyone new or experienced in the realm of Sci-fi/adventure stories! I will be reading it again, just to experience some of the magic again.
Notes on how my star setting works;
1 Star - creativity
2 - Plot
3 - Characters!!!
4 - My overall enjoyment of the story
December 11, 2019
As a novice to the world of Sci-fi, Final Fight of the Ranegr was a great first Sci-fi book to read. It included a good amount of romance, action and just overall fun. The story line is great and I especially loved the parts of it when the 3 protagonists where on the mighty Ranegr.
The only thing I would say, is the book can be hard to follow at times. Much as I liked how articular this book was, it does get a bit confusing. So my only suggestion for the author is that if there is a 2nd book make it clear on what's happening at all times of the book so the readers don't forget what's happening at all times of the book.
P.S. I saw you when you were selling the book at Colins Booksellers in Thirroul! Thank you for the signed book!
The only thing I would say, is the book can be hard to follow at times. Much as I liked how articular this book was, it does get a bit confusing. So my only suggestion for the author is that if there is a 2nd book make it clear on what's happening at all times of the book so the readers don't forget what's happening at all times of the book.
P.S. I saw you when you were selling the book at Colins Booksellers in Thirroul! Thank you for the signed book!
November 8, 2022
The cover of the book is nicely designed with a dark themed colour that grab your attention towards it in one go. The plotline is based on science fiction but it's suspense thrilling too. It's an engaging storyline which will give you an enjoyable experience of reading.
The writing style of the book is apt to read. It's wonderfully written moving around the space & if you think about its narration you will find that author did a remarkable job to keep the interest of readers intact till the end. The language of the book is simple easily understandable and gripping too. The use of vocabulary is spot on that will make your bond more stronger with the storyline.
Moderately paced book. The book length is big and you will somehow lost the connection in some parts of the book. But overall it's a wonderful book to read specially for the sci-fi lovers.💯
The writing style of the book is apt to read. It's wonderfully written moving around the space & if you think about its narration you will find that author did a remarkable job to keep the interest of readers intact till the end. The language of the book is simple easily understandable and gripping too. The use of vocabulary is spot on that will make your bond more stronger with the storyline.
Moderately paced book. The book length is big and you will somehow lost the connection in some parts of the book. But overall it's a wonderful book to read specially for the sci-fi lovers.💯
April 17, 2025
First off, I have to commend Cooper on the creative venture. The plot and language was cool and the use of alliteration was very fun.
There was a lot to take in and I don't recall some abbreviations having explanations (could be wrong). There were an abundance of sci-fi-ness sounding things that I glossed over and put it down to classic space-dribble.
I did find it a little hard to keep up with the many characters with the exotic names, with some characters even having two or three names.
My main irk was a lack of descriptions for characters - so the reader does have to put in some yards to paint the whole picture.
Props to the Wollongong author and I hope he keeps doing what he's doing.
There was a lot to take in and I don't recall some abbreviations having explanations (could be wrong). There were an abundance of sci-fi-ness sounding things that I glossed over and put it down to classic space-dribble.
I did find it a little hard to keep up with the many characters with the exotic names, with some characters even having two or three names.
My main irk was a lack of descriptions for characters - so the reader does have to put in some yards to paint the whole picture.
Props to the Wollongong author and I hope he keeps doing what he's doing.
July 11, 2019
Rating 3.5 stars.. I don’t normally read sci-fi however I was given the opportunity to read this book and I have to say it’s quite imaginative and adventurous. I found the world building to be interesting, alien protagonists creative as well as their own language - brought back memories of lord of the rings elvish language.. I can tell the author is quite inspired by space adventures and does well in creating this story in his debut novel. I recommend to readers who love adventure stories set in space.
September 2, 2020
A prime example of inanity in text. The sheer monotony of language used to describe what could have been half decent action scenes renders any excitement and anticipation dulled. Character development appears to be there but is merely recycled tropes one would expect from a bad fan fiction.
The plot itself is unsatisfying, but one does not get over the poor attempts at making things appear alien. If the intentional mangling of Ranger is enough to irk you, don't even bother picking up this book.
The plot itself is unsatisfying, but one does not get over the poor attempts at making things appear alien. If the intentional mangling of Ranger is enough to irk you, don't even bother picking up this book.
April 13, 2023
I really love this book. I was glued to the pages and read until I realized it had been hours since I put it down. I would recommend this to anyone who likes thrilling and captivating story telling. The author really knows how to pull at the heart and keep you captivated all the way through. I was so emotionally invested in the story and at some points it felt like I was there with the characters living an amazing action packed life in space. So much happiness, and suspense. I can’t wait for the sequel, I'm ordering as soon as I can!
August 2, 2020
While the author has an extensive vocabulary and exhausts the vernacular, his style of writing results in a significant disconnect between the reader and the charactes. There was a bit of potential for an engaging and elaborate setting to be explored, but after the first third of the book I just stopped caring.
December 22, 2022
I went into this with zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I loved the story and enjoyed all the characters. People who said the writing style ruined the book, in my opinion, are wrong. As a young teenager, I found this easy to read and the writing style added to the story.
4.5/5
4.5/5
November 10, 2024
An interesting story and well written. Well worth the read.
March 24, 2026
To much going on. Plot was all over the place. Thought I would give sifi a go but didn't like it.
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