Darkest Reach

Infinity's End #3

by Eric Warren

He tried to bury it. But some things refuse to stay hidden.

Having survived his encounter with the mysterious Sil race, Caspian and the crew of the USCS Tempest receive a new assignment: investigate the threat emerging far beyond the Coalition's borders. With its advanced engines, Tempest is the only ship fast enough to reach whatever is out there before they cross into Coalition territory.

But just because Cas is part of the mission now doesn't mean the crew has to like it. Being back on board a starship hasn't been easy, and now that he's been tasked with keeping their new ally from killing the crew, it isn't getting any easier. It seems his only option is to bury what the Coalition did to him and return to the model officer he used to be.

Tensions and tempers rise when the ship gets stuck at the edge of a seldom-traveled nebula, costing them precious time and energy. But is there something more to this dark edge of space? As the mystery unfolds, Caspian realizes not only is this unlike anything he's ever seen before, but he may not be able to bury his past as deep as he hoped.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 10, 2019

About the author

Bestselling author Eric Warren has loved stories all his life. And despite writing from a young age, it took him a few years to realize being an author was what he wanted to do for a living. Today, he is the author of over twenty novels, including the highly successful INFINITY'S END series. Never one to shy away from what he loves, he plans to continue writing for another century, depending on the viability of life-extending technology.

Reviews

[Meenaz Lodhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We strive to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Sharp dialogue, deep characters, a bit of humour wrapped in a non-stop edge of a seat action book.
The real joy is watching the characters deal with one calamity after another. The action makes for true white-knuckle, page-turning reading. Hop aboard for a great ride. Action is almost non-stop. Interpersonal relationships are intense. And I'm very glad that the next book in the series will be out soon, because I really, really want to find out what happens next. Eric Warren always leaves me wanting for more!
I received an early version of this book from the publisher and my review is entirely voluntary.

[Chrissi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s OFFICIAL! I am addicted to this series!
This series is everything you want in a sci-fi series! The characters are all superbly written and the storyline weaves its magic and sucks you into the heavens on a fantastic adventure in space.
Cas is now the one thing he never thought he’d be EVER again. With the acceptance of being a liaison for their special guest, he quickly realises that he needs to be more in order to fulfil his duties. Not everyone is happy about Cas’ decision, and with her own inner demons rising to the surface Evie and Cas’ relationship becomes strained.
Add to the fire a new threat to the ship and her crew and decisions will be made that will be felt by all.

[Lorre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!
I love how Box is evolving and Zenfor is slowly growing on me.

[Lori Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received as an ARC, this is an honest review. It was suppose to be an easy mission, discovering more about the Coalition's threat. Unfortunately nothing comes easy for Caspian and the crew of the Tempest. For the mission to have the best possible way of working, Caspian realizes he will have to rejoin the Coalition that has destroyed his life and being the liaison for the Sil Consul Zenfor is an interesting position; especially when she wants to enact Sil justice upon his crew mates. When the ship begins to cross a mysterious nebula, the mission is thrown into absolute chaos when they cannot continue- is this section of space alive? The past and present collide in a harrowing potentially deadly fashion- unknown secrets are laid bare, maybe the key to freedom. An emotionally charged, roller coaster adventure unfolds that leaves you shocked and breathless in how these characters are impacted by the turmoil of their choices, biased knowledge and sacrifices they endure- even if it means breaking the laws they ate bound by. Prepare for a story that you won't forget. Highly recommended!!!!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in awhile, I’ll start reading a series and become so captivated by it, that I can’t seem to stop reading the books in the series. Now, it certainly helps that all the books have been written and published on Amazon. And that is the case with the Infinity’s End series. There are currently five books published in this series and I might just read all five of the straight in a row. They’re that good.

******* Spoiler Alert ********

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know about Caspian Robeaux’s decision to rejoin the Coalition and regain his rank.

******** Spoiler Alert ********

The Tempest has been assigned a new mission. They are to be the scout ship for the Coalition trying to find out what this new enemy is like and if it will be possible to defeat them. They are heading way, way beyond Coalition space in hopes of meeting the Andromeda threat and give the Coalition enough time to prepare for it. Along with the Tempest will be Zenfor, the Sil Consul, who has agreed to provide the Coalition with potential ways to upgrade their weapons and ship systems. She has steadfastly refused to be teamed up with anyone other than Caspian Robeaux. While she is not the most forthright individual Cas has known, she is getting better to get along with and he does need to work with her.

That’s not what’s happening with Evie or Commander Diazal. Caspian has decided to accept his commission back and return to the Coalition military! Not surprising since he was having so much trouble with the Tempest’s crew. He hated having to go to Evie or Captain Greene just to get anything done. He hoped that by becoming a Coalition officer again, a Lieutenant Commander, that some of his problems with the crew would go away. At least he thought they wouldn’t try to kill him or Box as they did in the last book. Now, it seems Evie has some kind of problem with this renewed Lieutenant Commander. While Cas thought it would be just fine if he reported to Evie, it’s not going so well. She has, for some reason, strongly resented his presence in the Coalition uniform. He can’t understand why and, frankly, neither can I. I don’t know what set her off, but it’s definitely not working between Evie and Cas. This mission has become extremely difficult for both due to their strained relations.

Then the Tempest has to respond to a Coalition distress call. It appears to come from a region of space where a known Coalition ship had disappeared some twenty-seven years ago. After further checking, it was also found that another Coalition ship had also disappeared in this region of space some fifty-four years prior. As the Tempest approaches the region, the don’t notice anything strange until they do detect a region of space where no stars seem to be showing. Unfortunatly, by the time they get that far, they find themselves stuck in a gravity well. This seems to be what caused those other ships to go missing although they have detected a strange alien at the center of black space with no stars.

Still, the cannot remain where they are. Yet, they are stuck solid and cannot break away. Everything begins to revolve around some way to break free of this gravity trap and get on with their original mission. It might just require the Tempest to violate one of the major tenets of the Coalition and apply the ultimate solution to this problem. But, will Captain Greene allow such a thing or is another time when Cas has to go rogue in order to get what he feels is the right thing done?

Very exciting book and since I’m running out of things to read, I’m just going on to book four.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic, smoothly-written, continuation in the 'Infinity's End' series from Eric Warren.

This time, not only do we have the usual crew aboard, but we also have the addition of a Sil. Yes, the Sil consul, Zenfor, is closely considering the crew, learning from them, but mostly wanting to kill them. Caspian is the liaison. If you could pick the last person on the ship that would be suitable as a liaison, it would be Cas. Actually, that's a bit cruel given his previous experience with the Coalition... But Zenfor only wants Cas, which leads to some excellent - and surprising - dialogue.

When the ship gets into another life and death difficulty, the saviour(s) break all the rules with tragic results. It's a very emotional time for the characters and the reader. You can never guess what will happen in this series, you just know it's going to be an action-packed 'bomb' of an adventure. You'll zoom through the pages, eagerly devouring each word. Loved it!

I chose to voluntarily read and honestly review this book. All opinions are my own.

[Gavin Wask · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book in 'The Infinity's End' saga and Caspian is back and his links to the Coalition are becoming stronger, unfortunately that means, his links to Evie are under a strain.
The mission to the outskirts of Coalition space has begun and Zenfor the Sil is onboard for hijinks and fun or at least to try and help whilst also trying to figure out how the human minds works.
Caspian is struggling with his role in this mission and in the universe as a whole.
Evie has her own family issues and issues with Caspian's role in the universe (she is a lot more involved in this book, so I am a very happy reader) and Box, well Box is actually in a very good place. Long may it last.
However, all of these personal problems or successes cannot last for long as no mission is ever going to go smoothly, well it would be a very short book if it did! A multi-dimensional creature with a history of space piracy (a very simple definition of what is actually going on) means the main mission is put on hold.
We lose a few characters, characters who had great potential and who made an impact in the time they were given. Gutted for at least one hotshot (if you read it you know and are Gripped by the character). And the universe Cas inhabits gets that little bit bigger.
Will Journey's End actually be the end - well we know it won't because Mr Warren is on 8 books in the series and counting. But it might be the end for someone or something, time to get my read on!

Note: Just checked and the next book is called Journey's Edge, but that does not fit in with my last paragraph, so I will just apologise for the misreading and leave my comment there for my own enjoyment.

[Jas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series reminds me a lot of Star Trek, the Coalition holds a lot of the ideals that the Federation holds, there are the different races, enemies, political intrigues and infighting, the border tensions, and we follow the crew of one ship that has some slightly superior people onboard, as they try and save the day. It is a formula that has been tried and tested before and worked so many times. The thing that really draws the similarity though between Star Trek Next Gen and Infinity’s End are the Characters of Data and Box, one an Android, the other a Robot, but both mechanical life forms with a higher sentience, seeking recognition from the organic lifeforms around them, not just for their intelligence, because both of them are far more intelligent than most life forms, but for the fact that they are sentient life forms, and as such deserve the same rights as everybody esle. This started to come up towards the end of book 2, when Page tried to torture and disassemble Box, just for being associated with Cas. But it is also that Box has no rights and no choice after the ‘Reasonable Doubt’ is destroyed, and he tries to help out by learning to have a role in Medbay, and instead, he can just be scrapped by a psychopathic Security Guard.
I did love how he learned so quickly though, but still was not just allowed to do procedures, the Dr oversaw his work, as even though he might know the ‘technical procedure’ he might not know all the nuances of the actual procedure itself like a trained professional would, and even Box admits that as a pilot, Living Pilots can adapt to things faster than he can, even though he is a really good pilot. It is this level of character complexity that makes this such an amazing book. Box is by far, one of the most fascinating characters in this series, but there are many other characters that are not far off, such as Zenfor, the Sil that is working with the humans, not to mention, Evie, Cas and other minor characters like Zaal. It is for this reason alone that you should read this series as the Characters are just so good.
In Darkest Reach, the crew of the Tempest have set off to try and find a solution to the ‘Andromeda’ threat. Cas has managed to convince the Sil to help them, and Consul Zenfor has joined them. Zenfor is another exceptional character, alien, highly intelligent, and although comes across as if she does not care about ‘these inferior humans’, at times, she seems to show feelings or great understanding for them. The relationship between her and Cas is utterly fascinating.
The other brilliant piece of character work in this book is Cas, who has such a difficult time with his exoneration over the Rutledge incident, the possibility to reclaim his commission, but having to wear the Coalition Uniform again, and the ramifications of all of this. There is some interesting issues with Evie, making for an interesting trip.
The Character work is brilliant in this book, if Star Trek had had characters this good, we would still be watching it now, it never would have been taken off the air.
However, this isn’t all about the characters, and in this book, the crew are faced with a very gripping, and clever dilemma, one I am not going to give too much away about, however, they get caught in a spacial anomaly whilst travelling along, and are unable to move, finding themselves being pulled towards something.
This is another exceptional element of Warren’s writing, he does not only rely on his characters, but also some creative and engaging story lines, as well as some spectacular technology. He has obviously done some research, not only to create some great stories, but to generate some marvellous tech for both the characters, and for the ship.
As well as the tech, he also has some beautiful and just amazing aliens that are seriously impressive.
If all of that wasn’t enough, just for fun, at the end of each of the books, he gives you a little map section for the sectors of the galaxy that the story has just been told in, you can then add this to the Galactic map to see how this fits in to the overall map. You get to see where the Tempest has been overall then, as well as where Cas has been previously in the Sargan Commonwealth with Box.
It doesn’t matter what type of Sci-Fi you like, Military, Contemporary, plain, whatever, this has something for everyone, think Star Trek Next Gen (with better character work), Battlestar, Firefly, all those shows and more, this is one of the best Sci-Fi series I have read on a Starship, it is brilliant. You have to read it!! You won’t be disappointed!!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 3 and still enjoing it

Just finished this one..book 3...still loving every minute of it. Just downloaded book 4 and can't wait to jump into it with both feet..love the characters..love the storyline..oh..and this is my second time reading this series

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best goddam series and it took me only 4 days to complete during my commute to work and lunch breaks in office! It has so much of emotions and suspense and just making me want to keep going..

I've already purchase books 4 - 6 even before I started this series and ca't wait for them to arrive! Love it!

[Ray Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Thanks again for a moving story. I could not stop reading. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, but need a better reader. Every character except for Caspian sounds alike.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

did not like, nor really understand, Evie’s hostility.

[Yagiz Yurteri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interestingly captivating. A little bit short but entertaining space opera.

[Crissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent romp.

[Thea Sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

These read like episodes or chapters, so it's really hard to get to the end of a book and go "that's a good stopping point, so now I can go to sleep."

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series with good points, but problems

The summary of this book compared it to Star Trek, Firefly, etc. As I read the first two books I could see that similarity, but something felt off. I couldn't say I really liked them. I started this one, third in the series, willing to try one more time, because there are good parts, i.e., Box the robot for one. But I got only a few pages in and the lead character, Cas, starts wanting to get drunk, and not just drunk, but stinking drunk. I suddenly realized that is what keeps me from liking this character, or the series as well as I thought I should. Getting stinking drunk isn't something that is mentioned and/or used in the plot a few times, or when things are particularly dire and depressing, it comes up at least once per chapter, and sometimes more. It also is often played for laughs. But here's the thing, I have known several people who made an unfortunate habit of getting stinking drunk. It was not appealing, entertaining, or even remotely funny. So I can't seem to feel any empathy for a character in a book who does so regularly, sees nothing wrong with it, and obviously intends to continue his drunken ways. So, I don't recommend this book, or the series, and it's with regret, because it could be so much better.

[Peter Trist · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's rare I give a review only 4 stars...

It's rare I give a review only 4 stars but that is mostly because I tend not to read something that does not grab me. The previous books in the series did grab me so I persevered with this one, although a good read it didn't quite take the way its predecessors did.
Still, I haven't lost faith in the authors story or his storytelling. Off to read the next in the series.

[Jacob Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's getting good

This is the first of the series that earned 5 stars in my opinion, such a great read. I liked that the typos were minimal and the story itself just keeps getting better and better!!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can say is : What a ride! Next!

[Steve Scheurman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging read!

Interesting and easy to enjoy.
Shorter chapters make the book more quickly absorbed.
I look forward to reading the next installment in the series!