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Rise of the Republic #1
Into the Stars
The stars are within mankind’s reach…
…But what awaits in the void may end humanity…
Mars and the Moon have been colonized, piracy runs rampant in the asteroid belts, and a thriving society grows in the depths of space. Humanity prepares to embark upon its greatest journey—the colonization of Alpha Centauri.
Then everything changes…
A deep space reconnaissance probe discovers a new Earth-like planet twelve light-years from Earth’s sun. The probe also finds something unusual, something…unnerving. A new mission is created, a space fleet is formed, and humanity embarks on unraveling the greatest mystery of all—the origins of life itself.
Can the factions of Earth remain united, or will old rivalries and animosities destroy the fragile peace in the face of this terrifying existential threat?
Will exploration prove to be a fatal mistake?
If you love new technologies, fast-paced action and gut-wrenching turns of fate, you’ll love this first book in James Rosone’s military sci-fi series, The Rise of the Republic.
Grab your copy of this page-turner today.
The Rise of the Republic Series is best read in order, as each book builds upon the previous work. The reading order is as listed:
Book One: Into the Stars
Book Two: Into the Battle
Book Three: Into the War
Book Four: TBD
Book Five: TBD
Book Six: TBD
…But what awaits in the void may end humanity…
Mars and the Moon have been colonized, piracy runs rampant in the asteroid belts, and a thriving society grows in the depths of space. Humanity prepares to embark upon its greatest journey—the colonization of Alpha Centauri.
Then everything changes…
A deep space reconnaissance probe discovers a new Earth-like planet twelve light-years from Earth’s sun. The probe also finds something unusual, something…unnerving. A new mission is created, a space fleet is formed, and humanity embarks on unraveling the greatest mystery of all—the origins of life itself.
Can the factions of Earth remain united, or will old rivalries and animosities destroy the fragile peace in the face of this terrifying existential threat?
Will exploration prove to be a fatal mistake?
If you love new technologies, fast-paced action and gut-wrenching turns of fate, you’ll love this first book in James Rosone’s military sci-fi series, The Rise of the Republic.
Grab your copy of this page-turner today.
The Rise of the Republic Series is best read in order, as each book builds upon the previous work. The reading order is as listed:
Book One: Into the Stars
Book Two: Into the Battle
Book Three: Into the War
Book Four: TBD
Book Five: TBD
Book Six: TBD
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2020
3517 people are currently reading
3101 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 249 reviews
August 30, 2020
Mostly Disappointing
I appreciate the efforts of these authors and certainly would like to encourage them, though considering the number of published works listed at the end of this book, they are doing OK as it is. Unfortunately, I found this book, the first for me from their works, to be unsatisfactory.
It appears the two authors are of two minds - one up in space and one impossibly inserted into their derrière. There is just no other way to explain the inconsistencies and diametrically opposed technologies employed by these Earthers. It’s like the author has blended cutting edge sci-fi from the 1950s with conceptual science from contemporary sci-fi and the result is a confusing mess of contradictory realities.
They have synthetic workers, androids in any other stories, which perform all level of manual and technical labor. They have starships and faster-than-light travel, but the railguns are crewed by humans? The railguns have 3D printers which can produce munitions as fast as the guns can fire but the munitions have to be handled by people who are manually loading the guns, moving things by hand? Seriously? How bizarre!
This society builds starships which grow real food, like fruit trees and chickens because no one has what - thought of using any other sort of food source? No science to create anything like a replicator, or nutrient synthesizer because that is more difficult than the AI synthetic people they’ve created?
Their spaceships have advanced electronic systems, and society has mastered neural implants for human communications, but the spaceships do not have computers which can manage their power requirements and people have to manage it?
As the story continues, it gets even more bizarre. They load a shuttle into a launch cylinder on the spaceship and when launched in space, there is an audible "whoosh" as it leaves? The shuttle lands on the moon and the landing ramp opens to the moon’s surface. The soldiers use mag boots to attach to the deck and walk out the ramp and we are told there is a metal clank as they travel along the ramp. There is no sound in a vacuum. No "whoosh", no "metallic clank". There might be sound transferred through the battle suits but that is not how it was written.
Once our intrepid explorers land on New Eden, the story devolves even further. The advanced technology the humans from Earth deploy is easily offset by the stupidity of actions they invoke. They observe an obvious guard/prisoner situation and calmly send two unarmed diplomats into the middle of it. There is a huge battle, many people and aliens are slaughtered, aliens prisoners are taken, the humans leave. On their ship, holding these alien prisoners, the humans continue to display technical prowess and behavioral stupidity. Enough so one of the aliens manages to escape and kill several soldiers and nearly kill the ship’s admiral, before it is killed.
At this point (approximately 70%) the story had become an annoying mishmash of technology and human stupidity that made it difficult to continue. No shame for anyone who drops out here, or even those who quit much sooner. This book is a mess. For example, faster-than-light travel is usually abbreviated FTL in the majority of books I have read. In this one, it is frequently FLT and sometimes listed as FTL. No consistency and sadly, sometimes both versions in the same paragraph. Then there are the occasional glitches like this one "…and fifty percent larger their than own ship." Obviously, editing was not a major endeavor for this book.
As others have written, the behavior often does not make sense, not in light of the technology portrayed in the story nor the Earth history detailed in the many long-winded history expositions. The total number of characters presented for this standard length novel apparently exceeds the authors' capacity to develop and at best we get snippets of character development for each of the major players with many more names and faces thrown in which seem to serve no purpose.
Overall this was a disappointing experience and while the authors' blurb makes me want to like their efforts, I just do not like their story. I wish them well but I will not continue this series.
I appreciate the efforts of these authors and certainly would like to encourage them, though considering the number of published works listed at the end of this book, they are doing OK as it is. Unfortunately, I found this book, the first for me from their works, to be unsatisfactory.
It appears the two authors are of two minds - one up in space and one impossibly inserted into their derrière. There is just no other way to explain the inconsistencies and diametrically opposed technologies employed by these Earthers. It’s like the author has blended cutting edge sci-fi from the 1950s with conceptual science from contemporary sci-fi and the result is a confusing mess of contradictory realities.
They have synthetic workers, androids in any other stories, which perform all level of manual and technical labor. They have starships and faster-than-light travel, but the railguns are crewed by humans? The railguns have 3D printers which can produce munitions as fast as the guns can fire but the munitions have to be handled by people who are manually loading the guns, moving things by hand? Seriously? How bizarre!
This society builds starships which grow real food, like fruit trees and chickens because no one has what - thought of using any other sort of food source? No science to create anything like a replicator, or nutrient synthesizer because that is more difficult than the AI synthetic people they’ve created?
Their spaceships have advanced electronic systems, and society has mastered neural implants for human communications, but the spaceships do not have computers which can manage their power requirements and people have to manage it?
As the story continues, it gets even more bizarre. They load a shuttle into a launch cylinder on the spaceship and when launched in space, there is an audible "whoosh" as it leaves? The shuttle lands on the moon and the landing ramp opens to the moon’s surface. The soldiers use mag boots to attach to the deck and walk out the ramp and we are told there is a metal clank as they travel along the ramp. There is no sound in a vacuum. No "whoosh", no "metallic clank". There might be sound transferred through the battle suits but that is not how it was written.
Once our intrepid explorers land on New Eden, the story devolves even further. The advanced technology the humans from Earth deploy is easily offset by the stupidity of actions they invoke. They observe an obvious guard/prisoner situation and calmly send two unarmed diplomats into the middle of it. There is a huge battle, many people and aliens are slaughtered, aliens prisoners are taken, the humans leave. On their ship, holding these alien prisoners, the humans continue to display technical prowess and behavioral stupidity. Enough so one of the aliens manages to escape and kill several soldiers and nearly kill the ship’s admiral, before it is killed.
At this point (approximately 70%) the story had become an annoying mishmash of technology and human stupidity that made it difficult to continue. No shame for anyone who drops out here, or even those who quit much sooner. This book is a mess. For example, faster-than-light travel is usually abbreviated FTL in the majority of books I have read. In this one, it is frequently FLT and sometimes listed as FTL. No consistency and sadly, sometimes both versions in the same paragraph. Then there are the occasional glitches like this one "…and fifty percent larger their than own ship." Obviously, editing was not a major endeavor for this book.
As others have written, the behavior often does not make sense, not in light of the technology portrayed in the story nor the Earth history detailed in the many long-winded history expositions. The total number of characters presented for this standard length novel apparently exceeds the authors' capacity to develop and at best we get snippets of character development for each of the major players with many more names and faces thrown in which seem to serve no purpose.
Overall this was a disappointing experience and while the authors' blurb makes me want to like their efforts, I just do not like their story. I wish them well but I will not continue this series.
September 3, 2021
Did not finish. Got about three chapters (PG 55 of 515 in Kindle) in and realized I wasn't enjoying the reading experience. The premise was intriguing, but my tolerance for bland or high-school-level quality writing has dropped significantly and I am more protective of my valuable free time now.
The writing is rote and formulaic. For the most part it reads a bit like a shopping list or dispassionate daily log (A direct quote: "Hunt yawned and brushed off the blanket as he placed his feet on the floor and slid them into his boots. After he fastened them, he put on his military jacket. Grabbing his tablet, he made his way over to the bar to grab a quick breakfast." The paragraphs before and after were fairly similar in structure, just a listing of actions) or a Game Master's description of a location in preparation for a fight in Dungeons & Dragons. (A direct quote: "Along the metal walkway, planters one meter tall by two meters wide were spaced every fifteen meters. Inside the planters, tall trees, underbrush, and flowers grew." This was in the middle of an info-dump about the Mars terminal, and reflective of how the author sets scenes.)
There's a place and time for these kinds of details, and it's in setting up the world and scenery enough to make it real and solid for the author. It's very useful to make sure things are consistent. As a world-builder and engineer I understand the tendency. But the key then is to *trim most of that out*, keep it in a separate reference file. In the final draft sentence structure should vary more, and hopefully give a hint of the person's personality or outlook (e.g. "Hunt silenced the insistent alarm. Yawning, he brushed off the blanket. He dressed with military precision before grabbing his tablet and heading for the bar for breakfast.") and scenery should be more scenic than an engineering drawing in transcribed into words (e.g., "The metal walkway was lined with large planters filled with trees and flowers, a mini-forest to supplement the oxygen production of the spaceport.")
Over all it feels like a second or third draft, the basic outline is there, no major gaps in the writing and the overall story arc is set (I assume, but I didn't get far enough to say for sure), but the writing itself needs trimming and - in general - polishing.
Other problems.
The name dropping of real life big name companies is annoying. It will probably make this feel very dated very quickly, like some of the cold-war-era sci-fi and spy thrillers written in the late '80s.
Chapter 2 was essentially pointless, though swapping 1 and 2 may have fixed that. Throw away characters are expected in the first chapter - an extended prologue if you will - but Chapter 1 starts strong but once you get to 2 it feels like throwaway world-building and people. Chapter 2 - ok more world-building, getting better character development though head hopping issues.... Nope throwaway too. Chapter 3 - eh, wait time jump? And is that someone we met before?
Head-hopping / POV issues.
Bad science - our asteroid belt is not dense like Star Wars movies show. It also looked like there was going to be issues in general with 'conventional' (not FTL) speed/motion/maneuvering of ships in space too - I was trying not to think too hard about it in the first few chapters, but from what I read I'm sure there will be errors and they will be noticeable enough to bother me.
Generally just info-dumping the world and world-building than more organic and subtle introduction of the mundane (to the characters) nature of the world.
I wish Amazon made it easier to tell whether a book is essentially self published through their system or if it comes from a more traditional publisher. This is not the first book that I've been tricked into thinking it would be more polished. However I'm getting better about bailing when it's clear its going to be annoying to read, and I'm starting to recognize the common signs of mediocre books in the Kindle store. I'm glad I did not have to pay money for this book.
Does anyone know how to get Amazon to stop spamming me to read additional books by the authors I've read one book from, that I rated one star?
The writing is rote and formulaic. For the most part it reads a bit like a shopping list or dispassionate daily log (A direct quote: "Hunt yawned and brushed off the blanket as he placed his feet on the floor and slid them into his boots. After he fastened them, he put on his military jacket. Grabbing his tablet, he made his way over to the bar to grab a quick breakfast." The paragraphs before and after were fairly similar in structure, just a listing of actions) or a Game Master's description of a location in preparation for a fight in Dungeons & Dragons. (A direct quote: "Along the metal walkway, planters one meter tall by two meters wide were spaced every fifteen meters. Inside the planters, tall trees, underbrush, and flowers grew." This was in the middle of an info-dump about the Mars terminal, and reflective of how the author sets scenes.)
There's a place and time for these kinds of details, and it's in setting up the world and scenery enough to make it real and solid for the author. It's very useful to make sure things are consistent. As a world-builder and engineer I understand the tendency. But the key then is to *trim most of that out*, keep it in a separate reference file. In the final draft sentence structure should vary more, and hopefully give a hint of the person's personality or outlook (e.g. "Hunt silenced the insistent alarm. Yawning, he brushed off the blanket. He dressed with military precision before grabbing his tablet and heading for the bar for breakfast.") and scenery should be more scenic than an engineering drawing in transcribed into words (e.g., "The metal walkway was lined with large planters filled with trees and flowers, a mini-forest to supplement the oxygen production of the spaceport.")
Over all it feels like a second or third draft, the basic outline is there, no major gaps in the writing and the overall story arc is set (I assume, but I didn't get far enough to say for sure), but the writing itself needs trimming and - in general - polishing.
Other problems.
The name dropping of real life big name companies is annoying. It will probably make this feel very dated very quickly, like some of the cold-war-era sci-fi and spy thrillers written in the late '80s.
Chapter 2 was essentially pointless, though swapping 1 and 2 may have fixed that. Throw away characters are expected in the first chapter - an extended prologue if you will - but Chapter 1 starts strong but once you get to 2 it feels like throwaway world-building and people. Chapter 2 - ok more world-building, getting better character development though head hopping issues.... Nope throwaway too. Chapter 3 - eh, wait time jump? And is that someone we met before?
Head-hopping / POV issues.
Bad science - our asteroid belt is not dense like Star Wars movies show. It also looked like there was going to be issues in general with 'conventional' (not FTL) speed/motion/maneuvering of ships in space too - I was trying not to think too hard about it in the first few chapters, but from what I read I'm sure there will be errors and they will be noticeable enough to bother me.
Generally just info-dumping the world and world-building than more organic and subtle introduction of the mundane (to the characters) nature of the world.
I wish Amazon made it easier to tell whether a book is essentially self published through their system or if it comes from a more traditional publisher. This is not the first book that I've been tricked into thinking it would be more polished. However I'm getting better about bailing when it's clear its going to be annoying to read, and I'm starting to recognize the common signs of mediocre books in the Kindle store. I'm glad I did not have to pay money for this book.
Does anyone know how to get Amazon to stop spamming me to read additional books by the authors I've read one book from, that I rated one star?
January 11, 2021
Nice idea , bad execution
The overall story could have been interesting except it was killed by execution.
A few examples about book 1 and 2 (not in order) :
The time line is non-existent, no reference to what happened, when you find yourself suddenly X years from an important event. I n the meantime the enemy took a break apparently.
No real data about the tech: speeds, ranges etc.
A ship travels 12 light years in 3 days. After that it detects a stargate in a solar system that is so far away that it would take it 2 days in FTL to get to it. That means 8 light YEARS!! Hello, that is in another star system eventually, not in the one you are in!!!
A ship wants to hide after emerging from FTL or from a stargate, so what do they do? They go to full power because a MPD drive is so lo observable.
A 3D printer can print ammunition (30 something inch shells) as fast as a gun can fire, yet it take years to build anything .
And so on.
The overall story could have been interesting except it was killed by execution.
A few examples about book 1 and 2 (not in order) :
The time line is non-existent, no reference to what happened, when you find yourself suddenly X years from an important event. I n the meantime the enemy took a break apparently.
No real data about the tech: speeds, ranges etc.
A ship travels 12 light years in 3 days. After that it detects a stargate in a solar system that is so far away that it would take it 2 days in FTL to get to it. That means 8 light YEARS!! Hello, that is in another star system eventually, not in the one you are in!!!
A ship wants to hide after emerging from FTL or from a stargate, so what do they do? They go to full power because a MPD drive is so lo observable.
A 3D printer can print ammunition (30 something inch shells) as fast as a gun can fire, yet it take years to build anything .
And so on.
August 17, 2020
Bad Story Badly Told
“Into the Stars” is a bad story badly told.
It’s a pc-riddled, woke, Silicon Valley product placement story in the late 21st century where ‘Earthlings’ after gaining FTL speed stumble upon an apex predatory alien empire through naïveté and hubris.
The writing is horrendous - stilted, stiff, repetitive, and without any narrative flow; basically a bonafide train wreck making one wonder if English is the authors’ second language. It’s that bad.
Not recommended and read via Kindle Unlimited.
“Into the Stars” is a bad story badly told.
It’s a pc-riddled, woke, Silicon Valley product placement story in the late 21st century where ‘Earthlings’ after gaining FTL speed stumble upon an apex predatory alien empire through naïveté and hubris.
The writing is horrendous - stilted, stiff, repetitive, and without any narrative flow; basically a bonafide train wreck making one wonder if English is the authors’ second language. It’s that bad.
Not recommended and read via Kindle Unlimited.
January 18, 2021
My Book Review Number 202:
This review is on Into the Stars (Book One Of The Rise Of The Republic) by James Roscone. This is the first book I have read by this talented author. This is a very good Military Science Fiction story about space exploration, first contact with aliens and humanity’s efforts at colonizing the stars.
The story begins with a Prologue in the year 2050 A.D. World War III left the world in ruins with two billion dead. New governments formed after the war which includes the Asian Alliance, the Republic and the Greater European Union (GEU). A new Space Exploration Treaty (SET) is formed to allow humanity to share technology, colonize Mars and the solar system. The exploration of deep space begins.
In 2075 A.D. Commander Miles Hunt and Vice Admiral Chester Bailey of the Republic are overseeing the first test of a Faster-Than-Light (FTL) space craft operated by a semi-intelligent, synthetic humanoid robot. Future space exploration to the stars depends on the success of this test and FTL Program. FTL technology is based on the Alcubierre drive creating a warp bubble that protects the occupants inside the craft and allows FTL speeds. Previous tests have failed and all hopes depend on the outcome of this test. Dr. Katherine Johnson and her team spent two decades working on this program. After the test all efforts turn to building spaceships capable of travelling to the stars to find habitable planets for humans.
In exchange for the Alcubierre FTL drive technology, the GEU offers to transfer neurolink implant technology that allows communications between human minds. The Asian Alliance offers to exchange inertial dampening and artificial gravity technologies. All these technologies and more are needed to begin the expansion of humans throughout the solar system and beyond.
By 2090, space travel has advanced a great deal. However, not all is peaceful in space. Resources are scarce and people still fight each other to keep what they work for from being taken away. In particular, space pirates operate near mining operations and attack miners for their goods. Ways of dealing with this situation have to be developed and implemented by SET members.
Commander Hunt is called on a special assignment to Mars to handle a sensitive matter. A new habitable world is discovered by deep space probes. It is located in a star system called 42 Rhea 1460 AUs away. The problem is the Republic would like to claim the planet for itself and not include the rest of the SET members. This secret may cause problems with other SET members unless some sort of compromise can be made.
The rest of the story develops around the efforts to colonize the new planet and what they discover on the planet. It leads to the first encounter of other intelligent life forms that have unexpected consequences for all of humanity.
I give this book Five Stars because the story is compelling, interesting and full of surprises. The story builds a new universe with advanced technology, scary alien creatures and cultures. The main characters are memorable and well developed. The plot is expansive and straight-forward in timeline. The dialogue and writing style are excellent. The science and technology is believable and creative. This is a very good MSF story written by an imaginative writer. I look forward to reading Book 2 in this new series to see what happens next to humanity and the main characters.
Keep reading good science fiction and let me know when you find an interesting novel or author.
This review is on Into the Stars (Book One Of The Rise Of The Republic) by James Roscone. This is the first book I have read by this talented author. This is a very good Military Science Fiction story about space exploration, first contact with aliens and humanity’s efforts at colonizing the stars.
The story begins with a Prologue in the year 2050 A.D. World War III left the world in ruins with two billion dead. New governments formed after the war which includes the Asian Alliance, the Republic and the Greater European Union (GEU). A new Space Exploration Treaty (SET) is formed to allow humanity to share technology, colonize Mars and the solar system. The exploration of deep space begins.
In 2075 A.D. Commander Miles Hunt and Vice Admiral Chester Bailey of the Republic are overseeing the first test of a Faster-Than-Light (FTL) space craft operated by a semi-intelligent, synthetic humanoid robot. Future space exploration to the stars depends on the success of this test and FTL Program. FTL technology is based on the Alcubierre drive creating a warp bubble that protects the occupants inside the craft and allows FTL speeds. Previous tests have failed and all hopes depend on the outcome of this test. Dr. Katherine Johnson and her team spent two decades working on this program. After the test all efforts turn to building spaceships capable of travelling to the stars to find habitable planets for humans.
In exchange for the Alcubierre FTL drive technology, the GEU offers to transfer neurolink implant technology that allows communications between human minds. The Asian Alliance offers to exchange inertial dampening and artificial gravity technologies. All these technologies and more are needed to begin the expansion of humans throughout the solar system and beyond.
By 2090, space travel has advanced a great deal. However, not all is peaceful in space. Resources are scarce and people still fight each other to keep what they work for from being taken away. In particular, space pirates operate near mining operations and attack miners for their goods. Ways of dealing with this situation have to be developed and implemented by SET members.
Commander Hunt is called on a special assignment to Mars to handle a sensitive matter. A new habitable world is discovered by deep space probes. It is located in a star system called 42 Rhea 1460 AUs away. The problem is the Republic would like to claim the planet for itself and not include the rest of the SET members. This secret may cause problems with other SET members unless some sort of compromise can be made.
The rest of the story develops around the efforts to colonize the new planet and what they discover on the planet. It leads to the first encounter of other intelligent life forms that have unexpected consequences for all of humanity.
I give this book Five Stars because the story is compelling, interesting and full of surprises. The story builds a new universe with advanced technology, scary alien creatures and cultures. The main characters are memorable and well developed. The plot is expansive and straight-forward in timeline. The dialogue and writing style are excellent. The science and technology is believable and creative. This is a very good MSF story written by an imaginative writer. I look forward to reading Book 2 in this new series to see what happens next to humanity and the main characters.
Keep reading good science fiction and let me know when you find an interesting novel or author.
December 21, 2020
Books 1 to 3:
I almost gave up on this series after the first book but I persisted and in the end I found it to be not great but fairly entertaining after all.
I guess what got me to persist was that it is a kind of story that I like. Humanity begins to explore the stars, finds out that they are not alone and that what’s out there is not at all friendly.
Luckily humanity’s knack for violence and warfare comes into play and the plans of the, somewhat overconfident, aliens … well let’s just say that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.
I quite like the overall story of these books. As I mentioned, this is my kind of story.
However, the implementation sometimes leaves something to be desired. For the first book I could only bring myself to give it 2 stars out of 5. The implementation is somewhat simplistic and sometimes the solutions are bit fast and far fetched.
However, what irked me the most though, is the author’s consistent borrowing of names and expressions from all over the place. Come on, “Elon Musk Industries” is really brown nosing to the ignorant Musk fan base. Actually, I found few names used in the books that where not either more or less ripped from somewhere else or derived from somewhere else. I found that quite annoying.
Well, at least the story wasn’t too bad and there where quite a lot of decent battles going on, both in space and planet side.
The second and third book was somewhat better than the first but not more than three out of five stars worth. On the whole the series is an entertaining read but not much more than that.
The third book had a somewhat interesting ending though and I am quite looking forward to what the author does with that in the fourth, not yet published, book. There’s certainly a buildup for some surprises for the rest of the people back home whether it’s earth or their colonies.
I almost gave up on this series after the first book but I persisted and in the end I found it to be not great but fairly entertaining after all.
I guess what got me to persist was that it is a kind of story that I like. Humanity begins to explore the stars, finds out that they are not alone and that what’s out there is not at all friendly.
Luckily humanity’s knack for violence and warfare comes into play and the plans of the, somewhat overconfident, aliens … well let’s just say that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.
I quite like the overall story of these books. As I mentioned, this is my kind of story.
However, the implementation sometimes leaves something to be desired. For the first book I could only bring myself to give it 2 stars out of 5. The implementation is somewhat simplistic and sometimes the solutions are bit fast and far fetched.
However, what irked me the most though, is the author’s consistent borrowing of names and expressions from all over the place. Come on, “Elon Musk Industries” is really brown nosing to the ignorant Musk fan base. Actually, I found few names used in the books that where not either more or less ripped from somewhere else or derived from somewhere else. I found that quite annoying.
Well, at least the story wasn’t too bad and there where quite a lot of decent battles going on, both in space and planet side.
The second and third book was somewhat better than the first but not more than three out of five stars worth. On the whole the series is an entertaining read but not much more than that.
The third book had a somewhat interesting ending though and I am quite looking forward to what the author does with that in the fourth, not yet published, book. There’s certainly a buildup for some surprises for the rest of the people back home whether it’s earth or their colonies.
July 2, 2022
DNF at 93% What a wasted potential. The story started that convincing, logical and great. But then the author decides to make all leaders mentally challenged.
When the American space force finds signs of intelligent life in a neighboring system they start a scouting and diplomatic mission. I loved that they originally intended to spend some months in the system to explore everything before they would act. At this point i had high hopes in the author and his plot and reminscenced about David Weber´s great "Honor Harrington" series.
But when the explorers discover that the planet is only used as a prison campe where one alien race keeps humans as either prisoners or slaves, they don´t first try to learn more about the reasons or try to find the communication relay station in the farther system but act prematurely and very badly prepared resulting in the loss of most of their groundtroops and letting the aliens alarm forces in nearby systems.. After the fight the fools seem not to collect the equipment or the debris of their enemies and leave the unrefined super valuable ores behind. They still don´t check out the relay station. Faster than light communication could be interesting you would think...
Furthermore, they entirely ignored the biological hazards an alien planet could have.
Later on, there is idiotic drama about an escaped prisoner. How did these losers even manage to capture him? The admirals of Earth talk like mentally challenged, constantly ignoring that Earth has only one low tech battle ship and making totally idiotic decisions contrary to reality. When i came to the point where they decided to attack the huge alien Empire while having no space force worth a name, it got too much for me...
When the American space force finds signs of intelligent life in a neighboring system they start a scouting and diplomatic mission. I loved that they originally intended to spend some months in the system to explore everything before they would act. At this point i had high hopes in the author and his plot and reminscenced about David Weber´s great "Honor Harrington" series.
But when the explorers discover that the planet is only used as a prison campe where one alien race keeps humans as either prisoners or slaves, they don´t first try to learn more about the reasons or try to find the communication relay station in the farther system but act prematurely and very badly prepared resulting in the loss of most of their groundtroops and letting the aliens alarm forces in nearby systems.. After the fight the fools seem not to collect the equipment or the debris of their enemies and leave the unrefined super valuable ores behind. They still don´t check out the relay station. Faster than light communication could be interesting you would think...
Furthermore, they entirely ignored the biological hazards an alien planet could have.
Later on, there is idiotic drama about an escaped prisoner. How did these losers even manage to capture him? The admirals of Earth talk like mentally challenged, constantly ignoring that Earth has only one low tech battle ship and making totally idiotic decisions contrary to reality. When i came to the point where they decided to attack the huge alien Empire while having no space force worth a name, it got too much for me...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2020
Great New Series
I would definately recommend other space junkies to read this. Its fast paced and I can't wait for "Going Into Battle" to be released. I was extremely suprised and glad to hear your donations are going to be used for PTSD and veterans causes. As I'm a combat wounded, medically retired Vietnam Veteran and was one of the first to be diagnosed with PTSD was accepted into the DMS 3 at that time. For more insight into my own fight with PTSD google Scott Cameron Iraq or contact me at vetforjustice8@ gmail.com. I went back to Vietnam about 13 years ago and after going back to the place I was wounded coming into a very hot LZ to try to 'look the dragon in the face' and face down much of my PTSD problems I ended up staying in Asia. I now live with my new family on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Keep writing my friend as you have a new follower here. Peace.
I would definately recommend other space junkies to read this. Its fast paced and I can't wait for "Going Into Battle" to be released. I was extremely suprised and glad to hear your donations are going to be used for PTSD and veterans causes. As I'm a combat wounded, medically retired Vietnam Veteran and was one of the first to be diagnosed with PTSD was accepted into the DMS 3 at that time. For more insight into my own fight with PTSD google Scott Cameron Iraq or contact me at vetforjustice8@ gmail.com. I went back to Vietnam about 13 years ago and after going back to the place I was wounded coming into a very hot LZ to try to 'look the dragon in the face' and face down much of my PTSD problems I ended up staying in Asia. I now live with my new family on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Keep writing my friend as you have a new follower here. Peace.
May 11, 2022
Read this book in one day, that being said no sure why so many people are hard on this book. Enjoyed every last minute of it and I am happy this is a long series.
March 23, 2023
I didn't know I was reading a reverse-Avatar story, but I enjoyed myself. I enjoy reading sci-fi periodically and tend to gravitate toward military sci-fi in particular, and this story mostly gave me what I wanted.
It seems like I favor stories from a ground-pounder's perspective rather than the leadership. That's probably why I enjoyed but didn't quite love David Weber's Honor Harrington stories. This book bounced around a variety of povs, so it was a mix of everything.
After finishing this book and hopping onto Goodreads, the number of very negative reviews surprised me. I honestly didn't share their problems. While this might not work out for someone who reads nothing but Andy Weir, Cixin Liu, or Adrian Tchaikovsky, I think it's a solid read for a casual science fiction fan.
I did struggle with the dialogue, though. It was too on the nose with practically zero subtext and often seemed more for the benefit of informing the reader than appearing organic for the characters. The biggest issue by far was how characters would call each other by name with each line of dialogue, even with nobody else in the room but the two of them. There were multiple occasions where a character called the other person by name multiple times within the same few sentences of uninterrupted dialogue.
It was so egregious that it was more humorous than anything, but that probably wasn't the author's intent. If you're in the mood to mix your sci-fi with a drinking game, then definitely take a drink each time a character unnecessarily calls another character by name. Talk about getting drunk at FTL speeds.
Overall, I still enjoyed this enough to check out the second book. I can only hope that a few of the characters get a bit more fleshed out and display more personality with their voice as we spend time with them and that maybe, just maybe, they stop calling each other by name every other sentence.
It seems like I favor stories from a ground-pounder's perspective rather than the leadership. That's probably why I enjoyed but didn't quite love David Weber's Honor Harrington stories. This book bounced around a variety of povs, so it was a mix of everything.
After finishing this book and hopping onto Goodreads, the number of very negative reviews surprised me. I honestly didn't share their problems. While this might not work out for someone who reads nothing but Andy Weir, Cixin Liu, or Adrian Tchaikovsky, I think it's a solid read for a casual science fiction fan.
I did struggle with the dialogue, though. It was too on the nose with practically zero subtext and often seemed more for the benefit of informing the reader than appearing organic for the characters. The biggest issue by far was how characters would call each other by name with each line of dialogue, even with nobody else in the room but the two of them. There were multiple occasions where a character called the other person by name multiple times within the same few sentences of uninterrupted dialogue.
It was so egregious that it was more humorous than anything, but that probably wasn't the author's intent. If you're in the mood to mix your sci-fi with a drinking game, then definitely take a drink each time a character unnecessarily calls another character by name. Talk about getting drunk at FTL speeds.
Overall, I still enjoyed this enough to check out the second book. I can only hope that a few of the characters get a bit more fleshed out and display more personality with their voice as we spend time with them and that maybe, just maybe, they stop calling each other by name every other sentence.
June 3, 2023
Bit slow at the beginning. But, it's book 1 in the series so I won't go hard at it. However, it gave me Mass Effect ( my fav game ever) vibes. So .... I Liked it.
August 22, 2021
An enjoyable read. On to the next book!
August 20, 2020
In to the Stars James Rosone
This si-fi adventure occurs after the year 2050. WWIII has occurred and the earth has been devastated. The loss of life and environmental damage is devasting. Space exploration is occurring and Mars and the Moon have been colonized. There is a mutual agreement of understanding and trust with the governing nations of power. America, Russia, Japan China and Germany. The human elements of deception are still in play. A new planet has been discovered. It's environment is similar to Earth. Upon further exploration a powerful, brutal species called Zodarks control the planet and use earth like species called Sumerians as slave labor. The living conditions for the Sumartians are harsh and brutal. Life expectancy is short. The Zodarks control all aspects of their known universe. The Zodarks are bluish in color and extremely tall in comparison to the human race. They have four arms, talons as fingers and canine teeth. They are a race which rules by total dominance and brutality. Their ships technology and weaponry are by far superior to any other race. The problem is Earthlings now know of their existence and the Zodarks have now considered them worthy of domination as slaves. The race is on in preparation for Earthlings survival. This is an extremely fast paced read which I enjoyed immensely! Can't wait for book two in this series!
This si-fi adventure occurs after the year 2050. WWIII has occurred and the earth has been devastated. The loss of life and environmental damage is devasting. Space exploration is occurring and Mars and the Moon have been colonized. There is a mutual agreement of understanding and trust with the governing nations of power. America, Russia, Japan China and Germany. The human elements of deception are still in play. A new planet has been discovered. It's environment is similar to Earth. Upon further exploration a powerful, brutal species called Zodarks control the planet and use earth like species called Sumerians as slave labor. The living conditions for the Sumartians are harsh and brutal. Life expectancy is short. The Zodarks control all aspects of their known universe. The Zodarks are bluish in color and extremely tall in comparison to the human race. They have four arms, talons as fingers and canine teeth. They are a race which rules by total dominance and brutality. Their ships technology and weaponry are by far superior to any other race. The problem is Earthlings now know of their existence and the Zodarks have now considered them worthy of domination as slaves. The race is on in preparation for Earthlings survival. This is an extremely fast paced read which I enjoyed immensely! Can't wait for book two in this series!
March 10, 2021
I would say the best part of this universe is the effort placed on elaborating engineering decisions of futuristic technology. There's not a lot, but more than you'd expect.
The story is both overly wordy and content-light. One of the most interesting characters is completely ignored for 90% of the book. Meanwhile, any interesting point is repeated redundantly to make sure you are paying attention.
I was perhaps most disappointed at the shallowness of the military commanders. This is a pop novel intended to be a fun escape at an affordable price, which is its saving grace. After reading Book 1, it feels like most of the plot "hasn't happened yet" -- reserved for future books -- like a movie that is purposefully split into multiple sequels to sell more tickets.
Worth checking out for light reading, but okay to skip as well. 2.5/5
The story is both overly wordy and content-light. One of the most interesting characters is completely ignored for 90% of the book. Meanwhile, any interesting point is repeated redundantly to make sure you are paying attention.
I was perhaps most disappointed at the shallowness of the military commanders. This is a pop novel intended to be a fun escape at an affordable price, which is its saving grace. After reading Book 1, it feels like most of the plot "hasn't happened yet" -- reserved for future books -- like a movie that is purposefully split into multiple sequels to sell more tickets.
Worth checking out for light reading, but okay to skip as well. 2.5/5
May 21, 2024
I'm a sucker for straight forward plots, full of action and lacking poorly written romantic entanglements. This book is the equivalent of a 80's action flick. Nothing too deep here but the authors military background was enough to put me into this.
Don't come here if you need a deep plot, or deep characters. This is pretty mindless and a pretty good time. I couldn't put it down. Don't judge me.
Don't come here if you need a deep plot, or deep characters. This is pretty mindless and a pretty good time. I couldn't put it down. Don't judge me.
January 13, 2024
Fascinating for a non sci-fi reader
The genre is definitely not my usual. I enjoyed the book and will continue with the adventure.
SPOILERS
The characters were all likable. I especially liked that the senior military officers treated all of their subordinates with respect. There was no mysterious mole working against mankind for some dumb reason.
The battle scenes were long but interesting...not gonna lie, I skimmed a bit but definitely got the gist.
The genre is definitely not my usual. I enjoyed the book and will continue with the adventure.
SPOILERS
The characters were all likable. I especially liked that the senior military officers treated all of their subordinates with respect. There was no mysterious mole working against mankind for some dumb reason.
The battle scenes were long but interesting...not gonna lie, I skimmed a bit but definitely got the gist.
April 20, 2021
My favorite. Alien encounter. Really most would people would rate it 4 stars.
March 9, 2024
Slower, world building isn't bad, but there's a lot of fluff in the writing
December 14, 2020
This is the first book in a series projected to be five books in all, so this is the place setter. The Earth was set-up into two empires which were both working on FTL (faster than light) engines and the colonization of the nearest star systems. When the Republic (western hemisphere) withdraws from an agreement with the rest of the world, they go to the Rhea star system, while the others go to Alpha Centauri.
When the get to the Rhea system, they find that the planet they had suspected could sustain human life, had two species already living on it. One species was almost humanoid and spoke an ancient human language related to Sumerian. The other species was a blue insectoid species (Zodark) who were 10 feet tall with four usable arms. It appeared that the Blue species used the humanoids as slaves.
When the members of the expedition tried to make contact with the Zodarks, they were immediately attacked. The Zodarks were a militant species that fought like the Japanese did on the Pacific Islands during WW 2. They took no quarter and fought to the death while savaging their opponents. Having survived to get off the planet and head back to Earth, the Explorers realized that there was a new implacable foe for the Earth.
All the nations on Earth realized that if they didn't plan to repulse the Zodark, they could enslave the whole population of the Earth, while probably killing off a large part of the population. A large Space Force was built that would return to Rhea and make a stand against the Zodark before they learned in which system Earth was.
When the get to the Rhea system, they find that the planet they had suspected could sustain human life, had two species already living on it. One species was almost humanoid and spoke an ancient human language related to Sumerian. The other species was a blue insectoid species (Zodark) who were 10 feet tall with four usable arms. It appeared that the Blue species used the humanoids as slaves.
When the members of the expedition tried to make contact with the Zodarks, they were immediately attacked. The Zodarks were a militant species that fought like the Japanese did on the Pacific Islands during WW 2. They took no quarter and fought to the death while savaging their opponents. Having survived to get off the planet and head back to Earth, the Explorers realized that there was a new implacable foe for the Earth.
All the nations on Earth realized that if they didn't plan to repulse the Zodark, they could enslave the whole population of the Earth, while probably killing off a large part of the population. A large Space Force was built that would return to Rhea and make a stand against the Zodark before they learned in which system Earth was.
April 22, 2021
I was hoping this would be a new great series, but I had never read this author so I wasn't sure what to expect. Well, let me clearly state that this was a wonderful start to a new series. I don't think there is anything more science fiction that traveling to the stars in search of a new home for humanity. I've read numerous books on that theme and they most all are very good. This one falls in to the very good, if not great category! The story is about humanity spreading out beyond our solar system. We have developed space travel and are populating our nearby planets with humans who very much need to leave Earth so it can recover. Earth isn't devastated, but after the war in 2040, there's a lot of rebuilding required. Fortunately, the governments of Earth have come together to explore space and have even set it off-limits to war-fighting and conquest. Each country has pledged to share in their space discoveries and so far that is going well.
Now humanity is on the threshold of going to another star system, Alpha Centauri. What they discover there was to be shared among the member nations, except the Republic threw a monkey wrench into that deal. After the war of 2040, most of North America joined together to form the Republic. This was to offset the Asian Alliance saw China, India, Japan, the Koreas, and the rest of Southeast Asia forming the Asian Alliance. In Europe, Russia and most all the European countries joined to form the Greater European Union (GEU). Great Britain was the exception. They broke with Europe and joined the Republic. and finally, the African Union came into being and that shaped up the geo/political system in the World War III in 2050. All these nations had been part of the Space Exploration Treaty (SET) for 20 years until just now. The treat was up for renewal and the Republic was set to sign the new treaty until one of our probes returned.
It had been sent out in an entirely different direction than Alpha Centauri, but what it came back with was stunning. The probe had found a new solar system with not only one, but two habitable planets. One of them specifically was barely larger than Earth and all the atmospheric readings said that this planet was almost and exact copy of Earth. Humanity had found a new home! Then further analysis of photos showed clear and unmistakable evidence of some kind of intelligent life. They had photos of mines actually being worked by some kind of intelligent beings so while the planet wasn't uninhabited, it certainly wasn't fully populated. The Republic decided that they needed to redirect their current efforts for the Alpha Centauri mission to this new one. They wanted to go to New Eden and claim it for the Republic. This would definitely mean the Republic would not renew the upcoming SET agreement. Whether that was a wise move or not, is yet to be seen.
The ships destined for Alpha Centauri have a new mission. The Rook and the Voyager had been designated for this mission and now it was going to involve an entirely new set of circumstances. They were going out with a first contact team to see if they could actually establish some kind of relationship with an alien civilization. They had no idea what they were getting into. This is an exciting story!
This book is well written. It reads very smoothly and continues along at a brisk pace. There does seem to be some filler material as concerns the pirate activities in the solar system, but that doesn't seem to be a major part of the story, yet a few chapters are devoted to this thread at the beginning and towards the end. I'm not sure why the pirate stuff was even added, but it's there and while it doesn't distract from the main story, it's doesn't appear a necessary part of the entire book. You'll also figure out that the first few initial characters you read about don't live very long! Eventually, you read about the crews of the first two exploration ships, the Rook and the Voyager. This where the excitement begins. The book also stops at the right place; it leaves you wanting more and fortunately, all four books in this series are available on Amazon. I immediately got book two, "Into the Battle" and I know it will be as exciting as this first book. Excellent science fiction reading!
Now humanity is on the threshold of going to another star system, Alpha Centauri. What they discover there was to be shared among the member nations, except the Republic threw a monkey wrench into that deal. After the war of 2040, most of North America joined together to form the Republic. This was to offset the Asian Alliance saw China, India, Japan, the Koreas, and the rest of Southeast Asia forming the Asian Alliance. In Europe, Russia and most all the European countries joined to form the Greater European Union (GEU). Great Britain was the exception. They broke with Europe and joined the Republic. and finally, the African Union came into being and that shaped up the geo/political system in the World War III in 2050. All these nations had been part of the Space Exploration Treaty (SET) for 20 years until just now. The treat was up for renewal and the Republic was set to sign the new treaty until one of our probes returned.
It had been sent out in an entirely different direction than Alpha Centauri, but what it came back with was stunning. The probe had found a new solar system with not only one, but two habitable planets. One of them specifically was barely larger than Earth and all the atmospheric readings said that this planet was almost and exact copy of Earth. Humanity had found a new home! Then further analysis of photos showed clear and unmistakable evidence of some kind of intelligent life. They had photos of mines actually being worked by some kind of intelligent beings so while the planet wasn't uninhabited, it certainly wasn't fully populated. The Republic decided that they needed to redirect their current efforts for the Alpha Centauri mission to this new one. They wanted to go to New Eden and claim it for the Republic. This would definitely mean the Republic would not renew the upcoming SET agreement. Whether that was a wise move or not, is yet to be seen.
The ships destined for Alpha Centauri have a new mission. The Rook and the Voyager had been designated for this mission and now it was going to involve an entirely new set of circumstances. They were going out with a first contact team to see if they could actually establish some kind of relationship with an alien civilization. They had no idea what they were getting into. This is an exciting story!
This book is well written. It reads very smoothly and continues along at a brisk pace. There does seem to be some filler material as concerns the pirate activities in the solar system, but that doesn't seem to be a major part of the story, yet a few chapters are devoted to this thread at the beginning and towards the end. I'm not sure why the pirate stuff was even added, but it's there and while it doesn't distract from the main story, it's doesn't appear a necessary part of the entire book. You'll also figure out that the first few initial characters you read about don't live very long! Eventually, you read about the crews of the first two exploration ships, the Rook and the Voyager. This where the excitement begins. The book also stops at the right place; it leaves you wanting more and fortunately, all four books in this series are available on Amazon. I immediately got book two, "Into the Battle" and I know it will be as exciting as this first book. Excellent science fiction reading!
May 5, 2021
I wanted to like this book. It had some very interesting concepts at the start, but my enjoyment was tamped down by the inconsistencies and downright silliness of the story line. Who in their right mind finds evidence of life on a planet with evidence that it uses tools and mines resources and sends a group to colonize the planet? Really? "Hi Earthlings, we're gonna drop a colony here on this place you call Kansas. You don't mind, right?" And unfortunately, that was just the start of the silliness. I will NOT be reading the rest of this series...
October 9, 2021
Interesting but I had a couple of problems...
Spoilers:
1) why do they think it is acceptable to colonize a world with other intelligent beings on it?
2) Why wouldn't they be concerned that the aliens might follow them back to Earth? Don't know how advanced their technology is....
3) Wouldn't they be more concerned about first contact? Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They "knew" they were going to find alien life. Why would they think they are the smartest people in the universe?
Spoilers:
1) why do they think it is acceptable to colonize a world with other intelligent beings on it?
2) Why wouldn't they be concerned that the aliens might follow them back to Earth? Don't know how advanced their technology is....
3) Wouldn't they be more concerned about first contact? Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They "knew" they were going to find alien life. Why would they think they are the smartest people in the universe?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2020
I really wanted to like this a lot more. The universe has potential and it even has a good twist on the aggressive race first contact scenario.
The characters were wooden, the tech felt misused, the hardest part was it felt like the authors geopolitics was stuck in the '80s. I also didn't understand the pirate based on Ragnar Danneskjöld except he killed everyone. Ragnar made a point of only stealing previously stolen property and NEVER killing anyone. The means define the ends and you can't build a paradise founded on murder. It just felt entirely out of step with the rest of the book. Apart from the murderous objectivists, the rest of the pacing was decent.
Good enough that I'll try the second book, but not good enough to make me look for any earlier works by the author.
The characters were wooden, the tech felt misused, the hardest part was it felt like the authors geopolitics was stuck in the '80s. I also didn't understand the pirate based on Ragnar Danneskjöld except he killed everyone. Ragnar made a point of only stealing previously stolen property and NEVER killing anyone. The means define the ends and you can't build a paradise founded on murder. It just felt entirely out of step with the rest of the book. Apart from the murderous objectivists, the rest of the pacing was decent.
Good enough that I'll try the second book, but not good enough to make me look for any earlier works by the author.
February 6, 2023
Really enjoyed this fist read of what promises more
A very well written first contact looking for friends but finding.....
This great beginning book 1 of Rise of the Republic it is well written, without the all too common and frustrating typos in so many books out these days. The ending leaves you reaching for the next book. (Not going to give anything away :-)
Boy! What humanity finds while exploring a new frontier in space! I just love reading science fiction. Is this a prediction of our future? Makes one wonder and anticipate.
A very well written first contact looking for friends but finding.....
This great beginning book 1 of Rise of the Republic it is well written, without the all too common and frustrating typos in so many books out these days. The ending leaves you reaching for the next book. (Not going to give anything away :-)
Boy! What humanity finds while exploring a new frontier in space! I just love reading science fiction. Is this a prediction of our future? Makes one wonder and anticipate.
September 18, 2022
Having read most of the second book now, the books just aren't well written. Tons of editing errors and long repeated phrases. The characterization is really weak with maybe a couple exceptions. The technology doesn't make sense and isn't internally consistent. The timeline isn't believable--some things take ages while others are nearly instantaneous. The depiction of military and political decision-making doesn't strike me as credible, with characters consistently waiting until the final approval of plans to raise objections and propose alternatives, leading to dramatic and wildly inefficient shifts in strategy.
There's essentially no representation of any racial, religious, or sexual minorities. Among characters in very high leadership, the women are portrayed as less brave and more concerned with saving their own skin than their male counterparts.
If anything, the books strike me as more of a love letter to libertarian techocapitalism, with glowing references to Elon Musk, hyperloops, and the like. Few things break immersion more for me than a reference to a real person who I already have an opinion about.
The author goes out of his way to repeatedly include a group of murderous libertarian pirates who are trying to carve out their own fief and eventually get some official recognition. I haven't yet encountered anything in the plot that explains why those characters exist in the book. But hey, at least they get representation!
The political dynamics of the books are generally based on the idea that the rest of the world (including most of western Europe) is only too glad to be ruled by Communist China.
Finally, virtually out of nowhere towards the end of the second book there's a wild section where some aliens explain that the biblical Great Flood actually happened and was caused by an asteroid colliding with a "protective barrier of water" that surrounded Earth until that time, which then fell to the surface. I guess gravity didn't exist. Oh, and humans had been living alongside dinosaurs. Just freaking lunacy. Obviously the author can write whatever he wants, but getting blindsided by random plugs for young earth creationism isn't my idea of science fiction.
There's essentially no representation of any racial, religious, or sexual minorities. Among characters in very high leadership, the women are portrayed as less brave and more concerned with saving their own skin than their male counterparts.
If anything, the books strike me as more of a love letter to libertarian techocapitalism, with glowing references to Elon Musk, hyperloops, and the like. Few things break immersion more for me than a reference to a real person who I already have an opinion about.
The author goes out of his way to repeatedly include a group of murderous libertarian pirates who are trying to carve out their own fief and eventually get some official recognition. I haven't yet encountered anything in the plot that explains why those characters exist in the book. But hey, at least they get representation!
The political dynamics of the books are generally based on the idea that the rest of the world (including most of western Europe) is only too glad to be ruled by Communist China.
Finally, virtually out of nowhere towards the end of the second book there's a wild section where some aliens explain that the biblical Great Flood actually happened and was caused by an asteroid colliding with a "protective barrier of water" that surrounded Earth until that time, which then fell to the surface. I guess gravity didn't exist. Oh, and humans had been living alongside dinosaurs. Just freaking lunacy. Obviously the author can write whatever he wants, but getting blindsided by random plugs for young earth creationism isn't my idea of science fiction.
May 27, 2025
Moderately dreadful. DNFed after a hundred pages of amateur-quality writing that sorely needed an editor to point out the structural issues.
Full of bland point-of-view characters with no personality, and no real engagement with their surroundings. The captain of a navy ship doesn’t think of a report coming from “one of the officers on the bridge”, they know the officers name, or at least their role. Instead we repeatedly get vague statements about “one of the people” or sometimes for variety we get “two of the people”. I think it might have been “several of the bridge crew” who “ooooohed” in amazement at the first sight of the new planet, which sounds a tad unprofessional and like the officer of the watch might have a word or two to say about discipline, even with an understanding tone, but nope apparently this elite ship is crewed by tourists.
Speaking of of military attitudes, engineering tells the captain “give us five minutes and we’ll have the data”, which again, just doesn’t sound right. Engineering doesn’t tell the captain what to do, even idiomatically. Presented as a response to an instruction maybe it could work, but it isn’t and feels like the tail wagging the dog.
We’re repeatedly treated to exposition dumps from characters who wouldn’t be explaining those things. Or explaining them from a viewpoint that is clearly the author’s voice not the character’s.
The “Cold War” plotting is also laughable with one faction giving another an excuse to perform a cover action for no reason other than to give them that convenient excuse. There’s no suggestion of this being part of a pattern of skirmishes, it seems to be a treaty breach for no particular gain and has no consequences other than the cover action, and it’s by one of the two powers who we’ve been repeatedly told want to continue the treaty and who aren’t prepared for the treaty to end. So why are they doing this?
Two stars because despite the fundamental flaws, the author has a decent grasp of English, and can clearly write to some degree, they just need to learn how to write as an author of fiction.
Full of bland point-of-view characters with no personality, and no real engagement with their surroundings. The captain of a navy ship doesn’t think of a report coming from “one of the officers on the bridge”, they know the officers name, or at least their role. Instead we repeatedly get vague statements about “one of the people” or sometimes for variety we get “two of the people”. I think it might have been “several of the bridge crew” who “ooooohed” in amazement at the first sight of the new planet, which sounds a tad unprofessional and like the officer of the watch might have a word or two to say about discipline, even with an understanding tone, but nope apparently this elite ship is crewed by tourists.
Speaking of of military attitudes, engineering tells the captain “give us five minutes and we’ll have the data”, which again, just doesn’t sound right. Engineering doesn’t tell the captain what to do, even idiomatically. Presented as a response to an instruction maybe it could work, but it isn’t and feels like the tail wagging the dog.
We’re repeatedly treated to exposition dumps from characters who wouldn’t be explaining those things. Or explaining them from a viewpoint that is clearly the author’s voice not the character’s.
The “Cold War” plotting is also laughable with one faction giving another an excuse to perform a cover action for no reason other than to give them that convenient excuse. There’s no suggestion of this being part of a pattern of skirmishes, it seems to be a treaty breach for no particular gain and has no consequences other than the cover action, and it’s by one of the two powers who we’ve been repeatedly told want to continue the treaty and who aren’t prepared for the treaty to end. So why are they doing this?
Two stars because despite the fundamental flaws, the author has a decent grasp of English, and can clearly write to some degree, they just need to learn how to write as an author of fiction.
April 8, 2021
Gripping Tale of First Contact and Battles with Alien Race
I almost didn't finish this book, but first, let me say how impressed I was with the believability of the military scenes, and of the cooperation between the various officers who took command of the situation and devised solutions to the problems as they arose in coping with the two races they discovered in the star system they were sent to explore. There was just enough personal information offered about each of the main characters that give you a sense of the type of person filling that role in the book to make you cheer the actions they take in the story. Although I've never felt the sense of faith in our true life military, political or structural organizations the reader is lead to in the story, it is, of course, fiction, and it was inspiring to see how these various factions worked together to meet such an ominous enemy presented. After thinking over these statements, I decided to go on with the story, for up to the points in the story where the reader realizes just how horrific this alien race is, and what an absolute danger like that could present to our survival as a human race, I just couldn't leave the book unread, despite the queasiness I felt after the encounters with the evil alien race. After all, if stories of another race that has secretly ruled humanity behind the scenes are true, we do already face such an enemy as intimidated by President Reagan in an address to the United Nations in the 1980's, and they are, indeed, just as horrific as Rosone so graphically describes in the two scenes in which they interact with the humans attempting to communicate with them. Was Rosone trying to tell us something about the possible reason for his PTSD by writing this work of fiction to express something he experienced that was so equally horrible? So I finished the last 25% of the book, and plan to go right on into the next in the series. Great book, just be forewarned that at least those two scenes are not for the weak-minded.
I almost didn't finish this book, but first, let me say how impressed I was with the believability of the military scenes, and of the cooperation between the various officers who took command of the situation and devised solutions to the problems as they arose in coping with the two races they discovered in the star system they were sent to explore. There was just enough personal information offered about each of the main characters that give you a sense of the type of person filling that role in the book to make you cheer the actions they take in the story. Although I've never felt the sense of faith in our true life military, political or structural organizations the reader is lead to in the story, it is, of course, fiction, and it was inspiring to see how these various factions worked together to meet such an ominous enemy presented. After thinking over these statements, I decided to go on with the story, for up to the points in the story where the reader realizes just how horrific this alien race is, and what an absolute danger like that could present to our survival as a human race, I just couldn't leave the book unread, despite the queasiness I felt after the encounters with the evil alien race. After all, if stories of another race that has secretly ruled humanity behind the scenes are true, we do already face such an enemy as intimidated by President Reagan in an address to the United Nations in the 1980's, and they are, indeed, just as horrific as Rosone so graphically describes in the two scenes in which they interact with the humans attempting to communicate with them. Was Rosone trying to tell us something about the possible reason for his PTSD by writing this work of fiction to express something he experienced that was so equally horrible? So I finished the last 25% of the book, and plan to go right on into the next in the series. Great book, just be forewarned that at least those two scenes are not for the weak-minded.
May 19, 2021
A fun, escapist read. Liked it so much that I immediately started reading book #2 in the series.
The good parts:
- Good world building. Generally believable scenarios and human decision-making.
- Great action scenes
- Nice drama
- There's very little conniving or back-stabbing. This is a positivist view of people despite pro forma protestations that humans are flawed. After the stress of COVID 2020, I'm okay with this.
>> It's a relief to read a novel with the focus on the plot over palace intrigues.
- Overall, it's well plotted.
The bad parts:
- With this many characters there won't be a lot of depth to them, I guess.
- Some of the reactions don't "feel right" - e.g. pirates saying, "I feel kinda bad about killing people"
- Several tropes
1) Captain and wife love each other, feel the love, see the love, hear them tell each other they really - and I mean really - love each other).
2) Humans are a crafty bunch
- If you're a 20th/21st century US veteran, the author takes a lot of current day ideas and seeds them into the book (JSOC, JDAM-derivatives, current military slang, etc.).
Military Comments (don't read if you don't care about such things):
While I normally wouldn't mind all the above (e.g. JSOC), at times it felt like it was just today's stuff only bigger and better. I was conflicted about this point.
The land force special forces troops were called Delta but were more along the lines of US Army SF guys than their Tier 1 Delta Force namesakes.
That's a nit but it gnawed at me almost as much as the fact that the Earth forces don't use (or even seem to possess) indirect fires or know to use overwatch. Spaceships in orbit with railguns have a superior overwatch position vs the bad guys in fixed positions planet-side.
Trust me, current-day US ground forces know the utility of indirect fires and airpower but neither make an appearance in this book. This is despite the author's convention of projecting out capabilities based on current day trends.
The good parts:
- Good world building. Generally believable scenarios and human decision-making.
- Great action scenes
- Nice drama
- There's very little conniving or back-stabbing. This is a positivist view of people despite pro forma protestations that humans are flawed. After the stress of COVID 2020, I'm okay with this.
>> It's a relief to read a novel with the focus on the plot over palace intrigues.
- Overall, it's well plotted.
The bad parts:
- With this many characters there won't be a lot of depth to them, I guess.
- Some of the reactions don't "feel right" - e.g. pirates saying, "I feel kinda bad about killing people"
- Several tropes
1) Captain and wife love each other, feel the love, see the love, hear them tell each other they really - and I mean really - love each other).
2) Humans are a crafty bunch
- If you're a 20th/21st century US veteran, the author takes a lot of current day ideas and seeds them into the book (JSOC, JDAM-derivatives, current military slang, etc.).
Military Comments (don't read if you don't care about such things):
While I normally wouldn't mind all the above (e.g. JSOC), at times it felt like it was just today's stuff only bigger and better. I was conflicted about this point.
The land force special forces troops were called Delta but were more along the lines of US Army SF guys than their Tier 1 Delta Force namesakes.
That's a nit but it gnawed at me almost as much as the fact that the Earth forces don't use (or even seem to possess) indirect fires or know to use overwatch. Spaceships in orbit with railguns have a superior overwatch position vs the bad guys in fixed positions planet-side.
Trust me, current-day US ground forces know the utility of indirect fires and airpower but neither make an appearance in this book. This is despite the author's convention of projecting out capabilities based on current day trends.
April 29, 2024
A standard sci-fi story, short on science and not very original.
Into the Stars is the first book in Rosone’s Rise of the Republic series.
This story takes place in the near future, primarily the 2090’s.
After a devastating war in 2040 that lasted 5 years and killed 2 billion people, the world is divided into 4 political hegemonies: the Republic, basically the Americas and dominated by the United States; the Greater European Union, dominated by Russia; the Asian Alliance, controlled by China; and the African Union mainly aligned with the Asian Alliance.
By 2075 humans had developed the ability for faster than light (FTL) speed. With this ability an expedition was planned for Alpha Centauri to find habitable planets for human colonization.
However, the Republic also found a near perfect twin to Earth only 12 light years away in the Rhea system and conducted an expedition of their own to settle this planet.
When the expedition arrived, they found a population of humans enslaved by a fierce race called the Zodark. Thus, our first contact with an alien race begins a conflict with a warrior race.
I found this story almost a carbon copy of the Odyssey One series by Evan Currie.
I also had some problems with the scientific aspects of th story: developing FTL capability only 50 years from now? Establishing self-sustaining colonies on the moon, Mars, Venus and in the asteroid belt within the same time? And developing the ability to take on and defeat alien warships that have been developed for millennia?
If you get beyond these issues, the story does keep your attention to the end.
Into the Stars is the first book in Rosone’s Rise of the Republic series.
This story takes place in the near future, primarily the 2090’s.
After a devastating war in 2040 that lasted 5 years and killed 2 billion people, the world is divided into 4 political hegemonies: the Republic, basically the Americas and dominated by the United States; the Greater European Union, dominated by Russia; the Asian Alliance, controlled by China; and the African Union mainly aligned with the Asian Alliance.
By 2075 humans had developed the ability for faster than light (FTL) speed. With this ability an expedition was planned for Alpha Centauri to find habitable planets for human colonization.
However, the Republic also found a near perfect twin to Earth only 12 light years away in the Rhea system and conducted an expedition of their own to settle this planet.
When the expedition arrived, they found a population of humans enslaved by a fierce race called the Zodark. Thus, our first contact with an alien race begins a conflict with a warrior race.
I found this story almost a carbon copy of the Odyssey One series by Evan Currie.
I also had some problems with the scientific aspects of th story: developing FTL capability only 50 years from now? Establishing self-sustaining colonies on the moon, Mars, Venus and in the asteroid belt within the same time? And developing the ability to take on and defeat alien warships that have been developed for millennia?
If you get beyond these issues, the story does keep your attention to the end.
October 12, 2022
Rosone, the author of this book, should never, ever be allowed any decision making power if humans ever discover aliens. Into the Stars is quite entertaining but also a text book on how not to behave when aliens are discovered. Despite being set only about 80 years into the future, the tech level is sky high. Although in some areas the tech level for some weir reasin is absurdly low. The cultural and nationalist bias gives this book the feel of being written in USA around 1950 and not year 2100 when it is set. However the reader also gets a nice first contact story. Although the aliens are almost one huge cliche.
500 pages of good, classic first contact themes badly executed makes this a paradoxical book hard to evaluate even for first contact fans like me. Normally such a book is an automatic 5 star for me. Here the backwardness of the thinking and lack of perspective must reduce it to a 4. I am also tempted to dock another star for the inclusion of a totally irrelevant 50 pages or so on space piracy. The pirates will no doubt be relevant in future books in thise Rise of the Republic series, which I will not be reading. Despite it all Into the Stars was a great read at times.
500 pages of good, classic first contact themes badly executed makes this a paradoxical book hard to evaluate even for first contact fans like me. Normally such a book is an automatic 5 star for me. Here the backwardness of the thinking and lack of perspective must reduce it to a 4. I am also tempted to dock another star for the inclusion of a totally irrelevant 50 pages or so on space piracy. The pirates will no doubt be relevant in future books in thise Rise of the Republic series, which I will not be reading. Despite it all Into the Stars was a great read at times.
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