Ep.#1.11 - "Born of the Ashes" (The Frontiers Saga Book 11)

The author Ryk Brown has managed to do something very special he has written a series that has improved with each issue. I have enjoyed the ride aboard the spaceship Aurora immensely, even when torpedoes and rail guns were blasting the hull of the ship apart, opening interior compartments to the vacuum of space, and igniting the oxygen within said compartments producing more than one explosively violent decompression. However, I don't think the lasers, missiles and gun boats that filled the space above the planet's surface were as much fun for the planet's inhabitants who died in the millions under orbital bombardment, as they were for me.Nathan the captain of the Aurora whose mission was to protect the people of earth isn't really doing a very good job, unless you were one of the people evacuated from the planet's surface prior to the bombardment. As an inhabitant of the planet earth and not someone who is likely to be evacuated from the planet's surface in the event of an orbital bombardment, I can't say I have a very favorable opinion of Nathans choices. I am curious however to see how the people on the surface who survived the attack are going to react to the captain of the Aurora once the shooting stops. Will Nathan be seen as a hero?What the author has done is to place his characters in difficult situations forcing them to make difficult choices the consequences of which the reader and characters are forced to explore. The distance Nathan has traveled since the series began within himself far exceeds the distance the space ship traveled when it jumped light years across the stars . The journey for Nathan began when the jump drive of the Aurora malfunctioned a failure of the designers and engineers of earth but a triumph for the author. Bravo.Ryk Brown is a masterful writer a magician of sorts and like any good magician his goal is to misdirect his audience in order to keep them guessing what next. Which brings me to the question of how are the members of the alliance going to find the Jung home world and end the war? I think I may know the answer to that question. I believe I have seen the ears of the rabbit sticking above the brim of the magician's hat. I believe I even know the rabbit's name: 'Captain Crispin Jung'. I am not going to spoil the magician's trick and tell you where you can find the hat and the rabbit, because if you have been paying attention you already know and if not keep reading.Also, I could be mistaken and those are not rabbit ears sticking out of the hat and that is not a playing card hidden up Mr. Brown's sleeve but instead what I am seeing is nothing more his shirt. So, like everyone else I shall keep reading and enjoying the magic trick waiting for the conclusion of the story whereby the author will reveal how the trick was done.

I would recommend this book to any reader of science fiction. It's a good story, interesting concept. But, I think the author is off base when it comes to the science detailed in the story. That probably won't bother most readers, in fact very few. There is just inconsistencies in the way the author uses the transition to FTL and the "Jump" technology that is central to the books plot. Apparently the Jung can enter FTL from a low sub-light speed. That means that they can "jump" from danger anytime they want too. But, the author only uses that capability once in the book. This sort of like Star Treks entering Warp, only faster. It seems the ships are moving in our 4 dimensional space/time whether they are moving in FTL or are "Jumping" They need a clear path from where they are to where they are going. That limits their movement somewhat in a battle. Having established that restriction in the book, there is no mention of how the ships can avoid the billions of tiny, and not so tiny, particles of matter that are sprinkled throughout space. Especially circling about almost any star system. To contact even a tiny particle at such high speeds would unleash more kinetic energy than 10 ten megaton war heads.Other writers have got around this problem by having the ships travel in some other fashion than simply barreling through space. Dune used the folding of space concept. Weber and lot of authors envision the discovery of some type of portal through space, sort of like a worn hole. Some use the multidimensional of space/time concept of reality and have the ships travel in another dimension. If the "Jump" technology is really just traveling at fantastic speeds through our own space/time, then I think the author has a few practical problems to solve.That doesn't mean that the books are not enjoyable. I'm just a nitpicker about the use of science in science fiction books. I believe the author can create any universe they want, with whatever rules they wish. But, when you set the story in our universe the laws of physics should be sort of honored.

I have never posted a review before today after reading lots of amazing books throughout the past 2 years but I felt obligated to share my love for this series.A little bit about me to frame my review: I have always wanted to be a reader growing up as my mom and brother constantly read but I just could never get to the same level they were at. At age 27 or 2 years ago I bought a kindle and started buying books that I thought I would be interested in. My criteria started at pricing below $5 and good reviews. I finally found what genre I enjoy and that is military science fiction. Since then I cannot put my kindle down and have read over 70 books! Ok enough about me let me get to my review.Review: This series captures everything I could of imagined books being! I have very strong emotions about the characters and the world that is portrayed. Every word I hang on to hoping it isn't the last. Ryk Brown has done something special for his fans with this series. He has developed characters and worlds we love/hate and he has established a future that we can expect to go on for years when he writes several more books. He has interacted with his fans through forums on his website which is the best website I have ever seen for a book series. This review is not only for this book as you can tell but for the series. This book gets 5 stars easily because of vested interest I love where this series is going which is to the top. Ryk Brown deserves all the credit here with what he has done and the negativity about people saying fake reviews are why this book got so many stars need to read the series.Ryk I am excited for our journey together throughout the universe and cannot wait to see what is next!!*(This is my first review ever so give me a break if it makes no sense and grammar was never my strongest :)

Colloquialisms aside, I've been reading the Frontiers series from the beginning and have thoroughly enjoyed the overall quality of the story arc (only one episode I didn't find quite as engaging, but out of 11 and counting, that's a great track record for Ryk.). I suppose the fact that I'm still reading at episode 11 and looking forward to episode 12 speaks volumes in itself.In this episode, we have emotional highs and lows and a serious battle crescendo to savour. Retaining the (majority of the) core characters helps preserve the emotional engagement to the story.Why 5 and not 4 stars? (Really, I would like to award 4.5, but the system doesn't support it.) I guess the arc perhaps suffers from the success of it's own formula a little bit - we now kind of expect and know that Nathan will win through every time (although not without some challenges and the hovering in-story rationale to support this; the legend of Na-Tan - yet to be more fully exploited?). Some story elements get telegraphed earlier on and we can think "ah - I suspect that 'this' will happen". Not in itself a bad thing (I consider it comfortable reading), but some readers may prefer to be surprised more. (Not that I want any major kill-offs the like of which we see under GRRM's G.o.T series!!)Perhaps the description of the final battle sequence could have been a bit clearer? It can be a bit confusing (at least to my tired old brain) trying to keep track of the various ship angles, vectors and orbital positions. But ultimately I don't find this distracting enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the story - I'd much rather have to puzzle a bit than some bland "bang, we won!" scenario!

This carrys on to be a very descriptive and evocative story. Likeable characters and fast pased action.It does get a little repetitive in parts, the "drive flash", Josh being "bored", but the story line moves so fast that you can overlook that.Same old problem with editting... or the lack of as typos and mistakes abound, you just have to track back and work out what it's supposed to be. I've stopped being an unpaid editor via the Kindle and just ignore the mistakes now.

Really enjoyed the series so far although its starting to get just a little formulaic now. The author needs to get some plotlines running that are different from the previous ones. However - not sure if this had been mentioned in other reviews but one thing has been driving me mad. The word is DAMPER not DAMPENER!!! A dampener is a word that describes making something moist as in 'damp'. A damper is something that reduces the effect of something else like a shock absorber or an inertial damper. All through the series this had grated which is a shame.

Since the battle returned to home shores, and the list of accomplices and allies spans a thousand light years, this series has really taken off for me. Very well written space opera, with a heart and suitably "nick of time" events that keep you engrossed. Indeed it's so well written in terms of pace, that when Aurora and Celestia enter battle, I can actually feel my reading pace pick up, and during some action scenes I'm practically speed reading it!But I reserve a special word for Lt. Telles and his Gatazhak special forces - when first introduced as potential "bad guys" they were a scary addition - apparently invincible automatons, hell bent on destruction and mayhem. As Lt. Telles and his men have been brought into the story more, we begin to see them as intelligent, thinking men - certainly ruthless and deadly effective soldiers, but not robots with no feelings or free thoughts. Their ability to cut through the emotions to achieve the mission is clear, but never without intellectual consideration and analysis. I really like 'em, and I'd like to see Telles get a few more to make up his losses in the future!So a worthy continuation of a story that started out decent enough but has got better with each installment.

This book is more a novella than book, reminds me of old monthly comic books and saturday morning black and white tv adventures. It's never going to stretch your intellect but the ideas are good the characters solid and pace well written. There are no major surprises in plot lines but in this story that's how it should be its kind of a cross between Star Wars and Star Trek and works well. If your looking for something deep go. And read Hamilton or bear, but if you want something easy to read, amusing at times and good action sequences then give the a go I've enjoyed them all and given up worrying their a little shallow. Looking forward to book 12 and beyond.