Aurora: CV-01: Frontiers Saga, Book 1

Ep.#1 - "Aurora: CV-01" (The Frontiers Saga)  by Ryk Brown, the first in a series called "The Frontiers Saga", is one of those hidden gems that in the days before the Kindle you'd never have found. Though brief, it's a rousing good example of Space Opera with heroic good guys and dastardly bag guys, and a few guys (and a beautiful woman) who have not yet been categorized.The hero (far more fitting here than "protagonist") is a dashing, Captain James T. Kirk-type, a young hot-shot, good-looking, aggressive, cocksure, and a ladies man - also a helluva starship captain and driver. His name is Nathan Scott and his father is Dayton Scott, a senator on Earth.Nathan and his father don't get along. Earth is recovering from a vaguely described "bio-digital" plague that set humanity back on its heels and from which Earth is only now recovering, thanks to another vaguely described thing called the "data ark" which apparently preserved a bunch of science and technology from the pre-plague years. But it was only recently discovered and humankind has only been out among the stars again for a few decades.During the plague dark age, Earth lost contact not only with the frontiers of human space but with the other core worlds. Meanwhile, a group called the Jung, human but nasty, have moved in and are now threatening earth. For that reason, some humans feel it's important to get back into space and build up the Navy as fast as possible, including FTL drives. Others, like Nathan's father, believe that will only antagonize the Jung. Now that Nathan has joined the Navy, their relationship is more brittle than ever.Nathan finds himself on a top-secret mission which leads him into adventures he could never have imagined. I don't want to offer up any spoilers here, but suffice it to say the story really takes off with Nathan's departure from Earth to begin his naval career. The story is chock-full of interesting characters, including a woman Nathan "bumped into" at his father's big party, class-mates from the academy, and some very interesting folks he meets along the way. Instead of a stereotypical Scot as engineer he has a stereotypical Russian, but it's fun and it works.I agree with the reviewers who have said Ryk Brown is a natural story teller. I think this is obvious from the beginning. The science is more than a little vague, as are Earth politics, and various other things that pop up along the way. But this is all right. One thing you will not have inflicted upon you here is info-dumps. There is nothing to slow the story down. If you just surrender to this and go along with it, you'll be all right. Accept the story for what it is and have fun with it.You can have fun because the story is well-told, internally consistent and fast-paced. The dialogue is choppy in parts and naval personnel say some silly, rather unmilitary things you hear only on Star Trek or Babylon 5 (never in the Honorverse), but such descriptions as exist are easy to follow and you'll find many familiar sci-fi tropes here like FTL and railgun and jump drive and so forth. Other fairly common items like "decoys" and "shields" are missing (at least for Earth technology) but there is enough to make the world easy to understand without a lot of background and detail.It's a fun read, as I said, though short, but it's one of those books that's easy to pick up and continue reading and I look forward to continuing Nathan's saga in episode 2, The Rings of Haven. Highly recommended for any fans of sci-fi and military sci-fi in particular. As an added bonus, the Kindle version seems well edited and is free of the formatting issues bedeviling many Kindle books.

I'm going to start with the cons, mostly because I want any prospective readers to come away with a positive impression of the book/s.Firstly, too much happens too fast. I understand the author's need to keep a frantic pace to keep the tension up, but it can come off as unrealistic. Secondly, (trying to avoid spoilers here) I don't feel like the inexperience of the characters would allow for some of their decisions. Again, I understand what the author is going for here, and I can appreciate how he is setting them up for growth... it just comes off as slightly unrealistic.Now, with the cons out of the way, here are the pros: Each main character is distinctive and fully fleshed out. You get a strong idea of the personality of each character quickly and none of them come off as "cookie-cutter" characters. IMO, well thought out characters are a larger factor in making a story good than the overall plot.The "universe" created by the author is both familiar and fresh, taking a futuristic setting and presenting it in a way I've never seen before.The battle scenes are filled with tension and a sense of real consequence. The technology is not so far beyond current theoretical possibilities as to require a bunch of Star Trekish technobabble, which keeps the pace of the book from getting bogged down in details that don't really add anything to the story.I'm currently working on book 6 of the series, and the author is definitely getting better at presenting the story in a realistic way. The first couple books can be a bit rough at times, but I firmly believe that this series will continue to get better as it goes.In conclusion, if you like your Sci-fi with a militaristic focus and enough action to keep things interesting, this series is genuinely worth a read. Compelling characters, a real sense of urgency and importance to the mission, a setting that is at once both familiar and fresh, and a clear and concise writing style (that gets better with each book) has made this a series that I am truly enjoying.Even if you have a hard time getting through the first book, keep reading. By the end of the third book I was completely hooked.Ok, now stop reading this review and go buy the book.

Europe Asia (which bits) and North America only?Where are Asia Pacific (and Australia New Zealand), Africa, South America?Lost in ignorance?P.S. this seems to be the same story as EVAN CURRIE ODYSSEY, ODYSSEUS series -catastrophic workd war leafing to unified government of some states, faster than light travel, "antimatter" powering "transition drives" to jump around in outer space, enemies everywhere etc.....,

I was really pleased to find this series extremely readable. The writing is good, the plot moves along at a cracking pace, and you do feel something for the characters.Perhaps what makes this series stand out is that both the good guys and the bad guys are human. We don't have to have the whole alien species thing, although "human" in this case does encompass a pretty broad spectrum.You do need to read them in sequence, but as someone else says, at this price, they are pretty good value for money. It might also be helpful for new readers to have a bit of an intro that can be skipped to recap the plot. I read the first four one after another so not an issue, but by the time 5,6 and 7 come out there might be a bit of a pause.I wish for them to be a tad longer because I read fast, but am sure that most readers who like space opera will find them very satisfying and a great holiday read. Keep em coming!!!!

This series is well worth trying, I have now read all of the available titles and found them to be pretty well written and very entertaining.Apart from the occasional spelling mistake they work rather well. Its a tale rather like Star Trek Voyager in that a ship is sent far away by an accident and must try to find their way back to Earth. I like the captain and crew and now care about them and whether they make it home or not. I found that when I finished one book I had to buy the next because I was enjoying them so much.

This is book one of eight so far. WARNING do not start to read unless you are prepared to buy the whole series! These are so addictive they should come with an time to read warning.....I have never enjoyed a scifi book as much as these, realistic, gritty, edge of the seat page turners. If I did not know better I would suggest they are factual biographies instead of fiction......this guy must have been there!Please take this one review and apply it to the whole series....they are all that good.

This is the first episode of the Frontier Saga, which at the time of writing, has just seen the release of its 9th episode and that is scheduled to be 15 episodes long (at least in Part 1).The series focuses on the adventures Nathan Scott, a newly qualified space cadet that finds himself in the middle of a great adventure.This book is fantastic! There is the right balance of character introspection and description, intertwined with hectic, beautifully described space battles that will have you turning page after page as fast as you can.Ryk Brown manages to create a fictional reality in which you can immerse yourself and truly believe, despite the sometimes confusing implications of being able to travel a lot faster than light, that everything that happens in the story is not only possible, but probable.I highly recommend this book and the whole series in general, even if there are some episodes that are stronger than others, I am now completely addicted and can't wait for the next episode to be e-published.