Sean Danker

in fourth book (I need to catch up with third :)) we meet our protagonist, mysterious Admiral as he is unceremoniously dropped on a prison asteroid (after his arrest by Evagardian forces at the end of book #2) but with a catch. To profit off the various shady characters and criminals local authorities give them two options:

- get ransomed in 60 days or killed if not ransomed in time
- become a participant in live big-brother like show where people from the outside watch and follow the show more prisoner's life as a laborers but also as entertainers that kill each other off in a spectacular ways for extra points that amount to earlier release (remember Schwarzenegger's The Running Man? Now imagine entire place is size of the asteroid with prisoners, native alien life-forms and beasts to survive)

From the start it is obvious that Admiral has a secret agenda and that he is being hunted not only by inmates but also by Evagard and Free Space forces. We follow him as he slowly gets toward the climax of the novel where his past gets to him big way. I do not want to spoil anything here but twist was very interesting and unexpected. Admiral is a sort of a man who plans at least 20 steps ahead and it is joy to see how every action and step he makes starts making sense at the end. We also get to see glimpses of his past that start to explain Admiral's character. I hope this aspect of story-telling continues in future books.

Excellent spy action adventure novel, I am truly looking forward to future books in the series.

Recommended to all fans of thrillers and excellent SF spy action. show less

A dead ship, marooned on a planet that might not be uninhabited after all. Three recent graduates and an admiral--or is he? They're not sure he isn't a spy. He refuses to tell them even his name, but his identity is less important than their survival ... unless he's the key to how they ended up here in the first place.

Admiral contains many sci-fi tropes, but that's what makes it a fun read. I might have enjoyed it, had it been written in third person. Instead, the narrator is the mysterious show more admiral, who is so intent on being mysterious--both to his subordinates and to the reader--that we learn nothing about him until the final scene of the book (literally). The author seems to think that if we know who his hero is, we'll lose interest. But my interest in a book is born from my investment in its people, and I cared nothing at all for these. Putting a character in mortal danger doesn't matter unless I have reasons to want him to stay alive, and all I knew for sure about this protagonist (for the entire book) was that his head is filled with intentionally vague thoughts and he engages in intentionally vague conversations. Characters are constantly almost saying things to each other but never speaking plainly enough for the reader to know what's actually being talked about. Hints are dropped all over the place, but so ambiguously no reader who is still learning the rules of the storyworld has any hope of understanding the context.

Laborious, frustrating, ultimately annoying execution of a cool idea. Once I knew who the hero was (on the last page of the book), I realized I could have cared about him a lot if the author had allowed me to get to know him naturally throughout the story. I probably won't read further into this series because my to-read pile is towering already, and life is short. But then again, I might, just to see what the author does with this character now that the tedious secrets are out. show less

Well that was totally satisfying. Edge of your seat sci fi adventure. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The protagonist was totally likable. There were good well developed secondary characters. There was an eerie alien planet, mysterious happenings and bright sparks of humor. I kept wanting to underline the good bits. There was no info dump so you just had to go along for the ride and trust everything would become clear in time. At the final denouement I was happy to see that I was show more correct in most of my guesses.

I totally hope we haven't seen the last of this hero. show less

Admiral by Sean Danker is a sci-fi novel and I won this from Goodreads Giveaways, yeah!!! I am so glad I did, it is so awesome. The plot is so great with so many twists, turns, action, mysteries, and fun. The characters are intriguing and creative. The "Admiral", we don't know his real name, is awakened from stasis by three military trainees when his life support stasis starts failing. It seems the four of them are all that is on the space ship. Once they check the ship, they find it damaged show more and sabotaged, same as the Admiral's sleeping habitat. Then they find they are not in space but on a godforsaken planet that is trying to kill them. The action is nonstop and suspenseful but at the same time the author makes it humorous at the most odd times which adds so much to the story. The story is brilliant and witty. The reader is left in the dark as to who the Admiral really is until the very end of the book. I sure hope there is a book two! There wasn't a page that didn't have extreme tension, explosions, life threatening situations, complications, creatures, and more mysteries. A great read! Excellent book. show less