JN Chaney

Okay action fans, this one will keep your eyes glued to the page as your fingers clutch your book or e-reader in a white-knuckled death grip praying Flint Reed is up to the task before him. Simultaneously, readers will snicker, even openly laugh, at the unintended and, for Reed, frustrating, banter between him and an artificial intelligence called “Lars”.

Flint Reed, framed and fired from the police department, has become a security guard for an intergalactic mining corporation; a show more business whose CEO, Mr. Oragga, has secrets hidden in his safe that have deep meaning for someone. Who is not exactly clear. Whoever they are, they are willing to make hostages of Orraga’s employees and attempt to breach a supposedly unbreakable security system. What follows is utter chaos. In which Reed becomes a target in more ways than one.

Reed and his ex-wife Heather, are well-developed characters. Reed seems to have an inhuman capacity to absorb punishment, physical, mental and emotional. The relationship he develops with Lars helps him maintain his sanity as well as helping him survive physically. Heather, a much more limited character, proves to be a deep, caring woman with Reed’s best interests in mind.

So, action readers, are you ready to take the fall with Flint Reed? It’s a long way down from floating Sellion City to the clouds covering the surface of the gas giant planet below. Maybe you’re afraid of heights…like Reed. He didn’t have much time to worry about it; maybe you won’t either. Maybe you’ll just be able to enjoy Reed’s anxiety, and one of the better action novels I’ve read, from the safety of your chair…while Reed dangles! show less

WHAT A RIDE! I loved the cocky foul mouth Captain Jace Hughes from the start as he took no prisoner and cared for his rag tag misfit crew. Book one is the start when Jace and his crew tried to stay ahead of two enemy ships by jumping through time travel gates. The Union and the Sarkonians have joined forces to get what then nun Abby took and with so much action I almost needed a score card, now I can't wait to read book two!

A Delta Class Starhip is carrying the survivors of humanity, on the brink of extinction, to their new planetary home. She (the ship) is a “poet, artist, beauty queen, pilot. You name it,” as well, and she adds her personality to J. N. Chaney’s novel, rife with enticing Biblical and mythology names and references.

Blend Battlestar Galactica with a healthy dose of mythology, and you’ll have a sense for this novel. The science fiction elements are convincingly drawn, and events spin out show more of control in satisfying parallels to Biblical accounts. Characters feel convincingly, sometimes tragically real, with circumstances conspiring to drag them toward disaster. Classic names don’t go to heroes and villains, but to real people trapped in a very curious world.

Cool space opera with a fascinating premise, Their Solitary Way is a quick enjoyable read.

Disclosure: I received an ecopy as a gift and I’m just sorry it took me so long to get around to reviewing it. show less

Will is a graduate student in archaeology whose professors have said he should not expect the job to be an Indiana Jones adventure. Of course, the profs are wrong.

His plane crashes in the Peruvian Andes, and he has to lug his unconscious bush pilot into a cave where—wait for it—he finds an ancient spaceship with a dormant AI and a sexy alien on ice. Next thing you know, it’s off to the stars.

The Void of the title is outside normal space, and to navigate it, you have to, almost show more literally, hear the music of the spheres. Guess who has that untutored ability?

Quin, the AI, is appropriately snarky and scornful of human progress: “Four thousand years and all you’ve managed is to go from human sacrifice to ridiculously naive notions of morality. Oh, and you wear more clothing now.”

The adventure is entertaining if you don’t mind the coincidences and genre clichés. 3.5. show less