Renegade

Spiral Wars, Book 1

By: Joel Shepherd

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 17 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity’s new homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity’s most powerful industrial family, is framed for his murder. Assisted by Phoenix’s marine commander Trace Thakur, Erik and Phoenix are forced to go on the run as they seek to unravel the conspiracy behind their captain’s demise, pursued to the death by their own fleet. What they discover about the truth behind the wars and the nature of humanity’s ancient alien allies will shake the sentient galaxy to its core.

©2015 Joel Shepherd (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Wow. Really great. Some different approaches

In Renegade, Shepherd starts a new series that should be classic space opera. It's not. Strong characters, both male and female are a welcome highlight here. On top of that, his space battles rock. His descriptions of the movement of the ships, the punishing forces and multiple directions of force, and the way it might be to try to be a human amidst all of that are brilliant and refreshing. This is the second series I've read from Shepherd. His first book, "Breakaway" was a fast and fun but a bit juvenile. That series got better and more mature as the author did and by the end of the series was some of the best science fiction I've read in a really long time. "Renegade" starts off with that maturity of skill and subject matter and combines a really well considered world. I loved it.

Excellent space combat, interesting political intrigue, A fine series

When I find a book series I like, I tend to absorb it--binge it as quickly as possible. I sure as heck mainlined this series: I read all three books within about 10 days.

But then I did something I don't usually do. Often for books of this length, I will re-read a book in the series, or the entire series, a year or two after the first time. Sometimes even several months after the first time, I might read one of the books again or part of it. But for this series, with in the same month, about a week after I finished, I started over. I reread most of this first book, skipping the first few chapters.

I very much enjoy the technological realism of the space combat here. Except for the jump drive, which can change velocity in an Instant, the normal rules of inertia and slower than light combat apply. Very nicely done! And of course the Marines are bad ass, as marines always are.

Now this is a story!

Space Marines battle aliens and treacherous humans at the highest levels who have allied with the aliens. The Captain of the good ship Phoenix is dead; murdered at the hands of his own superiors. The second must take over and navigate treacherous waters. Good character development. This is hard sci-fi in the grand tradition. Excellent writing and plot development. Cannot wait until the next installment is out.

The narration is excellent once you get used to John Lee's clipped British accent.

A wild ride! Buy it and strap in!

Would you listen to Renegade again? Why?

Yes. Great narration.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Spectacular narration. Great sense of timing and a wonderful job differentiating the different characters.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The only thing negative I can say about it is that I'm disappointed the next book in the series is not out!

Excellently done

The author creates a unique and fresh universe, great Sci Fi, really enjoyed this, fantastic narration, Joel Sheppard delivers

Really good story

Several of the comments speak of the main character suffering from a lack of confidence, but I personally didn't feel it to be a major issue. The story moves along with a great sense of action and progressive inclusion to details that fill the reader in as it moves along. The characters are progressively more colorful as you move along too. There are many fun and imaginative details that the writer explores and it is a fun read. Already enjoying book two.

Best first book of series in a long time.

What did you love best about Renegade?

This book starts at the end of a great galactic war after earth is uninhabitable and the human race has rebuilt themselves to be leaders in the galaxy... or do they?

What did you like best about this story?

Joel Shepherd has the most amazing way of demonstrating how people from different backgrounds overcome preconceptions of one another and how some people cannot. It really moves the genre into political drama with sci-fi roots.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

John Lee is an amazing orator. He has complete command of his voice, that delivers a great performance for this book. It is moving and he has taken this wonderfully written piece and gave it life.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Hope - what the F is that?

Any additional comments?

I would love to see this book and I "hope" there will be many to follow into a series.

John Lee narrations are the best for me.

loved it. after reading P. Hamilton for the last months I got surprised with this book. John Lee narrations are the best for me.

Good Entertainment

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If my friend enjoyed Military Science Fiction with a focus on space combat that glorifies space marines (if ll that checks out yeah give this audiobook a try).

Some extra stuff this book would be the humans have started this galactic civilization business and just finished getting there feet wet stage of human history, with alien allies to help with the trouble spots

What was one of the most memorable moments of Renegade?

I enjoyed the dequence with the machine AI thought it was really well done, and gave more depth to the universe, giving some indication of future events

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

Performance was excellent, clear to differentiate dialogue etc and POV shifts were easy to follow.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At certain points it hard to stop listening to the book, so in this case almost it didn't keep me awake at night which some audiobooks have done

Any additional comments?

This is an excellent Space Opera, that stays mostly small in one local setting (star system) at a time (that is following one ship at a time). All of the action is connected together and you don't get the questions like why is this relevant.

Very diverse cast of characters

Would you listen to Renegade again? Why?

Very well written story. I enjoyed the character development. It was refreshing to actually have characters of color being primary characters in a ScI-Fi book. Usually there is more diversity in the alien species then in the human characters in most books.