2021; 363 pages. Book 3 (out of 6) in the “Warp Riders” series. New Author? : Yes. Genres : Space Opera; Science Fiction; Space
Exploration. Overall Rating: 7½*/10.
First the good news. Nobody’s shooting at Sadira Perez’s
spaceship anymore; their galactic enemies, the Ra’az Hok, have been vanquished; and
their former taskmasters, the Chithiid, are now their allies. So they’re relatively safe for the time being,
Now for the bad news. Sadira’s ship and crew have been warped to
who-knows-where, which has rendered their star charts useless. Once you’re become lost in the universe you
tend to stay lost.
However, the ship’s AI reports
that’s there’s a planet up ahead, and it’s inhabited. Chances are the beings are either human or
Chithiid. Maybe they have star charts of
this part of the galaxy, and if so, maybe they’ll let Sadira take a look at them.
Yeah, and maybe Murphy, he of “Murphy’s Law”, won’t pay them a surprise visit,
as he is wont to do.
What’s To Like...
Rise of the
Forgotten is the third book in Scott Baron’s “Warp
Riders” series. He’s written
five series in this setting, 32 books in all, and has posted a useful timeline of
these on his Amazon webpage showing the chronology of these series.
This series follows the “Clockwork Chimera” one, which I’ve read and
reviewed in its entirety over the last four years. That one chronicled the war between the Ra’az
Hok and the Humans; this series focuses on the aftermath. Sadira’s crew is still intact, and includes a pleasant mix of humans, cyborgs, Chithiids, and gender-juggling AI entities.
Rise of the Forgotten
is a fine example of both Space Opera and First Contact genres. Making contact with this unknown planet is
desperately necessary, but prudence is required. Are they friends or enemies? Are the Ra’az Hok truly eliminated, or do pockets
of them remain on far-flung solar systems?
Might the inhabitants down there know how to get back to Planet Earth or will they shoot first and ask questions later?
To no one’s surprise, Sadira’s "first contact" strategy rapidly gets derailed, with thrills, spills, and mayhem all
rapidly ensuing. I read the Books 1&2 in this series back in 2021 so I very much appreciated the first couple
of chapters giving a recap of events in those volumes. I also enjoyed watching the creation of the
“disguises” to be used to infiltrate into the planet’s inhabitants and chuckled over the acronym
“ASAFP”.
The ending is decent but not
very twisty; tense but not very exciting.
Good triumphs over Evil, but some of Sadira’s objectives remain unfulfilled. Oh well, there are another
three books in the series to deal with that.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 145 ratings
and 14 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.43*/5,
based on 76
ratings and 11 reviews.
Excerpts...
“He’ll be okay, Cap. Hel’s a pain in the ass sometimes, but he’s
no fool.”
“He ditched his comms, Moose. And we have no way to find either of them
now. It’s thousands of Chithiid, all
dressed the same, all packed in there, and even if we knew roughly where he
was, we can’t even get a clear visual from up here because of the atmospheric
issues.”
“I know, I know. But it’s like taking a kid riding without
training wheels. Eventually, you have to
trust them and let go.”
She raised an eyebrow sarcastically. “Most kids crash the first time, you
know.” (loc. 1592)
“Things don’t always go according to plan,
but if anyone’s going to take a risky gamble, I suppose the AI superbrain that
processes data a bazillion times faster than any of us meat brains can is about
the best odds you can get.”
“Did you just call me a meat brain?” Moose
asked.
“Well, technically, it’s neurons, glial
cells, neural stem cells, and blood vessels in addition to fat, but I think the
spirit of the comment is valid,” Hump said with a laugh. (loc. 4698)
Kindle Details…
Rise
of the Forgotten sells for $3.99 right now at Amazon. The other books in the series, including the Book 1&2 bundle, go for either $0.99
or $3.99. Scott Baron has
several other series in e-book format, both in bundles and as individual
stories, and mostly priced in the $0.99-$4.99 range.
“Smoke me a kipper,
I’m heading home.” (loc.
738)
I counted 11 instances of
profanity in the first 10% of Rise of the Forgotten,
which I’d call a moderate amount. None
of them were f-bombs, but a couple of those did show up later on. I don’t recall any adult situations.
There’s not much else to
quibble about. There were no slow spots
in the storytelling, but it was a quick-&-easy read, ideal for a day at the
beach. And maybe it even suggests a subtle concept: that regardless of
ethnic, cosmic, and/or gender varieties, when it comes to surviving in the Universe, we are all
in this together. Now onto Book Four, Pandora’s Menagerie.
7½ Stars. One last thing. My favorite cosmic deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, gets a brief nod here, and as a loyal FSM follower, I found that greatly satisfying.
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