The first novel in D. Nolan Clark's The Silence series.

FORSAKEN SKIES is an action-packed start to a new space opera series, following the adventures of and challenges faced by a diverse band of pilots, led by an aging war hero, as they face off against a violent alien race.

Clark does a great job introducing us to the cast and crew who join Lanoe. FORSAKEN SKIES avoids some of the pitfalls of many first books, and doesn't waste time getting going - there's world-building, to be sure, but it doesn't dominate the story, nor are there long passages of exposition.

A very good, substantial start to an entertaining and gripping space opera series.

[The next two novels in the series - FORGOTTEN WORLDS and FORBIDDEN SUNS - are also available now, and I'm looking forward to reading them.]

I WAS REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN THIS BOOK. I HAD TO DNF AFTER GETTING THROUGH KINDLE POINT 3500--WHICH IS NEAR THE END OF MOST BOOKS, BUT I WAS ONLY AT 35% AND THE STORY WAS JUST DRAGGING. AND THE END WAS NOT UNTIL 9500? WHAT? NO WAY THIS SHOULD BE SO LONG!
WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT AFTER ONE OF THE BEST FIRST CHAPTERS I'VE READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. QUITE SAD ABOUT THIS ONE.

Four hundred years from now, it's a disappointing but fully expected fact that the Polys (corporations) rule all humanity's colonies across the galaxy. The less the Polys can profit from a planet, the less they care about the people inhabiting it. That said, you can imagine that Niraya, a scarcely terraformed world inhabited by a variety of peacenik religious factions, isn't even a blip on their radar. However, Niraya was attacked by something very alien and, fearing more attacks, the Nirayans seek help. The best they can find is veteran Aleister Lanoe, who, in a "Pay It Forward" moment, assembles a small inglorious squadron of pilots to help them defend their offbeat little world.

The worldbuilding was decent, but the character building left a lot to be desired, which is unfortunate because this is a terribly long novel and there was ample opportunity to fill with some humanity. Even in the "hardest" of scifi novels, there's always some jaunty humor and passion thrown in to ease the tension and engage us with the characters. Sadly, the emotion and humor were all but missing in this novel. Instead there was an unexpected focus on religiosity, which IMHO bogged the story down in tedium rather than propelling it into something intriguing.

I understand "space opera" implies a long book, but this particular space opera easily could have lost 150 pages without losing any of its impact. In fact, it was a bit thick with space fight scenes, and, in the novel world, I prefer get-to-the-point lean.

Forsaken Skies presents solidly as a standalone novel, which is always appreciated when the book is one of a series. There exists a cliffhanger, which softly leads into the next chapter in "The Silence" series, but there's no obligation to read it to feel satisfied with this storyline.

Enjoyed this one a lot. Great character building and good plot. Definitely my kind of sci-fi.

This book was an amazing boook
! I loved the twists and turns I took. I also enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other throughout the story. Can't wat for the next story.

Good worldbuilding yet the main characters ring hollow

“Forsaken Skies” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by D. Nolan Clark (pseudonym for David Wellington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wellington_(author)). This is the first book in his “The Silence” trilogy. He has 16 other novels published under his real name.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the far future. Humanity has colonized more than 100 planets. Life expectancy has increased to where people can live for centuries. Humanity has not changed in that it still finds reasons to declare war with itself.

The primary character is Commander Lanoe. He is a highly decorated and very old Earth Navy fighter pilot. Now retired, again, he is approached by emissaries from the distant world of Niraya. They have detected a fleet approaching their world. They have been turned down for assistance by the government and by the corporation that owns the planet. Now they desperately need help defending their homes and they turn to Lenoe.

Lanoe gathers a few people and heads to Niraya with his small force to try and protect the inhabitants. Some are old trusted comrades, while others are only newly encountered and are still untrusted. Once he investigates the approaching fleet, he is surprised to find that it is of alien origin. This is the first sign of alien life humans have encountered.

With limited resources and manpower, Lanoe leads a defense of Naraya. But they face overwhelming odds of more than 100 to 1. They are able to rally a defense, but it is far from clear if they will be able to survive the encounter.

I thoroughly enjoyed nearly 19 hours of reading with this 608 page Science Fiction novel. It was well written and had a good plot. While some aspects of the plot were predictable, many were not. This was a fast paced action novel for the most part. The cover art is a reasonable choice for this novel. I look forward to the next volume in this series. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

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