Orion Rises is book two of the Star Scavenger Series. A thrilling space opera adventure with the mystery and action of Indiana Jones.
Kicked out of the Relic Guardian Force, Hudson Powell has started down the path to becoming a relic hunter. Fortune awaits inside the mysterious, alien hulks found on every planet throughout the vast network of portal worlds. The only problem is, he’s broke and he … he’s broke and he doesn’t have a starship.
A chance encounter with Liberty Devan – a streetwise, genius ship mechanic – provides him with an unlikely relic-hunting partner. Unfortunately, Hudson’s former RGF boss, Logan Griff, still wants him dead, and Griff has hired two of the galaxy’s deadliest mercenaries to get him.
Fortunately for Hudson, one of them has taken a shine to him.
Fighting to stay one step ahead of Logan Griff, Hudson and Liberty discover the first new portal in a century. But embarking on a relic hunt to a new and unexplored star system, they find an alien intelligence that warns them of a grave threat to humanity.
The secrets of the alien wrecks are about to be uncovered. And it isn’t good news.
Orion Rises is book two of the Star Scavengers series. If you love space sci-fi like Firefly and Stargate blended with the mystery and adventure of Indiana Jones, you’ll love this.
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This series just keeps getting better. Hudson has now teamed up with Liberty, a ship mechanic turned scavenger (she is a darling, think Kaylee from Firefly). Together, they need to scavenge a few valuable objects in order to buy a ship. This is becoming increasingly difficult since Cutler and Tory are after them – and the best at their job – and Griff wants Hudson gone.
They are caught and escape several times and in the process make several interesting discoveries. 1. The crystal that is currently in Hudson’s possession somehow leads them to discover new portals. 2. There is still an operational alien ship set on destroying earth and a shapeshifting alien out to stop it. If only he/she/it can get Hudson and Liberty to help. Everyone is after Hudson now and it seems it’s only a matter of time before his luck runs out.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author and have reviewed it willingly.
Having been kicked out of his former job, our hero is out on his own but his enemies still hold grudges and plan to settle things permanently. Things are going to get sticky real quickly.
This is book two of the series, but it works well as a standalone. You will be missing some of the backstory, but all the essentials are presented here.
The book is well written, easy to read and just plain fun. Things for our hero go from bad to worse pretty quickly as the story moves at a good pace. The characters are well developed, particularly our hero who is, of course, the star of the show. Even better, there is character growth along the way along with an evolving plot line which keeps everything interesting throughout. Overall, a very enjoyable story and I look forward to watching the series developed.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes.
Fast-paced, action filled installment to the series. Hudson is trying on his tough-guy relic hunter persona and learning how it fits to various results. New friends, new enemies – but don’t worry, the old ones are incredibly persistent as well. There were a few edge-of-your-seat scenes where I couldn’t flip the kindle pages fast enough, and others where I laughed out loud.
The main characters are truly likable, the enemies despicable. The story line feels a little contrived at points, like the pieces fell together a bit too conveniently – but the gestalt works as a highly entertaining story and after all, stories are told about the people in center of happenings. And in many of the scenarios in this book, it was skill as much as luck or fate that brought our heroes through.
This is book 2 of a series that really needs to be read in order. After all the teasers in this book, I am looking forward to seeing more of Goliath in the next – the pieces are coming together.
“I don’t just want to survive, I want to live.”
An Un-put-downable premise! I cannot wait for this series to grow. What an unexpected and thrilling discovery, filled me with an overwhelming sensation of excitement and dread, the harbinger of something dark and threatening. Threads of chills ran through my entire body! Some of the answers were simply fantastical, and unbelievable. Insightful, bloody. Page turner about the corruption of morality and warped thinking patterns. Next in line Goliath Emerges #3!
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and my review is entirely voluntary.
The first story was a great set up for the series as we get to meet Hudson and learn about how and why he gets into relic hunting. Book 2 starts soon after the first one ends and is full of action, mystery and Hudson and Liberty trying to survive. The plan was to hunt relics, earn enough for a ship and continue hunting relics. But of course Hudson has as much luck ad the first book and then starts the real fun. I laughed and groaned through out the story, but was wildly entertained. The characters were both fun to like and hate. Add in the crazy ship and end up with this fun story.
The great ship, Goliath, had a mission to cleanse certain planets of organic life. Unfortunately, although it had been prevented from completing the mission, it was sentient and grew bitter at not finishing the task. For thousands of years, it thought about its mission. The last Revocater vessel had interfered by casting a massive portal shattering the crystal and destroying any hope of it navigating to the target system 5118208. But at least the last Revocater had perished in the process, ripped apart by projecting such a powerful gateway. So Goliath continued to wait.
Hudson Powell’s former Relic Guardian Force boss, Logan Griff, wants him dead badly enough to hire mercenaries, Cutler Wendell and Tory Bellona, to track him down. Hudson had treated Tory fairly when she was relic-hunting an alien ship; so having a sense of honor also, she avoided killing him. Now yet another man is following him, sent by the black market dealer who wanted the guy to pick Hudson’s pocket and steal a crystal Hudson had refused to sell to him – a reward had been offered on the dark web dealer board. He went back to the dealer and, with the help of a taser pistol, worked out a deal for the crystal, the reward offered to the pick-pocket who had followed him, and removal of his name from the dark web. It was nice to have no one else chasing after him for the moment! And he had some money this way to perhaps buy a starship for his new business of becoming a relic hunter where he can make a good living scavenging the alien hulks scattered throughout the planets.
But it’s difficult to start such a business when you have little money and no starship to get there. Fortunately he finds the perfect partner in Liberty Devan, a streetwise, snarky genius ship’s mechanic/engineer he met on the sales lot that sold starships which, despite being junk, he could still not afford. But his honesty intrigued her and she told him to put down the money he had as a down payment on a ship she was working on, then they would go relic-hunting and get the rest to buy it together.
But with the good comes the bad. And the adventure never stops as they encounter an alien intelligence that warns them of a threat to humanity! This just might be a bigger project than he had anticipated!
With this book giving the reader a jump-start on the existence of the huge ship ready to destroy Earth, the reader is immediately roused to attention and eagerly devouring the story line that follows. Goliath appears undefeatable, with the power of a star. Can our heroes tackle such a seemingly-undefeatable foe? Grab your copy and dig in for what promises to be an unforgettable adventure!
Orion Rises , G J Ogden
No reason to wait, Straight into the action . A worthy act Two for Hero Hudson.
The rockem’ , sock’em world saving , continues . Will Hudson get the girl ?
Will the girl get Hudson ? Will there be some Revenge ? I Highly recommend this
and indeed this author
Great story line and characters . Waiting for part 3 .
I was lucky enough to be allowed to read this, for free , as an ARC reader.
This second book in the series dose not disappoint it is well written with great plots and a fast moving story. It was a very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next instalment.
I have read this as an ARC reader and have left this review of my own freewill.