Six Orbits

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Kingston's been a mercenary for longer than most and has shot his way around the Galaxy more than once, but when he takes on the young Fotuan, Victoria for his most recent contact, Kingston gets wrapped up in a conspiracy like never before. With the vicious Fotuan Meritocracy, old friends and new enemies chasing them through the Stars, Kingston and Victoria end up adrift in the outer rim of civilized space with only one thing to hold onto, each other.

How do two stand against the enormity of the cosmos? By meeting it head on.

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Six Orbits is currently updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: JacksonWrites

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 47
Views: 29,334

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

kanundraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't really know what to say about this so far. I read through a lot yesterday and had to come back and read the rest. :)
I hope that tells everyone how good this really is. I want to talk a bit about the books I think this is like because to me its on par and really should be published!
Style - Just great, it doesn't alter, its fast paced, with enough detail to keep us interested and let our imaginations do its own thing. There's sparse use of dialogue tags, and the action is well thought out and believeable.
Characters - Kingston is just perfect. There's a series I adored many years ago, Roark. He's just a perfect character by himself. Bad ass and yet has that kind, softer side just in the one or two things he says. It makes us route for him and want everything to go right, not wrong. Which it of course will.
Here you go some books I loved that it also reminds me of.
Galaxy Outlaws.
Fringe colonies
Jason Anspach :) Nathan Lowell, MR Forbes.
There's echoes in here of what makes books great, with characters that bounce off the page, a fully fleshed out world, with aliens, different meanings to words, translations. Just all the fun at the fair. Bob and Niki... there's just that much in here that reminds me of some of my fav books.
Yes I gave it 5s all round, there's a few typos and grammar things but I'm sure not perfect in my drafts here, and I'm pretty sure this with a bit of a clean up would make an amazing published book anyonw would love to have on their shelves. :) Me included.
One I'm eager to follow to the end! Thank you so much for the fun ride.
Onion-SanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Six Orbits tells the story of Kingston, a middle-aged human who ends up going on a mission to bring Victoria, a Fotuan to Meritocracy, but there will be those who don't want her there and this will make the protagonist's life very difficult.
Six Orbits has light, nimble writing that is right to the point, highlighting what matters, but at the same time not ignoring the points that should be highlighted. It is a book that focuses on story and world building and the writing style reflects this very well.
Here we have a space opera story (and to read it I put on my playlist of The Outer Worlds to set the mood). The world is explained in a dynamic way, meaning as the plot occurs it is explained in a nutshell what that new information is that the reader is getting, such as new races, weapons and customs. The protagonist Kingston and his protégé, Victoria, have a lot to offer. Their relationship is interesting and makes us want to know how the story will unfold and how two races that hate each other so much can work together to solve the same problem.
Six Orbits is a great space novel and I recommend it!
Rookie12Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This review is based on the twelve chapters that were available at the time.
Before you, we have a sci-fi setting. Humanity had taken to the stars, met several other races, and, from what I could tell, lives as a part of the galactic society.
The MC works as a mercenary, helping solve some problems that involve legal or illegal activities. One day a new offer of smuggling came to him. And from a member of one of the most advanced races in the setting, no less. What would such a highly esteemed person want from a normal mercenary? But as the MC accepts the job, a new problem arises due to the nature of his delivery and a host of various competitors who are eager to take the "package" away from him by any means necessary. A journey across the worlds begins!
Worldbuilng. So far, awesome. We have a host of various races, all of whom build realistic relationships among themselves. Espionage, tourism, mercenaries, police officers... All feels alive and very real. The races themselves are pretty unique, and to bypass a speech barrier (after all, there are numerous languages), a device known as a translator was invented. All in all, the author really planned out the setting well.
Style. It is good. Each chapter solves one problem, introduces us to the world, allows us to expand on or get to know the characters, and is just the right length. The descriptions of items and things are just long enough to help us visualize the setting with ease without overburdening us with details.
Grammar. I am not a native English speaker, but I only found a very few mistakes. The text flows easily, and the story hooked me enough to read the entire story in one go.
Characters. The MC is believable and good-natured to his clients and neutral people, trying to solve things bloodlessly when he can. But when things tense up, the MC usually tries to make the first move to protect himself and those around him. The secondary MC is also interesting enough and provides us with a glimpse into alien soc
A V DalcourtRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: Writen in the vein of a detective Noir novel only set in an intergalatic setting, this story was very easy to just keep going on to the next chapter. It's high tension, action-packed, and high-interpersonal drama (but I can't say that at this time I'm invested in of the character's personal stories - I care more about the main story atm).
Story: People not familiar with this genre of storytelling would consider the following spoilery, so I marked it off. But folks who know, won't bat an eye at the following knowing that this is typically how stories like this get started.
Following the theme as noted above, our MC enters a bar where he meets our femme fatale and signs a contract to carry unknown cargo to destinations unknown. But is the money worth the risk and the lack of intel? Our MC certainly thinks so. As the action sets in, we are fed a few more details that makes our MC second guess his contract. And that's just in the first few chapters!
Characters: This is where I flag abit. The thing that's piqued my interest is the intergalactic racial tensions and histories. I like world building. But there characters themselves... I mostly know who is who, although there was some definate confusion with the bird person and the femme fatale, but I suspect that might be a transition issue as my screen reader doesn't notify me of hard breaks in the story. So for me, the characters tend to jump around suddenly from one location to the next, so I have a hard time not only situating the characters, but figuring out whose there with our MC.
I think in general, some time could be spent situating the characters in the environment beyond a passing mention. There was one point they were in a bar, then not, then in hall, going to the clients ship, but then not... And then when I thought I was sure they were in a space port, it turns out they were planet side (to be fair they did go through border control so I should put two and two together). But that's a me thing. I like wo
Let'sGetKrakenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The worldbuilding and characters are the strongest part for sure. This is a neat setting and you really do feel like you're only scratching the surface of the galaxy.
So far it has mostly been setup, story-wise, but we're starting to get into it and I'm excited to see how it ties into the larger geopolitics of the setting.
The style really hits the tired, disillusioned feel of being a mercenary that's present regardless of whether a story is sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, or anything else. You feel the tension between the human cynicism and the fotuan.... arrogance isn't quite the word, but the lack of experience quite well.
The grammar is probably the weakest element here. There are a couple of typos but nothing major - it's more that the sentences could benefit from a bit more punctuation to fully realize the style and characters. It feels somewhat realistic but I feel like the dialogue could be a little more immersive there - though it's still good and the voices of the characters still come through quite clearly.
Overall, this is a great read and I would absolutely recommend this if you like more action or character-oriented sci-fi. It's got great worldbuilding and is super promising.
Luca DRRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay, listen. It really doesn't happen often that I find such high quality novels while doing review swaps. Yet, with Six Orbits, it just happened. The setting is immediately interesting from the get-go, with the whole bar brawl and the introduction of the avians first and of the snobbish space elves soon after. I loved the dynamics between the characters, that feel very real but with that hint of interesting-ness that comes with being charactes in a novel who are allowed to act a bit more freely than actual people.
The MC knows how to move and behave in this world, yet he is in it over the head and from the beginning we know that there are some things not even he knows. This presents us with an interesting mystery, turning the story into a sort of investigation for us to follow along and speculate. There is no lack of action scenes either, some even spanning entire chapters. I usually don't like them very much, but in this novel they are written in a way that's very refreshing and interesting, keeping me reading through even where a lesser author would have lost me. That's some good writing.
The descriptions and the prose are on par, if not better than some of the best scifi novels I have read on this platform. There are a couple maybe that really push hard on the technobabble, more than this novel does, but the lack of exoticism is not bug but a feature. It helps us ground ourselves in reality, and then the author slowly introduces more and more scifi elements as the story goes on. The gun for instance, presented to us as a gun turns out to be much more than that. I really enjoyed these little tidbits, that might not seem much but do amount to a lot in the end.
Heavily recommended read to all scifi enjoyers.
LunaSeaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[Review is based on Chapters 1 - 13]
This story is a whole lot of fun and fast paced action, coupled with brilliant characterization and world building.
Style:
It's a Western, it's gritty, it's almost noir, it's sci-fi, and it balances both world building and battles wonderfully. Instead of laborious prose trying to set up the environment, the author has opted to show instead of tell to great effect. There's plenty of exciting hints to unpack, but you don't get hung up on them because there's so much to hold your interest and satisfy.The language used in descriptions and dialogue suits the vibe of the story as well.
Story:
As mentioned above, there are enough hints to tantalize - without giving anything away, the author has built a world with a lot of shadows and movements in those shadows. I'm really interested to see where this goes!
Grammar:
Spotted some small errors, but they're not even close to being able to detract from this space rodeo.
Character:
From the moment we're first introduced to many of the characters - including the MC - the author starts to layer their personalities and motivations subtly. Each character is immediately their own person, and the blend & clash with each other further enhances the fun.
ArthicernRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Six Orbits follows the classic story of a hardened mercenary taking on an escort mission to protect a young woman being hunted by outside forces, with the big draw being that the story itself takes place in space several hundred years after humanity has joined the greater galaxy.
Throughout the entire story there's this general vibe and feel of a mercenary's tale with the protagonist being well experience and knowing the underworld works while remaining alive through a mix of caution and brutality. The whole time each scene is depicted with the style and tone of what you'd expect be it a mercenary and his fixer playing darts in a bar as they wait on their client to a shady arms deal in the middle of a newly galactic planet. All while describing a galactic setting full of a variety of aliens with inhuman forms and biology that make the setting feel like an actual galaxy rather than a bunch of humans in cosplay like some stories do.
While the story itself is fairly solid, I found that every once in a while there was either a story beat I could see coming because it's a standard for this style of story or there was a slower chapter where it seemed the only thing accomplished was moving from one location to another. Which while not uncommon or bad, I felt could've been improved if there was a bit more building of either the world or the characters, with one such chapter reminding me of the long elevator rides from the Mass Effect series.
The two protagonists however are where the story shines, not only with the jaded mercenary and his thoughts on how everything runs but also with his interactions with his alien ward. An alien who humans have had rivalry going on long enough that their interactions are frequently filled with a mix of banter, passive aggressiveness, and hostility despite their efforts to work together that makes them both feel far more realistic than many stories make their duos right out the gate while also adding a source of occasional comic relief in t
Denwa MacskaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Six Orbits is a story that follows a character on a mission - with goods that make every step dangerous.
Story: The author throws his readers straight into a bar where we are directly presented with the first part of the plot. Focused on smuggling goods to another place, it seems to be an easy adventure at first - until it gradually reveals where the hurdles lie. And from this point on, the author already proves that he knows how to tell a story.
Efforts have been made to unravel the idea in a slow and interesting way. Only over the course of the chapters does it become clear what the catch in the mission is, what problems are built up by it, and that it doesn't have a simple solution. Combined with a world that can be thoroughly classified as science fiction and a good portion of "gloom", the whole thing promises suspense that quickly draws you in.
Characters: The universe is big and so is the amount of species you find here. Already in the first chapters, you are presented with the wildest creations and you can't say that it isn't fun. The author has taken great care to describe the characters as precisely as possible so that you have a picture in your mind's eye. Each one is unique in their own way. Only the protagonist doesn't really succeed against the variety at first glance and is slightly lost in the visuals and in his presence at some points.
Style: The focus is often on short, clear sentences that make the environment and actions clearly understandable. So if you're not a fan of long sentences and too much poetry, you'll definitely find peace here. I should also mention the action scenes, which are wonderfully visualised here. Since there is a lot of fighting, this is where everything stands and falls - so far with success.
Grammar: The weakest point of the story is the grammar - although it isn't so bad that you are constantly pulled out of the reading flow. Only the occasional misplaced words, a few typos and double wordings, as well as missing words, gi
PeterRobertsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Good start to the story, easy to understand the setting and I really got a clear picture of the alien characters. Characters are really where this story shines, the descriptions are fantastic and creative and the tone and actions of the characters are distinctive. For example the MC is really consistent, inner monologue, decisions and actions all line up well.
World building and creativity is really strong, information like use of translators is crafted artfully without being an exposition dump, and the telepathic descriptions are similarly well done. Weaponry is also really detailed and everything fits well into the world.
For me the biggest improvement would be in dialogue. Not the words - they are great. But the way the dialogue is presented is cut into small chunks with character movement and gestures in the middle. I think most readers can imagine the way characters are moving while they speak and this leaves room for readers to flex their own imagination. The author did such a good job with character descriptions and portraying their attitudes that these small descriptions of gestures are not needed, the dialogue speaks for itself.
Here are some examples of things that might be getting in the way:
she asked as she turned back to me
she crossed the distance back to the table and sat down across from me
leaning in to show that I was listening
I pointed out, motioning to the luxury around us
Victoria said before turning back down the hallway toward the lift
placing her hand on my shoulder to move me aside.
pointing to her with one hand as he continued to register other travellers
even though he was already eyeing the Hammerhead
I know how easy it is to include these things as it is the way that we see it happening in our mind as we write - rest assured, if you can see it, the reader can as well.
Although having said all this, in chapter 6 the dialogue is much tighter.