The Secret War - 1st Novel in the Shadow Series

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Vai Ma'amaloa is 17 years old, and his father has just accepted the position of Chief Science Officer aboard the G.E.V. Shadow, a retrofitted warship tasked with exploring the unknown reaches of the galaxy.

Now, Vai will have to come to terms with leaving his old life behind. As he forges new relationships aboard the Shadow, and tries to settle into his new life among its occupants, he will be confronted with dangers and mysteries he never imagined.

Please note, I do have a glossary of terms for this novel on my website.  You can find my website information on my profile page.

Information

Status
Completed
Year
2019
Author
Nova Girl 93

Tags

ACTIONADVENTURESCI-FISCHOOL LIFEMALE LEADMYSTERYSPACE OPERA

Royal Road Stats

Rating
3.4/ 5.0
Followers
80
Views
38,121

Chapters(40 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(5)

  • HarvenkarrRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    At first, I thought this story was a basic sci-fi space story with the usual path that most sci-fi take. I didn't expect the mystery wrapped up inside it and it is a pleasant mystery that I am eager to dive into with the subsequent books. I really enjoyed the pacing and felt that the writing gave me a great sense of looking over the shoulders of the protagonists as events occurred and the story unfolded.
  • Serious SenatorRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Overall, it's a very good young adult story. Great writing and very solid world building. It's fast paced, with no grammatical mistakes. Unlike the other reviews, I had no issue identifying what the alien words and devices were.
    It's obnoxious that the review minimum length is set so high. 50 words 50 words 50 words 50 words
  • The ReviewerRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 3.5
    Nice job on your story.
    Sadly, I had to give it a 3.5 for some reasons. I couldn’t keep up with the new terms that kept popping out and the way they were spelt confused me. The name’s of the characters included.
    Props on the comedic aspects though. They were pretty funny.
    Hope you remember that I am your very first reviewer on here!
  • ShyBoyRoyal Road
    ★★★ 3.0
    I found the synopsis misleading. I understand the pull to reveal things the way you want them shown, at a precise moment, with just seventy breadcrumbs before, with two big moments, when people are supposed to connect the dots and go "aha!"... but I see no fun in the story AT PRESENT. Leaving a trail of bread crumbs is fine and dandy, provided something holds your interest to get to that finish line.
    To spare you from going through several chapters looking for a promised story, here's a fixed synopsis:
    Jason is 17. Jason is 97. The discrepancy is caused by 80 years of hibernation - his father's desperate idea to save his only family once he found traces of a unique virus within Jason's blood.
    Plenty of problems there already: dying or dead friends, life left behind, but to "sweeten" the whole package? Hibernation was dad's idea of a birthday present. A surprise one at that. Jason went to bed, woke up, and "surprise! You're cured from a virus you never even knew you had, oh, BTW, it took 80 years".
    But it gets worse. There's a conspiracy afoot, and Jason's in the heart of it. Only, he doesn't know about it, again.
    The style is consistent and I'm clearly NOT the target audience. It's "put the pieces together", which isn't bad at all, had the execution not made it simply tedious. Grammar is fine (though don't ask why the dots after chapters have a space). The writing flows well, though deduce yourself the meaning of all terms that dear author promised the glossary for on her website - the website's down. Having read through Dukaj's prose though, this is easy.
    The tediousness of the execution was what killed the story for me. It boils down to several things.
    Pacing. The synopsis I offered I put together after reading 18 chapters and 2 interludes. IMO this should be the first chapter. Imagine reading twelve chapters about Harry Potter, to only then learn that he's actually an orphan and a "boy who lived".
    So far, his father's post has little influence on the plot. Other
  • Never mind meRoyal Road
    ★★ 2.0
    Can't say much about the story, but the first 3 chapters left me good enough reason to dislike mc and get an idea of what to expect from him later on. It really is a mess to start a story like this. It isn't attractive.
    Character's introductions are unnatural. Out of nowhere, from random thoughts, they comes out without a logical follow-up. Though this isn't a big deal, it adds up to..