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What is Armada Wars?
Armada Wars is a collection of military science fiction novels with a very distinct space opera flavour.
The Armadaverse was designed from the ground up to do three things:
Originally produced as an exclusive for the Amazon Kindle platform, the Armada Wars books are now also available in paperback and hardcover forms, which are available from major retailers. The series is totally independent from any publishing house, and it relies on your word-of-mouth for almost all marketing and promotion. If you enjoy it, don't be shy! Tell everyone.
Due to its realism the series cannot in good conscience be recommended for readers under the age of 15. If you let a younger child read these books you may find yourself having to explain some uncomfortable topics, including drug abuse, sexual violence, and psychopathy.
The Armadaverse was designed from the ground up to do three things:
- Promote the development of authentic characters who simply feel like people,
- Accommodate the kind of big, bad-ass battles which television and film budgets often prevent,
- Let both 1&2 be as realistic as fiction will reasonably allow.
Originally produced as an exclusive for the Amazon Kindle platform, the Armada Wars books are now also available in paperback and hardcover forms, which are available from major retailers. The series is totally independent from any publishing house, and it relies on your word-of-mouth for almost all marketing and promotion. If you enjoy it, don't be shy! Tell everyone.
Due to its realism the series cannot in good conscience be recommended for readers under the age of 15. If you let a younger child read these books you may find yourself having to explain some uncomfortable topics, including drug abuse, sexual violence, and psychopathy.
What's the Story?
Armada Wars is set in our own home galaxy — the Milky Way — more than one and a half millennia from now. It focuses on humanity, and its relationship to the rest of the galactic ecosystem.
The current story is The Great War of the Shaeld. It chronicles a sinister, stealthy invasion of staggering proportions, and the stories of the people caught up in the unfolding events. The central mystery is the purpose of that unusual invasion, and the story serves as an ideal primer to the people, places, technology, and concepts which populate the Armadaverse.
The current story is The Great War of the Shaeld. It chronicles a sinister, stealthy invasion of staggering proportions, and the stories of the people caught up in the unfolding events. The central mystery is the purpose of that unusual invasion, and the story serves as an ideal primer to the people, places, technology, and concepts which populate the Armadaverse.
Will I Like it?
If you're not sure that this is for you, try this checklist of likely indicators:
- As much as you enjoy a fictional world, you feel it really ought to make sense.
- You want to be able to say "that could actually happen" about everything you read.
- You yearn for science fiction which does not hobble itself by only accommodating a younger audience.
- You want the characters to actually think, talk, act, learn, and grow like real people do.
- You don't want to see magical solutions coming from nowhere, or technobabble fixes that rely on invented science.
- The world of The Expanse, in which bad things usually occur purely because politics, economics, technology, and social pressures are intricately connected, was a refreshing change.
- The ship-to-ship combat in the Battlestar Galactica reboot was what you'd been waiting for years to see.
- The Star Wars reboot demands your age-old loyalty but somehow it no longer feels the same.
- You felt that Babylon 5 set a new standard in arc-based storylines, which other shows then tried to emulate.
- For every year that a Firefly reprisal becomes less likely, you move closer to buying a gun.
- You spent more time reading about the Mass Effect universe than you spent exploring it.
- You plan on becoming or marrying a COG soldier.
What Makes it Different?
Before pen was set to paper firm rules were established for the entire Armadaverse. The whole intention was to create an arena in which the major clichés and tropes of the science fiction genre have no place (unless they are being deliberately usurped), and in which there is no room at all for the sloppy habit of rescuing heroes from a no-win climax by means of sudden, external intervention.
There's a more involved article on the old blog, but here is the executive summary:
There's a more involved article on the old blog, but here is the executive summary:
- Plot is king.
- Story without interesting characters just doesn't work.
- There will be no arbitrary "chosen one" — characters must earn their own respect or resentment, and any true accomplishment must be the consequence of their decisions and actions.
- Fist fights are inevitably messy affairs, they usually end up on the floor, and they rarely come with dramatic music.
- The combat effectiveness of ships must not change dramatically just to make a necessary scene work.
- Anyone can be killed, even if we would miss them.
- Time travel shall not be invoked as a quick fix... or possibly ever.
- Winning a ship-to-ship fight does not merely involve raising the shields and firing off superlasers. It's a hard slog.
- No ad hoc events... everything that happens must build logically upon events and dialogue in the preceding pages, chapters, or books.
- There's generally no ****ing sound in space.
Why do Fans Like it?
Die-hard fans and newcomers alike are drawn to the series for many reasons. From feedback received it's clear these reasons include the development of the characters, their realistic motives, flaws, and capabilities, the level of detail in the world-building, the way events are described, and the sheer scope of the main story arc.
The feedback from real readers is worth looking at (and all sources are linked). It has shown that what really keeps people reading is this: the novels are not simply mainstream science fiction romps. They incorporate elements from a wide range of genres, subtly blending action, drama, political intrigue, romance, mystery, suspense, strategy, adventure, and creeping fear. Essentially, like life, these books have it all. In fact a couple of reviewers have commented that although the books are not in their preferred genre, they simply could not put them down!
The overall experience is highly intriguing, and as a result all of the books have one thing in common: they are genuine page-turners, and a significant number of reviewers express that they "didn't want it to end". Although the novels are quite long by indie standards, and subtly complex, they tend to pull the reader along and thereby become a quick read.
In short... if you're looking for a new compulsive addiction, this is it!
The feedback from real readers is worth looking at (and all sources are linked). It has shown that what really keeps people reading is this: the novels are not simply mainstream science fiction romps. They incorporate elements from a wide range of genres, subtly blending action, drama, political intrigue, romance, mystery, suspense, strategy, adventure, and creeping fear. Essentially, like life, these books have it all. In fact a couple of reviewers have commented that although the books are not in their preferred genre, they simply could not put them down!
The overall experience is highly intriguing, and as a result all of the books have one thing in common: they are genuine page-turners, and a significant number of reviewers express that they "didn't want it to end". Although the novels are quite long by indie standards, and subtly complex, they tend to pull the reader along and thereby become a quick read.
In short... if you're looking for a new compulsive addiction, this is it!
Still not Sure?
The first book set in the Armadaverse was Steal from the Devil. Although it is the opening of a five-part story, and it presents several mysteries to be unravelled in the subsequent books, it does serve as an excellent introduction to the characters, races, technology, and Armada Wars world at large.
The Kindle version is set at a very low price point, and is free to borrow from both Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, so it's not exactly a massive gamble. Just be fairly warned: at the end of Steal from the Devil you will have more questions than answers. But rest assured that the following books take what Devil started, inject steroids into its eyes, and unleash it furiously.
In addition there are now two (at time of writing) expansion episodes. These flesh out parts of the main sequence novels, and enhance the main series, but can be read as standalone books. Readers will inevitably get more out of these episodes if they read all the books in publishing order, but they will provide a very wallet-friendly window into the Armadaverse for new-comers.
The Kindle version is set at a very low price point, and is free to borrow from both Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, so it's not exactly a massive gamble. Just be fairly warned: at the end of Steal from the Devil you will have more questions than answers. But rest assured that the following books take what Devil started, inject steroids into its eyes, and unleash it furiously.
In addition there are now two (at time of writing) expansion episodes. These flesh out parts of the main sequence novels, and enhance the main series, but can be read as standalone books. Readers will inevitably get more out of these episodes if they read all the books in publishing order, but they will provide a very wallet-friendly window into the Armadaverse for new-comers.