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Translight (Galactic Alliance Book 1) by [Doug Farren]

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Doug Farren

Translight (Galactic Alliance Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Doug Farren (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

86 ratings

Book 1 of 7: Galactic Alliance

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While testing Earth's first stardrive, one of humanity's oldest questions is answered: We are not alone. But before Earth can benefit from the advanced technologies offered by the other cultures, it must form a united world government. Old habits are hard to break and it doesn't take long before things begin to unravel.

Jay Kauffman, mathematical genius and creator of the stardrive, believed his invention would free mankind. Instead, it has made war inevitable.

Translight is the first book of the Galactic Alliance series. It is a hard military science fiction space opera that has been compared to E.E. 'Doc' Smith's famous Lensmen and Skylark series.

Print length

531 pages
Language

English
Publication date

January 27, 2012
File size

1122 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in Franklin PA, raised in Minnesota, and now living in Ohio. Doug spent 11 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear reactor operator. He now works at a nuclear power plant as an Instrument and Controls technician. Always an avid scifi reader he has taken his love for science fiction to the next level by becoming an author. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0028AEAG0
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doug Farren; 5th edition (January 27, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 27, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1122 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 531 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1442172738
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,858 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5,331 in Galactic Empire Science Fiction eBooks
- #5,542 in Space Fleet Science Fiction eBooks
- #6,286 in Galactic Empire Science Fiction

Customer Reviews:
86 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		41%
4 star		36%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		3%

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Fate

Depressing, but well-written hard scifi

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2012

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I'll admit that most of my problems with the book are related to my personal preference. It is a very well-written, thought-out, and developed book, and I'm sure a select audience will enjoy what it contains, it just wasn't for me. I thought the world building was great, and the cast of characters diverse. There were space battles, innovative technology, and even a dash of romance.

Now, I enjoy having things explained to me, especially when it contributes to the mental image I can bring forth when looking at a fictional universe. However, in this book entire chapters were devoted to the descriptions of the technology and the related physics involved, as well as the extensive workings of the political sphere and social changes as described by the passive voice. This took me out of the story, made it a struggle not to skip ahead, and screwed with the pacing of the book. It also sacrificed character and plot development which could have helped the flow, and (IMO) more action which would have made it a more fast-paced, enjoyable read.

I also disliked the protagonist and found him an annoying perspective to follow. He, and various minor characters, were not simply naive, but held a sense of idealistic pacifism about them that made me shake my head and think, 'surely you can't be this stupid'... He was also whiny, sheltered, easily distracted, and incredibly trusting; leading to him refusing to believe anything was wrong until everything had gone to hell.

Finally, the book was just plain depressing to read. The same political, religious, and social problems we have today are prevalent some fifty odd years in the future. The essence of humanity, our ability to rise up and conquer anyone and anything that threatens our existence and freedom (something most military scifi novels embrace) simply wasn't there. Humanity almost self-destructs, they're treated with suspicion, experiences defeats and failure at the hands of others, is at multiple times at the complete mercy of others... This coupled with a disappointing and lackluster ending really made me wish I hadn't pushed through the difficulties to finish the book.

8 people found this helpful

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D. M. Wright

Entertaining, decent sci-fi

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2012

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I love hard sci-fi and got an email saying that this book fit the category. It's not at the level of an Alistair Reynolds or Richard Morgan but it had a good human angle and enough technology to keep my interest.

The story spans about twenty years in the not-too-distant future and follows the development of humanity's first FTL capable space flight. The main characters are Anita and Jay, colleagues who eventually marry. She heads the tech company and he provides the brains behind the inventions, ably assisted by the only self-aware computer in existence. Humans encounter alien civilizations while still learning to deal with their own differences. There are crises and resolutions, childishness and growth. The story of humanity is as interesting as the science.

The story moves at a decent pace and is mostly plausible sci-fi. The limitations? First, the spelling! Are there no editors? Obviously there was reliance on a spell checker but synonyms like "heal" and "heel" are among the many spelling errors. There are grammatical errors as well. I found the timeline to be a little unrealistic, and I absolutely hate it when authors choose to wrap up the end of a book by telling the end of everyone's life story in two pages or less.

I liked it enough to purchase the next book in the series.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A very interesting and enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2018

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I chose this rating based upon what I believe could be the result of attaining FTL space travel, and a belief we are not alone in this galaxy. I think artificial intelligence might be the best way to make it happen. The story was believable and feasible and I enjoyed the character development. Overall, I would recommend this book for an enjoyable read.☺

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BillK

Great sci fi story!

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2012

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I love this book! I'm not even halfway thru it, and I'm ready to buy the rest of the series. It's not "hard" sci fi, but it does have a lot of well researched mathematics in it, enough to keep a hard sci fi fan happy. To a previous reviewer who commented about global warming being real and the U.S. being the bad guy, I didn't get that at all from the book. Yes, it was mentioned that global warming turned out to be real, and that the U.S. had to spend lots of money to get it under control, but I don't think the author was preaching on either subject. It was simply a (very small) part of the storyline. In fact, so far, it has been mentioned only once. I recommend this book to any sci fi fan!

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Excellent, not too technical, with light romance

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2016

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Story was solid. Made me consider why we act like we do towards other cultures. Kept me interested with enough new aliens, weapons and a kick ass AI. The amount of romance was just right ... not too much, not too little. For the price I paid for this book, it was worth it. Now I hope the next one in the series is as good, so I'll have another author I can look forward to.

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Kindle Customer

under dog---i love this style

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2012

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i found this by accident and was very happy to have read it. jay as a hero was not much but the ideas that he has and is able to realize with the help of Cain were excellent. the start is of the first star drive to be used for ftl travel and what might happen along the way and tech that would be useful for powering this drive. i would like to see this rewritten and lengthened more attention placed on the drive being tested and used less on the warfare. Hubbard and Asimov would approve this as a golden age book! to the author thank you for the read!! it was most delectable!! JH

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Kindle Customer

light sci fi

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2012

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First, this is the type of science fiction that I term bubble gum. It is light on content but satisfying as a quick entertaining read. The characters are largely superficial as are their interactions, the technology is easily acquired and quickly put into action. It contains the almost cliche single inventor who single-handedly launches mankind into the stars. It is still entertaining as a quick light read not to be taken too seriously. I have read all three in the series and the observations are similar.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jaykam_uk

Slow to get started but worth the wait

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2012

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I bought quite a few books for the kindle in the same genre at the same time, and this one was one of the last I read. I'd have to put this down to the poor cover. Although you can't tell a book by it's cover, you can still not read one because of it.

I found the book quite slow to get started. I put this down to a lot of character generation, which is generally fine, but for a book in this genre it needed slightly more action to get the pages turning. Having said that, once I had gotten into the story I found myself really enjoying it. The author proposes a very interesting question; could Earth unite under a single government in its current make up? The ideas spurned from this question make up a lot of the story, which adds a slightly different take to most books in this genre.

The first part of the story, the character generation stage, takes place over a relatively short period of time, which is at odds with the remainder of the book. To enable to story to move on the author often jumps ahead by months or years to allow the technology to develop, which make the beginning feel out of sorts and slow. You just have to push through it.

The book feels like a stand alone story and not part of a series and I didn't have a problem with that. As the end feels like a true ending, I'm not really sure where the author is going to go with the next in the series, although he has created a scenario that allows for many story directions. The issue with this I found is that I'm not rushing to buy the next book. No doubt I will and hopefully I'm be pleasantly surprised.

In summary, the story is a little slow to get started, but worth pushing through it. Hope you all enjoy it.

Amazon Customer

Get a proof reader

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2012

Verified Purchase

Story is OK, although it goes into detail in areas, keeps repeating certain bits (like what happens when antimatter and matter combine), then skips over major plot changes in others.

Spelling/grammar is atrocious - 'oar hauler'? There is a galactic need for paddles in outer space? This was not one isolated mistake, at least 3 instances, on the same page too.

'Gorilla warfare'? The primates are behaving like the humans?

And it is 'aide', not 'aid'.

'Tried in vane'...

Loads more howlers like this, and it really detracts from the story and the quality of the publication. Author - do yourself a favour and get a proof-reader. Just using a spell-checker is not sufficient.

4 people found this helpful

Great read, so I bought all 3.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2012

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I am very particular about the sci fi I read and this book had all the elements I love.

There were mild annoyances like grammar and words that may have been replaced by a spell checker so Doug you need to fix these and get someone to proof read them.

However, unlike other moaning minnies it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.

Great holiday read. Great Sci Fi, great enemies, interesting plot lines that could have been thrashed out a bit more in later books but I would strongly recommend these three books as a good read.

P. barton

very enjoyable easy read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2012

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a very enjoyable read, good story of the discovery a mans first stardrive and then the contact with the consortium, a group of advanced alien races that welcome the humans as long as we can get along together, some chance, as usual we get ourselves into trouble by fighting with each other and we kicked out of the consortium, a good story with good writing and good characters

MintyFresh

not bad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

To be honest, I spent a while skipping sections to keep the story moving. The writing style is wordy and overly detailed but lacks detail in key areas. I will go on to read books 2 to 4 in the series, I hope the author got better but reviews suggest otherwise. Worth a couple of pounds investment and your tine but not a classic.

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