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Sunken Spaceship #1
Sunken Spaceship
A crashed starship. An alien creature. Only he can bring it home.
Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques.Not just any ship. A starship.Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.The only way to clear his name is to take the strange creature to its home planet and find out who’s responsible for killing the starship’s pilot. Which means Fin quickly needs to learn how to fly a spacecraft and navigate a galaxy teeming with intelligent life beyond his wildest dreams.And he’s not the only one with designs for the crashed starship and it's cargo. Fin will need every skill he’s honed as a paratrooper and a marine biologist if he—and his dog—are to survive.Don't miss the next rolicking sci-fi adventure from Anthony J. Melchiorri. It's perfect for fans of JN Chaney, MR Forbes, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques.Not just any ship. A starship.Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.The only way to clear his name is to take the strange creature to its home planet and find out who’s responsible for killing the starship’s pilot. Which means Fin quickly needs to learn how to fly a spacecraft and navigate a galaxy teeming with intelligent life beyond his wildest dreams.And he’s not the only one with designs for the crashed starship and it's cargo. Fin will need every skill he’s honed as a paratrooper and a marine biologist if he—and his dog—are to survive.Don't miss the next rolicking sci-fi adventure from Anthony J. Melchiorri. It's perfect for fans of JN Chaney, MR Forbes, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
440 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 2, 2024
About the author
Anthony J. Melchiorri
89 books327 followersAnthony J Melchiorri is a scientist with a PhD in bioengineering. Originally from the Midwest, he now lives in Texas. By day, he develops cellular therapies and 3D-printable artificial organs. By night, he writes apocalyptic, medical, and science-fiction thrillers that blend real-world research with other-worldly possibility. When he isn't in the lab or at the keyboard, he spends his time running, reading, hiking, and traveling in search of new story ideas.
Read more at http://anthonyjmelchiorri.com and sign up for his mailing list at http://bit.ly/ajmlist to hear about his latest releases and news.
Read more at http://anthonyjmelchiorri.com and sign up for his mailing list at http://bit.ly/ajmlist to hear about his latest releases and news.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
April 3, 2024
Initial concept was unique and interesting. Unfortunately the deeper into the book you get the more logical fallacy's you find until the entire background of galactic politics becomes a crashing house of cards. Also the internal dialog's make for slow reading.
April 8, 2024
Too similar to other authors series
If you know of the Backyard Space ship series, then you know the premise of this book and I'm guessing the series as a whole
Human ends up in space, becomes a space cop, does better than anyone expects, creates enemies by the lorry load and the ending is just an excuse to carry on with the next book
It's borderline 2*, however my jaded view is a result of comparing it to the previously mentioned series, so others may find it better, so 2* would seem a tad harsh
If you know of the Backyard Space ship series, then you know the premise of this book and I'm guessing the series as a whole
Human ends up in space, becomes a space cop, does better than anyone expects, creates enemies by the lorry load and the ending is just an excuse to carry on with the next book
It's borderline 2*, however my jaded view is a result of comparing it to the previously mentioned series, so others may find it better, so 2* would seem a tad harsh
June 26, 2024
DNF'd at about 65-70%. I've been enjoying books like this one for awhile now - guy finds a spaceship somewhere odd, gets abducted or starts to investigate it, save the world/universe ensues. Some examples of this are Backyard Starship, The Peacemaker Wars, Starship for Rent, Taken to the Stars, Scrapyard Ship. Some of these work (for me) and some don't for various reasons. With regard to this specific book, it falls in the latter category.
The good: guy finds a spaceship, he's a marine biologist and ex-soldier. The aliens are odd. The regular stuff happens. There's a dog. The guy is clever and a mystery begins to unfold.
The bad: first off, the narration by Mark Vietor isn't bad at all, actually it's quite good. The problem is that he completely misses the personality of the main character. This is a guy who's ex-military, who had to leave the military because of some injuries. He free dives and jumped out of planes. This is not a happy-go-lucky guy who's making jokes all the time or seeing the world through a positive lens. He's set up to be much more reserved - problem solving, but much more skeptical of the world. Vietor voices him as an optimist, not through the words he says but through tone. So that bugged me a lot.
There's an AI who's annoying as all get out. At first it was cute and funny, but it gets really old really quickly. After once or twice of having to deal with her, I was done. Not funny, move on.
There's a huge emphasis on saving planets and ecosystems and endangered animals, how little money is put into that in general in the universe, and how nobody is giving enough attention or money to the way these animals are being poached and no one is prosecuted due to a lack of available rangers to run the poachers down and drag them in.
So we have an obvious political agenda here. It's not offensive, just present. And then we have this main character, voiced badly in terms of personality. I hung in there for a good while, thinking it would get better. But then I gave in because there are just better written (and narrated) books out there in this genre. I'm happy to try them all but some are clearly better than others. This particular book thinks it's a lot funnier than it actually is. I'm moving on to the ones that really are funny.
The good: guy finds a spaceship, he's a marine biologist and ex-soldier. The aliens are odd. The regular stuff happens. There's a dog. The guy is clever and a mystery begins to unfold.
The bad: first off, the narration by Mark Vietor isn't bad at all, actually it's quite good. The problem is that he completely misses the personality of the main character. This is a guy who's ex-military, who had to leave the military because of some injuries. He free dives and jumped out of planes. This is not a happy-go-lucky guy who's making jokes all the time or seeing the world through a positive lens. He's set up to be much more reserved - problem solving, but much more skeptical of the world. Vietor voices him as an optimist, not through the words he says but through tone. So that bugged me a lot.
There's an AI who's annoying as all get out. At first it was cute and funny, but it gets really old really quickly. After once or twice of having to deal with her, I was done. Not funny, move on.
There's a huge emphasis on saving planets and ecosystems and endangered animals, how little money is put into that in general in the universe, and how nobody is giving enough attention or money to the way these animals are being poached and no one is prosecuted due to a lack of available rangers to run the poachers down and drag them in.
So we have an obvious political agenda here. It's not offensive, just present. And then we have this main character, voiced badly in terms of personality. I hung in there for a good while, thinking it would get better. But then I gave in because there are just better written (and narrated) books out there in this genre. I'm happy to try them all but some are clearly better than others. This particular book thinks it's a lot funnier than it actually is. I'm moving on to the ones that really are funny.
August 4, 2024
I thought Sunken Spaceship was a pretty good story, with lots of action, but to be honest, my favorite character is Jacques, the dog. Some of the situations are a bit far fetched, even for a science fiction adventure, but I could go along with all of that if it wasn’t for all of the errors, such as miss-spelled, missing, and misused words, incomplete sentences, etc. There were just so many errors it pulled me out of the story constantly, it looked like not only was there no editing, but absolutely no proof-reading at all. It’s too bad, because the story itself was kind of fun. I did not care for the ending, which set up the next story but really annoys me. I won’t be reading the next book because I don’t care for where that story is headed and I can’t handle all of the potential errors as well.
March 23, 2024
Fun, quirky, action-filled, and there’s a dog.
This was my first introduction to this author and I’m not mad about it! Such a fun concept of a spaceship landing on earth that then sends the main character on a wild chase through the galaxy.
I liked the military aspects to it, the focus on humane treatment of animals, and the quirky characters. Overall it felt more like a tongue-in-cheek type of action-story, but it enjoyed it and look forward to the next installment!
Note: Some mild language, some violence but light
My rating: 4*
Thanks to Negalley for this advanced listening copy. All opinions are my own.
This was my first introduction to this author and I’m not mad about it! Such a fun concept of a spaceship landing on earth that then sends the main character on a wild chase through the galaxy.
I liked the military aspects to it, the focus on humane treatment of animals, and the quirky characters. Overall it felt more like a tongue-in-cheek type of action-story, but it enjoyed it and look forward to the next installment!
Note: Some mild language, some violence but light
My rating: 4*
Thanks to Negalley for this advanced listening copy. All opinions are my own.
May 20, 2024
DNF at 21%
May 22, 2024
Very interesting story that doesn’t really tie-in to the military science fiction that I like, but it has its moments. There is one character that’s a Space Marine so I guess that kind of counts. But really, this is a cop or law enforcement story since the main character, Griffin Theodore Brooks, is going to be a Ranger, I.e., as in animal control, wildlife protection officer. But, before that job falls on him, he’s diving at night some place off the cost of Cape Town, South Africa. Griffin is a Marine Biologist and he’s searching for his favorite cephalopod he’s name Oswald. To me, not the greatest way to open a book.
Griffin, who we’ll later find out goes by the nickname of “Fin” (thank goodness) is accompanied by his golden retriever Jacques. The dog isn’t the brightest animal around, but he does seem to obey Fin pretty well. He has to because something has come out of the water and it doesn’t appear friendly at first. Fin doesn’t know what it is, but it came out of the water just after something huge had made a tremendous splash not far from where he was diving. Of course Fin has to go investigate and this is where he finds a sunken spaceship. Something or someone has opened a hatch and didn’t close it so the water was pouring into the ship getting it deeper and deeper.
Fin has to come up for air and that’s when he see Jacques messing with something straight out of a horror movie. He tells Jacques to get away from whatever it is but of course the dog doesn’t obey at first. He tries to bite the thing only to get a mouthful of something tastes absolutely horrible. Jacques finally backs off and Fin gets to him to help defend them both from this “monster”. About that time to huge figures come out of the dark and they tell Fin to stop messing with the Grenlian Lablud or better known to aliens as a “gooey”. At least that’s what the two huge aliens in spacesuits conveyed to Fin after that sprayed him with some kind of white mist. He could actually understand what they were saying!
Now this is where the story begins. It seems that the spaceship had erroneously crashed on Earth and that was a big problem. These two aliens were actually Rangers Harry and Charn of the Accord Protected Species Division. They had been assigned to monitor Earth since it was considered a Registered Life-Class Wildlife Preserve Planet. They said that Fin was in serious trouble for attaching the gooey and for finding the sunken spaceship. They had no choice but to eliminate Fin and Jacques (they didn’t know Jacques couldn’t talk). But first they wanted Fin to go back into the spaceship and see what happened to the Ranger that should have been in control. Fin did as asked and found another alien dead with a hole in his chest. The other two Rangers helped Fin get the spaceship closed up and then raised to float on the water.
They then told Fin that his life was over since they couldn’t allow him to retain the knowledge he had about this night’s events. He told them that on one would be him even if he could remember all that had happened. He also explained to them what a dog was and tried to convince them that Jacques wouldn’t tell a sole about this night. The Rangers also told Fin that the gooey was a protected species and was being returned to another sanctuary and that still had to get done, but they couldn’t leave their assigned post of watching over Earth. So, of course, Fin says he’ll take the gooey to where it needs to go, no problem, except he doesn’t know how to fly a spaceship.
Still, the Rangers said that might work. He’d need to take the body of the dead Ranger with him and eventually report back to this Division HQ with the ship and a report on what he had done. They also said the on-board AI could fly the ship to where it was to go and bring him back to Division HQ. But, he was in no way going to come back to Earth. Once he left, he would find out that the galaxy was full of life, but Earth wasn’t ready for that knowledge so it was protected. They said they could make Fin a temporary Ranger Recruit and let him finish this mission if he agreed to do so. Fin didn’t have anything holding him to Earth. He’d recently gotten out of the Army, finished his Marine Biology doctorate, and was just kind of wondering around. So, he said he’d do the mission.
And now we have Ranger Recruit Fin going off to who-knows-where without much knowledge of the galaxy he was about to join. His adventure starts quickly and doesn’t turn out any where near as easy as he thought. Oh, he does take Jacques with him and Jacques adapts to space just about as good as Fin does. I think Jacques is actually the first dog in the galaxy. The story does get very interesting in that there are a lot of poachers trying to steal protected species off various planets. Some of these animals are very dangerous while some make perfect pets. It’s the job of the Protected Species Division of Rangers to stop that kind of business. Ranger Recruit Fin doesn’t realize what he’s got himself into.
The book is pretty good, but it has a lot of editorial problems. There were words that didn’t belong in sentences or the wrong word was used as thought the author was writing in their native language. It did distract from the story because this occurred frequently. I’m not much into wildlife preservation, it’s just not my thing either. I don’t have pets or particularly fond of animals so this story doesn’t appeal to me all that much. Still, book 2, “Terminal Pursuit”, is available on Amazon now.
Griffin, who we’ll later find out goes by the nickname of “Fin” (thank goodness) is accompanied by his golden retriever Jacques. The dog isn’t the brightest animal around, but he does seem to obey Fin pretty well. He has to because something has come out of the water and it doesn’t appear friendly at first. Fin doesn’t know what it is, but it came out of the water just after something huge had made a tremendous splash not far from where he was diving. Of course Fin has to go investigate and this is where he finds a sunken spaceship. Something or someone has opened a hatch and didn’t close it so the water was pouring into the ship getting it deeper and deeper.
Fin has to come up for air and that’s when he see Jacques messing with something straight out of a horror movie. He tells Jacques to get away from whatever it is but of course the dog doesn’t obey at first. He tries to bite the thing only to get a mouthful of something tastes absolutely horrible. Jacques finally backs off and Fin gets to him to help defend them both from this “monster”. About that time to huge figures come out of the dark and they tell Fin to stop messing with the Grenlian Lablud or better known to aliens as a “gooey”. At least that’s what the two huge aliens in spacesuits conveyed to Fin after that sprayed him with some kind of white mist. He could actually understand what they were saying!
Now this is where the story begins. It seems that the spaceship had erroneously crashed on Earth and that was a big problem. These two aliens were actually Rangers Harry and Charn of the Accord Protected Species Division. They had been assigned to monitor Earth since it was considered a Registered Life-Class Wildlife Preserve Planet. They said that Fin was in serious trouble for attaching the gooey and for finding the sunken spaceship. They had no choice but to eliminate Fin and Jacques (they didn’t know Jacques couldn’t talk). But first they wanted Fin to go back into the spaceship and see what happened to the Ranger that should have been in control. Fin did as asked and found another alien dead with a hole in his chest. The other two Rangers helped Fin get the spaceship closed up and then raised to float on the water.
They then told Fin that his life was over since they couldn’t allow him to retain the knowledge he had about this night’s events. He told them that on one would be him even if he could remember all that had happened. He also explained to them what a dog was and tried to convince them that Jacques wouldn’t tell a sole about this night. The Rangers also told Fin that the gooey was a protected species and was being returned to another sanctuary and that still had to get done, but they couldn’t leave their assigned post of watching over Earth. So, of course, Fin says he’ll take the gooey to where it needs to go, no problem, except he doesn’t know how to fly a spaceship.
Still, the Rangers said that might work. He’d need to take the body of the dead Ranger with him and eventually report back to this Division HQ with the ship and a report on what he had done. They also said the on-board AI could fly the ship to where it was to go and bring him back to Division HQ. But, he was in no way going to come back to Earth. Once he left, he would find out that the galaxy was full of life, but Earth wasn’t ready for that knowledge so it was protected. They said they could make Fin a temporary Ranger Recruit and let him finish this mission if he agreed to do so. Fin didn’t have anything holding him to Earth. He’d recently gotten out of the Army, finished his Marine Biology doctorate, and was just kind of wondering around. So, he said he’d do the mission.
And now we have Ranger Recruit Fin going off to who-knows-where without much knowledge of the galaxy he was about to join. His adventure starts quickly and doesn’t turn out any where near as easy as he thought. Oh, he does take Jacques with him and Jacques adapts to space just about as good as Fin does. I think Jacques is actually the first dog in the galaxy. The story does get very interesting in that there are a lot of poachers trying to steal protected species off various planets. Some of these animals are very dangerous while some make perfect pets. It’s the job of the Protected Species Division of Rangers to stop that kind of business. Ranger Recruit Fin doesn’t realize what he’s got himself into.
The book is pretty good, but it has a lot of editorial problems. There were words that didn’t belong in sentences or the wrong word was used as thought the author was writing in their native language. It did distract from the story because this occurred frequently. I’m not much into wildlife preservation, it’s just not my thing either. I don’t have pets or particularly fond of animals so this story doesn’t appeal to me all that much. Still, book 2, “Terminal Pursuit”, is available on Amazon now.
June 14, 2024
I have nothing against the author but this book seems like a very poor copy of Backyard Starship by J.N. Chaney. All the basic premises are exactly the same. Earthling finds a spaceship, take ownership of it, find that there is a whole intergalactic society, find there are other humans out there already, becomes part of the "police force", chaos ensues. Even some of the characters have analog in Backyard Starship. Just like Backyard Starship, but not as interesting or fun to read. Sorry.
March 27, 2024
Sunken spaceship by Anthony J Melchiorri is a book about marine biologist ex military man and loving dog owner who is in South Africa looking for his elusive octopus and it’s hard to fine because it changes colors. So when Griffith sees a spaceship fall into the ocean he soon learns the alien driving the spaceship has died but when two other aliens come and cover him with a substance that causes him to understand any foreign language is soon learns that he is the one who will be task with bringing the animal on board home he names the creature Goop, he is maid a ranger and off he goes he makes friends with the spaceships AI who he names Aubrey, he finds a sidekick in Ronando and does his best to protect jock is canine and will soon become part of the intergalactic species space protection program. Fin‘s One Mission is to get goop home but first he will have to fight poachers and get a spaceship fix more than once by the time it’s over he has prisoners a new doggy sitter not to mention a whole new career there is way more to this audiobook than the little bit of information I put in my review it was a long book that seemed like it was over in a flash.. Fin is a great character as well is a great dog owner I love that the author although had some of the same old tropes the spin he put on it made it original and fresh I also loved that the spaceship didn’t have warp drive, they didn’t have your same old same old aliens and although some creatures were similar there is a flavor the author puts on them that even makes the familiar ones seem new and they were planets with other humans on them there’s just a lot to love about this book and what I love may not be what you love this was a great book I found the narrator PaulHeach did a great job and has a perfect voice for Fin as well as the other characters. If you love a great space story that doesn’t take itself too seriously then you will love the beginning of this new series I certainly did! I want to thank the publisher the author and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
April 7, 2024
From marine biologist to intergalactic Ranger!
Griffin Theodore Brooks and his trusty sidekick, Jacque the Golden Retriever, were free diving off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. Well, Grif was diving. Jacque amused himself on the beach. Grif was looking for his elusive research subject and friend, Oswald, an octopus. Several quick dives hadn't located Oswald yet, but a sudden disturbance in the kelp beds drew his attention to a rounded vessel, somewhat like a submarine. An open hatch invited further inspection. A quick visual inspection revealed a very strange animal of some kind. With six legs, 8 eyes and covered in a snot-like goo, it was obviously not local!
Returning to the beach with the alien creature, Griffin found two figures in grey uniforms. He couldn't understand anything they were saying, if indeed that was what they were doing, until one pointed a pistol-shaped instrument at him a fired. Whatever was in the pistol, Grif immediately understood them. Explaining that he was trying to help the gooey creature, not harm it, he convinced them that he had done nothing to harm the spacecraft (for that was what he had found) or the strange goo covered creature.
In order to return the Gooey to its home and report their presence on Earth, a Registered Life-Class Wildlife Preserve Planet, Grif was deputised as a Recuit in the Protected Species Division of the Ranger Corps. And the adventure begins! Grif's journey into outer space as a Ranger takes him to strange and dangerous places in the galaxy, seeking to protect endangered lifeforms.
Grif and friends begin their story and take us on a rowdy spin through the alien landscapes as their adventure unfolds. Great characters and an amazing storyline combine with the arts of a master wordsmith to bring a new adventure to us. This is a great read!
Griffin Theodore Brooks and his trusty sidekick, Jacque the Golden Retriever, were free diving off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. Well, Grif was diving. Jacque amused himself on the beach. Grif was looking for his elusive research subject and friend, Oswald, an octopus. Several quick dives hadn't located Oswald yet, but a sudden disturbance in the kelp beds drew his attention to a rounded vessel, somewhat like a submarine. An open hatch invited further inspection. A quick visual inspection revealed a very strange animal of some kind. With six legs, 8 eyes and covered in a snot-like goo, it was obviously not local!
Returning to the beach with the alien creature, Griffin found two figures in grey uniforms. He couldn't understand anything they were saying, if indeed that was what they were doing, until one pointed a pistol-shaped instrument at him a fired. Whatever was in the pistol, Grif immediately understood them. Explaining that he was trying to help the gooey creature, not harm it, he convinced them that he had done nothing to harm the spacecraft (for that was what he had found) or the strange goo covered creature.
In order to return the Gooey to its home and report their presence on Earth, a Registered Life-Class Wildlife Preserve Planet, Grif was deputised as a Recuit in the Protected Species Division of the Ranger Corps. And the adventure begins! Grif's journey into outer space as a Ranger takes him to strange and dangerous places in the galaxy, seeking to protect endangered lifeforms.
Grif and friends begin their story and take us on a rowdy spin through the alien landscapes as their adventure unfolds. Great characters and an amazing storyline combine with the arts of a master wordsmith to bring a new adventure to us. This is a great read!
March 22, 2024
Sunken Spaceship written by Anthony Melchiorri and narrated by Paul Heitsch is highly entertaining and action packed audiobook
Paul Heitsch is the perfect narrator for this title. His sweet talk for Jaques the dog is fantastic and he creates a wonderful reluctant hero nuance with the incredulous cadence in Fin's voice
The quotes that hooked me in;
"No-one messes with my dog!"
"It wasn't often I came across a genetically engineered war monster from a crashed submarine but I wasn't letting old hagfish face know that"
"I mean, I forced myself to Nickelback before, but this, well.."
No joke, you had me at "No-one messes with my dog".
Now, full disclosure, I went into this audiobook because the description said it would appeal to fans of Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "Ooooo" thought I, being someone who has read everything by the iconic Adams (and yes, that includes all 6 books in the trilogy, iykyk) I digress, I was most excited to see what similarities there were
Sunken Spaceship is the type of narrative, dialogue and storyline that you would find in Hitchhikers, but that is the similarity, and that is a good thing. Yes, it follows similar tropes, but it is unique, forging its own path and that I can certainly get behind!
The writing is paced well, comical yet action packed and dynamic. Very enjoyable!
Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, Dreamscape Lore, the author Anthony Melchiorri and the narrator Paul Heitsch for this fantastic ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
Paul Heitsch is the perfect narrator for this title. His sweet talk for Jaques the dog is fantastic and he creates a wonderful reluctant hero nuance with the incredulous cadence in Fin's voice
The quotes that hooked me in;
"No-one messes with my dog!"
"It wasn't often I came across a genetically engineered war monster from a crashed submarine but I wasn't letting old hagfish face know that"
"I mean, I forced myself to Nickelback before, but this, well.."
No joke, you had me at "No-one messes with my dog".
Now, full disclosure, I went into this audiobook because the description said it would appeal to fans of Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "Ooooo" thought I, being someone who has read everything by the iconic Adams (and yes, that includes all 6 books in the trilogy, iykyk) I digress, I was most excited to see what similarities there were
Sunken Spaceship is the type of narrative, dialogue and storyline that you would find in Hitchhikers, but that is the similarity, and that is a good thing. Yes, it follows similar tropes, but it is unique, forging its own path and that I can certainly get behind!
The writing is paced well, comical yet action packed and dynamic. Very enjoyable!
Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, Dreamscape Lore, the author Anthony Melchiorri and the narrator Paul Heitsch for this fantastic ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
April 4, 2024
Needs an editor and a proofreader
The story is good though I have read this trope many times before. The author wrote the protagonist well enough that I cared for and liked him. Then I tripped on the sidewalk and the frequency increased as the story continued. There were many instances where a "copy & paste" left in a repeated word e.g. "I heard that" that..., so my attention was pulled out of the story to note a proofreading error. Then there was the computer autocorrect where a word gains extra letters to become a new word e.g. "on" became "one". As these errors continued to manifest, I was able to make the correction in my head without having to drop out of the story. The need for an editor becomes evident as the story develops. The male protagonist is a Terran human with military experience and the female protagonist is an Intergalactic human with military experience. By the middle of the story the lines between Terran human with military experience and Intergalactic human with military experience begin to blur. By the end of the story, the male and female human protagonists are just two individuals who are ex-military. I am curious enough about how the corruption story ends that I will put up with the editing and proofreading glitches in books 2 & 3.
The story is good though I have read this trope many times before. The author wrote the protagonist well enough that I cared for and liked him. Then I tripped on the sidewalk and the frequency increased as the story continued. There were many instances where a "copy & paste" left in a repeated word e.g. "I heard that" that..., so my attention was pulled out of the story to note a proofreading error. Then there was the computer autocorrect where a word gains extra letters to become a new word e.g. "on" became "one". As these errors continued to manifest, I was able to make the correction in my head without having to drop out of the story. The need for an editor becomes evident as the story develops. The male protagonist is a Terran human with military experience and the female protagonist is an Intergalactic human with military experience. By the middle of the story the lines between Terran human with military experience and Intergalactic human with military experience begin to blur. By the end of the story, the male and female human protagonists are just two individuals who are ex-military. I am curious enough about how the corruption story ends that I will put up with the editing and proofreading glitches in books 2 & 3.
May 21, 2024
The narrative, while treading familiar storylines, effectively captivates readers through a relatable protagonist and his loyal dog. The opening chapter seamlessly draws readers into the story, setting a promising tone. Initially, the author deftly crafts a likable main character, fostering a sense of empathy. Nonetheless, my immersion occasionally wavered due to recurrent grammatical errors, misspellings, and excessive word repetition. Despite these flaws, the storyline remained compelling, albeit somewhat predictable, and the lack of thorough proofreading is somewhat forgivable. The tale unfolds with riveting action, sustaining engagement until the final pages. It's worth noting that the ease of self-teaching intergalactic ship piloting may strain one’s credibility. Overall, "Sunken Spaceships" delivers an enjoyable read marred only by poor proofreading.
June 25, 2024
Anthony Melchiorri’s biography says he is a bioengineer who writes sci-fi as a side gig. His catalog now has 60 titles, which is not bad for a part-time author. His Sunken Spaceship is listed as a standalone novel, though an afterword says the series will add two more books. The story begins on current-day Earth with a retired paratrooper night diving in a kelp forest looking for an octopus he calls Oswald. His research is cut short when he and his golden retriever, Jacques, find themselves duking it out with one of the aliens from the titular sunken spaceship. The alien is just a harmless critter that needs to go home, and our hero finds himself deputized by alien rangers to fly him home. It is a fun start for an adventure story, but Melchiorri needs to tighten his style and plotting.
April 4, 2024
Sunken Spaceship is a story about a ship that crashes on earth, and the man (and his dog) that finds it. What follows is an interesting story where just about everything the guy does turns out to lead to even more trouble. By the end, the reader is left wondering just how much trouble this guy can actually get into, and still come out on the other side. The problem is though, by the way the book ends, it's clear there's way more trouble coming his way, and pretty soon too. It's a lighthearted tale, and interesting enough to keep one reading, so I'll probably check out more books in the series.
May 10, 2024
I don't understand why scarcity is even an issue. You can zip from galaxy? solar system? with nothing more than duct tape and a quarter tank of gas but I'm supposed to care about a toilet worm? The poachers are going to kill the golden goose rather than start a breeding program?
That's another issue. The super microbes or whatever can translate in real time but idioms are just a bridge too far? It wasn't funny the first 100 times and it won't be funny in book two.
Lastly, please don't try and write about the military if you've never served. For the love of god, it's not 1945 and all officers suck, none of them get their hands dirty, and you're not there are enough tropes to choke a horse.
All in all, tree huggers who like a little cops and robbers will enjoy this book.
That's another issue. The super microbes or whatever can translate in real time but idioms are just a bridge too far? It wasn't funny the first 100 times and it won't be funny in book two.
Lastly, please don't try and write about the military if you've never served. For the love of god, it's not 1945 and all officers suck, none of them get their hands dirty, and you're not there are enough tropes to choke a horse.
All in all, tree huggers who like a little cops and robbers will enjoy this book.
May 13, 2024
An Excellent beginning
Absolutely wonderful beginning to a new series. Great characters, and a great story line. Tons of action with plenty of both drama and humor to boot. The writing itself is great, as small bits of the main characters are told in snippets, not in a great flood, giving the story a more natural flow to it. I was afraid this would just be a knockoff of another of my very favourite series, Backyard Starship, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find out no, this is another excellent story with plenty of differences. Sunken Spaceship, in mho, is a must read for all space opera/action fans. Am going now to buy books 2 and 3!
Absolutely wonderful beginning to a new series. Great characters, and a great story line. Tons of action with plenty of both drama and humor to boot. The writing itself is great, as small bits of the main characters are told in snippets, not in a great flood, giving the story a more natural flow to it. I was afraid this would just be a knockoff of another of my very favourite series, Backyard Starship, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find out no, this is another excellent story with plenty of differences. Sunken Spaceship, in mho, is a must read for all space opera/action fans. Am going now to buy books 2 and 3!
April 13, 2024
Good Story, Lousy Proofreading
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have rated it at least a four star if not for the multitude of grammatical mistakes throughout the whole book. These really detracted from the flow of the narrative, causing me considerable irritation that only increased the further I read. I would have liked to read the next book in the series as the overall story line is quite interesting, but I'm reluctant to do so if it subjects me to more of the same crap.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have rated it at least a four star if not for the multitude of grammatical mistakes throughout the whole book. These really detracted from the flow of the narrative, causing me considerable irritation that only increased the further I read. I would have liked to read the next book in the series as the overall story line is quite interesting, but I'm reluctant to do so if it subjects me to more of the same crap.
July 20, 2024
Great summer Sci Fi
The only thing I did not like about this book was the name. This is a well written book and I enjoyed every second of it. The detail at the beginning of the beach is amazing and Anthony certainly must have some experience diving in with the ocean to write at that level of detail, this is another term pay as you go space opera love the character development. It is inventive and enjoyable with a decent bit of humor as well. Welcome to Colorado from another Maryland graduate.
The only thing I did not like about this book was the name. This is a well written book and I enjoyed every second of it. The detail at the beginning of the beach is amazing and Anthony certainly must have some experience diving in with the ocean to write at that level of detail, this is another term pay as you go space opera love the character development. It is inventive and enjoyable with a decent bit of humor as well. Welcome to Colorado from another Maryland graduate.
April 13, 2024
Quite Bizarre
At the beginning, the storyline and plot follow a fairly standard line of actions and interactions, but as the story progresses, weirdness begins threading through the edges and eventually becomes the primary focus by the end of the book. So much action and destruction in a few battles at the end that one wonders how anyone survived. Some threads are resolved at book’s end, though it is made obvious the story will continue into the next installment.
At the beginning, the storyline and plot follow a fairly standard line of actions and interactions, but as the story progresses, weirdness begins threading through the edges and eventually becomes the primary focus by the end of the book. So much action and destruction in a few battles at the end that one wonders how anyone survived. Some threads are resolved at book’s end, though it is made obvious the story will continue into the next installment.
July 15, 2024
Good Read, but lacking in deeper grip
The book set up a good world, good characters and good story, however I found myself hard to relate to the main character. It could just be me, but there was nothing of deeper substance than a man who cares about nature and animals like people. I’m sure it’s right up some peoples alley, and I enjoyed it, but probably won’t move on to book 2 without a more powerful undertone.
I also barely read, so.. take my opinion for what it is haha
The book set up a good world, good characters and good story, however I found myself hard to relate to the main character. It could just be me, but there was nothing of deeper substance than a man who cares about nature and animals like people. I’m sure it’s right up some peoples alley, and I enjoyed it, but probably won’t move on to book 2 without a more powerful undertone.
I also barely read, so.. take my opinion for what it is haha
April 25, 2024
It started interestingly and ended predictably -
I picked this title because it sounded like there might be an interesting twist due to the character's background in marine biology, but it let me down and just became a run-and-shoot things book. I did listen to the end, but even the lamish cliffhanger ending won't get me to read the series.
I picked this title because it sounded like there might be an interesting twist due to the character's background in marine biology, but it let me down and just became a run-and-shoot things book. I did listen to the end, but even the lamish cliffhanger ending won't get me to read the series.
May 10, 2024
Nice premise
I sure enjoy building stories from especially coming of age and building stories. Having the background that the protagonist has with the mixed bag of the party to do all the cool stuff is fun. I enjoyed the mix of skills technology and wonder that came into the story.
I sure enjoy building stories from especially coming of age and building stories. Having the background that the protagonist has with the mixed bag of the party to do all the cool stuff is fun. I enjoyed the mix of skills technology and wonder that came into the story.
June 7, 2024
OMG
Ok, having read The Tide series I figured what the heck, let’s read more of Anthony’s work.
OMG was it worth it. A total departure from The Tide - in space, not Earth, etc. - it’s a really great read.
The characters are engaging, the plot is interesting, the details are amazing.
Can’t wait to read the next in the series!!!
Ok, having read The Tide series I figured what the heck, let’s read more of Anthony’s work.
OMG was it worth it. A total departure from The Tide - in space, not Earth, etc. - it’s a really great read.
The characters are engaging, the plot is interesting, the details are amazing.
Can’t wait to read the next in the series!!!
August 5, 2024
I liked this story from the very beginning, even before any real action happened. Fin’s concern for living creatures hooked me, and his adaptability to the most incredible circumstances kept me going. I especially enjoyed his having multiple missions in the same book. The absurdity of Fin and Jacque’s situation is somehow easily believable. I just wish the ending isn’t such a cliffhanger.
September 17, 2024
Normally I am very good at "suspension of disbelief" and can become totally involved in a book. Something about this one kept me outside and I was always aware that I was reading a book rather than being totally engrossed in the story. Perhaps it was just the way it was written.
Be that as it may, the concept for this is excellent and it is a tale well told.
Be that as it may, the concept for this is excellent and it is a tale well told.
April 5, 2024
By golly, she did it!!
A really different base scenario than I've experienced before. I enjoyed the differences and the space opera genre. I liked the book and was sad I have to wait for the next!! Now, it's your turn!!
A really different base scenario than I've experienced before. I enjoyed the differences and the space opera genre. I liked the book and was sad I have to wait for the next!! Now, it's your turn!!
April 13, 2024
I enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing the Sunken Spaceship series in the months ahead. There was definitely a bit of a slow start and the book meandered from time to time but by the last quarter of the book when Finn has his crew nailed down the book really started to hum. Well done!
April 17, 2024
Watered
Thank you dear author for a fine book it has many interesting characters And many good plots throughout the whole book Please keep up the good work I can't wait to start to read book 2
Thank you dear author for a fine book it has many interesting characters And many good plots throughout the whole book Please keep up the good work I can't wait to start to read book 2
April 27, 2024
It was ok. Predictable and derivative, the human from earth who is out in the deep black running into other races and fighting for good. You know the main character will live because there’s another book - so no drama.
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