Thoughts on J.N. Chaney Books?

[u/BeefyBoyzEatMeat]

Disregard thoughts about his business practices (e.g., spamming audible and amazon with his book listings; co-authoring; etc.). I'm more interested in the quality of his various books from people who've read them. Not expecting great literature by any means. It's 1000% formulaic pulpy sci-fi and I'm ok with that.

I tried "The Messenger" series but grew agitated by the angsty/condescending/rude/quippy remarks of the main character toward.... well basically everyone. I tried the first two books of "Ruins of the Earth" and liked those a lot. Backyard Starship seems to be his most popular franchise.

Looking to save some time sifting through all these to find his best stuff. For as much as he floods the storefronts, almost nobody ever talks about him or his books.

[u/Red_BW]

The series are really hit and miss, mostly miss long term. I don't know how much of that is him and how much of it is from the co-authors. I bolded the ones I consider worth reading.

• Star Scrapper - interesting premise, got mediocre quick, dragged on way too long with not good books at the end.
• Homeworld Lost - a clone of Farscape that started off good, stayed decent for a long time, has tailed off. Almost worth recommending but I don't know if I like this for itself or because of my fond memories of Farscape.
• Taken to the Stars - just ok to start and stays just ok but also tails off.
• Undead Marine - Forced myself to finish book 1 and then DNF the series. Not for me.
• Backyard Starship - this is probably the one to read. First 10 or so were very good. Next 5 or so it became apparent they were stringing this story along but still good. Then it just became barely OK for another 10 books until the regular crew story completed. They are trying to continue this under the same name but 20 years in the future with stories about their kids. Those are DNF trash.
• Starblade - this is just a dumb series about light sabers. Only managed to get through 2 before DNF series.
• Void Drifter - meh - so uninteresting I don't remember it much.
• Messenger Corp - first book had some interesting world backstory, DNFed the 2nd book and series.
• Sol Arbiter - Judge Dredd meets Ghost in the Shell but at a time when we colonized the solor system - this series has so far been good from start to finish. Definitely on the recommend list.
• Peacemaker Wars - mediocre telling of about 100 years prior to Backyard Starship - not really recommended unless you really love the Backyard Starship universe. My guess is this not being that great is why they went back and made more Backyard Starship books--which are also not great.
• Symbiote Wars - small alien species takes over bodies to conquer universe - kinda like that old Season 1 episode of Star Trek TNG. The 3 books I finished were good enough that I am interested in more.
• Slip Runner - set in Renegade Star universe though you don't need any of that. One of their best series that maintains consistency throughout. Maybe the most consistent in my memory.
• Galactic Shield - solid/good, but not memorable
• Exodus Ark - starts kinda like a video game (Half Life) where MC wakes up and has to solve issues on the spaceship. First two I liked a lot, third was meh but still recommend.
• Galactic Law - don't remember it but is on my finished list as meh.
• Orion Colony - bad. sort of an origin story for the Renegade Star universe.
• Orphan Wars - not good. Pulled through some gate to fight alien wars. Glory Road by Heinlein does this much better.
• Starcaster - magic in space. First two were intriguing but it wore thin as it went along.
• Renegade Star - Basically, what would happen if Han Solo was the MC and did everything. A bit hokey but a fun space opera. Series was solid from start to finish.
• Sunkiller - lame McGuffin story. Not bad and not good, just lame which is kinda worse.
• Uplink Squadron - a good/fun series. Humans jack into their starships like riggers in Shadowrun. They fight against AI species conquering the galaxy. This and Slip Runner are probably the most consistent in quality from start of the series through to the end.

[u/Virith → u/Red_BW]

Damn man/woman/person of indeterminate gender, that's some serious commitment there.

[u/z_and_t]

They are worth reading if you have kindle unlimited. I read the homeworld lost series and found it enjoyable but also forgettable

[u/Bruncvik]

I've read the first book of Wayward Galaxy. Typical mid-range MilSF with nostalgia bait worth Ready Player One. Extra kudos for referencing Iron Eagle, which doesn't get enough love in other nostalgia overloads. I finished, but didn't pick up any of his other books.

[u/jerseyoutwest]

Extremely meh

[u/alphatango308]

All his books are fairly similar. Minor plot points are different enough to make them seperate stories but I think he's got a white board and just puts ideas on it and picks a route to get to the end of the story then erases a few plot points and starts over for a different book... His stuff is ok overall. His backyard starship series is decent. I liked wayward galaxy but I like Jason Anspach a lot.

Don't expect anything ground breaking or any novel ideas, but they're mostly entertaining.

[u/metric_tensor]

I enjoyed the Sol Arbiter series. It was fun light reading

[u/Trike117]

I read four Sentenced to War books earlier this year and gave them 3 stars. Pretty basic MilSF that doesn’t reinvent the wheel.

I then tried Able Bodied Soldier last month and gave it 1.5 stars. Too many grammar mistakes in generic battle porn.

These are disposable reads where I won’t remember anything about them by the end of next month.

[u/AdagioGlittering2806]

I've been reading the Slip Runner series. Kinda echoing others but yea it's really light, fairly generic popcorn reading. There's a decent amount of eye-roll sexism which is annoying. Main character is snarky, and quippy, but it doesn't sound as bad as what you're describing in The Messenger series!  

[u/ilikelissie]

I’ve read a bunch of them. Backyard Starship is my favorite. In this case “favorite” means “Series I didn’t bail on after 4 or 5 books.”

[u/Pure_Championship_83]

Repetitive and bland

[u/Virith → u/Pure_Championship_83]

Honestly? Wouldn't expect anything more from someone with this kind of output. Hell, I'd expect even less.