Celus-5 (Silver Ships, #8) (2024)

Willem, a SADE (self-aware digital entity), identified Celus-5 as a possible candidate for a new colony. Haraken sent off an explorer ship called The Sojourn. Aboard the ship is Teague Racine. Teague is the son of Alex and Renee Racine. Alex is the former president of Haraken. Teague’s girlfriend, Ginny, is also aboard the ship. They discover the planet has two alien species as well as the remains of a Nua’ll ship. They are trying to discover what has happened to the Swei Swee who were aboard the Nua’ll ship.

The book is well written. The story is a bit different from the prior books. The Haraken are advancing and are now sending out explorer ships. Alex is no longer the key character. Jucha has introduced a number of new characters. The ending is most interesting and sets up the future of the series. The story still manages to keep my attention.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is about thirteen and a half hours. Grover Gardner does an excellent job narrating the book. Gardner is an actor, voice-over artist and has narrated audiobooks since 1981. Gardner has won twenty Earphone Award, and the Audie Award. In 1999 Audiofile named him the Best Voice of the Century. He has won multiple Golden Voice Awards and in 2005 won the Audiobook Narrator of the Year Award from Audible.

So I enjoyed reading the next chapter of the silver ships series by S H Jucha. You can definitely tell his character development and fictional universe is paying off. I have often tried to understand what I like about his casual writing style but can not put my finger on it. The character's interactions are driven from a positive place which I enjoy. A lot of sci-fi originates from really negative views of how social interactions occur (which is understandable, it is drama). It is significantly more difficult to write stories which originate outside of continual violence and investigate problem solving and diplomacy in a way engaging to the reader. I enjoy how he expands on the diversity of his characters creating societal mythos, which takes time in sci-fi. The AIs have the own uniqueness in their interactions and drive, along with the other aliens they encounter. Creating the diversity then leads to interesting story telling later as the plot develops. You can tell Jucha is playing the long game which is difficult, he is building the story towards the return of the silver ships. Building the potential complex social interactions which will then occur. Building the framework for future plot is often difficult, because authors often want to burn through the easy plot to engage readers. It will be interesting to read how Jucha continues weave his tale.

Another truly enjoyable read in this great series.

This was a strange book. Not in the way it was written, but in the way I reacted to it. All the previous books in this series have been focused around Alex Racine and his actions with his close bunch of followers. I have enjoyed those books tremendously. This book started off as as disappointment! Yeah, that’s the strange part because as you can see, I still ended giving it a 5-Star rating. The reason I initially felt disappointed is that Alex Racine wasn’t in the book for the first several chapters. Alex and Renée’s son, Teague, along with his sweetheart, Ginny, were also not the lead characters, but at least they were there. No, this book started off on an entirely different planet than Haraken. Celus-5 was going to be a new planet that the Harakens hoped to colonize which would be the very first colony for the Haraken society. Things were moving along in that Alex is no longer President. He’s just an ordinary citizen of Harakan, no longer in any leadership role. Still, this is Alex Racine we’re talking about.

The Harakens have sent an exploration team to Celus-5 to find out if the planet can support human life. They believe it to be uninhabited, but won’t know for sure until they set feet on the ground. That’s where they’re in for a surprise. Celus-5 is inhabited by a very fierce group of peoples who do not want aliens encroaching on their planet. The Dischnya are not native to Celius-5 having arrived from Celus-4 centuries before and then got stuck there without knowing why. Celus-4 was once a teaming planet full of Dischnya with their relatively advanced space-faring civilization until something happened and the supply ships stopped coming. There was no further contact with Celius-4. So, the surviving Dischnya slowly evolved their own civilization ruled by Queens in collective groups. These groups began to fighting each other over the limited resources the planet provided. Unknown to the Dischnya, there was another intelligent species on this planet, which they took to be nothing more than a food source.

Anyway, when the first ship from Harakan arrived, among it’s adventurers where Teague and Ginny. They were unfortunately among the group that was abruptly captured by the Dischnya and taken to their underground den. Of course, this is where Alex and Renée step in. Nothing is going to stop them, especially Alex, from rescuing his Son. So, that’s what the rest of the book is about. Still, you have understand that this is Alex Racine and his Harakens. They have some unusual approaches to problems to say the least. Along with the SADES, there isn’t much that they can’t solve. Except this problem soon becomes almost unsolveable when Alex and his friends find out how the Dischyna have been treating the planets Swei Swee.

This book is also strange in that Alex leaves before completely solving the problems presented to him by this planet. He doesn’t have the resources with in the exploratory team nor did he bring them with him as part of the rescue team. So, it’s only necessary that he does leave, but Alex isn’t only leaving just to immediately return. He’s got other ideas which I believe are going to allow the author to greatly expand on the further adventures of Alex and his people. It could also involve another great battle between the Harakens and the Nua’ll. While Alex destroyed their great ship in his galaxy, they did get a message out which is cause for concern.

I look forward to the next book in the series which is titled, “Omnia”. When it will be published is unknown, but these books seem to come out quite frequently so I’d be surprised if we had to wait long.

Nice

I felt muddled down by the politics of the story and felt that you decided to wrap things up. I love the series but you have some loose ends to address in the next one. Patient waiting... Thank you.

I really enjoyed this book and would have given it a rating of five had it concluded the story of actions on Celius-5. The story went along greatly in my opinion until the last chapters when Alex left the planet and went back to Harken. At that point he had not really concluded the peace between the two species living on the planet. And, uncharacteristically, he did nothing to find out who or what lived in the woods on the planet. And except for a couple of the Swee Swei no one investigated the ships stuck in the sand on the beach. That left the story incomplete. I suppose that type ending was probably on purpose and the gaps will be filled in in the next book. The last chapters were like a bridge between book # 8 and book # 9

I think this book is as good if not better than the previous books in this series that I have read. I do have book #10 so I can begin to look for the ending of the story began in book # 9.

Alex is back in the saddle, and things are getting done.

Easily the most enjoyable Silver ships book in several entries. With the last couple being merely ok, this book makes it clear that the galaxy has more interesting things to show.

The overall formula remains the same, Alex is dragged into the struggle of a place, he finds all want peace and understanding, save for a few. The few get delt with and peace can form. Well kinda...

Things are more complicated this time, and genuinely complicated, not like when Alex's sister was kidnapped. Situations and culture completely alien to humans are mixed in and make for some complex issues and maybe some secrets.

The characters are mostly still the same too, the good guys who can be reasoned with, the bad guys who can't, the oppressed to be freed, and Alex's missionaries who go about spreading peace and love.

I enjoyed this book more than the last few, and I look forward to what's to come.

Wow! Am I too stingy with my stars? If you look at my books you will see that three stars are my "standard" rating. It means that I liked and enjoyed the book, and that I will read more by that author. Four stars - exciting and really engaging. Five stars grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go until the last word on the last page - and I still wanted more.

I like this series because the books are varied in that they are not all war and fighting, not all social commentary, not all gooey romance, not all angst and emotion, etc.

And, like Rick, I wish that there were better proofreaders with better backgrounds in grammar, sentence structure, hom*onyms (words that sound the same, but DO NOT mean the same) and word definitions. I've learned to skip these mistakes and carry on, but I cannot help but notice and wonder at the state of our educational institutions.

And the Madman and his friends discover new places to go, new species to learn from and help

This book felt at the beginning a slow book with the presentation of an interesting new intelligent specie, but quickly Alex Racine gets involved and the entire pace changes. A new branch of Swei Swee are discovered, while is no indication of them being a completely new specie, is recognized that evolution has played a big part making the two different kind Similar but very different.
At the end we discover that Alex without the knowledge of the Dischnay on the Nua Sphere ship he suspect the Nua are probably coming and it will in a bigger number. The last episode is a big introduction to the new adventures of Alex Racine and his close friends.

This book starts with an expedition to a new planet that goes wrong when they are attacked. This is an interesting beginning, but it has some irritations. For example how are two, much vaunted, Silver Ships incapable of picking up a net that can be lifted by a group of rodents. Why didn’t the second ship go out to sea to pick up the four Swei Swee before they nearly died?
In the end Alex comes to save the day and what follows is an OK story but it never ‘grabbed me’ in fact at times it was a bit boring. It didn’t help that there was no end to this story, it’s as if the author just decided he’d had enough for a while and just stopped writing.

Lost Art of Story Telling

Oral traditions shared around a campfire still required the story teller to describe his characters and their circ*mstances in a way that made listeners believe their reality. Today, the printed text requires no less. S J Jucha is a story teller. His characters are complex. The universe in which they struggle is believable and both are consistent. The reader wants to learn how these characters resolve any given situation. I've read many Space Opera publications that I have at some point simply put down without finishing. I didn't care enough. I hope you'll let Jucha tell you a story!

Every time I think the next book can’t exceed the previous stories I’m surprised

Well this one is such a departure from the previous book that it is difficult to describe without spoilers. Suffice it to say new world, new highly unique aliens and Alex trying to make the world a better place (well that last is consistent with all previous books). I love the leap the last couple of books have made. I believe they set the stage for the next 12 (or 16 depending on how you count) books to come.

Jucha's writing style has definitely improved with each new book, and Celus-5 is the best yet. It's clearly a leadup to the next book, Omnia, which I'm already excited for. I honestly can't wait to see more of these new worlds, and I love the Dirschnya. Also, divergent evolution is cool. I love that he continues to write species who aren't just poorly disguised humans, and that Alex is beginning to truly face challenges that he's an equal to. Can't wait for Omnia!

Good

It's not great literature, but there is something addictive about this series....I greatly look forward to each new book. It may be because Mr. Jucha does have a knack of creating likeable and/or interesting people, with a great variety of personalities. Then he puts them into a series of original situations that are sometimes pretty complex. So, as long as he keeps doing that, I will probably keep reading them!

After 8 absolutely great books in this series we are finally getting a peak or a clue to the way everything connects.
What started this excellent story is
coming back to end it.
How I have no idea which is the best part in this whole series and the credits for that belong only to the great author S. H. Jucha who got one hell of an imagination and knows how to put it into writing for us all.

Fully recommended !!!

Gone are the clunky faltering steps of the start of the series as Book 7 of the Silver Ships hits its stride with a rich cast of characters wrestling, to triumph, with the challenges of first contact. Jucha manages to capture the full range of society from political, to militaristic, from ecological to the familial. What results is an engaging page-turner, though it is somewhat bereft of surprise, airing towards the comfortable.

The continuing adventures of Alex Racine, former space tug captain, founding father of Haraken, a new space colony, and now the elder statesman of that colony. He now leads the Harakens on their first space exploration, seeking new, habitable planets. The expedition, to Celus-5, uncovers two alien civilizations who do not get along with each other. His expertise is stretched to the limit to prevent open warfare between the two while investigating the possible presence of the Nu'all, a dominating civilization which has been responsible for the destruction of many worlds across the boundries of space. There are a lot of twists and turns in this story that will hold your interest until the end. The SADE (Self Aware Digital Entities--think Commander Data of Star Trek-TNG) play a prominent role in Celus-5.

Refreshingly Clear and Clean

The storyline was clear and easy to follow. The language was clean- refreshingly so. The length of the book was about right. The ending left me willing to follow the author to his next book. I would recommend the Silver Ships series to any young adults.

My initial impression was that this was going to be a "filler" book in the series. I could not have been more wrong. This book reveals the lengths and depths of the Harakan's love for the Alex, and the extents that they will go to for him and his own. Several chapters and passages had me in tears. Take your time on this read, and really absorb the message.

Pretty alright

This suffered from feeling like two stories in one book, something this author has done before. Pacing and focus continue to be an issue. I'm going to read the next one though

Dog-damnit, you did it again.

I never cry. Ever. I'm a mean bitch who won't take anything less then respect. So when my eyes teared up not once, but several times. I thought...this man is a great writer. I loved this book. Loved the excitement. And yes, the tears.

Actually 2.5. Story is good, but the protagonist is too perfect and wins without even trying.

Repetition, POV issues, and grammatical problem tell me the work was not professionally edited. Probably a 20 books try.

Oh so refreshing!

This story was so refreshing and different and I really, loved the flow. Thank you for the change up which makes reading your books so enjoyable. I cannot wait to get stuck into the next book to see how things unfold. Please keep on writing!

Always fun and exciting!

This series just keeps getting better. And again, i get emotional over parts of it. I am amazed how Jucha thinks. What a clever storyline, personable characters, and endless adventure!

Go, Alex!!!

The best so far

This is the best entry in the Silver Ships saga to date. The concept, challenges, and outcomes were unique but also familiar. I truly enjoyed this and look forward to the next entry.

Wonderful

S H Jucha continues to enthrall his readers with great storylines. It's like visiting old friends and making new ones with each book. I can't wait for the next.

I've read every book in the series. Love the author, love his style, love his stories.

Brilliant

Cant wait for the next book.
Just read all 8 without a break. Hooked from the first book. Defo recommend.

Not often

It is not often that a story makes me laugh out loud, or, brings tears to my eyes. Cells 5 did both, and I read a lot. Don't miss this one, Much a is a great story teller.

Alex

I can’t wait to read his next adventure to see where he gets into and what he discovers out there in other parts of the galaxy.