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S.H. Jucha
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The Silver Ships Kindle Edition

by S.H. Jucha (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 5,485 ratings
An explorer-tug captain, Alex Racine detects a damaged alien craft drifting into the system. Recognizing a once in a lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict.Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.What enfolds is a story of the descendants of two Earth colony ships, with very different histories, meeting 700 years after their founding and uniting to defend humanity from the silver ships.
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  1. Book 1 of 20
    The Silver Ships
  2. Print length
    320 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    February 7, 2015
  6. File size
    1.4 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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  1. “You have a choice in life, Alex. You can help someone in need or stand back and do nothing. And the choice you make determines the person you are.”
    Highlighted by 111 Kindle readers
  2. “Alex, you can’t be what others want you to be; you can only be who you are.”
    Highlighted by 94 Kindle readers
  3. But he’d come to understand one thing; his difficulty forming meaningful relationships wouldn’t be solved by self-imposed isolation.
    Highlighted by 46 Kindle readers
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Overall, this book is straightforward fun. A good, meat-and-potatoes space-opera adventure." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A sci-fi read that is, plain and simple, a good, solid, entertaining read." -- D. Donovan, Senior eBook Reviewer, MBR

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00TCV621O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ S.H. Jucha
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 7, 2015
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0990594017
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 1 of 20 ‏ : ‎ The Silver Ships
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 5,485 ratings

About the author

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S.H. Jucha

S.H. Jucha

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From my early years to the present, books have been a refuge. They’ve fueled my imagination. I’ve traveled to faraway places and met aliens with Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Herbert, and Le Guin. I’ve explored historical events with Michener and Clavell, and I played spy with Ludlum and Fleming.

There’s no doubt that the early sci-fi masters influenced the writing of my first two series, The Silver Ships and Pyreans. I crafted my stories to give readers intimate views of my characters, who wrestle with the challenges of living in space and inhabiting alien worlds.

Life is rarely easy for my characters, who encounter aliens and calamities, but they persist and flourish. I revel in examining humankind’s will to survive. Not everyone plays fair or exhibits concern for their fellow beings, but that’s another aspect of humans and aliens that I investigate.

My stories offer hope for humans today about what they might accomplish tomorrow far from our home world. Throughout my books, humans exhibit a will to persevere, without detriment to the vast majority of others.

Readers have been generous with their comments, which they’ve left on Amazon and Goodreads for others to review. I truly enjoy what I do, and I’m pleased to read how my stories have positively impacted many readers’ lives.

If you’ve read my books, please consider posting a review on Amazon and Goodreads for every book, even a short one. Reviews attract other readers and are a great help to indie authors, such as me.

The Silver Ships’ first five novels hit Amazon’s coveted #1 Best Selling Sci-Fi book, three times, and #2, twice, in multiple science fiction categories of first contact, space opera, and alien invasion.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
5,485 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this science fiction book engaging with a good pace that encourages page-turning, featuring well-developed characters and interesting personalities. The writing style is easy to follow, and customers appreciate the imaginative take on the future and world-building. While customers consider it a good start to the series, some find it completely unrealistic and not particularly hard science fiction.

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389 customers mention "Enjoyment"389 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very interesting and fun to read, with one customer noting how it keeps their interest throughout.

"...and that was another weakness in my mind; Racine was just too good, too perfect, everybody loved him, he was good & kind & handsome & smart & you..." Read more

"...found the immaturity of many of the Human crew youthful, cute and appealing and not sophomorically offensive like some of the characters on several..." Read more

"Every once in a long while a sci-fi novel comes out that is worthy of attention, and Mr. Jucha has gifted us with such a novel...." Read more

"...the one from the other Earth based colony is so intensely good and wonderful and incredibly intelligent, good looking, hard working, loyal, patient..." Read more

325 customers mention "Storyline"284 positive41 negative

Customers enjoy the storyline of this science fiction book, describing it as an engaging space opera with suspenseful elements and a twist.

"...Great story lines and character development. A story to get lost in." Read more

"...The science seemed okay, the plot mostly kept my interest, and the aliens were fairly well designed when you finally really got to learn something..." Read more

"...The plot developments were sufficiently delayed to make the waiting appealing and mildly suspenseful regarding when the events would occur, much as..." Read more

"...But if you are willing to open your imagination and enjoy a well-crafted story for what it is -- laws of physics be damned -- then buckle up for an..." Read more

214 customers mention "Character development"181 positive33 negative

Customers appreciate the well-developed characters in the book, noting their interesting personalities, with one customer highlighting the clean-cut hero type who is kind.

"...Great story lines and character development. A story to get lost in." Read more

"...The characters were well developed and one was motivated to root and feel anxious for the “good” ones and despise the “bad” ones...." Read more

"The silver ships has a positively fun plot and likable characters...." Read more

"...he's incredibly creative, has unique ideas, and brings them together with interesting characters...." Read more

139 customers mention "Writing style"121 positive18 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, finding it well-crafted and easy to read, with one customer noting it's written at a young adult level.

"...Soon I warmed to the writing style, the characters and the story...." Read more

"...I really enjoyed the story, the writing and the people. This is a different kind of space opera...." Read more

"First off the author is a good writer. His dialogue is smooth and the characters are interesting although kind of cliche...." Read more

"...Iain M Banks and Neal Asher do a great job writing AI-fic, really go check their stuff out for how to do that kind of space opera, because it's..." Read more

88 customers mention "Innovation"88 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's innovative approach, praising its imaginative take on the future and great world building.

"...The science seemed okay, the plot mostly kept my interest, and the aliens were fairly well designed when you finally really got to learn something..." Read more

"...Jucha's strengths are that he's incredibly creative, has unique ideas, and brings them together with interesting characters...." Read more

"...There are plenty of details on physics, trajectories, ship design, weaponry, AI, nanites, and other common sci-fi ideas and technologies...." Read more

"...I found these books to be amazing. They're fun and fast-paced, they're imaginative, and the characters are refreshingly 3 dimensional and believable...." Read more

83 customers mention "Start"83 positive0 negative

Customers find this book to be a good start to the series, describing it as an interesting introduction to a new saga.

"...'s how they meet - more involved, of course - all that is a good interesting start and throw in an alien culture that has attacked one ship - the..." Read more

"This is an amazing series (of one so far) -- but very unusual. There is no violence, no fights, no wars, no lasers, guns, hate, etc...." Read more

"...It reads as a debut, and I'm hoping the next books in the series offer a few more hurdles for the main characters to overcome...." Read more

"...very wide range of genre each year, when life gets tough, this is my go-to series (unbelievably re-read a couple of times)!..." Read more

79 customers mention "Pacing"63 positive16 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, describing it as encouraging a page-turning reading experience, with one customer noting how smoothly the progression of events flows.

"...There are plenty of details on physics, trajectories, ship design, weaponry, AI, nanites, and other common sci-fi ideas and technologies...." Read more

"...This book is about the journey -- I think it has great potential as does the author...." Read more

"...I found these books to be amazing. They're fun and fast-paced, they're imaginative, and the characters are refreshingly 3 dimensional and believable...." Read more

"...Jucha's writing style is exquisite: flows well and beautifully descriptive. I know my descriptions my sound rather flakey, but they're not!..." Read more

44 customers mention "Science fiction"12 positive32 negative

Customers find the science fiction elements of the book unrealistic and too good to be true.

"...the weaknesses in my view was that this liberal utopia was just too good to be true, that it wasn't far enough in the future for the universal peace..." Read more

"...The science isn’t particularly “hard science-fiction” either but that isn’t a big issue...." Read more

"...imaginative, and the characters are refreshingly 3 dimensional and believable...." Read more

"...I found this story to be average – good. Weak on the science part of science fiction, and not particularly original...." Read more

The best Sci-Fi series I've read. Prepare to enjoy yourself for quite a while - 33 books in total!
5 out of 5 stars
The best Sci-Fi series I've read. Prepare to enjoy yourself for quite a while - 33 books in total!
OK, I *just* finished reading The Silver Ships (all 20 books), (with a side excursion to Pyreans! - another 6 books) and was a little sad that there was no more to read. Then I saw another series by S.H. Jucha, Gate Ghosts, 7 books. All three book series are part of The Earther's Saga - 33 books! Awesome 👍 I've been reading science fiction for many years, but The Silver Ships and Pyreans was the best sci-fi series I've ever read, by far. And I really enjoyed the number of books, and getting to know the characters. I also really appreciate S.H. Jucha putting it on Kindle Unlimited, and also on Audible. I usually get the books on Kindle Unlimited and also the Audible audiobook, so I can "read" on the screen or listen. Thank you so much! I'm jumping on Gate Ghosts next 📚
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this series!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Have read this series severaltimes and just keep coming back to it. Great story lines and character development. A story to get lost in.
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  • Kelly Howard
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly good book, with some problems. Far right types may find it gag-inducing
    Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Update, after rereading (well, listening to the audiobook; with Grover Gardner reading, that can actually be better). I wish I could give it 3 1/2 stars, but am going with 4 as an average of my first very good impression & second "near-meh" response.

    I enjoyed this book more the first time than the second...dunno if I skimmed it more the first time thru, or what, but problems stood out the 2nd go-round. After several decades of reading SF it was great to run across a new writer. It's not a perfect book, but is good. I imagine there will be a certain group of SF readers who will hate it, though, primarily for the way that the society is set up in Jucha's world; it is very much a "liberal" society, where government works for the common person, protects the environment, isn't warlike, and doesn't worship at the alter of Business.

    This is not to say (IMO) that the book is "political" or that Jucha is pushing an agenda, though I knew I would see reviewers saying this even before I looked (& I was correct). The society just is what it is, and it works, which I was sure would drive certain folks bananas (especially when Business tries to move in & take over new tech it doesn't go the way that Tea Party/"Market Forces" types would prefer). There are many, many examples of military SF, and SF worlds that are very strong militarily & business-wise without being proselytizing, and I've really enjoyed a lot of them (I cut my teeth on Heinlein, fa crying out loud); this is simply a SF universe with a different type of government. One of the weaknesses in my view was that this liberal utopia was just too good to be true, that it wasn't far enough in the future for the universal peace & harmony among humans, given our track record. I'm guessing a couple billion years won't be enough for humans to get that calm & rational.

    Anyhow, of course when humans do encounter hostile aliens it turns out that they really need someone who can 'do' violence, and they need weapons. The uber-good guy Racine steps up & works with the newly-discovered 'alien' humans to put the fight together, and that was another weakness in my mind; Racine was just too good, too perfect, everybody loved him, he was good & kind & handsome & smart & you just know he kept his room clean as a child even without his mother saying anything...he's sort of a borderline MarySue (I forget what the male version is called). (Oh yeah, those 'alien humans' are another thing that probably will drive some right-wingish SF fan nuts --they're basically French. I had to wonder if that was a joke on the author's part.)

    But other than the too-good-to-be-trueness of the society & of Racine, I found this to be a fairly engaging book. This mostly doesn't have the awkward feel of a first-time author, although the ratio of "tell" to "show" was way too high....to the point that Mr Gardner, (my personal candidate for "God of Audiobook Readers") actually sounded flat. It didn't help that many of the characters were pretty flat even when they did talk --the AI-ish Julian & the Meridians were almost robotic. Didn't give GG a lot to work with.

    The science seemed okay, the plot mostly kept my interest, and the aliens were fairly well designed when you finally really got to learn something about them, though that come very late. The book ends rather abruptly, to the point I felt like it was a ploy to get you to buy the second book by not really finishing the first. Dunno if I will get the next one.

    **SPOILER ALERT!**
    I also missed (or forgot to note in the original review) another annoying plot point. The only person in the story who's apparently a 'person of color' appears, and....guess who's the first to get wiped out by the aliens. Never fails; in a horror or thriller flick, the single black dude might as well be wearing a red Security shirt from the original Star Trek. The only thing to bet on is how soon he gets lunched. Here, he might've been the only one to get killed, I don't recall (other than faceless millions offstage & they don't count, being merely statistics, not actual characters). As soon as Gardner's wonderful voice described the guy with dark skin (I forget the exact description), I thought "Bye bye, fella, nice knowing you, brief tho it'll be. Or...maybe the author will do something different for a change?" Nope. Kablooie, atomized dark-skinned character.
    *sigh*
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Fillmore Wood
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Start to A Planned Four Book Series
    Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I just finished The Siler Ships, the first volume in a planned four book series, and was extremely impressed. The characters were well developed and one was motivated to root and feel anxious for the “good” ones and despise the “bad” ones. The plot developments were sufficiently delayed to make the waiting appealing and mildly suspenseful regarding when the events would occur, much as in real life. The politicians often acted with the same deplorable self-promoting scumminess I came to expect from many of them during my days as a government lobbyist. I thought the interplay and loyalties between the AI and its partner Humans was interesting and amusing (reminding me a bit of the similarly entertaining treatment of Human / AI relationships in the works of another relative newcomer whose novels I have liked, Dietmar Wehr). I even found the immaturity of many of the Human crew youthful, cute and appealing and not sophomorically offensive like some of the characters on several TV crime procedurals.

    I did not detect any significant editing errors or technical gaffs, the latter perhaps because the technical content was not that central. But the scientific component was not so light as to be completely irrelevant. This book may not appeal to someone looking to plot course vectors of space voyages and weapons ranges of space battles to confirm their accuracy or who is looking for details of cutting edge propulsion theory developments. But for the reader who merely wants a plausible space yarn (even one who, like me, does have a certain level of scientific education and/or involvement with current space exploration efforts), the book is excellent.

    I also applaud the author’s decision to make this a four part story cycle. Everyone is doing multi-volume series these days. And that is fine. I look forward to reading the sequels when I finish a good book. But too many authors drag a story line out far too long to sustain one’s interest. Or branch a story into too many parallel story lines that serve to confuse. I have no preference between three and four volumes. And in a very rare case, I have been interested in a series thru around book ten. But five is usually my limit, after which I enter a note in my shopping guide to “buy no more”. And I chuckled where the author’s website reported that the AI from the novels was still working on the outline for the fourth and final book in the series.

    My only regret upon finishing this book was that volume 2 was not yet published for me to make it my next read. Bravo!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • rsky
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible, imaginative, sensitive, and original
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Every once in a long while a sci-fi novel comes out that is worthy of attention, and Mr. Jucha has gifted us with such a novel. Silver Ships is just the beginning of a long story that spans centuries and star systems. You will meet a cast of characters that seem all too real, and technologies that you wish we had today. Throughout these novels is a common theme of optimism, hope, and caring that one can only hope our disfunctional world can someday achieve. If you want hyper-realistic sci-fi then these novels might not be for you. But if you are willing to open your imagination and enjoy a well-crafted story for what it is -- laws of physics be damned -- then buckle up for an entertaining ride. I read the entire Silver Ships series, the 4-book Empaths series, and Gate Ghosts, and thoroughly enjoyed every single one. This series is a keeper!
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Sebastian Gingter
    5.0 out of 5 stars Eine der besten Sci-Fi Geschichten der letzten Jahre
    Reviewed in Germany on April 18, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    "The Silver Ships" ist von der Ersten bis zur Letzten Seite fesselnd. Scott Jucha erzählt nicht nur eine spannende Geschichte, sondern baut auch die Charaktere intelligent und interessant aus, und auch der Humor kommt dabei nicht zu kurz.
    Ich kann kaum die Veröffentlichung des zweiten Teils erwarten.
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  • marcos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Clássico
    Reviewed in Brazil on July 9, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    O que mais me chamou a atenção desse livro, foi que o livro é muito bem detalhado. Recomendo, pois os detalhes da leitura nos prende na leitura.
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  • Donald D. Allan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series!
    Reviewed in Canada on June 15, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I am in love with this series. Terrific writing. Great character, Author is a wonderful indie author. Well done! This is terrific sci-fi. This is the first novel and will have you cheering and wiping your eyes and swallowing a lump in your throat at times. The author pulls the heart strings like not many can.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Larry Niven meets James P Hogan
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    We have what is essentially a collision between Protector by Larry Niven and The Gentle Giants Of Ganymede by Mr Hogan. Don't get me wrong, it's no rip off of either, rather a flavour of both. Concept fusion done well and made over to fit the narrative. This is a gentle book given pace by circumstance which will probably change as our heroes become immersed in the looming conflict. As a first glimpse into this new galaxy, it does well to give us an overview of civilisation and relative technologies in a cogent and credible manner. As a tale, it does well to deal with the central characters, the plot development and reader expectations. As a precursor to future works dealing with our heroes and their future, it sets a good standard and leaves a desire to buy further works. I enjoyed this book a lot and I gave it five stars. Sure, it draws on previous works from previous authors in concept, yet it doesn't diminish them nor itself in execution and I didn't feel cheated by the similarities that I drew.

    In criticism I do feel that some golden opportunities to expand upon plot devices where missed and that some character interaction was dashed off in places in favour of lending pace. This can lead to some of the narrative weave feeling slightly less polished in places and I hope that corrective steps are taken in further books.

    If you seek a new Universe to enjoy with an intriguing tale to guide you there, you won't waste your money taking a punt on this book. I heartily recommend it.
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  • Xomex
    5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing reading
    Reviewed in Australia on September 16, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    If this is your style of Sci Fi you won't find it done better. A pleasure to read, I can't wait to download the next book.
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