Fantasy Book Critic: Titan Hoppers by Rob J. Hayes (reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

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AUTHOR INFORMATION: Rob J. Hayes was born and brought up in Basingstoke, UK. As a child he was fascinated with Lego, Star Wars and Transformers that fueled his imagination and he spent quite a bit of his growing up years playing around with such. He began writing at the age of fourteen however soon discovered the fallacies of his work. After four years at University studying Zoology and three years working for a string of high street banks as a desk jockey/keyboard monkey. Rob lived on a desert island in Fiji for three months. It was there he re-discovered his love of writing and, more specifically, of writing fantasy.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Courage Iro will shatter the Gates of Power to protect his fleet.

Born talentless, Iro has all but resigned himself to a life of drudgery, watching his sister hop across to the massive space titan for supplies. But when the titan explodes and his sister is killed, Iro finds a new determination to take her place. He’s not about to let weakness prevent him.

When the fleet encounters a new titan, filled with powerful monsters, deadly traps, and mysterious cloaked figures, Iro is the first to spontaneously manifest a new talent. Now sent to a different ship, to train with others far beyond his strength, Iro will have to train twice as hard just to catch up.

To protect his fleet, and to uncover the mysteries of the titans, Iro won’t just open the Gates of Power. He’ll break them.

A progression sci-fantasy perfect for fans of Cradle and Iron Prince.

FORMAT/INFO: Titan Hoppers is 469 pages long divided into forty-four numbered chapters & two epilogue scenes. The narration is in third person-limited view via Courage Iro, Courage Emil and a few other characters. This book is the first volume in The Titan Hopper Series.

July 12, 2022 will mark the US and UK e-book and paperback publication of Titan Hoppers and will be self-published by the author. Final Cover art will be by YAM (Mansik Yang) & Shawn T. King provides the design-typography.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Titan Hopper series is a brand new series from one of most brilliant minds writing currently in the Indie fantasy scene. So it was a tad surprising when this series turned out to be set in a SF universe but with some fantasy elements. Rob J. Hayes once again pleasantly surprises with this new world and it is one filled with a multitude of secrets & mysteries.

The prologue and first chapter introduce us to Iro and his residential generational spaceship Courage which along with the rest of his home fleet, is always in search of these gigantic titans in space from wherein they can scavenge parts and supplies so as to sustain the humans aboard. Iro and the rest of the fleet are barely are hanging on when the discovery of a new & significantly bigger titan fuels new energy in the entire fleet. Nobody or at least neither of our protagonists know where they came from. One can assume that it could be from Earth but I think that is one of the mysteries for the future books. It has been around fifty generations of humankind surviving in these ships and so that information is just not common knowledge.

In addition, no one quite knows what the titans are or where they came from. They are miles long and full of futuristic tech and weird and highly dangerous creatures. There are levels to mine and get more fantastic technology but as with the increased rewards so does the danger increase exponentially. Another tricky scenario is that no has any clear idea about the titans and their origins which is a tad surprising but understandable. Thus we find our two protagonists Iro and Emil who are similar as chalk and cheese, trying to find their feet.

Iro is the main focus and is a bit Harry Potter like protagonist who is forced to find his feet as he finds out about his powers. Emil is a person who has been looked down upon and especially by his father. Both of them have a point to prove but will they be able to overcome their differences and learn is one of the key aspects of the story.

The world/universe of this story is the highlight of the story IMHO. Space faring generational ships, massive titans lurking in space, who are also filled with creatures and futuristic tech are the absolute crown jewels of the worldbuilding section. I have to give props to the author for coming up with it. Knowing Rob, I have to say that there is a plan in place and there will be massive revelations about the origins of it all. I for one cannot wait to read them

This Science fantasy progression hybrid was a bit of a strange adventure for me. I’m not well read in This sub-genre to recognize its tropes but this story was a nice introduction to it. One thing is clear though that readers expect a lot of cool action and fights and they will get that in spades within this story. The monsters are really creepy and cool, the mysteries about Iro, the ships, the Titans are very beguiling and aren’t answered fully in this opening volume. The characters as always with any Rob J. Hayes story are very well etched. In this new sub-genre however because of the narrow POV focus, we only get to know Iro and Emil intimately but it to the author’s credit that he does a lovely job with the supporting character cast (though again anyone who has read any of Rob J. Hayes’ previous work won’t be surprised here).

I really enjoyed Master Rollo and his laidback teaching style and it is very evident that there’s more to him and his relaxed persona but again we will have to read the sequels to know more. Similar to Rollo, there's Iro's mother Serah & his previous master Tannow who will have larger roles to play as well. There are many secrets within this book and it really strings the readers along as we get a small dosage of answers from time to time to further the journey. This approach was a new one for me and I’m not sure if it’s an aspect of progression fantasy or just something new that Rob tried within this story.

Lastly I have to make a mention of the action and the magic system within this volume which was cool to read and also discover simultaneously with Courage Iro. I’m not a gamer but a lot of gamers would love the power increases that occurs for the character when they open the gates. This was fun to read and the author made sure to not overdo the stats and all. I really appreciated this.

Now going on to the drawbacks for this book, the primary one is that while the story has a climax. The plot does not get a proper resolution. There are just too many mysteries that we as the reader aren’t privy to. I understand this is just the first book but it felt like a lot of setup for the overall series. Again this could be a sub-genre feature and not really a negative if one knows about this particular sub-genre. I for one found it to be just too many secrets that were left unanswered. I have no doubt that the author will be tackling them in the sequels but I wish to point it out. Besides this, I didn’t have any complaints.

CONCLUSION: Titan Hoppers is a strange & intriguing amalgamation of Sci-Fi and progression fantasy and it is absolutely unique in this regards. This combination works splendidly because of the author’s amazing writing skills. Titan Hoppers is a unique attempt at progression fantasy and one that I would heartily recommend for everyone to checkout.