Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

The characters were one-dimensional, the dialogue stilted and contrived. What had the seeds of a great sci-fi novel turned out to be nothing more than a religious tract. I managed a few chapters before giving up on the book and I'm glad I didn't pay for it.

Just finished reading Book 1. I won't bother with book 2. The first one was so poorly written, full of typos and errors, both granmatical and technical, that I couldn't stand trying to wade through a second one. Phrasing is awkward and continuity is totally screwed up. I cannot recommend this to anyone. I normally don't write reviews, but I had to on this one. And this was the edition that had been edited with gramnar corrected. I'd hate to see the original version.

I read the proof my brother had & then learned of this new edition & read it. I really liked the specific LDS references in the proof, but also really enjoyed the new parts of the story in this newest addition! Great job Mr. Messick!

With a mix between the Dark Jedi powers, and Left Behind religious undertones the author manages to create a book that is somehow entertaining but not original enough to keep me reading it (finished about 50% of the book only).

This book is poorly written, The science in it is not very well researched and the story line is week. It definitly should not be called a science fition novel but a LDS fiction novel. It reads like a bad soap opera and the author takes some religious liberties that are so thinly veiled and therefore are of poor taste. I would not recommand it

The Christian slant to this book ( hate to call,it a novel) does not bother me but it seems to me that it was written by a teenager (a young one at that). I tried to finish it but I just couldn't do it. If this was written by a school official, it reflects poorly on our education system.

Good plot.
I found the characters too fictitious. They came off as comic book characters! They were not characters that the readers will love or hate, they are just characters in a book! Flat.
It is too obvious that the writer is using the story as a vehicle for a gospel sermon.
I found it too melodramatic!
This book is not for your average Sci-Fi
reader it would more suit conservative Christians who read Sci-Fi.

Characters were unengaging and you couldn't get through a page with out the words spirit or God. Got 10 pages in and put it down. Just didn't want to be subjected to any more of this Mormon propaganda......

I wanted to like this book. I like science fiction with a spiritual emphasis. I have gven positive reviews for many good Christian Sci-fi novels.
But this is not one.
I am only 10% invested in this book, and the overuse of adjectives is KILLING me. Also, the characters are too contrived; Perfect handsome widower to be CO, perfect beautiful girlfriend on COMMS, absolutely pig evil XO... come on man... I am not Mormon, but I didn't see that as an issue. I like the idea of moral characters, who tend toward moral bahavior, but this was too difficult to digest. And that is not even adding the absolute errors, such as a radio comm discussion in real time from Mars orbit to Earth. Read a science book before writing... Several minute lag.

Okay, to start off with, I myself am LDS (Mormon) so I get the concept of wanting to write stories that help teach LDS Doctrine, especially to those not of our faith, and do it in a context that would probably be approachable to a broader audience. I even recognized it when I read scriptures directly quoted from LDS scripture (specifically the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine & Covenants). However, the first few chapters were literally drenched in LDS doctrine, even for my taste. I started wondering if it was a Sunday School lesson disguised as a sci-fi novel.

The other thing that really made it seem like a too obvious morality play was when every character on earth seemed to be a devout Christian, possibly even a devout Mormon, except for the main character who's a lapsed Mormon who finds himself in a scenario custom designed by God to restore his faith. I would think a team of NASA scientists would be a little more diverse in terms of religiosity, and even if they were Christian, they wouldn't bust out and chastise someone for losing faith in Jesus.

However, about midway through the book, it does get away from religious doctrine and go more into straightforward sci-fi. So if you can look past the Mormon-heavy first half (and I know, it's hard), then you'll get the military sci-fi epic you were looking for. Yeah, the speech about fighting for "free will" seemed pretty Mormon inspired with the context of the earlier chapters, but it still fit. (I just hope he wasn't trying to take advantage of Romney's candidacy to give a coded nod to Fox News propoganda accusing liberals of trying to take away our freedom through some sort of government interference or whatever Fox News is lying about these days.)

Sci-fi intrigues me, and the premise of this book did as well. I like an intergalactic space battle as well as the next person. I will give credit to the author for a good idea, and for the ability to at least put a plot together. I know how hard it is to write a novel and I have read and reviewed hundreds of contemporary works of fiction. However, this is some of the most horrible writing I've ever seen. It seemed as if every two pages someone was bawling their eyes out--I mean, really, does everyone cry like that? And every time someone got hurt, another character would say, "Are you okay?" (No, they are not okay, they just got shot or someone close to them died.) The dialogue was stilted and not unique to each character, therefore making it robotic and uninteresting. One other minor nuisance were some striking similarities to the Star Wars movies (telekinesis using some sort of mind force, and space ship squadrons named the same as Luke Skywalker's--red, blue, yellow etc., for example).

In all honesty, I would not have downloaded the book at all if I had known it was touting Mormon beliefs. I appreciated the good morals, but not the inclusion of non-biblical sacred text or the reference to Jesus having a brother (wow, the ending made no sense at all). I might have been able to stomach these things if the story was well-written, but it wasn't. Thankfully, the download was free so I didn't lose anything but the time it took to finish, which was a lot longer than normal because I kept putting it down and contemplating not finishing (I kept thinking it might get better, but it never did--I skimmed the last half). The author could definitely use another pair of eyes editing his work--there were a lot of areas that needed honing, but I hate to bring them all up, as my review is already extremely negative.

For anyone wanting to read good sci-fi, stick with Kathy Tyers' "Shivering World" or Firebird trilogy or Randy Ingermanson's "Oxygen" and "The Fifth Man."

I thought that the plot was really good. The author does keep you wanting more. However, at least in the kindle version I got, there were several grammatical and spelling errors which distracted from the story-line. For this reason I give three stars.

I really tried to like this book, since many other reviews were so positive. However, the writing is poor, much of the dialog seems contrived, and I just couldn't stand to keep reading it. I know the writer is trying to create a story for an LDS audience, but forced conversations about why the characters don't drink coffee, and other similar things, feel like unnecessary attempts to build solidarity with the reader ("hey look, I'm Mormon too") and just don't fit into the story.

Do yourself a favor and save your precious time for something of higher quality.

Although I thought the story was great, the number of spelling and grammatical errors made it difficult to get caught up in the tale. There was also the over use of proper names instead of personal pronouns that distracted from the story. The need for editing was very apparent.

Spelling errors. Science based on obscure passages of Mormon Scripture. Humans on other planets writing in the Latin alphabet, but with letters swapped around. A book that just stops at the end of one of the chapters, without any resolution or attempt to gather the loose ends. All of this is enough to make me pity Messick's high school teacher, if he or she is alive to hear of it.

That said, Mormons in space! That is certainly a novel idea. The heroes are likable people (being Latter-Day Saints and all). And it doesn't have the sex scenes usually found in modern fiction. So it is not without virtue. I would not recommend actually paying for it though. I certainly don't plan to pay for the next.

This "novel" is a perfect example of why Fundamentalist Christians should not write science fiction.

In between sermons, we find that the exo-planet involved is 20 light-years from Earth ... then it's across the galaxy ... then it's thousands of light-years away. The Evil Villain lives in a pyramid with a base of 40,000 square feet ... with thirty-five floors each 10,000 square-feet smaller than the one below (do the math). Both Earth and the exo-planet have histories that begin (you guessed it) 6,000 years ago.

So, it's obvious that like most leaders of Fundamentalist thought, facts and logic are unimportant and irrelevant. At one point, the leading character is advised (in a "vision" no less) to forgo his logic and intellect and follow his faith.

This book is a Fundamentalist propaganda tool, thinly disguised. Don't waste your dollar ... unless you're willing to suspend the intellectual faculties provided you, and accept that simplistic belief is right for you, don't bother with this trash.

Bah ... this is ugly, nasty, proselytizing. Don't read it unless you're a Fundamentalist fanatic.

Shaun F. Messick has written an excellent story (book 1 of 4) that includes fantastic character development and thrilling narrative. His descriptive storytelling makes one feel as if they were truly present...

The family bond that exists between Adrian Palmer and his son Jake after a few decades of separation from Adrian's errant Mars expedition, was refreshing nonetheless. The book also demonstrates the need for individual and collective faith in moments of nearly insurmountable circumstances. I sure felt the emotional rainbow, so to speak, throughout the entire book... sadness, greed, fear, pain, helplessness, love, happiness, humor, courage, etc.

Mr. Messick also creatively uses a tangent from John 10:16 to set up the framework of his "Worlds Without End" saga. In this Bible verse, Jesus Christ states, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd." This book creates another viewpoint of this commonly-misunderstood verse.

I read the book in one day, while on a business trip in Mexico, and am not sure how I can wait until the next one is released. Thrilling, yet faith inspiring, "Worlds Without End: The Mission" is both an easy buy and an excellent read!

What a fantastic book. The author took a somewhat obscure gospel idea (worlds without end) and created an experience and places that were plausible; new places that made me hope really exist. The character development was well done. By the end of the book I began to feel like I knew what the characters would do in each new setting because of the clear morals and strengths outlined for each character.

Mr. Messick has written a book that will appeal to a large audience, regardless of one's religious affiliation (or even no religious affiliation). The story-telling is first rate with plot twists and turns that kept me spellbound.

I can't wait for the next book in the series titled Aftermath. Learn more about the World Without Ends series at [..].

Shaun Messick does an excellent job of creating a book that the young and the old can read and appreciate. There is a definite, mysterious, and captivating story line and he spins the story in a way that makes the book a page turner. It's one of those books that keeps you hanging until you're insane! However, he keeps the story interesting even as you're hanging on the edge. His descriptions are excellent but simple and can paint a picture in the reader's brain. The reader isn't just reading, he becomes part of the story as he cheers on the good guys and boos the bad guys. Plenty of romance, action, non-graphic violence, and religion to keep anybody of any age happy. Definite 5 stars. One of the best books I've ever read and I've read thousands of books in my time. Can't wait for the 2nd book to come out and I'll be devouring that book as soon as it's on the shelves. Buy this book! You won't be disappointed!

This started as a potentially intriguing story but the bad science, repetitive style, and what felt like forced situations became distracting. It eventually became clear that this is really a thinly veiled tract on Christianity. If that's the authors goal then why not be up front about it and save those of us looking for sci-fi time? There is no mention of the heavy-handed focus on religiosity in the description of this book. There should be.

Like the other negative reviews, this novel was so contrived and used so much unneeded verbiage, that I was distracted by that from the beginning. As the plot developed and developed ad infinitum, I was taken by how many characters were mortally wounded at the end of a chapter, only to reappear in good shape later without any explanation of such a miracle. Several main ones were severely beaten with limbs made useless and ribs broken, only to fight again the next time we see them.

As a physicist who loves good Sci Fi and space operas, I can't abide physical laws being abused. A person could dodge a "plasma beam" from a weapon because he could see the beam leave the gun. Never mind that something that seems to be (to the author) some thing like a photon, can be seen with enough time to dodge.You can't even see a low velocity bb leave a kids air gun. By the way, what is a plasma beam supposed to be. A plasma is made up of charged ions. Such a beam fired in a standard life supporting atmosphere wouldn't travel very far without being dissipated.

I don't mean to be unkind to the author, but he should have studied some physics and creative writing. He seems to think every quoted piece of dialog needs a bunch of adjectives to place the words in proper character's mouth. Trust the reader to have some intelligence. We don't need to know that the speaker has green eyes every time s/he says something.

Every tough situation is resolved by the appearance of a new, never mentioned before, character who turns out to be one of the nice guys that has just the skills needed to resolve the issue. Gratuitous coincidences are to be suspect.

I did read the book completely and carefully hoping for improvement as the story progressed. Since I borrowed the Kindle edition, I am not invested monetarily and as a writer, I found many things to avoid in my own efforts, so my time was well spent if I got some personal value from it. I wish the author well in his future books in this series. I hope my remarks are taken in this vein.

By Bob R. Author of "God, Physics, And Me."