In Abductees by Alan Brickett, five humans with quite different backgrounds wake up on a spaceship that is docked at a station called the Puzzle Box. None of them remembers how they got there, and how it's even possible to travel that far away from Earth. The Puzzle Box was once a wealthy place, thanks to the mining operations that took place there. Now the place is overrun with refugees who are fleeing an enemy called the Tempest. The five strangers soon realize that each of them has skills that are useful for a team, i.e. there are fighters, supporters, and one thinker. They have one thing in common though: they all have better bodies than before they were taken to the space station - lean, muscular and in prime health. While the five search for answers, they learn that they have been chosen for a specific purpose. The ship gives them instructions, and they follow these orders, hoping they will receive an answer to their questions in exchange. It's not easy, though, because other aliens have their eyes on the team's equipment and on their women. And they don't take "no" for an answer. The team soon finds out about a special power they have, but also that the Tempest is closing in.

For me, Abductees by Alan Brickett had a slight Star Trek - Deep Space Nine feel to it. The story line has nothing to do with Star Trek, but the Puzzle Box has that strangely fascinating space station atmosphere. In the beginning, I had issues keeping the characters apart from each other, and I didn't really get a strong connection to any of them, apart from maybe to Mark, but the plot was excellent. It's definitely more of a story-driven than character-driven novel. There are some interesting and some weird alien species, and it's quite easy to imagine everything that's happening and what the station and its inhabitants look like (though some of the creatures you might not really want to think about too much). I found the novel to be quite exciting and entertaining. I would say my favourite part was when the team had to deal with the Devourer spaceship, while also trying to keep another problem at bay. That was a very well done sequence. The book ends with a sort of cliffhanger, but not one that makes you feel angry about the author (you all know the kind of cliffhanger that makes you want to throw the book at the author, right?). It's an enjoyable read for science fiction fans who like weird aliens and interesting plots that involve more than just a hostile alien species.

Abductees is a work of science fiction penned by author Alan Brickett and forms the first book of The Gravitonics Chronicles. Part mystery novel and part sci-fi crime thriller, the premise of the novel begins with an abduction. When five strangers from Earth awaken to find they have been taken to a place far from their known galaxy, the advancements that have been made to their bodies are just the beginning of their troubles. When they find themselves in the Puzzle Box, an abandoned mining core now home to scavengers and strays, they must solve the mystery of how they came together and ensure their own survival against the dangers yet to come.

Fans of classic science fiction are sure to enjoy the traditional narration style of this piece, full of details, backstory, technology and brave new worlds to discover. Alan Brickett begins with a gripping concept that has readers intrigued from the very beginning, waiting right through to its final pages to have the book’s secrets and mysteries fully unraveled and explained. Though slow in parts, the development of each of the five heroes of the novel is treated with deep character details and well thought out plot strands for each of them, comprising an overall epic narrative that gives a fully rounded tale by the end. Overall, Abductees provides an excellent opening to an intriguing science fiction series with plenty of thought-provoking concepts to explore and is sure to please fans of traditional science fiction, mystery novels, and far-flung adventures.

Abductees is Alan Brickett's first installment of The Gravitonics Chronicles and details how five very different people are abducted from Earth by a mysterious spacecraft. Conner, a large construction worker rendered paraplegic; Meriam, a socialite and corporate fixer; Marc, a slacker technologist and online gambler; Lekiso, a military asset of a United Nations peacekeeping force; and Ormond, a former commando and currently indigent street person. In each case, they awake to new bodies which are theirs but in the prime of life, and with powers it will take time to understand. Soon it becomes clear they were chosen as a team for some purpose, but what or even whose purpose is unclear. Their awakening is coincident with the docking of their spaceship at the Puzzle Box mining settlement which covers vast areas between worlds, much larger than a planet. Sharing the Puzzle Box with refugees fleeing the forces of the Tempest, the team learns to trust and work together for the goals presented by the mysterious spaceship. Is the true enemy the forces of the Tempest or a lifeform so alien as to cause nightmares in humans?

Alan Brickett presents a compelling story and a good start to the series. Brickett presents a fictional universe much like our own except for key tweaks to the underlying physics, which serve the story. The abductees are able to harness powers worthy of any Marvel Universe hero if only they can learn to properly use them in time. The story keeps a reader engaged until the very end, following the development and growth of the human characters, each of whom walks a different path to arrive at the same place. Abductees is a long read that will yield many hours of pleasure for avid science fiction/fantasy readers. If this is a good representation of what is to come for the series, I'm looking forward to the rest!

Abductees is the first book in a science fiction series, The Gravitonics Chronicles by Alan Brickett, and a gripping story indeed. Five strangers — a paraplegic construction worker, a beautiful socialite, a recluse, a street beggar, and a refugee officer for the UN — wake up in a ship a billion light years from Earth. They have no idea how they got there. Their bodies have been rejuvenated and they feel in great shape with advanced and sophisticated technology. They are actually in the Puzzle Box, which once was an important mining tool for an interstellar nation; it is now reduced to a near wreck. The place is teeming with refugees fleeing from a powerful enemy — the Tempest. The five strangers have a lot to deal with while figuring out how they ended up in this place, with criminals who will stop at nothing to plunder their technology and the security who seem more obsessed with sorting out the refugee problem.

Alan Brickett opens the story with vivid images and an event that captures the reader’s interest. The author leads readers from one intense moment of action to the next, creating surprising turns and developing scenes that are focused and captivating. The writing is beautiful and the author uses language that perfectly suits the subject matter. The conflict is developed at several levels, from characters struggling to redefine themselves and understand their purpose in a foreign world, to the physical struggles for survival, facing attacks from enemies. Abductees is fast-paced and the characters feel real. The setting is a well-imagined universe with a civilization that is threatened. It is interesting to follow these characters as they seek answers, but can they figure out why they are in the Puzzle Box? One of the most intriguing stories I have read in the genre of science fiction; confidently written and utterly entertaining.

Abductees: The Gravitonics Chronicles Book 1 by Alan Brickett is a vivid tale of five strangers who all came from very different walks of life, but destiny had other plans for them. The five of them wake up in a spaceship in new bodies and in new clothes that are equipped with some pretty amazing technology. However, to make matters worse, they are millions of light years away from Earth. They are taken to a place called Puzzle Box where there is far more happening than any of them can decipher. Puzzle Box has now lost its glory and is filled with scary security guards and refugee aliens who are running away from an enemy called Tempest. Amid all of this, our five protagonists have to find out why they are here? What does Tempest want and what exactly is happening in Puzzle Box? Who is behind all of this and what do they want?

When I picked up this novel, the first thought I had was, “Wow, it is a long read!” However, I literally breezed through this and was actually surprised that it ended so soon. The pace of the novel is fast while still giving the reader enough time to get acquainted with the characters and invested in the story. The whole novel was a series of surprises for me. I wasn’t expecting a lot of action but there was. I thought there would be too much sci-fi, but there was a healthy amalgamation of mystery, suspense, and drama to keep me going. I enjoyed the character development of all five protagonists, especially the beggar and the socialite, who had a complete 360-degree turn and literally had to recalibrate themselves to become what they thought they had to be ... and then embrace it. I loved this novel; I more than enjoyed this brilliant novel, and I simply cannot wait for the next one in the series.