Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Europa Journal
Europa Journal
Europa Journal
Audiobook10 hours

Europa Journal

Written by Jack Castle

Narrated by Kate Zane

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

The history of humanity is about to change forever . . .

On 5 December 1945, five TBM Avenger bombers embarked on a training mission off the coast of Florida and mysteriously vanish without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle.

A PBY search and rescue plane with thirteen crewmen aboard sets out to find the Avengers . . . and never returns.

In 2168, a mysterious five-sided pyramid is discovered on the ocean floor of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.

Commander Mac O'Bryant and her team of astronauts are among the first to enter the pyramid's central chamber. They find the body of a missing World War II pilot, whose hands clutch a journal detailing what happened to him after he and his crew were abducted by aliens and taken to a place with no recognizable stars. As the pyramid walls begin to collapse around Mac and her team, their names mysteriously appear within its pages and they find themselves lost in an alien world.

Stranded with no way home, Mac decides to retrace the pilot's steps. She never expects to find the man alive. And if the man has yet to die, what does that mean for her and the rest of her crew?
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 4, 2017
ISBN9781541477742
Europa Journal

Related to Europa Journal

Related audiobooks

Science Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Europa Journal

Rating: 3.3467742193548387 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

62 ratings23 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had some preconceived notions about this story going in (mostly from the novel’s description), and almost all of them were wrong. This story had intriguing visualizations, characters, and action. There are times when the narrative jumped a bit, with action quickly shifting instead of being fleshed out. There were elements of the story that were very reminiscent of Stargate. Some of the characters were well developed, while other felt flat and stereotypical. The settings were creative, as were the variety of aliens. The book was a page turner, and I feel this author has a lot of potential. I look forward to reading more from Castle in the future. Note: I received a free copy of this book from the LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book (I read the e-book) had so much potential. I loved the premise and was very excited to embark on this adventure. Oh, how disappointed I was. The writing was horrible. If there's one thing that will destroy a book, regardless of how fantastic its plot is, it's bad writing. Author Jack Castle clearly did not use an editor. There were ridiculous mistakes like "full-emersion" instead of "full-immersion" and "full-star general" instead of "four-star general." (There's no such thing as a full-star general; that doesn't even make any sense.)Also, this is supposed to be a great mystery adventure. There was no sense of mystery at all. The author uses excessive repeated hyperboles that completely take the mystery out of the story. For example, Castle uses this description: "The moment she did, the lives of everyone in the pyramid were bound together and fated to alter the history of humanity forever." to end chapter 3. Yet at the start of chapter 4 nothing immediately happens. Um, hello, if you're going to be that melodramatic, you need to deliver on that. In addition, in the midst of chapter 2 Castle already uses this description: "Mac soon realized that the history of humanity was about to be changed forever." Puh-leeze. One chapter later you're going to use those exact same words again? Ugh.There is also absolutely no character development. All characters - major and minor - are wooden and stereotypical. Military commandos have square jaws and ripped muscles, etc. Ugh again. Castle doesn't let us into the heads of his characters. There is no insight, in fact almost non-existent descriptions of the characters except for superficial ones.The combination of Hollywood-ish action stereotype and poor writing drove me to give up reading at 24%. I just couldn't take any more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Studying history, during World War11, five bombers disappeared near the Bermuda Triangle. Other similar unexplained occurrences happened in earth's history. Could the discovery on Europa in 2168 be somehow linked with these disappearances?Mac felt this was an opportunity to "walk in her father's footsteps" and maybe even find him, or at least learn of him? What appeared to be an unique, yet exciting opportunity may not be as it appeared. Was this mission designed for discovery or failure?The action never stops, the next adventure never ceases, and the surprises steadily come. Along with a large amount of graphic violence is a touch of romance. This is quite well written, The  only problems I had with it was the graphic violence and it lacked the "smoothness" in the flow of the story formulating in the beginning chapters. I felt somewhat confused at first as to what time period I was reading and how it pertained to the story. It needed to be slightly clearer.*This book was a gift. There was no suggestion of a positive review. This is my honest review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Europa Journal tells the stories of two strong leaders thrown into situations beyond their understanding. The first story focuses on a World War II fighter pilot the second on a team of future astronauts. This book took me a while to get through putting it down for months at a time but I did read the second half much more quickly than the first. A lot of heavy handed foreshadowing and over exaggeration of the impact of the events of the story made it a little over the top in places. Overall the hard science fiction drifted into some deep theology that I wasn't expecting and I am not sure if it helped the story or not.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Harry Reed was part of a US military training flight that left Florida in December 1945. It vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. How did his body end up inside a submerged pyramid on Europa about two hundred years later?Commander Mackenzie O'Bryant is called in, because she has a prominent place in Reed's journal, which she pockets. A member of her crew accidentally pushes the On button. They just manage to escape the flooding of the pyramid, but they don't escape the suddenly-created wormhole that sends them Somewhere Else.After crash landing on an alien planet, their attempts at First Contact do not go well. They eventually meet up with Reed, who is the only survivor of his flight. He has been accepted by several awumpai (think of a samurai crossed with a yeti). The planet is ruled by a very powerful being called Atum-Khaos. He knows of Earth's existence. His ultimate objective is to take an entire floating city back through the wormhole, and kill or enslave all of humanity. Can he be stopped by a handful of humans, and a couple of World War II-era bomber aircraft? How does Reed's body get to Europa?I totally enjoyed this novel. It's very easy to read, with heart and emotion along with very alien aliens. It also has lots of action, with a rather high body count by the end. This is another case where just as a novel, this is excellent. Considering that it is the author's first SF novel brings it to the level of Wow.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Is it a rule of writing that anything involving the Bermuda Triangle sounds good but ends up being shite? In this case, not only do we have turgid writing "'I have a visual line of sight,' Leo announced." but technical goofs that should never have been drafted, let alone survived through editing (the shuttle wasn't designed to land on an Earth-like planet, why in Spock's name not). The crash landing in Chapter 1 is an essay on how not to write.I could not bear to read this thing.I received a review copy of "Europa Journal" by Jack Castle through LibraryThing.com.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jack Castle's "Europa Journal" is a very thrilling science fiction read. The story draws you in from page one and keeps you in tight grips until you reach the last sentence. The action starts almost from the very beginning and continues non-stop throughout the book. Likewise, the book is extremely suspenseful and unpredictable. Besides the strong suspense and action, character development is present as well. "Europa Journal" is definitely a satisfying and enjoyable read. I would highly recommend it to any fan of hard science fiction thrillers.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    After accidentally activating a wormhole and getting sucked through it, the stalwart captain Mac, the playboy pilot Leo, the tech geek Tae (and several others) crash on an alien planet called Europa. Struggling to survive, they meet up with Harry, the world war rescue pilot who has already been on Europa for a few years, and the bibical Enoch (who has lived there for many more years!) and some rather enormous creatures, Hu-Nan, Fu-Mar and Ba-Tu. The find out that a malevolent "God" called Atum-Khaos has imprisoned his sister and is trying to rule the universe with hate. They have to stop Atum-Khaos before he sends his fleet of warships to enslave Earth.All in all, a very well written story. There were a few grammar and spelling mistakes, but they didn't detract from the story as a whole.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.A fun book that had an an interesting premise and entertaining story line. Plenty of action and good characters through out the book made this a quick read. I will state that some of the scenes and additional characters were a little over the top and it had an underlying religious feel to the story that is not usually my cup of tea. In this case, they were not enough to over ride the fun parts of the book and I can recommend this to fans of near future science fiction with a smattering of fantasy thrown in for good measure.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is a crazy adventure from start to finish! Filled with great characters, it will have you on the edge of your seat. I loved the author's imaginative descriptions, that brought everything to life. It's a must read!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The present book, "Europa Journal," by Jack Castle, started of as a refreshing interesting sci-fi novel. A very basic overview of the plot would begin as the story of pilots from WWII who went missing, only later to be discovered (much later-- 2168, to be exact) on one of Jupiter's moons. After the discovery of one of the bodies, the future team begins to learn of the fate of all involved. While the first half to the book definitely held my attention, I found my interest waning as the story progressed. The author certainly crafted an imaginative tale, and readers who enjoy sci-fi will likely wish to add this novel to their collection. However, the story had an almost truncated feel to it, as though content was missing that should have been included. For the current selling price on Amazon ($5.99 for the Kindle version), I would have expected a novel of greater depth and length. While I would not in general recommend this book, should it go on sale for $1.00 for the Kindle version, readers may wish to consider the investment.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had a really hard time getting into this book. The premise was interesting, but the writing style was lacking something.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Europa Journal by Jack Castle puts an interesting twist into a flight of planes that disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle at the end of World War 2. It also has a mix of distant past and future characters and events that tie in neatly. It was an enjoyable quick read. After about the middle of the book I found I couldn’t put it down.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    _Europa Journal_ bears a certain resemblance to _Stargate_ in its overall premise and plot. Unfortunately, it more closely resembles the original movie than the more successful and imaginative TV series that followed. Alien world-building is difficult to do well; when societies, architectures, and behaviors on an alien planet essentially mirror those of our own world, it's difficult to suspend one's disbelief fully. (The premise of Stargate offers a reasonable explanation for this similarity between worlds, but Castle's is not as convincing.) Most of the characters who appear are not fully fleshed out. The narration is clumsy in places, but becomes particularly muddled when dealing with the religious aspects of the situation. Overall, it's not a bad story for a quick, casual read, but it could have been so much better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have to preface this review by stating this would not be my normal choice of fiction book - sci-fi is a genre I enjoy, but a quick flick through this book would not have had me pick it up to purchase. That's to do with the style and target reader focus of the book - nothing to do with the quality. I thought it well written - an enjoyable fast read - with good structure that was very much like a movie script - the retrospective scenes interleaved well with the current time (as much as that applies given the plot). Action-based and interaction scenes were described nicely without any confusion. However. it is for my taste a bit too simple - there's little real depth to the characters, they're more action heroes. The story covers a lot of ground - aliens, time travel, god, battles, etc. etc. - all great if you need a book for easy quick reading. Definitely recommended for the younger or beginner sci-fi addict. I'm giving it a 4* as for the right reader it will be thoroughly enjoyed. Appreciated the chance to read this book via the Early Reviewers program with Library Thing!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thoroughly enjoyable quick read. The author was able to bring together the future, the pyramids, the aircraft missing in the 40's over the Bermuda triangle, and aliens of all imaginable descriptions. The authors imagination ran wild but it worked. The story has a futuristic mission landing on a moon where they enter a worm hole into another existence. The cruel "god" of the other world will take over and enslave the earth if he can get through the worm hole. The crew of the U.S. space ship (who opened the worm hole in error)along with Captain Reed (a rescue pilot from WW II) save earth from take over by a cruel "god".
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I so enjoyed this book! I was a little afraid that it might be full of overtly sexual scenes or the gross-out crap that people call thriller, sci-fi, or horror these days. I was absolutely thrilled to find none of that! It was a beautifully written story, full of action and like-able characters, that kept me on the edge of my seat from the get go. I almost stopped reading at one point when the author announced at the end of a chapter that my favorite character was going to die, but I couldn't stand the suspense after a couple of days and finished the whole thing in one sitting. I will be pushing this one on my kids to read this week!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    They go through a wormhole and crash on a planet with floating rocks. A World War II rescue pilot got there before them, but because of strange time effects, not much more. This follows the adventures of both groups. A diary plays a large part in the adventures.There is lots of action and the characters are likeable. There are a few science oddities, like what happens without gravity and the lack of an explanation of the floating rocks. Otherwise a fun light read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I love this book premise and story, but there is quite a bit of problems.The good: Great world creation, in many ways characters is pretty good. I loved the story flow, besides ending, and I read book quite quickly. The action sections were amazing!The bad: Couple of characters were basically one dimensional, especially Leo, due to him being strawman for certain problem (see The Ugly). The ending was fairly lame and to me, bit rushed.The Ugly: There are large amounts of author tract at end, especially with Leo, on subject of religion and God. Some points were nothing but trying to convert Leo, our resident strawman to unspecified (but pretty clear which) religion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received Europa Journal (ARC) for an honest review from LibraryThing. EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing gifted me with this ebook and I'm so happy they did- Europa Journal is the an amazing read! If you're a fan of science fiction and fantasy, this book has them both wrapped up in a wormhole of an adventure. Set in the future, where Mars and other planets have been colonized, Captain Mackenzie O'Bryant "Mac" and Leo, her soon-to-be son-in-law are pilots on a supply run that ends with them below on Europa, below its sea-level to visit a renowned scientist and friend who's made a discovery that changes everything for mankind. Now since I don't give spoilers, I won't say what happens next, but they wind up going through a wormhole that jettisons them into another dimension with flying islands, big, hairy, samurai creatures that stand eight or so feet tall and elf-like beings that are considered a type of royalty. It's a trip! I loved this book so much, I finished über-fast. I started on Friday and was done Monday. I decided to give this a 4/5 rating due to the bit of confusion when explaining the goings-on with a character named Reed. It was cleared eventually, but I couldn't keep track at first. I can tell you this much- it did not take from the story. I loved it and will be talking others about this one for a while!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received an e-book copy as part of Library Things Early Reviewers group.This book would be better suited as a "young adult" book. I found it very simplistic and shallow - more a "creature feature" than a science fiction novel. My tastes run more to Azimov in that genre. The action was fast paced, violent, and rather outlandish. The "beings" were more cartoonish than anything. The premise of the plot is not unique except for the attempt to tie into Judeo-Christian religion. All-in-all not a very impressive novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After reading many “hard-fiction” books in a row, this was a nice break. It’s sci-fi, fantasy, ancient mythology and religion (as in old testament) all folded into a nice package. Actually, it’s Stargate 2.0. That’s what came to mind when I was about 75% done reading the book. The story is well laid out, fun to read and well-paced. It reads like a movie mostly. Some weak points: Sometimes the author takes some shortcuts, deciding to skip scenes that should have been a difficult trial for the characters and simply make them go from A to B without explaining how they got there. I also had problems believing in Leo. This is a young pilot, womanizer (before he met the commander daughter), and yet he knows more about ancient Summarian history than any history teachers! He also conveniently knows everything there is to know about the planes that disappeared in the pacific in the 40’s even though they are a hundred years in the future. That’s tough to believe and you end up scratching your head in disbelief. Some people might be offended by the theology ramifications of the story too.But, all in all, while it won’t win any awards, it was still a nice light read that I enjoyed. I also appreciated that the story was self-contained in one book, and didn’t try to be a trilogy like so many others in the last decade. 3 stars and a half!Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher for review
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel is a mix of science and religious myth and aliens. At its core, it is a story of trying to get home again, but along the way it also deals with faith and free will. The storyline is entertaining but I did find myself wanting more explanation about the world the action happened on, and more background on why people from earth ended up with the aliens and what exactly was the mythological background of deities.