(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) - Chris Kulp has published two novels. Lost Origins was published last April and is the first book in his The Majestic Chronicles series. This is the 39th book I completed reading in 2025.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence, I categorize this novel as R.

The novel is set in the far future, where humans and intelligent androids live and work side-by-side. While there is some resentment between the factions, most live beside one another without problems. Since leaving Earth, humans and androids have spread across the galaxy. By this time, Earth is just a myth.

Captain Maddy Majestic has led her ship, the armed cargo vessel the Amethyst, on many delivery runs. Some of them are even legitimate work, though most are involved in smuggling. The ship is large enough for a small crew, but until recently she has gone on missions solo. Her crew expanded to two when she hired Johnathan as her navigator. She really needs a full crew but is unwilling to take on the added responsibility.

While Maddy is ashore on Starbase Arandi 4, she goes by the name of Madison Amanda. That is what her android partner Riley knows her as. As far as he knows, she is a businesswoman who uses the Amethyst to deliver needed supplies. Maddy has been with Riley for a while but only knows him as a software developer.

Having returned to Arandi 4 after her most recent job, Maddy is approached to take on a secret job. An Android has offered her more than the regular fee to travel to an abandoned space station and retrieve a data crystal. Supposedly, the crystal contains a map that will take them to Earth. Against her better judgment, Maddy allows Riley to tag along, as there is little expectation of this being a hazardous job.

They find the space station and retrieve the data crystal, but not without overcoming an automated defense bot. As Riley and Maddy respond to the deadly situation, they both begin to realize that they don’t really know each other as well as they thought. Returning to the Amethyst, they discover they are prisoners of the Origin Keepers.

The Origin Keepers was founded by androids shortly after the first colony ships left Earth. The AI on Earth had run amuck and taken over the planet, enslaving the humans and androids. To prevent the spread of the AI to colonized space, the Origin Keepers kept Earth hidden and scrubbed the records. To maintain the safety of the billions of humans and androids, they are enforcing a blockade around Earth.

Maddy and her crew manage to escape the Origin Keepers and travel to Proxima Centauri, the destination of the first colony ship from Earth. A colony had been established there, but before too long, the humans and many androids had to relocate due to the heavy radiation from the system’s sun. Now, it is an android-only planet. The Amethyst travels there hoping to get its navigation system fixed by Melinda so that it will accept the coordinates of Earth.

Maddy is promised the assistance she wants, but only after Melinda’s partner, Atasi, is rescued from starbase Free Base 19. The Amethyst makes it to FB 19, and the crew rescues Atasi, but only after surviving a shootout with the locals. Before they can return to Proxima Centauri, they are intercepted by Alex of the Origin Keepers. Though threatened, Maddy convinces Alex to let her attempt an all-or-nothing mission to Earth. Her goal is to destroy the AI and set the inhabitants free. Failure will result in the Origin Keepers destroying Earth to contain the malevolent AI.

The Origin Keepers provide contacts within the resistance on Earth. They want Maddy to succeed but expect failure. What Maddy and the crew of the Amethyst find on Earth is a surprise. They have to adapt and be flexible in their response to survive and achieve their goal.

I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent reading this 369-page science fiction novel. This book is one of those novels where there is almost constant action. I like a good ‘space opera’, and this book certainly falls into that category. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 3.9 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

“Lost Origins” by Chris Kulp is an excellent new edition to the sci-fi/ space adventure genre. As a fan of Star Wars, I was quickly captured by the high-stakes adventure. Maddy, our smuggler, was a strong protagonist. The space battle scenes were the strongest aspect of this book. They were very well written and full of tension and excitement. I do agree with other readers and felt that the pacing started to lag towards the end. Some of the science went over my head. I do feel this was a better as an audiobook (which I purchased with my own money) to finish the story. Overall, I was very entertained throughout the whole story and had a good time reading it. I plan to read book two.
Thank you to NetGallery and Arc Manor for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Lost Origins is set in the far flung future where Earth is just a myth to the inhabitants of the various colonies across the Milky Way Galaxy. Captain Maddy Majestic, smuggler extraordinaire, is hired to find a crystal with Earth's long lost coordinates. Despite her skepticism, Maddy sets out with her small crew, including her android partner, to find this crystal on a long dead base. But will she discover that Earth is real before being killed by a secret group trying to prevent anyone from finding humanity's homeworld?

I will attempt to review this book without diving into spoilers too much. However, much of what I have to criticize involves the structure of the plot. The first two thirds of the story progressed well and made sense within the context of the world that Kulp had built. Unfortunately the final third was a hot mess. The climax revealed a twist which had absolutely no set up and came out of left field. This twist undermined everything that the reader previously learned about both the plot and the world in a way that was so very cheap. Then the resolution to this twist was significantly rushed so that Kulp could set up the next book in the series. I liked what Kulp was originally trying to do with this story but there was no way he could execute the plot he wanted in such a short book. (And the final twist was unnecessary and should have been cut.)
And also, our female characters (including the female presenting androids) had a little too much of 'women written by men' syndrome. As a female reader, it was off putting.

That being said, Kulp does excel at writing space battles. All of the fighting scenes in space had me on my toes. And I also liked the idea of androids being able to choose their gender presentation and also being accepted as nonbinary.

Overall though I wouldn't recommend this series.

Reviews going live on Goodreads and on Tiktok with my reading wrap up at the end of the month.

Military in space
Earth is more of a myth (a legend)
This book follows our FMC Maddy who is a smuggler
Very scientifically correct and kinda goes over my head
Action packed
Ethical dilemmas

This book is a great space opera but it tries and achieves a nice balance with some more hard sci-fi elements. The characters are interesting and relatable specially Captain Majestic with her internal conflict about her relationship. The only part where personally it did not feel so strong was in the world building but it just some minor aspects that did not detract for the story and the overall mystery woven in the world more than makes for it.
Overall great space opera book.

A fast fun scifi fantasy for fans of Firefly and space pirates! Unlike a lot of scifi, this doesn't skimp on actual science, thanks to a knowledgeable author. Captain Maddy Majestic (Cap) is such a fun character in a story that could be so dark - and the lively conversation is a part of what keeps the story moving. "Any transaction we can walk away from is a good transaction." 👍 And the best part? Earth is a legend. How can you find a planet that's shrouded in mystery, more of a fantasy than a place on a map? Such a fun thought! "I don't have time for jokes. Only crackpots and school children believed the myth of Earth." And the end is out of this world.

I struggled a bit with the beginning of this book, as the space military setting isn't usually my thing. It felt a bit distant at first, and I wasn’t immediately hooked. However, as the story progressed, I found myself drawn into the world more, especially the concept of the androids with their genderless identity. While it was sometimes a bit confusing, I did appreciate the way it distinguished them from humans, making the dynamics more interesting.

The romantic relationships in the story also caught me off guard. The fluidity was something new, but it didn’t fully click for me. I can see how it might appeal to some readers, but it just didn’t resonate the way I hoped.

The ending, with its twist, felt a bit forced. I wasn’t sure it was necessary for the story, and it left me questioning whether it was believable or even the right direction for the plot. Still, I can respect the author’s decision to take the narrative where they wanted.

Overall, it was an okay read, but it didn’t fully capture me. I think it could appeal more to fans of the genre or those who enjoy unconventional plots. I'm giving this book 2 ⭐.

This was a strong start to the Majestic Chronicles series, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from the genre and from the world. I thought the characters were well written and worked overall in this universe. I thought Chris Kulp wrote this perfectly and that it left me wanting to read more in this series.

The story stared a bit slow for me, but that likely was because it had a space military opening, which is not always my jam, as it were. As the tale progressed I will pulled into it. I was fascinated by the genderless status of the androids, which was confusing from time to time, but it helped differentiate between humans and non-humans. The fluidity of the romantic relationships was a bit curious to me, but that might be just me. I'm not so sure about the plausibility or necessity of the plot twist at the end, but it's not my story, so I'd rather give the author leeway to tell his story.

I would be interested to see future titles in this series.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed in Chris Kipp's Lost Origins. I went in expecting space opera - the cover and description leave no doubt about that. What gave me hope for a strong space opera, however, were the author's background (physics professor), the good specialty publisher, and the story of moral growth and development outlined in the description. I found the book to be very pulpy, lacking in any realism, and more like a self-published book than one from a serious publisher. A sequel is clearly telegraphed at the end but I won't be returning.