Titan Hoppers

Titan Hoppers, Book 1

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.

©2023 Rob J. Hayes (P)2023 Podium Audio

Titan Hoppers

Author: Rob J. Hayes. Not sure what I was anticipating with this book. Glad I did take the plunge and read it. Our MC, Iro, was well written, considering the story he was placed in. Wanting to be more than what he was. Helpless. Frustrated. And guilty thinking he was the reason his sister suffered what she did. All those elements and more combined to create and interesting story. An interesting story in space! DRmz 7-26-25

Space Tower Climbing

Rank B+
Personal Tags: (Fun Read, Progression, Class Based, Space, Dungeon Crawling)
This was a great introduction to the series for me and an easy 4-star read. The story follows spacefaring people living aboard massive, failing ships who have lost most knowledge of their past and the technical skills needed to fix anything. Instead, they rely completely on enormous, space-station-like entities known as Titans. These Titans provide everything from weapons and armor to fresh water and food, which makes them essential but deeply unsettling. That setup gives the book a bleak sci-fi spin on classic fantasy style class and power systems. The Titans are also the source of power, hierarchy, and progression in this world. Society has formed around that dependence, creating an inescapable class structures that feel oppressive. As a hopper, the main character is forced to explore the Titans directly, facing monsters and brutal traps to grow stronger and gather resources for their ship’s survival. The worldbuilding is one of the strongest parts of the book. The loss of history and failing technology give the setting a grim tone and puts survival on a ticking clock. The Titans themselves are fascinating, acting as lifelines while also being constant and poorly understood threats. The power system feels familiar at its core but fresh thanks to the sci-fi framing. The pacing is mostly solid, with a good balance between exploration, tension, and action. Some moments slow down, and the tone and dialogue occasionally lean more YA than I expected, which pulled me out a bit. Overall, Titan Hopper is a dark, engaging sci-fi story with strong ideas and a unique take on progression systems that left me excited to continue the series.

Good one

While i did enjoyed the book i was hoping for more especially after reading the description with the he will rip the gates open, well there was no ripping open anything. and i was not a fan of the POV chapters of the emo paladin and found him hilarious when he said that he wanted to change the divide of the fleet when he is an elitist that doesn't care about the "talentless". Now the MC was really nothing especial he is just average nothing that makes him standout other than the manifestation of his talent. i will be buying the next book but if the emo paladin keeps getting chapters I'll probably drop the book i didn't liked him at all or the spoiled sisters and it looks like the author wants to make him a second mc.

Orphans of the Sky meets Progression Fantasy

The background for this book is kept decidedly unclear, but after finishing it, I'm getting a strong "Orphans of the Sky" (Heinlein) vibe with an admixture of progression fantasy.

We have a fleet of small ships apparently parasitizing enormous "Titans", which are infested with monsters of many types. To survive, the humans on those small ships need to send Hoppers (people with magical(?) powers) onto a Titan to harvest supplies. And apparently the technology on the Titans is compatible with the technology on the small ships.

Like in Orphans of the Sky, the people here seem to have little or no understanding of how they came to be in their current situation. This results in a strong post-apocalyptic feel to the story, even though it's not the traditional post-apoc setting.

Character development is strong, with several well-drawn characters who undergo interesting changes in the course of the book. The setting is only sketched it, but this seems to be intentional. And the plot is solid, though it depends a bit much on smug superiority for its villains (other than the PvE villains, of course.)

While I'm not generally a fan of the post-apoc vibe in my books, the admixture of progression fantasy tempers that for me. I'll be continuing the series.

Hopefully turns into a great series

I am looking forward to the next book. Sometimes, I was frustrated with the characters forgetting things that them and the audience learned at the same time but that is typical stuff. I hope there is more Titan time and combat in the next book. This one defines the setting well.