Wistful Ascending

Hybrid Helix, Book 1

By: JCM Berne

Narrated by: Wayne Farrell

The il’Drach have conquered half a galaxy behind the civilization-ending powers of their mixed-species children.

Half-human Rohan, exhausted by a decade fighting for their Empire, has paid a secret and terrible price for his freedom.

Now retired, he strives to live a quiet life towing starships for the space station Wistful. His most pressing problems are finding the perfect cup of coffee and talking to a gorgeous shuttle tech without tripping over his own tongue.

A nearby, long-dormant wormhole is opened by a ship full of angry refugees, and the many eyes of the Empire focus uncomfortably on Wistful.

As scientists, spies, and assassins converge, reverting to the monster the Empire created is the surest way to protect his friends. And the surest way to lose them.

©2020 Joseph Berne (P)2025 Joseph Berne

clear descriptions relatable aliens.

my only issue was on the draft. why don't the women leave the planet and make hybrids?

Deep Space 9 meets Dragon Ball Z

Deep Space 9 meets Dragon Ball Z but make the space station older than the empire and sentient and make the saiyans alien hybrids who's power is fuelled by rage. Laugh out loud funny, action-packed and full of heart. The most fun read I've had in a long time.

Amazing Action and Heart

If I were to pinpoint what I enjoyed most about this book, it was definitely the way it kept portrayed the protagonist Rohan as a nice guy who's just working a blue collar job in a sci-fi world. Part deep space nine, part Invincible and DBZ, Wistful Ascending is a great beginning to a series I plan to devour. I only hope we can get a few more audiobooks because I enjoyed the narrator and o really got me into the world.

I loved it!!!!

This was so entertaining! I was hooked from the first few chapters. Amazing characters, fun story, and incredibly unique.

Fantastic space opera debut!

The author of Wistful Ascending gave me the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book! I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started, but I ended up enjoying it for the most part. I liked the characters, the world building was very intriguing, especially with the wormhole stuff and the different alien species, and the humor was great throughout the whole book. The dialogue was great as well. And the audio narrator was great!

My main complaint is with the pacing, it felt very inconsistent at times, moments of action and tension went by very quickly, followed by many chapters of quiet and not much happening. And some chapters felt a bit repetitive. I'm sure this will improve, seeing that this is the authors debut novel. I will eventually give book 2 a listen.