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T. Ellery Hodges
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The Never Hero (Chronicles Of Jonathan Tibbs Book 1) Kindle Edition

by T. Ellery Hodges (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 3,455 ratings
See all formats and editions

At the gates between worlds. In a war outside of time. He fights for us.

They tell me heroes are the first to volunteer. But I was drafted.
An Alien, Heyer, did this to me. I asked him once why I had to do all the fighting while he watched from the shadows. He said he couldn't be replaced. But I could be.
My name is Jonathan Tibbs. I'm the one standing between Earth and the Enemy.
They tell me every hero's story follows a path. If I'm going to save the world, I have to find a different one.

"Only trust a man with power when he's wise enough not to want it."

The Never Hero is the first installment in The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs -- a mind-bending, genre crossing, multiple award winning, action-adventure trilogy.
_____________________________________________

*The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and garnered over 5000 5-Star Reviews on Amazon, Audible, and Goodreads.

"Thought provoking, action packed, psychological and smart."
~Amazon Reviewer, Sam G ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"I have a feeling I will be mulling over the philosophical ideas presented in this book for a very long time. Interesting, thought provoking, inspiring. Write faster, we need more books that pull on heart strings and keep the reader totally involved."
~Amazon Reviewer, Laura Lee ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"I put this book on my shelf with: The Codex Alera series by Jim butcher, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor with a twist of Marvel comic book heroes thrown in. I would buy it for you if I could."
~Audible Reviewer, Anonymous ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Never Hero is a book I wish I hadn't read -- so I could read it for the first time. Hodges has crafted a superb story about a hero who isn't. But he is. Even though he isn't. He has created a literary landscape equal to to the task; a story that comes upon you slowly, then grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. I can highly recommend both this title and author. If you enjoy scifi, this will thrill you. If you enjoy being surprised, this will catch you completely off guard. I was upset it was over. I want more!"
~Amazon Reviewer, Joe ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Say Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer got together with Christopher Nolan's Inception and made a baby. Then, M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable got together with Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and made a baby. Then those two babies grew up, eloped and had a love child, who they put up for adoption, and was raised by the surrogate parent's of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and the Wachowski Brother's Matrix, but had a crazy Uncle they all called The Karate Kid... Then you might get something as awesome as The Never Hero."
~Amazon Reviewer, Scott Baker ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Get your copy and start reading today!

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 3
    Chronicles Of Jonathan Tibbs
  2. Print length
    386 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    September 12, 2014
  6. Reading age
    14 - 18 years
  7. File size
    2170 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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  1. “Traditions get passed down; they become the rules. Some make sense, some seem pointless, but others,” Douglas said, “others only show their value when you don’t obey them.”
    Highlighted by 162 Kindle readers
  2. “I like to simplify the formula down to four basic components: the quest, the entourage, the weapon, and the wise man.”
    Highlighted by 125 Kindle readers
  3. “It’s okay to lose to opponent,” said the teacher, “but must not lose to fear.”
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From the Publisher

Thought provoking, action packed, psychological, and smart.
A book I wish I could read again for the first time.
Thrilling. Will catch you completely off guard.

Editorial Reviews

Review

2015 Reader's Favorite Book Awards
The Never Hero received an Honorable Mention in the category of Science Fiction.

"The idea of an ordinary man forced to defend the existence of mankind without anyone ever knowing about his sacrifice just sounded like an amazing story, and it really was. I couldn't put the book down. I really admired Jonathan throughout the book. Even though he was a regular guy with a regular life, he had these values and morals that made him capable of becoming this hero that the world didn't know it needed. In my mind, he makes the perfect protagonist, and he made me want to root for him, no matter what."~Cheryl Schopen | Reader's Favorite.

"An imaginative amalgamation of genres!" ~D.L. Denham || SFBook ReviewerHodges's writing style is clear and appropriate for the genre; his dialogue is fluid. The characters are well rounded and meaningfully contribute to the story, providing a few subplots that add instead of distract from the main plot. The action sequences are well composed and easy to visualize. Overall, Hodges's writing is solid. This is definitely a new creative series for fans of Science Fiction, Superhero, and Alien Invasion. An imaginative amalgamation of genres!

"It's that very formula." The Quest writ large. ~Leila Smith || The Kindle Book Review For the comic book fans, there are plenty of "kaboom" and "kapow" moments and the writing is quite cinematic (no actual pictures necessary). For the action fans, there are battles. For the science fiction fans there are teleportation and transformation. For the romance fans, you will find romance. But for serious readers willing to sidestep the implications of a comic book trope, there is some fine writing contained in The Never Hero.

Reader's Praise For The Never Hero:"In a landscape which is dominated by poorly written stories that are slaves to formula, Hodges has managed to bring a new voice and life to the genre." ~Charles | Audible Reviewer
"I put this book on my shelf with: The Codex Alera series by Jim butcher, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor with a twist of Marvel comic book heroes thrown in. I would buy it for you if I could." ~Audible Reviewer
"I feel like I've gotten a hit of some magical drug. I want more, and I want it
NOW! Who do I have to throw money at to get book 2? Please start a kickstarter campaign! Lock the writer in a cell! Do what you have to do... just for the love of all that is holy, give me the next book!"~Heath D. | Audible Reviewer

"You will live this adventure. You will become this awesome, albeit reluctant Hero. You become the protagonist. You are Him." ~S. Clarke | Audible Reviewer

"I highly recommend this book. It's unlike anything I have read, ever. I've fallen into this world and I don't want to get out." ~E.A. Walsh | Amazon Reviewer

"The story was a web being weaved, not yet knowing it's own design until the final word. Hodges' insight into the human psyche under the portrayed circumstance was surprisingly thorough, and his presentation of the protagonists moral dilemma and how it was overcome was beautiful in its own, dark, way."~Jeremiah Jackson | Goodreads Reviewer

"It is interesting because I don't know how to classify it exactly. Contemporary SciFi? It kind of sits in its own niche but it definitely sits at Number 1 in that Niche." ~David | Audible Reviewer

"Jonathan Tibb's journey from weakness to strength is so very painful, so very believable, and so very human. I grew to respect this character immensely before the end of the book."~Calen Schlamp | Amazon Reviewer

"All the elements of a traditional comic superhero story, but with the human thoughts and emotions that make it so much more believable than any superhero story I've ever seen, heard, or read." ~Marina Hanbury | Amazon Reviewer - Australia

About the Author

T. Ellery Hodges was born in Sacramento, Ca in 1981. He moved to Seattle at nineteen and completed a Bachelors of Science at the University Of Washington.
Somewhere in high school he gravitated toward writing. Then he forced the unsuspecting students who had made the mistake of taking creative writing in the same period endure the reading of his short stories.
In his twenties he worked in a laboratory performing drug trials, traveled most of Washington State fixing computers for Apple, sold gym memberships, and helped manage an international supply chain for a chemical distributor. Much like the rest of his generation, he found that he wasn't well suited to doing any type of work for long.
In 2013, he brushed the metaphorical dust off the novel he'd been writing in his head for six years. He looked up the definition of 'metaphorical' because he was pretty sure that people who called themselves writers knew that one. He found that there was one thing he could endure doing for forty hours a week for the rest of his life.
There is a lesson in there about ignoring what you want to do for what you think you should do, but this is a autobiography not a lecture.
Today, he lives with his wife and sons in Seattle. He has two dogs, a Border Collie and a Doberman, Darwin and Dharma, respectively.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00NK1GLM2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Foggy Night Publishing, LLC.; 1st edition (September 12, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 12, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2170 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 386 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 3,455 ratings

About the author

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T. Ellery Hodges

T. Ellery Hodges

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T. Ellery Hodges was born in Sacramento, Ca in 1981. He moved to Seattle at nineteen and received his Bachelors of Science in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University Of Washington.

In late high school and early college he started taking an interest in writing.

During his twenties he worked in a laboratory performing drug trials, traveled most of Washington State fixing computers for Apple, sold gym memberships, and helped manage an international supply chain for a chemical distributor. Much like the rest of his generation, he found that he wasn't well suited to doing any type of work for long.

So, he brushed the metaphorical dust off the novel he'd been writing in his head for the last six years. Then, he looked up the definition of 'metaphorical' because he was pretty sure that people who called themselves writers knew that one. He found that there was at least one thing he could endure doing for forty hours a week for the rest of his life.

There might be a lesson in all that about ignoring what you want to do for what you think you should. Luckily, this is a biography not a lecture.

Currently, he lives with his wife and two sons and daughter in Seattle. He has two dogs, a Border Collie and a Doberman, Darwin and Dharma, respectively.

In the 2015 Reader's Favorite book award contest, T. Ellery Hodges' debut novel, The Never Hero, was awarded an honorable mention in the category of Science Fiction. In 2017, the sequel, The Never Paradox, was awarded a Bronze Metal for the category of YA Urban Fantasy.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
3,455 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Messages For The Soul
5.0 out of 5 stars Original and fun sci-fi book
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2014
Verified Purchase
I read a lot of science fiction, fantasy and adventure books so am always looking for new authors that can draw me in and entertain me. I lived in Sacramento for many years so, when I saw that author T. Ellery Hodges was also from there, I felt a connection and bought The Never Hero. I'm glad I did.

The Never Hero is a great tale that chronicles both the story of a reluctant hero and debates the notion of what a ""hero"" really is anyway. Jonathan, the main character, is pushed into a war and cast as a hero that he doesn't really want to be. This sets up a series of internal debates that are both interesting and sometimes very comical. Heroes of old are brought up and discussed, such as our comic book Superman and even Jesus himself. While a lot of the action doesn't get into full swing until later chapters, once it does it is great stuff and well thought out.

I found The Never Hero to be a very exciting journey that was well-written and suspenseful to the point that I would often be kept reading long after I had intended. The cast of characters were well-developed and this is something that I could certainly see being made into a long-running series. Reluctant heroes are my favorite kind and Hodges definitely has a winner here with Jonathan. I highly recommend this first book as we await the next installment on what promises to be a fun ride.
3 people found this helpful
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Colin
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
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It's a good, action packed story, but the background is a bit contrived. You'll need to crank your "suspension of disbelief" up to 10 for this one.
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Phish phan
5.0 out of 5 stars Jackpot!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023
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Stumbled onto this book somehow, and I am so very happy that I did!

Completely enjoyed the whole series as well, so I have read (listened) @ 4 times times now. There is so much about these books that let me enjoy the journey of these characters. I lean on most of my friends to check these out as well.

Onto the book.

The story our author gave us to me was unique (to me), and compelling. However my favorite aspect of these is the dialogue between the characters, easily some very believable banter between the roommates, that had me laughing.

Can't imagine how this wouldn't be a new favorite author for many people.
One person found this helpful
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Amazonian
5.0 out of 5 stars intriguing and gripping
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2023
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I don’t read a lot, usually just when I fly, and if I don’t finish the book, it waits for my next travel. With The Never Hero, I enjoyed the characters and wanted to know what happened so I spent the next day finishing the book. I enjoyed the analysis of hero stories and what the story says about humankind.
One person found this helpful
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StubsNY
4.0 out of 5 stars A decent read, with some stylistic quirks, and an exceptional ending that demands a sequel.
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2015
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The story in a sentence: college kid becomes the defender of Earth against the big monsters but no one will ever know since when he wins everything reverts back to before the fight.

I would give five stars for the last two-three chapter developments that made me immediately go online and search for the sequel, which is still being finished. Do your work well, TE Hodges, make sure you are satisfied that your creations would be satisfied, as well as your readers.

Anyway, there was seemingly a conscious trade-off between story pace and development and the author chose development, I was able to skip some paragraphs and not miss any story. Hodges' pace is steady throughout the book and he is gifted in setting a temporal scene. Tibbs, the earstwhile hero, is actually not the most developed character in the book.

Over the last few chapters, Hodges divulges the background as to why there are battles, which is truly bizarre and probably would not stand up to a rigorous thesis defense but this does not significantly detract from the story. The love interest is a 'plant'. Battles have been going on for generations and there are other battles with other earth defenders going on.

SPOILER -- it would be impossible to continue this review without playing the spoiler but the best part of th book was the ending, leaving me wanting more. Kudos.
4 people found this helpful
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Jason Hornbuckle
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting ideas but the author lacks attention to detail
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2018
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Big parts of this book are well written and go deeper than the average $3 kindle book about how some young hero saves the world. That's commendable and I hope the author continues in that vein.

I had a real problem though in the completely immersion breaking sequences that ignore the reality of the passage of time and tbh just read like the author has no experience with the things he's writing about. The hero has a life changing event happens, and decides to drop out of school. Fine.

He starts weight lifting and training martial arts and within a week or two we're told that he's already added tons of muscle and has mastered complicated moves like spinning staff attacks and etc. He also never needs a rest day at the gym, and somehow gets really good at martial arts without a training partner. It's just absurd. I don't care how much you work out, you aren't going to see the difference in 2 weeks. You aren't going to condition your shins and forearms in 2 months, let alone 2 weeks. You aren't going to be doing spinning staff attacks in under 3 months, and no reputable teacher would even show them to you before that. The hero gets *stretch marks* on his torso from how big his muscles are getting in the first month of him going to the gym. That is just completely ludicrous. I mean to the point of him learning French over night by watching a subtitled movie, that level of reality-denial.

The whole thing reads like the author watched a karate movie with a training montage in it and decided to condense it all down into a few weeks without doing any research at all. Not to mention the protagonist never seems to need adequate sleep to build muscle either, which you know, is sort of important. He sleeps 4 hours a night and "trains" 15 hours a day, basically. It was very difficult to take the story seriously after this section.

There are other issues but suffice it to say I hope the author writes a sequel, and that he tries a little harder on it.
71 people found this helpful
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Josiah Ploeger
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024
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Been a bit since I dipped into science fiction and this was a great one to do it with. Character development was excellent and realistic and the plot is very interesting.
One person found this helpful
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Steven Bergstrom
4.0 out of 5 stars Got It On Recommendation, Did Not Disappoint!
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2023
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Very interesting, well written story. Well thought out, with a new (to me) concept that had a few twists and kept me wanting to unravel the threads.

On to book 2!
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Top reviews from other countries

Colin Ball
5.0 out of 5 stars Quality
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2021
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I've read this book several times now, going back every so often to refresh it in my mind. Why it's never been picked as a film or series eludes me.
Jonathan Tibbs is a 22 year old student forced to fight against a force he doesn't understand for reasons he doesn't know, just fight or die, either way no one will ever know what he's done to save them.
An excellent story, well written with a flawed hero at its centre. Just someone trying to do their best.
Read it and the sequels, trust me!
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Slashtrack
5.0 out of 5 stars Rocky fights a xenomorph (no spoilers)
Reviewed in France on June 2, 2018
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A really great read. I liked how the moral and philosophical implications raised by the plot are satisfyingly explored. While the ending may seem a little rushed with a big info dump, its implications could develop some interesting situations in the future. Waiting eagerly for volume 2.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars NEVER HERO THE BEST BOOK EVER
Reviewed in Brazil on April 10, 2017
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It is one of the best superhero books I ever read, and it is not a superhero book at the same time. It is like Logan - it is a superhero movie but it is not. The conflict is soberb, Jonathan is an amazing character, completely focus on his mission as soon as he knows the consequences to others, which I call "Little Girls's Guilt Factor" on my account. Jonathan is in a trap and he just don't care because going out is too much suffering to everyone he cares about. He is clever but not clever boring, his angry is like fuel but it is not a supernatural thing that makes him a "Supersamurai". Very credlble character. Love the book and read it 3 times.
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Eileen
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and intriguing story
Reviewed in Germany on February 19, 2017
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I loved this book from beginning to end. The story is gripping and intriguing. I recommended it to my friend and gave her the book as a present. Now we're both looking forward to book two.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it
Reviewed in Australia on August 30, 2016
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I gave this novel 5 stars because... well there are a few great novels that you read where you can't put the book down, the plot or/and characters are immortalised in your memory, or you have to read the novel over and over again just to put your mind back into that world again. The Never Hero is one of these books where both the characters and plot are stuck in my head and I have not been able to put this book down since I bought it. I suspect that I will read this novel numerous times in the coming years and enjoy every second.

This novel is set in the modern world wherein a young adult is forced into a situation witch he doesnt want but can understand. Contains unexpected plot twists and a protagonist who is realistic and unusual.

However, I am me and you are not therefore your tastes do not follow my own. But this was an amazing read and I have already recommended it to my friends and now to you.
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