The First Protectors: A Novel

Written by Victor Godinez

Narrated by Stephen Bowlby

The last thing Ben Shepherd wanted was another war. But sometimes the universe won’t take no for an answer. His body and spirit mangled by a lifetime of combat, Shepherd, a retired Navy SEAL, has retreated to the desolate desert of New Mexico to heal his wounds and dodge his demons. All he wants now is peace and quiet. Both are shattered one starry night, when an alien ship crashes nearby. Out of the ship crawls the last, dying member of a conquered civilization. It’s been shot down by an extraterrestrial enemy, the vanguard of a ravenous force hunting for a new homeland. With its last gasp, the wounded alien injects Shepherd with a high-tech serum that gives him near superhuman powers. Now, with a new body but a soul as fractured as ever, Shepherd becomes the reluctant leader of the human resistance against the coming invasion. With enemies on all sides, the man who couldn’t bear the guilt of seeing one more friend die in battle now finds himself charged with protecting the entire planet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094424880

Victor Godinez

Victor Godinez is a former newspaper reporter and current works in public relations. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Sarah, three kids, two dogs and, according to the most recent household census, two guinea pigs. You can find him on twitter @VictorGodinez, where he rambles about self-driving cars, The Simpsons, and sci-fi.

Reviews for The First Protectors

[Cindy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous story line, great details and well written. It was like watching an action packed movie!

[Catherine Shema · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not stop action. Really good plot. Not sure if next one is out but I’ll go looking.

[keri8christensen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book. It made you care about the characters, but it moved right along too. Some cool ideas. I look forward to the sequel.

[Robert Daley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book was fairly good, but I am tired of books where the small force defeats overwhelming odds, it’s so cliche. It would also have been nice to get narrative from the alien side of things.

[Steve Austin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an ok book I would like to listen to a 2nd book

[Jonathan Smallwood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good SFI book about aliens invading, no woke elements, over all it was enjoyable.

[Michael Starr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good fast moving plots keep you in suspense hard to put down

[Joshua Connell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was hooked from the first chapter. Great read and wanted more when it ended.

[angela wilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining! A good distraction from everyday reality here on earth.

[Nancy Jo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was very well written, but not my style. This book would appeal to people who enjoy battle scenes.

[caytlain hewitt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's nice to read a book where the main character is not a weak,stupid, coward who has to be dragged into helping himself or herself. Can't wait for part 2

[Fauve13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Story had much potential, but lacked a bit of depth. Reader is good, but the writing made reading it lack flow. Decent sci-fi and an easy listen.

[Juli · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It’s a shame because the writing is sharp and very well done, but the plot is definitely lacking. Also while the action is well written it’s a bit too long of mostly all action and not much plot or character development. Having the main character laugh at jokes his buddy makes is not enough to flesh out a character. It’s an interesting kernel of an idea but then fall apart into pretty basic military story type tropes. I stuck it out hoping there would be a cool ending at least but

Spoiler alert*******






It’s just a nuke? It also doesn’t really make sense that if a nuke could take out the aliens why the pilot had to kamikaze himself to do so, other than for the forgiving himself angle with the main character. But there was literally something mentioned earlier that would’ve been way better: when the 3rd experimental new soldier dies during his transformation, if they had sent one of the others to kamikaze in a way that their blood would nanobot eat the enemies.

[Charlene Romanosky · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With any novel there are high points and some low. This is my first Science Fiction novel. It was better than I thought it would be. I’d like to read a follow up to this book.

[malinda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kept my interest throughout the book , really enjoyed the story line.

[Evan and Caris · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic! Craving a sequel. Kind of like an Andy Weir version of Independence Day? Protagonist has depth and character. Well written, well narrated.

[Manda Farkash · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gotta have this as a movie! And sure hope there’s a sequel on the way

[Mike churchill · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was pleasantly surprised. Very fast-paced and entertaining. A good investment of my time. I am looking forward to his next novel.

[belinda grimm · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Reads like an action flick…. Without the high def.. Regrets. I should have read the previous review. Ugh

[Sparky Smith · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic gripping story, and I loved it! I will be checking for other stories from this author

[Steve Armbruster · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very engaging sci-fi novel set in modern times. Characters you care about and a great unique story line. Well done to this first time author. I look forward to future books.

[dan lawrence · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book with lots of action. I am not a big sci-fi fan but this book was well written and the narrator was really good. It was different than any other sci-fi book I have tried to read or listen to but stopped because it was so bad. The story for this is pretty out there but it’s different and the writer did a great job describing everything in detail but not to lose you with boredom. The book was funny, witty with a little bit of drama. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I can see where a lot of guys would like this book. It’s an action, military, special ops based sci-fi book. Can’t wait for the next one!

[Amy Thaxton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was slow and just blah then as it was maybe going to get to something interesting it was just over. It ended abruptly in the middle of a conversation!

[paul schulte · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Really just a juvinile book for 12 or under. If you like superhero movies with tons of " special effects" this may be for you.

[ChrisEdgell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fun book. I passed it up a million times, glad I finally checked it out.

[jls68_450028353 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the only book in the last few years that’s been able to keep my attention. The author is simply gifted at creating a story that is out of this world but at the same time absolutely believable. The backstories behind the characters were woven into the main storyline extremely well. Several times I stopped in complete admiration in how effortlessly the author added just the right detail to action scenes, conversation between characters, and descriptions of equipment that added real depth to everything about this book. This book should be made into a movie.

[jeri holdiness · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the mindset and the writer did some decent research to speak intelligently as a military special operator. We all have demons were fighting , and adding that to the book gave it a little more Dept. Maybe a bit over board but it was good