Books like Hunted by James Alan Gardner

Admiral Alexander York engineered perfection into his children’s DNA, ensuring that his daughter Samantha would surpass all expectations. His twin son, Edward, however, was born with a brilliant body but a flawed mind, relegating him to failure until an intervention gained him a commission in the Outward Fleet Explorer Corps, a rag‑tag group of veterans known as the Expendables. Edward accompanies Samantha on a mission to the war‑torn planet Troyen, host to the alien Mandasar. While confronting a civil war, Samantha is killed alongside the Mandasar hive‑queen, prompting the Admiral to blame Edward for the tragedy. He is then exiled to a remote moon for twenty years, haunted by guilt. When escalating conflict forces a mass evacuation, Edward must return home. Joined by a fellow former Expendable and the legendary Admiral Festina Ramos, he uncovers a deep conspiracy that threatens both human and Mandasar futures, offering a chance for redemption or destruction.

First publish date: 2000