First of all, this book is a novella or a longer short story, and not a full novel. The author is Romanian, and you can tell that the grammar isn't from a native speaker. It's definitely not a big thing, but definitely something to be aware of.

The series is supposed to be a space opera, but other than the fact that it takes place on a giant, floating cruise ship in outer space, it's not very space opera-y. If the author didn't continually remind you that you were on a spaceship, you'd have no idea that the book took place in outer space because at no point does the plot really tie into space (other than the main character trying to leave the ship).

There is absolutely no back story whatsoever other than a line here and there, which opens up plot holes. Being the first in a series, I'm sure some of the holes are deliberately left open to be filled in the rest of the trilogy, but it just left me very confused, frustrated, and annoyed. I felt like I had NO idea what was going on in the book, and felt like Nia was just randomly wandering around the ship with no purpose, and other characters did things for no reason or explanation - it felt like it was just filler to make a short story longer.

(slight spoiler) Nia was also repeatedly abused physically, and just shrugged this off like no big deal - this tells a lot about the world she is living in, yes, but I just couldn't stomach the casual disregard for human life.

I think there is a lot of potential in the book and in the series - but there is just too much missing. Perhaps if the first couple of books were combined and rewritten it would be better, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

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I received a free copy of the book from the author in order to read and review and was not paid for my review ( )

This is billed as "Space Opera" but is really a view into the life of a rag-tag bunch of spacers who just want to survive. It's very well-written, has attention-grabbing scene-setting, unusual conflicts and dubious resolutions. All in all, a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. ( )