Easy read and entertaining - if not much novel in it. ( )

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6252819285

Thanks to Tor and the Goodreads Giveaways for an ARC of this book.

This new novel, from debut author L.M. Sagas, is billed as “fast, brash, and wickedly fun” by Dayton Ward. On the inside, author J.S. Dewes says it has “earned its place among my favorite found family tales, alongside Killjoys, Mass Effect, and Battlestar Galactica.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about Mass Effect the whole way through. Mass Effect is one of my all-time favorite video game series. There are big chunks of this book that read a bit like ME fan fiction. I don’t know whether that is good or bad. Though I love Mass Effect, my joy here is less than full. I think it’s because the story is so oriented around the “found family” and writing has a style tries to emphasize the ‘fun’ and ‘gritty space crew’ over everything else.

I kept thinking to myself, “I think other people would find this very fun.” I wish I did, but what I find fun in a video game is distinctly different from what I enjoy in a book. I have been reflecting on my reading (especially relating to my book club books, of which this is one), and I realize that I don’t enjoy fun books very much. I had to work to finish the book. The way the author writes characters and dialogue is so far removed from what I like - every single emotion and motive is spelled out, sometimes over and over. There is so much telling, so little showing. Think words repeated, words in italics, words emphasized with “fucking” and other expletives (which does not offend, just doesn’t work for me).

I also don’t enjoy found family stories. There is a scene where the crew has a brief reprieve from the action and so they’re dancing with one another. I had to skip pages to get past all of this, I couldn’t take it.

If you’re a reader that enjoys *really* light fiction with no thought required, where everything is explained, this would be a good pickup. If you want to read the novelization of a Mass Effect DLC that never was, I think this would be a good pickup. It’s not reflective, contemplative, or serious in almost any way. That means it wasn’t a good fit for me.

I felt obligated to finish this because it’s a debut. I won’t be picking up the novel’s sequel, but I will check-in in a few years to see what sort of thing the author is writing at that time. This feels like an author finding their legs and using a very firm structure to manage that. ( )

A scifi adventure with a wise-cracking, plucky crew and a sentient ship. While I enjoyed much of the book, the narrative is over-full of emotion in the minds, eyes, and unspoken words of the characters. Humorous banter is great, when it's appropriate - not when the doomsday clock is literally ticking and everyone is seconds away from destruction. Decent world-building but the plot has one hard to believe element. The story is complete in itself but a sequel is likely. ( )

Going into this novel I had expectations, and they were basically met, barely; this book almost didn't pass the "50-page rule" for me.

Let's start with the cover. The front, with its hot colors and "sketchy" cityscape, promises a certain level of, if not fun, at least excitement. However, it also really doesn't have much to do with the plot, and the implied antagonists of our gallant band remain ciphers for far too long. Going to the back cover of the book, there's a catalog of the author's influences, which only makes you start judging whether the novel is up to those same standards, but, even cutting Ms. Sagas some slack for her first novel, she has a way to go yet. A lot of this comes down to pacing, as the characters, themes, and basic plot are all acceptable for an adventure story.

The more I think about it the more my issue might boil down to my finding Sagas' main character, Jalsen Red, to be not that intriguing. He's really kind of a "red shirt" who is born to lose, just like Johnny Miner and Billy Budd. While he might be meant to be quasi-tragic, my reaction to him is more like, son, it's not too late to grab a clue; Red is trying in more ways than one.

So going forward, and having been pretty critical, you might be surprised to learn that I'm actually looking forward to the forthcoming follow-up book. My thought is that, having done her world-building and character development, I'll get a better sense of what this author is really about. ( )

A detailed science fiction adventure about a wandering band of people who are trying to stave off disasters that could cause the death of millions. The pluses for the book is that it seems self contained not obviously angling to be a part of a series (which it is). Also, there are both men and women in the group and we are not sidetracked by burgeoning love affairs.. A negative that there are many terms and technology of the future that are not fully defined. Overall, it is a nice first novel. ( )