Some science fiction fun...

Title & Author:  Wreckers by George Ellis

First line:  "I might not be the smartest guy in the galaxy, but I do know my way around the place. I also know my way around every kind of space ship in it."

Main character:  Denver Boyd is 19 and the captain of his own souped-up spaceship (which used to belong to his uncle); his 'crew' consists of a one-eyed cat named Pirate and Gary, the ship's annoying AI navigator. He's a talented mechanic, awful with a gun but good with his fists, likes beer and junk food, and is clever, sarcastic and funny.  

My thoughts:  This character-driven novel is a very entertaining and humorous science fiction adventure. Ellis's writing and voice is so good. And all the pop culture references in it made me laugh. Denver Boyd is a great character; I liked him immediately. As a wrecker, he mostly repairs and tows other spaceships for money, until he tangles first with the Federation and then with the Tracers' piratical leader. Now he's on the hunt for his missing brother while half the galaxy is hunting for him. I loved the action and humor in this book, as well as the other quirky characters Denver meets along the way. At just 287 pages, this one reads fast. It's very fun, and I really hope the author writes a sequel to it soon. 

Happy Reading!

 

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

 A beacon-repair crew.

A strange distress signal.

A ghost ship.

An unsolved mystery.

And unspeakable horror.

When Claire Kovalik and her crew head to the edges of the solar system to respond to a distress signal, they never dreamed they'd find the Aurora, a luxury space cruiser that disappeared more than twenty years ago. They know it's too late to rescue anyone on board, but finding this ship gives them salvage rights. And Claire could really use the money. So she and her crew decide to enter the defunct ship. But the nightmare they find goes beyond anything they could ever have imagined. Now Claire must try to keep her crew alive before they all lose their minds.

This science fiction mystery is atmospheric, sinister and suspenseful. And the abandoned ship with all her dead is truly creepy. Once I started, I couldn't stop reading it. I had to know what happened to Claire and her crew. Claire's a high-strung character with a traumatic past; she's guarded, blames herself when anything goes wrong, and she sometimes sees ghosts. Even with all of that, I liked her a lot. And I liked this book even more. It's tense. It's entertaining. It reads fast. And I'd give it at least 4 stars.

Happy Reading!

Similar read:

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

 Suspense. Murder. Science fiction. Mystery.

There's a lot to like about this interstellar mystery. It's unique. It's well-written and it reads fast. It has six interesting characters and an intriguing premise. And it's set in space. But I have to admit, I'm finding it a little hard to summarize. So I'm going to cheat and quote from the blurb on Goodreads instead.

"A space adventure set on a lone ship where the clones of a murdered crew must find their murderer -- before they kill again.

It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood. At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire... And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently."

Because the ship's AI memory logs have been wiped, and none of the six cloned crew members have retained any recent memories, you don't know who to trust. Any one of them could have committed the murders and sabotaged the ship's computer. There's the captain, the pilot, the doctor, the tech guy, the security guy, and Maria, jill-of-all-trades. Each has a criminal past and each knows their own piece of the puzzle. But none feel they can trust any of the others. 

I always enjoy reading these kinds of locked-room mysteries (or locked-ship mystery in this case), and I found Six Wakes to be both compelling and entertaining. I especially liked all the clone technology, with its complicated moral and ethical issues, and the six clones with their past lives, their memories, secrets and altered mindmaps. If you like character-driven mysteries, especially ones set in space, this is a really good one. 

Happy Reading!

Innocence by Sean Danker

"...if my life was a building, the very foundations were made of reinforced irony."

The Admiral is back! And once again he's in trouble. This time he's locked up in "the most brutal penitentiary in regulated space". What happens there is also aired as real-time entertainment for those outside. No one ever escapes. But the Admiral has a plan.

"The key to winning is never to play anyone else's game.  Always make sure they're playing yours, and by your rules. The house always wins."

While this book is #4 in the Evagardian series, it actually follows book #2, Free Space in the timeline. (The third book in the series, The Glory of the Empress, follows different characters and is set before book #1, The Admiral.) Besides the suspense of the Admiral's current situation, this book also gives a glimpse into his past and how he became what he is. Though there's still a lot about him that remains a mystery.

"I haven't always made the best decisions, and there's an argument to be made that I might not be the nicest person. But I don't lose."

I love this character so much! I wish there were many more books about him because I would read them all. But I guess I'll take what I can get. Here's another favorite quote from this book:

"When things like elegance and logic are just broken pieces on the floor, there's still nerve. Aggression could never fill in all the gaps, but a little audacity could go a long way." 

Happy Reading!

(I know this series certainly made me happy.)

A bookish adventure...in space!

Ada, a princess from House von Hasenberg, has been on the run for two years when she's snagged by mercenaries. They mean to return her to her family and claim their reward. But then Richard from House Rockhurst, the man she was supposed to marry, turns up to claim her for his own. She's in serious trouble this time. But she's not the only captive on board ship with a price on her head. Marcus Loch, the notorious Devil of Fornax Zero, is also a prisoner. If they team up, they just might be able to escape. But can she trust him not to double-cross her the moment he regains his own freedom? And how is she ever going to get Richard Rockhurst off her trail without starting a war between both their houses?

The engine steadied and the window shutters retracted, leaving a clear view of the vast emptiness of space. And for the first time, the magnitude of what I'd done hit me. I was alone on a tiny lifeboat, in the middle of nowhere, with a man twice my size. And he was a known murderer. Without the adrenaline driving me, fear crept in.

Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik is non-stop space adventure fun. I stayed up half the night reading this book because I didn't want to put it down. Ada and Marcus are irresistible characters--both smart, stubborn and tough; they're also complete opposites...and completely perfect for each other. I loved them both. There's also some great futuristic tech--healing nanobots, shield bracelets, FTL drives, etc.--but the story never bogs down in the science. It's all fast-paced, compelling, entertaining action (with some sex and romance, too). Can you tell I really liked this one?

Happy Reading!