Geetha Krishnan's Blog

Yes, our team is called ZAPS

What is the SPSFC?

It’s an annual competition for self published science fiction books, the Self Published Science Ficion Competition, where sci fi readers form teams to judge the entries and select a winner from the pool of entrants.

This is the 5th year of SPSFC and I’m the Team Lead of Team Zombies and Pirates in Space.

Team ZAPS

Without further ado, let’s meet the team!

Cory Rathbun

Cory reads constantly, mostly Sci-fi and Fantasy though there are a LOT of LitRPG, GameLIT, and progression fantasy lately.  He also does ARC reviews for self published or independent authors, enjoys all manner of gaming and nerdery, and wants to see more books featuring Eastern Philosophy.

Cory has been a judge last year for another team, and he’s back for another stint this year.

You can find Cory at Goodreads and Bluesky.

Daniel Ruffolo or Dan 1

Dan goes by he/him, and is a lifelong SFF reader, giant dork, and huge nerd. After spending most of his younger years working in bookstores, he had a run as the owner of a boardgame and cardgame shop, and has spent time in game design, and production/copy editing, before going back to school and becoming a paralegal and law clerk. Outside all the reading, and writing, he’s a musician and gamer, though wishes he could do more of both of those than he’s had time for lately. Dan can’t wait to get into a whole pile of cool and interesting indie fiction!

Dan prefers character driven books, and if they involve marginalized communities, all the better! He reads during his commute, and this is his first year judging SPSFC and he has been a judge for Small Spec Book Awards previously.

You can find Dan on Bluesky and at his website, Strange Currencies.

Dan Roop or Dan 2

Dan goes by he/him, and is a retired public school educator, having taught high school mathematics for 11 years and served as a school administrator for the last 19 years. He teaches a couple of college courses part-time, but otherwise loves to read! He is married to a wonderful, supportive woman and they have two adult children.

Dan loves high stakes books with action and adventure and his dream job is to be a spaceship mechanic/engineer. He’s an avid Sci Fi and fantasy reader and this is his first time judging the SPSFC.

You can find Dan on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, and Bluesky.

Devin Ford

Devin goes by He/Him. Dad of 2 amazing little girls, he enjoys reading fantasy, sci-fi, and romantasy. He runs bromantasy.com which is aimed at bridging the genre gap between traditional fantasy/sci-fi and Romantasy by focusing on the stories instead of the genre tag. He’s also trying to use the platform to showcase the incredible stories from self published authors that don’t have the “machine” of traditional publishing behind them.

Devin loves high stakes character driven fiction and a special love for grimdark. This is his first year as an SPSFC judge.

You can find Devin on Instagram and Twitter/X and on hisBromantasy site.

Rari aka Niranjan aka Zombie

(Did I name the team after me? Yes, I did!)

Rari goes by both she and they and she loves reading. She has been reading nearly all her life, and while she used to read just about anything, of late, she finds unable to read anything other than SFF.

Rari loves character driven books and the queerer the better. She rarely reads traditionally published books these days and is a voracious reader of indie SFF. This is her second time as a judge in SPSFC and the first time as a team lead.

You can find Rari on Bluesky and Instagram and her reviews on her blog.

Rari is also an indie author in her spare time.

Blurb

Azetla has served the Maurowan Army for thirteen years. There are seven left to pay. A pariah and a debt soldier, he is a commander with no rank, a soldier without citizenship, and wears a sword that it is unlawful for him to either own or use. He has learned to hold his tongue or risk losing everything.

When Azetla’s battalion is sent into the desert to catch a Sahr devil—one of the famously brutal inhabitants of the region—his tenuous position is threatened. He discovers that there is far more to this mission than catching a fiend. For the Emperor of Maurow, it is a way to prove that he fears nothing, not even devils. For the Emperor’s brother, it is a stepping-stone to rebellion. For Azetla it could be deadly either way, as he is cornered into choosing a side in the coming coup.

But the devil that Azetla finds in the desert is not what anyone expects or wants. As the conspiracy against the Emperor becomes entangled with the simmering ambitions of the desert tribes, Azetla must decide if he’s willing to strike a bargain with a devil in order to survive.

Naturally, she is not to be trusted. But then again, neither is he.

My Review

I read this as part of the SPFBO Champions Edition. I knew this was this year’s SPFBO winner and I was planning to read it anyway, but I was on a bad case of reader’s block, so was putting it off.

But then I had to read it for the Champions Edition. I had read a few reviews of this while the competition was going on, and it was described as slow paced which worried me. As I said, I was coming out of a readers block and wasn’t sure how I’ll be able to handle a slow paced book.

Well, apparently, by not putting it down and by grabbing book 2 of the series and devouring it and nagging the author for book 3.

This is a book set in a Desert World very reminiscent of the Middle East in the days of the Old Testament. The Maurowan Empire rules by Divine Right, and the Emperor Riada is the current representative of the divine.

Not everyone is happy with Riada, and disaffected elements are planning a coup in the shadows with James, Riada’s bastard half-brother as their figurehead.

Azetla, the main character is a Mashevi, a people contemptuously called jackals by the Maurowans who have annexed their kingdom to the empire. The Mashevi has no rights in the empire and there is a festival where Mashevi criminals are sacrificed to the Maurowan gods. When you consider Mashevi has no rights and that no proof is needed for their crimes, it’s doubtful if the criminals are actually such.

Azetla is a debt conscript to the Maurowan army and has served for thirteen years already with seven more to go. When James and his accomplices and Riada engage in a subtle powerplay that involves his brigade, he has to cross the desert to the wild lands of Sahr to capture one of the Sahr devils. Though a jackal, Azetla is respected and treated as the second in command, but if James or his cronies learn of it, not only him, but the captain who has treated him as a son and the friends he has will all suffer.

And that was before the Sahr devil starts picking them off one by one.

I have to say, I haven’t loved a protagonist recently as much as I love Azetla. The Mashevi religion and history reminded me strongly of Judaism in the Old Testament and the travails of the Jewish people under various empires. The world is grim, dark, and bleak, and the lives of the people even more so. Despite the wealth and power of the empire, the soldiers and the common people are alike suffering, with the Mashevi a convenient whipping boy and target for everyone’s ire.

The characterisation is top notch as well and I loved the political intrigue as well as the push and pull in the army, and how even when he’s treated as one of their own, many soldiers still treat Azetla as less than unconsciously. The prejudices against the Mashevi and the mindset of the people that the Mashevi should be grateful if they’re treated with basic decency all resonates with a world that isolates those who are different.

If you love character driven fantasy with militaristic vibes and political intrigue, you’ll love this one.

I had finished this book back in August and my review has been ready for ages but I was waiting for the team review of By Blood By Salt to go up.

You can find By Blood By Salt on Goodreads and Bookbub

Blurb

A home at the end of the world. The bonds that shape a family. The sacrifices demanded by love.

Aili Fallon has spent three hundred years of her unexpected immortality building a safe place for all those she cares about – her phoenix lover; their dragon son; their renegade demon daughter; and the shape-shifting spiritual creatures who come to Aili to learn the sword. She’s determined to protect them from human captivity and demonic corruption.

But the patterns of the natural world, the source of spiritual power, are inexplicably failing. When Aili’s lover is attacked, her phoenix healing disappears. A curse killing dragons targets their son, while growing demonic power threatens to destroy their daughter. 

And hidden deep, a traitor is waiting.

Piece by piece, a long-laid plot of vengeance, betrayal, and cruelty is tightening around Aili and her family. The home that’s been a sanctuary is now a trap, and Aili will risk everything she’s built, and everything she is, to break them free.

Everything will not be enough.

My Review

I’d previously read and loved The Crane Moon Cycle which is a queer cultivation fantasy duology by this author and had loved it. When I saw this kickstarter, and the author shared the early chapters in her newsletter and asked me if I wanted to be an early reader, I was like fuck yeah!

And!

This book! This amazing, brilliant, masterpiece of a book!

The story takes place 300 years after the end of the duology, and there are not many references to the earlier series, so readers who haven’t read it can also read this and enjoy it, but me, I re-read the duology and cried a lot yet again before starting this.

Let me just say that if your book makes me cry, it’s gonna be my comfort read for all time. I love books that makes me feel, that makes me cry so much I have to stop reading because I can’t see the words anymore.

So, on to the review for The Seaglass Blade.

300 years after the end of The Crane Moon Cycle, Aili and Liu Chenguang are still married, still in love, but living apart. Aili runs a Sect for spiritual creatures, teaching them cultivation, while Liu Chenguang spends her time in Easterly, being a doctor. Yisue, the dragon child they had adopted is all grown up now, and they have also adopted a demon child called Sanmer who wanted to escape her demonic roots, to be able to love, to find peace, to cultivate spiritual energy instead of corrupted one.

Liu Chenguang is coming home and Aili is eager to see her, but everything goes haywire when demons attack Liu Chenguang just outside the wards of the new Crane Moon Sect and stabs her with a crystal dagger that vanishes but Liu Chenguang doesn’t heal. Searching for answers, Yisue goes to visit Beilong, and learns that there’s a demonic spell targeting dragons. A Cat spirit called Majen helps Yisue despite being a demonic spy. Aili accepts Majen as a disciple, and with the information from Majen, Zhu Guiren is able to create a counterspell that wakes Liu Chenguang and heals her.

But when Yisue learns he may be the only dragon left, and Tainu and Liu Chenguang comes up with a risky counterspell to the demonic one, it’s only the start of events that cascade to tear apart the lives of everyone in Crabe Moon.

Fuck, I loved Yisue in this, and I loved his dynamic with Majen too. Majen is pretty much a cinnamon roll, and I adore him. Zhu Guiren is still my favouite though Yisue comes close now! Aili and Liu Chenguang and their love for each other is transcending everything once again, and I loved how everything resolved for them.

And Sanmer! Omg, her character arc had me in tears, and I don’t want to spoil things, but her last conversation with Majen had me tear up. I want to see more of her, and I hope we get a book that’s focussed on her next.

At many times, I had to stop reading because I was getting so anxious for the characters and was tempted to ask the author for spoilers, lol.

This is queer cultivation fantasy at its finest and is both heart wrenching and gut churning.

Go read it! You won’t regret it AT ALL.

You can find the Kickstarter here!

You can read my review of The Phoenix and the Sword here!

This series is the perfect Halloween Read for everyone!

Rotten RootsBlurb

Faces of the dead lurk in the cemetery trees, whispering to one another, worried as an otherworldly force seeks its way in past the sandstone walls. Graveyard Keeper Sven and his ghost dog, Fi, venture out on a late-night journey through a haunted town, seeking the source of the disruption.

Fels is a town with a fair bit of history, the trouble could come from many places. All Sven knows is that the rot always starts at the roots.

An exploration of smalltown history and liminal spaces, Rotten Roots is set in modern-day Germany, like the Order of the Strawberry Circle series, but follows a different main character and can be enjoyed as a standalone. Rotten Roots is intended for mature audiences.

My Review

I had previously beta read an adult fantasy book by this author and had loved it, but since I’m a scaredy cat, I didn’t dare touch any of the ones that were focussed on horror themes.

Till I picked up this book. It’s a very small story, but I loved it. The opening grabbed me and the book didn’t let me go till I was done. It was atmospheric, reminding me of books by Edgar Allen Poe and the short stories by Bram Stoker.

The book revolves around Sven, a graveyard keeper in the small German town of Fels, who has a ghost dog called Fi. When he notices something amiss with the supernatural elements in town, Sven goes to investigate, only to find that the whole stemmed at an unexpected place, and he’s trapped with no way out.

Honestly, this book gave me the chills. I know this is a spin off, that Sven is probably a minor character in the main series, but I loved him and the whole atmosphere of the town and the book.

I’m definitely going to read the main series now.

If you love classic horror, and books that cause that delicious spine tingling fear instead of jumpscares, you would love this book.

Also, that information about Strawberry Circles working the same way as Mushroom Circles was very interesting!

Find Rotten roots on Bookbub and Goodreads

Bad GrainsBlurb

Eleven-year-old Jo loves Halloween and all things horror, but she doesn’t believe anything bad could ever happen in Fels, her small German hometown. When Hektor, her annoying older brother, disappears on his way home from school, Jo assumes he is playing a prank on her. But then both her father and grandma forget Hektor’s name, and his stuff mysteriously disappears from his room.

With the adults of no help whatsoever, Jo starts an investigation of her own, uncovering an old legend that has haunted the children of Fels for centuries. A monster lives in the rye fields, and draws children into its world under the roots. With two days until the gate between their worlds closes, and only Hektor’s obnoxious best friend to help her, Jo must figure out a way to rescue her brother, or lose him forever.

My Review

As I said, I picked this up, because Rotten Roots had me all curious about the series. The series is a Middle Grade one, and while I usually don’t like or read books with younger protagonists, I adored this one.

Jo is eleven and obsessed with all things spooky like Halloween. She tries hard to fit in at school, though she’s pretty much a loner. Her mother works abroad which has engendered some abandonment issues in her.

One day, on the way back from school, her annoying older brother Hektor and two of his friends take a short cut through a rye field, only to vanish. Though Jo initially thinks nothing of it, she starts getting concerned when her father and grandmother forget Hektor and all his things mysteriously disappear from his room. To add to her growing terror, the rye field appears to have been harvested weeks ago.

Jo meets Nele, who is taking a survey of the rye field, and Nele introduces her to the Order of the Strawberry Circle who monitor and deal with the supernatural. But they’re unable to help Jo since the rye mother who has taken him is visible only to children.

Determined to get Hektor back, Jo ventures into the rye field herself with a turnip lantern for a guide and the accidental accompaniment of Daniel, Hektor’s friend. But the rye field is not a rye field, and the rye mother is more dangerous than she thought.

I just loved Jo. Her declaration that the adults are useless is pretty much true since the only thing they can do is wash their hands off the whole. Instead of trying to even find a solution, they expect Jo to accept that her brother is gone.

I loved Jo’s tenacity, and how she was ready to fight for Hektor even when no one remembers him. At first I wondered why she was so insistent, but the small instances in her memory of Hektor is enough to understand that he may have been annoying, but also protective and caring, and that’s the brother she wants to save.

There’s no blood or gore in this, the horror is from the theme and atmosphere, and since I was able to read it without getting nightmares, it’s pretty much safe for everyone.

Even if you don’t love horror, you will enjoy this book, and if you’re a fan of horror, you shouldn’t miss this book.

I loved all the odd bits of life in rural Germany, which isn’t something we get to see often in English books.

The book was a SFINCS semifinalist and a BBNYA finalist, which are no surprises!

Find Bad Grains on Bookbub and Goodreads

WhiteoutBlurb

11-year old Jo has finally managed to make a friend at her new Rani, the girl who runs like the wind. Together, Jo and Rani are planning the perfect winter cookie baking, caroling, and ice skating at the local pond.
But when the Fels Christmas market is vandalized and strange symbols are found on the stalls, Jo starts to worry that the chilling prophecy made by the monster who kidnapped her brother in the fall might be coming true after all, threatening the safety of all of

“The price for peace in blood is paid, pay it now or pay it soon, only higher if you wait…”

To protect her family, Rani, and her no-longer-quite-so-boring hometown of Fels, Germany, Jo turns to the Strawberry Circle, the secret order monitoring supernatural activity in the area. Together, can they chase off the spirits that haunt the time between the years? Or will Fels pay the blood price after all?

Join Jo on a frosty and frightening adventure and explore the rich winter lore of Germany in the sequel to BBNYA finalist Bad Grains!

My Review

Having finished Bad Grains, I had to read this one as well.

In this Jo has made friends with the other loner in her school, Rani. It’s almost Christmas and Jo and Daniel are now part of The Order of the Strawberry Circle, who warns them that whatever sacrifice they interrupted when they rescued Hektor could open the Blue door they saw and unleash the Wild Hunt upon Fels.

Hektor remembers nothing, and no one but Jo and the rest of the strawberry circle knows what happened. But they’re watchful since the time before and during Christmas is the most dangerous.

Jo and Rani are attacked by a beast and Rani also gets to meet and is inducted into the Order. Jo is envious of Rani’s proficiency in physical training and the ease with which she gets along with everyone, but she has no room for anything but fear when a mysterious lady pays her a visit and wants to claim her in return for helping her rescue Hektor.

The Order advises Jo to stay indoors, but when Rani goes missing, Jo decides, once again, that it’s up to her to rescue her friend. But what she faces is much more dangerous this time around, and she stands to lose more than a friend if she fails.

Again, loved Jo. Loved even her petty envy of Rani, which is so relatable in a child that age, and also, how that doesn’t prevent her from trying to save her. She’s guilty about her jealousy and able to put things in perspective when she learns of Rani’s home situation.

This was like the first one, more an adventure than strictly horror and the horror elements come from the atmosphere and the local lores that permeates Fels. Once again, I found the German traditions quite interesting, and the recipes at the end of the book were really needed because I may not be able to get everything to make them here, but I still wanna try!

Eagerly awaiting the rest of this amazing series. If you and your child love books, don’t miss out on these ones!

Find Whiteout on Bookbub and Goodreads

Both Bad Grains and Whiteout are part of the Halloween Flash Sale on Itch-io!

Blurb

Love, like archaeology, is a lot of trowel and error.

Still reeling from being ghosted by her girlfriend, bioarchaeologist Kate Roth agrees to join an estranged colleague to teach at his field school at a Viking-age archaeology site in the wilds of Newfoundland. While welcoming the escape from Colorado where she’s been medicating resurfaced anxieties with wine and angry rock music, she’s wary of three important facts: 1) she’s had a crush on Viking Cowboy Ben for half her life, 2) Ben is a family man who lives in Norway, and 3) all her romantic relationships, and most friendships, seem to have an expiration date.

For archaeologist Esben “Ben” Veholt, inviting the woman he’s been in love with since digging alongside her 23 years ago was, of course, the worst possible thing he could have done for himself. This summer was supposed to be his escape from reality: a love life in ruins, worsening body image issues, and a teenage daughter who suddenly wants nothing to do with him. When Kate accepts his offer, he intends to retain a professional relationship with her. A woman like Kate could never love him anyway—not with how much he’s changed inside and out.

All seems fine on the surface as Kate and Esben’s friendship rebuilds, but as they dig deeper, they realize just how broken they both are. To heal from their painful pasts and reclaim their crumbling presents, they each need a friend who accepts them, mess and all. But summer won’t last forever, and a third chance at romance threatens to drift across the ocean yet again.

Even If We’re Broken is an own-voice debut novel—an emotional, slow-burn friends-to-lovers open-door romance about self-acceptance, mental health, and the scars we carry.

My Review

I got this as part of an itch-io bundle I grabbed, and it has been sitting on my kindle for a while now, because I saw contemporary romance and neither of those are genres I prefer to read.

How wrong I was, at least when it comes to this book. This is a book I loved so much I finished it in one go. What is more, this is a book I’ll recommend to EVERYONE.

It’s less about the romance than about mental health and healing from trauma, about living with chronic pain, about neurodivergents fitting in, about the forms of domestic abuse, and yet, all these heavy themes are interlaced so skilfully into the narrative that it doesn’t feel heavy while lessening none of their impact. It’s masterful storytelling.

The story revolves around Kate, a bisexual, neurodivergent professor of anthropology, who has just been dumped by her girlfriend of many years and ghosted by her. The other side of the love story has Esteben or Ben as he is called, a Norwegian professor of archaeology with a bad back, chronic pain, and a failed marriage with his daughter drifting away from him.

Ben and Kate had met each other previously, once when they were both students and once, years later, when Ben was still married, and Kate had a partner as well. Though there was an attraction on both sides, and a friendship, neither of them had taken the first step.

When Kate is invited to be part of a field camp Ben is organising, it’s a chance for them to reconnect, but both of them are dealing with too much baggage from their past relationships. Are they ready to take a chance on each other risking their hearts and the friendship that means a lot to both of them?

I loved Kate and Ben’s characterisation in this. They’re both real people with real issues, with generational trauma, trauma from failed relationships, emotional and verbal abuse by former partners, and in Ben’s case, a rejection by his daughter as well. Adding to this is the inability of Ben’s family to properly understand and support him and Kate’s trauma over the sudden demise of both her parents in an accident. Real world problems happening to real world people.

They’re both coping in not very healthy ways but finding each other and falling in love doesn’t miraculously heal them. The end of the book has them still healing, going to therapy, firmly on the road, but still not completely healed. But they’re together, and they’re supporting each other’s healing journey.

And this is not even touching on the details of the field camp, and the author’s obvious expertise in archaeology, of which there’s just enough to keep the two protagonists’ mastery evident without shifting the focus from their issues and how they cope.

Healing is never linear, and this book is a journey into the minds and hearts of two people who think themselves broken, but even if they are, it’s okay to be, and it’s okay to want help and to seek it.

Highly recommended. Seriously, I can’t get over just how good this is. This is the kind of book that can save lives, and everyone should read it.

Find the book on Bookbub and Goodreads

Blurb

Charlie Hart is a freshly graduated engineer with a healthy lack of respect for No Entry signs. Her biggest problems in life are workplace misogyny and the illegality of her urban exploration hobby. But when her family is kidnapped right out of the heart of London, her world is flipped upside down by the suave asshole of a spy whose job it is to get them back.

Charlie is drawn into a world of misfits and irregulars working for an intelligence agency that doesn’t officially exist. The Special Operations Executive was consigned to history’s rubbish bin in 1946, and so far as most people know it stayed there. Now it’s Charlie’s only hope of rescuing her family from the megalomaniac billionaire who has taken them from her.

And it turns out he’s got a nuclear arsenal that he really wants to use.

My Review

Starting with a disclaimer that this book has nothing to do with the movie of the same name and probably the many, many, books bearing the same name. Afaik, this is not available for sale anywhere, but I’m linking the backerkit page so anyone interested can perhaps contact the author to know where they can grab a copy.

Ngl, I’ve been looking forward to reading this since the Backerkit campaign started. It just took me a while, mainly because I had a reading block when I got the book and then when I was over it, there were books I’d committed to reviewing and then I discovered a new favourite author and you know, the usual.

But I finally got to it, and man, it was a wild ride! I read it in one go, and it ticks so many of my boxes! Queer, check, fun, check, secret agents, check, personal as well as high world ending stakes, sign me up!

It may not be my usual genre to read, but it does tick most of my boxes and I’m just sorry I didn’t read it sooner!

The book opens with a bang, where a secret agent is tailing a convoy of trucks carrying stolen uranium. The trucks are about to cross the border into Saudi Arabia and he needs to find which truck has the uranium and stop the convoy before it crosses the border. Of course, the other trucks may be full of armed guards, so it’s not exactly a cakewalk. What follows is a scene worthy of any Bond movie with gun fights, fists, and a surprising twist.

The next, we cut to London, where freshly minted engineer Charlie Hart is running over rooftops. Charlie has a problem with authority and is too curious for her own good, and who believes that No Entry signs are an invitation to look. We learn something of Charlie and her personality from the first chapter itself. She has to deal with misogyny from a colleague but when it gives her a chance to explore the part of the railway she’s working on that she’s barred from, she can’t let the chance go.

What she finds is a part that’s sectioned off, but which has CCTV monitoring, and for once, she is ready to listen to her own voice of reason and leaves. She goes home to a scene of mayhem, learning that her family has been abducted by people posing as police. Taken to a hotel for her own protection, she is attacked by mysterious men who has killed the cops and saved by an even more mysterious man who promises her answers but fails to deliver.

Frustrated by the lack of progress by the police and wanting to do something, Charlie follows the mysterious Soho to join the Special Operations Executive or The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare as it is called, a secret service so secret no one knows it exists, one that recruits irregulars, queer people, women, anyone that the other intelligence agencies turn their nose up at.

But the truth about her parents’ abduction rocks her world as she learns what’s at stake may be more than her parents’ lives, and she can only depend on Soho and the SOE to bring them home and save the world.

I loved Charlie in this. I loved the training part, and that Charlie had to train for months before she was anywhere ready for a mission, that she has to take a test and pass it before she can be a secret agent. It’s not all gunfights and fisticuffs, but she has to think on her feet, make decisions on the fly while dealing with people vastly more experienced than her.

Halo Morningstar wouldn’t come amiss as a Bond villain, and I liked how Charlie goes from adoring fangirl of his public persona to wanting to put him six feet under. Like she didn’t even have time to mourn the death of her ideals. I really liked the characterisation of everyone in this book. The villains appear a little one dimensional, but it fits the story, and honestly, I am ready to have some villains I can properly hate, and Halo Morningstar and Prussia fit the bill.

And the toys! I don’t think it’s a spy thriller without the toys and the underground secret base. From weapons to vehicles, we have everything, even a quartermaster codenamed Kew.

Everything about this book was good, like man, I was on the edge of my seat for most of it, gnawing at my nails because even though it wasn’t too fast paced, we’re never allowed to forget why Charlie is training. The multiple PoVs added depth to the story and made me even more anxious.

If you love spy thrillers and British secret agents, but queer, this is the perfect book for you. The author has penned a brilliant story with engaging characters that I wish to see more of.

You can find the Backerkit campaign here and the author’s website here.

Zero Day ThreatBlurb

Four ex-convicts. One charismatic mastermind. And the most dangerous heist the System has ever seen.

Jez is a damn good pilot, and she’s always worked alone. Until she got picked up for smuggling, that is.
Now she’s lost her ship, lost her job, lost her reputation, and is on the run from the law. So when a mysterious stranger in a battered pilots coat comes to her with an offer that sounds too good to be true, she reluctantly agrees to listen.
All she has to do is fly one little job.
Then she gets the details. She and a hand-picked band of misfit ex-convicts will be pulling a heist on Vitali “the Butcher” Dobrev, the most deadly weapons dealer and crime boss in the System. They’ll be stealing tech that could change the course of history. And the government, the mafia, and every enterprising criminal in the System would kill to get their hands on it.
Thing is, Jez is out of options. She’s going to have to fly this job, and they’ll have to pull it off. And knowing Vitali, if they fail, dying is the least of their worries.

Zero Day Threat is the first instalment in the space opera science fiction series The Ungovernable. Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in R.M. Olson’s fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

This review has been a long time coming since I finished the book at the beginning of this month.

I had read two series from this author, but both were unfinished, and when I saw they had a finished series, I had to grab it. And this one didn’t disappoint.

The plot revolves around a band of misfits who have been hired by Masha, a government agent, to pull a heist on one of the most dangerous men in the system: Vitali Dobrev, weapons dealer and crime boss, who are sought after by mafia and criminals, and whose inventiveness is matched only by his brutality.

Jez is a pilot, a damn good one, but she’s on the run from the law as well as Lena, her ex-boss gang leader whose ship she stole and which is now lost. For Jez, Masha’s offer couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

Tae is a street kid, trying to keep himself and the other kids alive. He’s also a tech genius, and his attempt to get back at someone who stole his tech has him in prison. When Masha offers him money and immunity in return for a job, he’s wary, but has no choice if he’s to keep his friends alive.

Lev is a genius with an eidetic memory who is now in jail for seeing documents he should never have seen. What’s worse, his entire family has been imprisoned because of his actions. When Masha offers him a chance to free his family, Lev agrees, but he has agendas of his own.

Ysbel is a weapons expert, but she’s in prison for killing 35 people who worked with her. Having lost her family when the government forced her into service, revenge is the only thing that keeps her going. Thirty five is only the start. The crew Masha puts together might be her best chance at getting revenge.

Can they learn to work together and pull off the heist of a lifetime?

Ngl, I love Jez. Her neurodivergence SHINES as do her queerness. She’s unashamedly, unapologetically herself, and despite being annoying to everyone, she was my favouritest. Tae and Lev are babies, really, and I love Ysbel and her calm stolidity. Not sure what to think of Masha yet, though.

The book had me at the edge of my seat, anxious to know what’s going to happen. The plot flows smoothly and the world is fascinating, feeling lived in, but what really shines is the characterisation.

If you love character driven space opera with underdogs, queer characters, technology, and an enthralling plot, you’ll love this book.

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JailbreakBlurb

Breaking into one of the most secure prison planets in the system isn’t the hard part. The hard part is going to be getting back out again.

They just pulled off the heist of the century. Now ex-smuggler pilot Jez and the motley crew of the Ungovernable have a promise to keep: an extraction from a high-security political prison. But the timeline for the rescue is shorter than they ever imagined, and if they want to save their target from certain death, they’ll have to go in blind—no specs, no intel, no time to prepare, and only the skeleton of a plan. And between prison gangs, murderous guards, and a vicious warden, extracting their target might be the least of their worries—at this point, they might not even be able to keep themselves alive.

Jailbreak is the second book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

The second book of the series, this one has the crew in a prison planet, attempting to break out Ysbel’s family.

Jez is growing more and more antsy with being in prison, picking fights, getting beat up, antagonising guards and roommates alike. Tae is growing increasingly more desperate since the prison tech is so old he can’t hack into it. Ysbel, Lev, and Masha are keeping their heads down, but that proves to be impossible as the prison politics draw them in.

There’s very little hope, and time is running out, and they’re yet to find Tanya and Ysbel’s children even.

Oh man! This book! My Jez! My Queen!

I’m awed by the author’s imagination, the way in which she weaves a plot and depicts her characters. There’s no exposition, but everything feels visceral, the emotions are raw, and even the minor characters feel like real people.

Just go read this book!

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TimebombBlurb

Someone’s hunting the Ungovernable. And they’re not going to stop until every one of the crew is dead.

When an enemy from ex-smuggler pilot Jez’s past reappears, determined to extract revenge, the crew of the Ungovernable have two options: fight, or run. But when a hyperjump gone wrong leaves the Ungovernable crippled, her weapons down and her cloaking disabled, their options become scarce indeed. As they scramble to repair the ship with rapidly-dwindling supplies and even more rapidly-dwindling oxygen, their pursuers are inexorably closing in. And if they’re going to survive, each of the crew will have to confront dangerous secrets from their past, before those secrets come back to destroy them.

Time Bomb is the third book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

This one has the crew running from ships that are hunting them, but stranded in space with The Ungovernable nearly dead, their options are limited. All attempts to repair the ship fails since there aren’t enough spare parts available, and Sasa Iliach’s tech is not easily replicated.

Whoever’s after them knows they aren’t dead, and everything is connected to disparate events in the past, events that had impacted each of them profoundly and personally.

When Jez’s former boss Lena turns out to be the one after them, Jez has more than the condition of her ship to worry about.

Once again, R.M. Olson weaves an intriguing tale that keeps you glued to the page. The stakes keep on getting higher and higher, and the crew’s situation increasingly desperate.

This is queer space opera at its best!

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Insider ThreatBlurb

The government wants them dead. They want to know why. And if they want answers, the crew will have to pull what may be their most dangerous job yet.
Long before signing on with the Ungovernable, back in his university days, ex-convict and one-time-student Lev stumbled onto a secret, a secret that ended in his professor and mentor disappearing, never to be heard from again. Now he and the rest of the crew are going back to university—but this time they’re breaking in, and they’re bent on sabotage. They need to find out what the government thinks they know, and why they’re all supposed to be dead.
But the deeper they dig, the darker the secrets they find, and soon they realize that it’s not just them that the government is after. What’s happening in the labs and the storage rooms of the university might just destroy the entire system as they know it.
Insider Threat is the fourth book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

To investigate why the government wants them dead, the crew returns to Pravishoni, specifically to the University where Lev once studied, where his mentor and teacher vanished. Tae has to pretend to be a student while Masha, Jez, and Lev dodges assassins. Ysbel teaches students how not to blow themselves up while Tanya learns some disturbing things.

Ngl, I love Dimitri and his relationship with Tae. Like Tae, I started out with a lot of prejudices, but I love how the students turned out to be real heroes, who cares about what happens to the street kids, despite all of them being children of government officials. I like it that Tae is starting to accept he’s not alone, that he has a crew he can rely on, and now friends and even a boyfriend.

And Jez! My dearest Jez is still the QUEEN. I was so heart broken for Lev in this, like man, I saw it coming, but Lev didn’t, for all his vaunted intelligence. Goes to show why these characters feel like real people because when you’re so close to some things, you miss a lot of obvious signs.

On to the next book. I can’t stop reading this series!

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FirewallBlurb

The crew of the Ungovernable might have just gambled more than they can pay.

Ex-smuggler pilot Jez and the crew of the Ungovernable desperately need is a way to stop the government killing them all. And they’re running out of time. So when Grigory Korzhikov, the godfather of the biggest mafia organization in the System, invites them aboard his private gambling ship and tells them he can give them a way out, it’s an offer they can’t refuse.

But accepting means dealing into Grigory’s game, and he’s playing with a stacked deck. He hasn’t forgotten the money they cost him in their first heist, and he’s notorious for holding grudges. If they don’t want to end up floating in space without a space suit, they’ll have to find a way to beat him at his own game, and in Grigory’s ship, the odds are on the house.

Firewall is the fifth book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

This book had me want to yell at a lot of people.

After the incident in Pravishoni, when the mafia boss Grigory Korzhikov “invites” them to his gambling ship by holding Peti, one of Tae’s friends captive, the crew has no choice but to accept.

But when Masha suggests using Grigory to hold the government in check, no one except Tae and Tanya objects. Jez trusts Masha now, and Levi and Ysbel will do anything to keep Jez and Tanya from harm respectively.

But working with Grigory isn’t as simple as Masha makes it sound and the crew soon find themselves in the horns of a moral dilemma. Just how far will they go to protect the ones they love? Will they sacrifice their loved ones in the process?

Ah fuck, I wish I could say I saw this coming, but I did not see ALL of it coming. Some things, yes, they were obvious. You don’t work with mafia bosses and expect good things to happen. Only Tae and Tanya seem to have some kind of moral compass here. I was yelling at Ysbel to listen to Tanya because fuck woman, this is not how you show love!

And Masha! Fuck. That was a dick move, but idk why Jez still trusts her.

Next book please.

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Trojan HorseBlurb

It’s kill or be killed for the crew of the Ungovernable.

With the mafia after their heads, ex-smuggler pilot Jez and the crew have two choices—run, or fight back. Problem is, there’s nowhere in the System to run. So instead, they’re going to take the entire crime syndicate down.

But pulling a sting on the mafia—and living to tell the tale—is going to take a hell of a lot more than just good intentions. And when you can’t even trust the people you’re working with—well, let’s just say they’ll have to master the art of subterfuge, or die trying.

Trojan Horse is the sixth book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

This was a tough read overall. The crew heads to a pleasure planet to take down Grigory for good, but they need the help of his biggest rival for that.

Fuck me sideways! Haven’t they learned their lesson yet? You don’t work with mafia bosses. I guess it’s understandable since they’re on Grigory’s hit list now, but even so.

The pleasure planet is just as depraved as it sounds, and people are treated like subhumans, even children.

This was the most difficult book for me, because of the themes, and even when I hoped our crew would prevail, there’s the realisation that it’s still too late for a LOT of people.

I need a minute.

And then next book.

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Security IncidentBlurb

The entire Svodrani System is about to go up in flames—and the crew of the Ungovernable is sitting right in the centre of the explosion.
After taking down the two most powerful mafia bosses in the system, ex-smuggler pilot Jez and the crew race back to the capital to head off an impending civil war in the ensuing power vacuum. But to stop a bloodbath, they need to buy themselves time to prepare. So while Masha, Ysbel, and Tanya provide a distraction, Jez and Lev infiltrate a government paralyzed by the news, while Tae goes out into the volatile Prasvishoni streets to neutralize the street gangs who are more than willing to prove they’re the mafia’s natural successors.
But preventing a civil war is a lot more complicated than it sounds. There are government factions who would happily let the system burn if it means they end up on top. Unrest is already building in the streets. And no one knows who’s side Masha is actually on …

Security Incident is the seventh book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

Ooh, this one was GOOD. I didn’t laugh, but it was close, because Jez pretending to be a minister was really funny.

The Mafia may be gone, but to prevent the streets of Pravishoni from descending into chaos, the government has to get rid of the mafia agents, and who better than our intrepid crew of troublemakers to achieve that?

Jez is pretending to be one of the ministers she and Lev blew up, and Lev is playing her lover, something that’s causing both of them a lot of trouble due to their very recent break up and the feelings they still have for each other.

But someone’s after their lives, and the sexual tension may be the least of their worries.

I love how Lev has been changing and growing. He even deserves Jez at this point. Tae and the students trying to help the street kids and starring a revolution is like pretty much in character for Tae, who doesn’t seem to realise his own influence. I love Ivan and I can see he and Tae will probably be together, but man, Dimitri!

Sobs while grabbing the next book.

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Threat AgentBlurb

They’ve taken down the mafia, infiltrated the government, and thrown the System into chaos. But the final stage of the plan will test them to their very limits …

Decades ago, Masha hid under a table and watched her parents die. Now, with war in the streets and chaos in the government, she can at last put the ultimate piece of her revenge into action. But it will involve murder, deception, and cunning on an unprecedented scale, and she’s no longer as certain as she once was that she can pull this off.

In the meantime, behind the barricades, the rest of the crew is trying desperately to survive as the Svodrani System government brings its full weight to bear on their ragged group of accidental insurgents. And surviving a war against the entire System might be a step too far, even for them …

Threat Agent is the eighth book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

Masha and the crew are now officially separate, and Masha has infiltrated the government by herself. She has no qualms about sacrificing her crew, but only at the right time.

In the meantime, behind the barricades at the University, the rest of the crew are fighting desperately to survive and to protect the students and street kids.

This book was so good! Omg. Loved Lev’s reunion with his parents, and his parents’ attitude. Lev had this whole thing in his head where his parents has to be angry while they’re only worried for his safety. The plight of the revolution and the ruthlessness of the government are brought out really well.

And THAT B***ch. I don’t wanna spoil anything, so not naming her, but it’s not Masha.

How can I stop here? Is one book enough to end everything? I hope so because it’s the last one.

Grabs it.

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Attack PathBlurb

Their old enemy is back, and she’s more dangerous than they ever imagined.

Jez and the crew of the Ungovernable are injured, exhausted, and out of time. Their long-time nemesis, Evka, has finally perfected the weapon the crew has been desperately fighting to stop for months—a protocol that will allow her to track down and kill anyone in the system with the click of a button. And the lives of the crew, and of everyone they love, are on the line.

With their backs to the wall and no more tokens up their sleeves, they’ll need every bit of skill and ingenuity they possess, the help of old allies and new friends, and a hell of a lot of luck if they want to to stop Evka—or even if they just want to make it out alive.

Attack Path is the ninth book and the thrilling final instalment in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

My Review

Let me just say I’m glad Masha is back with the crew. There’s not much trust there, but she’s trying. And she didn’t betray them, gave up on her plans for them. That means a LOT. At least to me, it does.

The whole book is basically a mind game between the crew and Evka. Why does she have to be so fiendishly intelligent? Fuck.

I must say that Zhenia is growing on me. Which is good.

I’m both sad and glad the series is over. Sad because I love this crew and I don’t want to say goodbye, and glad because not sure my heart could take any more.

Need a hot minute before I can pick up another book, though.

R.M. Olson is now my favouritest author and I will read their laundry list at this point.

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Blurb

If jumping off a building to save a raccoon doesn’t kill Corbin Pierce then his next altruistic impulses just might.

Pierce, ex-Ivy League community college adjunct and environmental activist, has his hands full keeping the local spirit-creatures out of the hands of poachers while teaching his students about history they shouldn’t repeat. As if he didn’t already have enough on his plate, he and his new mentee-turned-apprentice discover the murder of a homeless man.

As one murder becomes two, Corbin suspects the involvement of The Hand, a secret cabal of high magicians. It won’t be his first conflict with them, but if he can’t find a way to stop them, it could well be the last.

Even worse, ancient spirits are waking to wreak havoc on the city as the bodies pile up. To end it all, Corbin must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice. If he doesn’t, the city and everyone he loves will be gone. Can Corbin take the final leap, knowing he might pay the ultimate price?

My Review

I had read the Devil You Know series by this author and loved it, so when I saw ARC openings for this, I jumped on it. And this book didn’t disappoint.

Corbin Pierce can see magic, can do magic, and he works his arse off to make sure those who don’t know enough doesn’t end up killing everything or everyone.

He doubles as a community college teacher, which doesn’t really pay his bills, but every little bit helps. When he meets Taylor who turns out to have a gift similar to his, and the two stumble on to the murdered corpse of a homeless man, Corbin finds himself getting deeper into danger.

To add to the chaos, there’s the decision to have the Green, the local park that’s privately owned developed into something that would destroy it.

But not everything is as it appears, and Corbin is forced into making some hard choices before he’s done. Aided by Scratch, the Raccoon he manages to befriend, a heist, and some luck, he manages to save the Green for now but discovers another murder victim.

The obvious suspect is the Hand, a local and secret cabal of high magicians whose leader has a bone to pick with Corbin. But with no proof, Corbin can only keep his eyes open and hope for the best. But with betrayal and murders surrounding him, Corbin’s luck may just have run out.

This is an entirely different book than the Devil You Know and Corbin is not at all like Nick. But he’s a relatable and likeable protagonist who shares the same altruism that Nick has, the same desire to help anyone who needs it.

I loved Corbin’s little found family including Scratch, the bestest raccoon of all. I loved the plot, and how it was resolved, and I’m sure I’ll be picking up the rest of the books in this series whenever they release.

Highly recommended if you enjoy urban fantasy, animal sidekicks, and complex characters.

Grab the book here!

This series is also not complete, but I’ve read all seven books that are released so far. Going to hound someone for an ARC of Book 8. In the meantime, I’m reading another series by the author set in an entirely different universe.

Devil to Pay (Book 1) Blurb

“I didn’t know that I wanted to read a science fiction series that feels like age of sail ships duking it out in space until I picked this up. Now I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. … One of the best Science Fiction stories in years.”-M.D. Cooper, author and creator of the Aeon14 universe

In a world of pirates and murderous ghosts, one naval cadet must choose between loyalty and survival.

In the Level’s Naval Academy, officer candidate Silas Hunt stumbles across a secret that could get him hanged for treason. His only hope to save his life and to find justice lies with a ruthless pirate captain, a woman known as Mad Dog. But if Silas wants to talk the pirate into helping, he’ll have to join up with the crew of the Sweet Jenny for a deep-space raid against his own navy that could quickly turn deadly.

The Verity is just a ship of the line, but for Stacks-born Captain Hollis Ives, it’s not just her first command. It’s her one chance to prove that a woman from the slums can handle a high-ranking naval position. But when her mission orders send her out after a ship whose distress signals have been picked up by pirates, she quickly realizes the posting could be a death sentence. And that’s before she recognizes which pirate ship she’s up against–the Sweet Jenny, captained by Mad Dog herself, and legendary for taking naval ships and leaving no survivors.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist and a diverse cast in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

I absolutely loved the Dark Between the Stars series and when I found the author had another series set in the same world, I had to read it.

The first book of the series, it introduces the cast while sending them on an adventure of their lifetimes.

Silas, a former naval officer, is on the run, after having stolen classified information. It’s information pertaining to an accident that happened more than a decade ago, an accident where Silas lost his parents. What he discovers is that the accident was due to negligence from the higher ups in the navy who covered it up by blaming it on two officers and their daughter who were all sentenced to death. The daughter escaped and is now the feared pirate captain, Mad Dog.

Silas goes to Blackrock to lay the evidence before Mad Dog, hoping to persuade her to come back and clear her name while bringing down the corrupt officials of the navy. Mad Dog refuses to even look at the evidence and makes him a counter offer. If he sails with her for one mission, she will look at the evidence and listen to what he has to say. Reluctantly, Silas agrees.

Their target is a ship stranded near a black hole, carrying advanced tech and weapons. But the navy has sent Captain Hollis Ives, a newly commissioned captain and the first ever captain from the Stacks to retrieve the ship and its cargo.

Hollis has left her old life behind and needs to prove that a captain from the stacks can do as good as, if not better than, the Level officers with their family names, money, and connections.

What happens when the pirate captain with a bone to pick with the navy and a naval captain who has to prove her right to her position clashes?

Man, I love Silas and Hollis both. I was in that weird situation where I wanted both of them to win. Like before I met Hollis, I was wholeheartedly on Mad Dog’s side because I hated the Level Navy. After meeting Hollis, I still hated the Level Navy, but I wanted Hollis to succeed so she can thumb her nose at the navy that looks down on her.

The perspectives of Gracie, better known as Mad Dog, and Admiral Usher, who is the face of the Level Navy, were both interesting in their own ways. I am completely on Gracie’s side and Admiral Usher can go f**k herself.

The book was so good, I’m off to read the rest of the series.

If you love space opera, underdogs against the system, and complex and real characters you can get behind, you will love this book.

Dead Reckoning (Book 2) Blurb

Treason, loyalty, and revenge in the heart of deep space.

Captain Hollis Ives has gone up against pirates before—specifically, against Captain Mad Dog, the pirates’ de facto leader. So when Naval High Command orders an attack on the pirate stronghold, Hollis knows damn well this mission won’t be as simple as the Commodore expects. And that’s not all—there’s someone from the Level, maybe in the navy itself, who wants her very dead.

Former naval officer Silas Hunt wanted Mad Dog’s help to take out the corruption in the navy. But her plans to strike back go far beyond any revenge he possibly could have dreamed up. Silas has to decide where his loyalties stand, and whatever he chooses, someone he cares for will die for it—either his former friends and crewmates in the navy, or the crew of the Sweet Jenny. And that’s only if he survives the naval attack on Blackrock to begin with.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling new space opera series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

Book 2 of the series, this continues the adventures of Silas, Hollis, Gracie and the rest. Overruling Admiral Usher, the navy has sent a fleet against Blackrock, with Hollis part of the fleet. In the meantime, Gracie and Silas are on their way to the Level, planning to steal more classified information from the navy.

The pirates fight back and the naval fleet are struggling but the Commodore doesn’t want to listen to Hollis’ concerns about Mad Dog. When they’re proved true and Sweet Jenny appears to wreak havoc, Hollis offers to follow the pirates to draw them away from the fleet.

But Hollis is walking into a trap, and Mad Dog wants her dead.

This one was just as good as the first and had me on the edge of my seat, gnawing at my fingernails. I loved how Hollis is always out to find a solution, even when she’s barely keeping herself conscious. I was again in the situation where I wanted Hollis to win, but also Mad Dog to not lose, like I wanted the Level Fleet destroyed and Hollis to survive because the f**king navy deserves to burn!

For all Mad Dog’s statements that Hollis chose the navy and hence she deserves to die, I don’t think she realises just how few options someone from the Stacks has. For all that she’s a pirate now, Gracie was born in the Level and had lived a life of privilege till it was taken away, and Silas is the same, so neither of them actually understands what it is like for someone born in the Stacks.

The book ended in a cliffhanger and f**k you all.

Imma go read Book 3 now.

If you love space opera, underdogs against the system, complex and real characters you can get behind, political intrigue, and adventure, you will love this book.

Enemy Colors (Book 3) Blurb

The enemy of my enemy …
Captain Hollis Ives has sworn to take down the infamous pirate captain Mad Dog, or die trying. But when their ships runs across an unexpected enemy in deep space—a war fleet out to destroy the Level itself—she’ll have to either form an alliance with the pirates, or watch her ship, her crew, and possibly the Level itself, burn.
Silas Hunt thought he’d left the navy behind forever when he joined up with Mad Dog. But now, forced to either work with the naval captain he’d been ready to kill, or see his crew members killed and his captain tortured, Silas will have to use every scrap of skill and ingenuity he learned from both the navy and the pirate crew to keep himself and Mad Dog alive long enough to escape.
Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling new space opera series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

When both Sweet Jenny and Verity are surrounded by Rosette ships who are planning to attack the Level, Silas and Hollis have to agree to work together to save their ships and the Level.

Gracie has been tortured by the Rosette officers and Hollis is still recovering from her injuries sustained in Book 1, so it’s upto Foster, Silas, and Ari to save their captains, their ships and come up with a plan to deal with the Rosette fleet and to prevent the impending attack on the Level.

I love Foster. I know I haven’t said it before, but I love them. I love all of Gracie’s crew, but we only get glimpses into Hollis’ crew and Foster is the one we see the most. They are just amazing. Honestly, the Level Navy doesn’t deserve either Hollis or Foster. While I was happy to see Hollis coming to her own, breaking out of the mindset of sacrificing herself and her crew for the navy, she has a long way to go still.

Foster is always the voice of reason but can use a shiv when called for. Every book in the series is getting better and the stakes keep rising!

Can I say I hate Admiral Usher? I hate her. She should die. Painfully.

Imma go read the next books of the series. I hate that there are only 7 out of the planned 18 or so. All the same, I need to read the rest!

If you love space opera, underdogs against the system, complex, flawed, and real characters you can get behind, adventures, political machinations, and space battles, you will love this book.

Articles of War (Book 4) Blurb

As the Level is plunged into a long-awaited war, two captains and two crews struggle to survive the fallout …

Silas Hunt made a promise to pirate captain Mad Dog: he’d keep her crew safe and bring them out of their first naval posting alive, despite far too many naval officers and sailors who’d be happy to take vengeance into their own hands. But when he and the former crew of the Sweet Jenny are assigned to a ship captained by a brutal man who wants nothing more than vengeance himself, Silas realizes that promise might be more difficult to keep than he’d anticipated.

Captain Hollis Ives returned to the Level a decorated war hero, with civilians and naval captains both lauding her name. But her newfound popularity doesn’t extend to the Admiralty. There are those who’d be more than happy to see her sink into obscurity, and they’re willing to sacrifice her ship, her crew, her officers, and everyone who was loyal to her to make sure that happens. Pulled from active duty and surrounded by enemies in the navy, Hollis’s only chance to save her ship and her crew may be an alliance with Mad Dog—and Hollis knows full well how very dangerous that can be.

My Review

Man, what do I say about this one! I nearly had a heart attack MANY times!

Silas and the crew of Sweet Jenny are assigned to the Verity, but it’s not captained by Hollis now. The Captain and the First Officer are both appointed directly by someone in the Admiralty that wants both Hollis’ crew and the crew of the Sweet Jenny dead.

As an ex naval officer, Silas is baited by the officers loyal to the captain, who are determined to see him and his division dead.

Admiral Usher has bowed to pressure to advance her own agendas. Hollis and Foster are both grounded with empty medals and no assignments but when Mad Dog comes to them with a proposition that could get Hollis and Foster back to the Verity, they agree to bait the spy in the ranks of the Admiralty.

But the spy is more canny than they think and they have eyes everywhere.

Gods, I was so so anxious for Silas and the crew, like I was yelling MUTINY! at my kindle as I read, even though I know how dangerous that was. Also, someone should shoot Admiral White in the head.

All the politicking on the Level, while Silas and the crew struggle for survival, were all well done. I loved this book. By the end, I was ready to throw my kindle across the room. Good thing I didn’t have to.

Can’t wait to read the next book!

Ghost Ships (Book 5) Blurb

A deadly mystery in the depths of space…

Level ships of the line have been going missing; destroyed or taken completely by ghosts and no one left alive to tell the tale. When Admiral of the Fleet Judith Usher personally requests Captain Hollis Ives take the Verity and find out why, Hollis knows damn well this won’t be a simple mission. To make matters worse, Mad Dog Gracie Madox will be shipping with the Verity, and Hollis has more than enough experience to know how dangerous the former pirate captain can be. But with the cloud of suspicion currently hanging over herself and her crew, Hollis desperately needs a successful mission.

Former officer-come-pirate Silas Hunt is chafing under Hollis Ives’s command. He was raised to serve in the navy, but after watching far too many friends and crewmates shot down months previous, he’s no longer willing to simply keep quiet and go along with orders—regardless of the consequences of disobedience. But when the Verity arrives at the place where Level ships have been going missing, simply keeping himself and the former crew of the Sweet Jenny alive long enough for him to face those consequences might be more than Silas can manage.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

Fuck! If something had happened to my baby Lawrence, I would have burned the world down. Seriously.

That said, if something had happened to anyone I like, I would kill everyone and then myself.

Level ships have been going missing at a certain place and Hollis and the Verity is sent to investigate and gather information.

Silas is still reeling from the incidents of the previous book and is being self-destructive while protecting everyone else.

Gracie has found influence and the deadly game of chess she’s involved with Admiral Usher seems to be at a stalemate.

When the crew of the Verity discover a deadly secret that can change the course of the war, can they survive long enough to take information back?

I haven’t said this before, but I love the concept of ghosts in this world of R.M. Olson’s. They’re completely different from the traditional concept of ghosts, and Olson makes their existence scientific without going into the realms of the metaphysical.

The fear of ghosts that everyone has, and the fact that THREE ghosts are more than enough to kill off a division, that no matter how many sparkers they have, it’s still not enough, are all brought out so well, and we feel the fear on a visceral level.

As with all other books in this series, this book too had me fighting anxiety because I couldn’t see how they were going to get out of this one. I love how the stakes keep getting bigger, the problems more alarming, and while Olson extricates their characters with surprising ingenuity from one problem, there is another, even larger one, looming.

And that’s why I’m off to read the next book.

Dead Calm (Book 6) Blurb

A mission turned deadly, and no hope of rescue.

Captain Hollis Ives and the Verity have been assigned to a blockade on an enemy shipping route on the fringes of Level-controlled space. It’s supposed to be a simple mission, but Hollis has been hearing rumours in the ranks—Rosette ships that have been shot down rather than surrender, whispers of a secret Rosette plan against the Level. When the Verity is attacked on route in a place where no enemy ships should be, Hollis discovers there may be something behind the rumours after all—and whatever it is, she and the Verity are in the centre of it.

Pirate-turned-naval-officer Silas Hunt knows damn well how precarious his position in the navy is. It’s a badly kept secret that he was involved in a mutiny, and rumours about his insubordinate talk are already filtering back to the Admiralty. So when Ives offers him his first naval command—bringing a captured enemy ship back to the Level—he knows it’s his best chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Naval High Command. But the ship is damaged and the ship’s captured crew sullen and defiant, and they outnumber Silas’s crew three to one. And with no working comm system and far from assistance, Silas soon realizes that the important question isn’t whether he can carry out his first command honourably. It’s whether he and his sailors will survive it at all.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

Omg! Silas and Ari! What the fuck! If something happens to my babies, Imma kill everyone here and then myself.

News of Rossette ships fighting harder than they should and refusing to surrender has come, but no one knows why. When they come into contact with one such ship, and Silas and his party successfully board and imprison the crew, Hollis commands Silas to take it to the Level.

But as one thing after another goes wrong, and the captain and officers of the ship fight every inch, the ship is dead in space, with all systems failing one by one. When Silas discovers a terrible secret hidden in the ship, he has to choose to stay behind to get word to Verity while helping his crew escape the death trap of a ship.

A critically injured Ari is the only companion he has, and with communication and life support failing, they don’t even know if their sacrifice made any difference.

Hollis and the Verity have their own problems as they chase a Rosette ship into an asteroid field in a deadly game of tag. They can’t allow the ship to escape, but with their own ship’s shields failing, they have to find a way to stop it without dying themselves.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Each book just keeps getting better and the stakes just keep increasing. The characters just can’t catch a break!

Gracie is manoeuvring her own pieces while keeping Admiral Usher in the dark about her intentions. Admiral Usher is torn between keeping an eye on the war front and keeping an eye on Gracie.

Did I say I hate Admiral Usher? I do. She can go die. I don’t care what her reasons are. I want the LEVEL TO BURN.

I know it’s not going to happen in the next book, but I need to read it!

Hostile Territory (Book 7) Blurb

Captured on an enemy planet with a vital secret and thousands of lives in the balance…

Silas Hunt, former pirate and current naval officer, has been taken captive, along with his friend, fellow officer, and sometimes lover, Ari. The Rosette navy clearly think he knows something and is willing to torture him to get him to confess. The problem is, he has no damn idea what he’s supposed to know. But as he begins to put the clues together, he realizes two things: first, the Rosette navy is planning a surprise attack that will cripple the Level. And second, the attack will start at the blockade where the Verity, with all his friends and crewmates onboard, is currently posted. He and Ari are the only ones who could possibly warn them, and locked in a prison on an enemy-held planet light-years away from the Level fleet, injured and with no knowledge of the language, it might be more of a mission than even he and Ari can pull off.

Serving in a blockade fleet on the far reaches of Level space has turned out to be much more eventful than Captain Hollis Ives had hoped. But things only get more hazardous when word comes through that Mad Dog, former pirate captain now serving in the Admiralty, has requested transfer to the fleet—to the Verity, specifically. Both Hollis and her first officers are certain she’s there to enact revenge over what happened to her former crew members Silas and Ari. But when she arrives, Hollis realizes what Mad Dog may be after something much more dangerous.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist and a diverse cast in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.

My Review

Imma kill this author. WHERE IS THE NEXT BOOK?

Silas and Ari are prisoners of war, but Silas is being tortured for information. While the torture is not at the levels Gracie has been subjected to, it’s still serious enough that Ari is worried.

Back on the Verity, Hollis and her crew think Silas and Ari are dead, and when they hear the news that Gracie is coming to their ship, Hollis believes it is to kill her.

On the Level, Admiral Usher allows Gracie to go to the Verity to negotiate the prisoner exchange, but the Rosette are dragging their feet.

When Silas and Ari discover something that could change the course of the war, they have to find a way to break out of the prison and warn Verity.

When the Verity is surrounded by Rosette ships, Hollis and Foster has to leave the ship in Gracie’s hands while they go to the Rosette ship, pretending to be Rosette officers.

Oh man, there are so many threads and sub plots and each are more interesting than the other. I’m awed by Olson’s ability to keep everything straight because I would have been completely LOST. As always Olson lands their characters in one frying pan after another, with a fire to add some spice.

I want this war done. And I want the Level to BURN. I also want the Rosette navy to burn. In fact, I want everything except the common people and the Verity and Sweet Jenny’s crews to burn. And Lawrence. He should live. Everyone else can die.

WHERE IS MY NEXT BOOK?

Let me say at the outset that this is my new favourite author. Their books are extremely addictive and I adore their worldbuilding and characterisation.

This series is not complete and only the three books are released right now, which is why my review is reduced to only these three.

Inhuman (Book 1) Blurb

A remote resource planet. A mysterious illness. And a rescue team frighteningly out of their depth.

It was supposed to have been an easy job: go in, kidnap or kill his mark, get out. Shine’s done plenty of jobs like this before, no problem. But when it all goes suddenly wrong, he has only one option left to save his skin.

He finds himself an unwilling volunteer on a medical mission to a remote resource planet. It sent in a distress call a week earlier, and then promptly went silent. No one knows why, and no one can contact them to find out. And, Shine is increasingly beginning to realize, every person on this mission is politically unimportant–a perfect crew of disposables. Their mission is to go in and figure out what happened, and save whoever they can. But he’s smart enough to realize that anything that could cause an entire mining colony to go silent is probably not something accustomed to leaving its victims alive. And after meeting the rest of the crew, he’s not sure that they’re any safer than what’s waiting for him out on the planet …

Set in the world of The Devil and the Dark, Inhuman is the first book in R.M. Olson’s gripping new space-horror series, The Dark Between Stars.

My Review

This is my first book from this author and I really loved it.

Shine is a terrorist from the Stacks, and when he’s asked to kidnap or kill a scientist on death row named Jem, it’s just another mission.

But things go wrong when Jem is given a last minute pardon and taken away by a man called Puppy—someone Shine’s leader, Recoil, calls a most dangerous man. Shine is given new orders to kill Jem so Puppy won’t have her.

Puppy is putting together a medical team to go to a resource planet on a rescue mission. He’s already recruited Jem and Knives, a surgeon from the stacks, who’s also handy with her fists and guns.

When Knives intervene in Shine’s subtle attempts to abduct Jem, Shine volunteers to go on the mission with Puppy’s team, though he doesn’t understand why Puppy, who’s awkward and clumsy and seems unable to cross the street safely should be considered dangerous by Recoil who asks Shine to kill him as well as Jem.

Thaddeus is a doctor with a secret: he was in the navy before his sister’s death forced him into medicine. It’s a secret that could make it unable for him to work anywhere, but when Cassius, a government representative asks him to go with Puppy to spy on the man in exchange for keeping his secret, he has no choice but to agree.

But the resource planet will test them to their limits, bring out secrets, and force them to trust one another, against their will.

This was a book I adored. Seriously. The fate of the miners in the resource planet, the reason why they turned out the way they were, gutted me. This may be titled inhuman, but it’s about humanity and what it means to be human in the end. This is an action packed book with never a dull moment, but it also provokes very deep questions.

If you love medical and adventure sci fi, with a blend of cosmic horror, this is the perfect book for you.

The Water Paradox (Book 2) Blurb

On a desert settlement on a remote planet, the limited water is as precious as life. Until it starts to kill them…

Thaddeus and the rest of the small medical crew have just arrived at their next assignment—a small, drought-ridden settlement, where people are dying in horrific, unnatural ways. They suspect the water source has something to do with it, but how do you live without water?

The crew soon realizes the deaths are only part of the problem. The people are hostile and suspicious, the settlement’s doctor is hiding information, and the crew can’t get off the planet until the annual storm blows through. They need to find what’s killing people, and quickly—but trapped in a hostile settlement on the harsh desert wasteland with water running low, even that might not be enough to keep them alive.

Set in the world of The Devil and the Dark, The Water Paradox is the second book in R.M. Olson’s gripping space-horror series, The Dark Between Stars.

My Review

Book 2 in the Dark Between the Stars, this one starts off where Inhuman ends, at least for our protagonists.

They have been called to help in another resource planet, but this one is a desert planet which dehydrates them within minutes, and the settlers don’t want any help, insisting that the call for help that went out was a mistake. Their leader is also their doctor called Cuddy and the settlers seem hostile to Puppy and his team.

Things become even more strange when a settler called Neena and her partner come to the ship at night and have Puppy and Thaddeus disguise themselves and go to the settlement to examine the bodies of the dead. The dead are desiccated as if all the moisture inside them were sucked dry and the settlers who wanted them there confirm there were patches of water around the bodies.

With an actively hostile people and no way to find out what’s going on, can Puppy and crew solve the mystery or will they fall victim to the same thing that’s killing the settlers?

Ngl, this one was even more interesting than Inhuman. I finished it in hours. It helped that I was bedridden and was unable to do much of anything else.

This book hit me hard in the feels. The start itself was something that would have triggered me hard if not for the really thoughtful warnings provided by the author at the start. And things don’t get any better. Puppy remains as enigmatic as ever, and though Shine and Thaddeus both think him suspect, they can’t help but follow him. Shine’s suspicions are deepening by the minute, but he can’t help but be drawn to Puppy.

I’m fully not convinced Puppy is an evil mastermind yet, but I guess I’ll know when the next book is out. Once again, Jem and Thaddeus were the POVS I found most engaging, though Knives came a close second. Shine just doesn’t do it for me, but the plot and the rest of the characters more than make up for it.

If you love sci fi with an element of mystery, adventure, and horror, you will love this book and this series.

Blackrock (Book 3) Blurb

There’s something lurking in the caverns under Blackrock…

When Jem and the rest of Puppy’s small team of medics arrives on the pirate settlement of Blackrock, none of them know what to expect. But when they discover Puppy’s mysterious contact there is a notorious pirate captain who’s on a first-name basis with Puppy, it doesn’t make any of them feel better about the situation, especially since they all know perfectly well that Puppy is hiding things. But that’s not the worst news waiting for them.

The pirate settlement of Blackrock depends for oxygen on the vast algae vats set into caverns deep under the surface of the rocky moon. But recently, vat workers have been turning up dead. And not natural deaths—they’re shooting their own friends, walking off 30-metre drops, stepping out into the path of a ghost to be torn to pieces, driven mad with terror. The overworked doctors at the small hospital can’t find any trace of what’s causing it, but everyone who’s come back alive swears there’s something down in the caverns beneath Blackrock. Something alive. Something unnatural. Something that wants them dead.

Jem has spent thirteen years running from her own terror and guilt. But now, deep in the caverns below Blackrock, she and the rest of the crew will have to face up to a terror they can’t run from, unless they’re willing to let the entire settlement of Blackrock die.

And Puppy’s crew could never do that.

Set in the world of The Devil and the Dark, Blackrock is the third book in R.M. Olson’s gripping space-horror series, The Dark Between Stars.

My Review

I may have bullied someone into giving me an ARC of this book. I also may have annoyed someone a LOT.

But I’d do it again, because this book was so WORTH it.

Puppy and his group of ragtag medical professionals are on their way to Blackrock, the stronghold of the pirates who were both the bane of the navy and the resource planets. Both Thaddeus and Jem have reservations, but they couldn’t leave Puppy be.

Things grow tense as Shine shares some of his past and his mission and his suspicions about Puppy, suspicions that Thaddeus shares as well. Though doubtful, both Jem and Knives are torn, and Jem has a feeling that Shine was going to kill her back in the Level and can’t get past it.

In Blackrock, they discover a strange ailment that causes hallucinations that drives people to kill their friends or to stand still while ghosts tear them apart. Even as he resents having to help people who he had fought against as a naval officer, Thaddeus tries his best. But when they are affected by the toxin and learns something that threatens the very existence of Blackrock, they have to take a chance to save everyone here while risking falling victim themselves.

I loved Jem’s character growth in this, and how her relationship with Knives is evolving. Knives is much more real in this and I love that she’s the one in need of a rescue in this, which is not a common thing.

I also have theories about Puppy and the trauma in both Jem and Knives’ past, the incident that made Thaddeus lose his sister and Shine his parents.

I’m sad there are no more published books in this series, but Imma grab another book by the author in the meantime.

If you love medical thrillers, sci fi, space operas, and complex characters, you will love this book and this series.