Alex James's Blog: AlexJamesNovels Blog - Posts Tagged "ship"

Toni is a tough captain who can handle herself well and takes jobs for the Merchant Corps, raising enough money to pay to build her dream ship Kory Mae. However, when she is brutally assaulted by a co-pilot, she must take time off and forge friendships which could well determine her future direction in life. From the cover and description, you can deduce that PKM is a strong female protagonist sci-fi space-opera, but what is not as easily apparent are the investigative, spy, and political subgenres.

What I liked: The connection between Toni and shipmate Rob brought Toni’s personality to life early on, and made me see PKM as character-driven. Toni’s powerful memories: of bullying, her inferiority with her tiny size, and her determination to train and fight against anything big and bulky thrown at her did make me respect her. My interest grew more profound from ch.11, where the environment, setting, and characters were described more clearly, and some of the subplots were put into perspective. My interest in PKM was consistent, and this mostly circulated around Toni and her interaction with her crew or enemies. As PKM developed, my fondness for the sub-characters did gradually grow, and through Toni I became both interested in and knowledgeable about their personalities and habits.

Criticism: the importance and relevance of the sub-characters in the plot was at times lost on me, up until the final two chapters. Apart from a horrific incident at the beginning, I did find PKM difficult to get into. The scenes stopped and started with new conversations and settings without an exciting overarching objective that I understood. Throughout PKM, it was not always clear who was speaking when they were; I shouldn’t have been able to notice this. The plot was in a tangle, and it wasn’t easy for me to connect the dots since the action scenes appeared unrelated; perhaps this was intended because it was semi-investigation? As a result I could not immerse myself in the plot.

Overall, I liked when PKM was character-driven, but was not overly fond of the plot. I’m a reader who likes the setting and technology to be explained, rather than taken for granted so PKM could well suit many sci-fi readers who prefer their fiction otherwise. There is enough to like with PKM, with intriguing characters and promising writing.