The Resistance

The Interstellar Trials #2

by Kate Sheeran Swed

How do you escape when there's nowhere to run? Reggie Sylvester and her friends are fugitives from the tyrannical rage of Admiral Xavier, which is no longer contained to the New Fleet. Without crops or fuel for their shuttle, though, they won't last very long alone in the black. When they learn the Resistance is still alive and well – and fighting back against Xavier's First Fleet invasion – Reggie hatches a plan to increase their allies and join in the fight. But her new friends don't trust her motives, and the feeling's mutual. If they can't find common ground before the clock runs out, they'll be thrown to Xavier's mercy – and the entire fleet will burn right along with them.

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2023

About the author

Kate Sheeran Swed loves hot chocolate, plastic dinosaurs, and airplane tickets. She has trekked along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, hiked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Iceland, and climbed the ruins of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. She holds degrees in music from the University of Maine and Ithaca College, as well as an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University. Her stories are forthcoming or have appeared in the Young Explorer's Adventure Guide Volume 5, Daily Science Fiction, Electric Spec, and Andromeda Spaceways. You can find her on Twitter @katesheeranswed.

Reviews

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 of The Interstellar Trials picks up where book 1 left off, with a daring escape in a stolen shuttle. If you haven’t read The Tournament, go do that first!

Reggie and her fellow champions learn that there has been a resistance movement since the founding of the authoritarian New Fleet, and Reggie’s secretive mother was supposedly part of it. Reggie doesn’t believe it, but joins up to try to prevent a deluded Admiral and his followers from changing the Fleet’s course toward a planet that can’t exist.

This book is full of rescues, escapes, fights, shifting friendships, shocking discoveries, and loads of teenage snark. I enjoyed watching Reggie grow from a loner only out for her own survival into a team player (even leader) and friend. She doesn’t trust herself and doesn’t think anyone else should, either, but she has a lot to offer, including a heart in the right place. I’m looking forward to book 3!

I backed the project on Kickstarter and received this book in advance of its release.

[GREGG CORDELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read.

This book was good and like the one before it I just couldn't put it down. Another late night read and I finished it off this afternoon. I don't give out spoilers but this book has it all plenty of action and some betrayal. Give the series a try and I bet you will like it.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting as a middle novel of a trilogy, but not so credible.