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Halcyone Space #1
Derelict
When Rosalen Maldonado tinkers with the derelict ship, she's just hoping to prove she deserves a scholarship to University. She certainly doesn't count on waking the ship's damaged AI or having three stowaways, Micah Rotherwood and brothers, Jem, and Barre Durbin, along for the ride. They all have their private reasons for hiding aboard and lives they are seeking to escape, but if the accidental crew can't work together and learn to trust each other, they'll die together, victims of a computer that doesn't realize the war ended decades before any of them were even born.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 22, 2012
173 people are currently reading
396 people want to read
About the author
L.J. Cohen
17 books162 followersLJ Cohen is the author of eight novels across the science fiction and fantasy genres and was among the first wave of indie writers to qualify for SFWA membership. DERELICT, the first book in her Halcyone Space series, was named a Library Journal self-e select title and book of the year in 2014. Her ninth novel, LITANY FOR A BROKEN WORLD will be published in February of 2025.
A retired physical therapist, LJ now uses her clinical knowledge and skills to injure characters. She serves on the board of Broad Universe as well as several local non-profits in her community. In addition to her creative work as a writer and role as a community organizer, she is also a potter and fiber artist. She lives on a homestead farm in central MA and is extremely proud of her tractor riding and tree pruning skills.
A retired physical therapist, LJ now uses her clinical knowledge and skills to injure characters. She serves on the board of Broad Universe as well as several local non-profits in her community. In addition to her creative work as a writer and role as a community organizer, she is also a potter and fiber artist. She lives on a homestead farm in central MA and is extremely proud of her tractor riding and tree pruning skills.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
June 22, 2016
DNF at 46%
I wanted to finish this book but I couldn’t. The story was interesting, and the writing was professional, but the lead characters turned me off. There are four of them, each one a teenager. Each one is full of anger and hostility towards everything and everyone, especially towards each other. For each of them, the world is out to get them, their parents are crappy, their neighbors are shit, their living conditions are intolerable, nobody understands their horrible suffering ... you get the point.
They accidentally highjack a space ship, which is not fully functional, and they are the only ones onboard. And still they scream at each other over nothing, blame everyone but themselves, and by the time I finally decided not to continue, they still couldn’t accept each other. I’m guessing that by the end of the book, they will learn to work together, but I’m not going to waste any more of my time on a bunch of obnoxious teenage idiots.
The author tries to portray them as geniuses, and there are too many technical details about computer programming in the story, which also contributed to my overall negative impression. Computer programming does have its place in our lives, but not in fiction.
I wanted to finish this book but I couldn’t. The story was interesting, and the writing was professional, but the lead characters turned me off. There are four of them, each one a teenager. Each one is full of anger and hostility towards everything and everyone, especially towards each other. For each of them, the world is out to get them, their parents are crappy, their neighbors are shit, their living conditions are intolerable, nobody understands their horrible suffering ... you get the point.
They accidentally highjack a space ship, which is not fully functional, and they are the only ones onboard. And still they scream at each other over nothing, blame everyone but themselves, and by the time I finally decided not to continue, they still couldn’t accept each other. I’m guessing that by the end of the book, they will learn to work together, but I’m not going to waste any more of my time on a bunch of obnoxious teenage idiots.
The author tries to portray them as geniuses, and there are too many technical details about computer programming in the story, which also contributed to my overall negative impression. Computer programming does have its place in our lives, but not in fiction.
July 26, 2016
My first encounters with science fiction as a pre-teen were the classic space operas of Andre Norton, including the Solar Queen books, about a young man's adventures on an interstellar trader. In my teenage years, I enjoyed Harry Harrison and Robert Heinlein's space operas, and I still love a good space opera - I'm a huge Vorkosigan fan.
This is a good space opera. It has the classic elements: resourceful young people facing danger that might be beyond their resourcefulness, a technological emergency, pulling together to solve the problem, a contained environment. It has more than that, though. Each of the characters is beautifully set up with a set of excellent reasons to be angry and distrustful and to want to escape. And then they're thrust into a situation where they need to calm down, team up and work on getting back home.
All five of the young characters get to be viewpoint characters, so we get to see inside their heads and understand why they act the way they do. Nobody acts out of character, and the ways in which they change are organic and believable. The plot fits together like a watch, with no excess parts, and the challenges they face include realistic injuries. The end, while giving a sense of hopefulness, isn't all neatly tied up in a bow for all the characters, which I liked.
I have a special fondness for Derelict, because it was seeing Chris Howard's amazing cover for it that led me to ask him to do my book covers (one of my better decisions). I was also a beta reader on a much rougher earlier version. This version has been tightened up a lot, the more obviously-cribbed-from-Star-Trek elements rewritten and some (though not all) of the technobabble problems and science problems fixed. I know the author on Google+, if that's not already obvious; we've beta-read for each other, and I received a copy from her at no charge for purposes of review.
I give four stars to any book I enjoy that isn't also a triumph of beautiful writing and/or a profound reflection on the human condition. While Derelict doesn't, by that definition, reach the five-star level (nor is it aiming to), on my subscale within four stars, where 0 is "just above mediocre" and 9 is "just below amazing", I'd have to put it at least at a 7, knocking confidently on the door of 8.
This is a good space opera. It has the classic elements: resourceful young people facing danger that might be beyond their resourcefulness, a technological emergency, pulling together to solve the problem, a contained environment. It has more than that, though. Each of the characters is beautifully set up with a set of excellent reasons to be angry and distrustful and to want to escape. And then they're thrust into a situation where they need to calm down, team up and work on getting back home.
All five of the young characters get to be viewpoint characters, so we get to see inside their heads and understand why they act the way they do. Nobody acts out of character, and the ways in which they change are organic and believable. The plot fits together like a watch, with no excess parts, and the challenges they face include realistic injuries. The end, while giving a sense of hopefulness, isn't all neatly tied up in a bow for all the characters, which I liked.
I have a special fondness for Derelict, because it was seeing Chris Howard's amazing cover for it that led me to ask him to do my book covers (one of my better decisions). I was also a beta reader on a much rougher earlier version. This version has been tightened up a lot, the more obviously-cribbed-from-Star-Trek elements rewritten and some (though not all) of the technobabble problems and science problems fixed. I know the author on Google+, if that's not already obvious; we've beta-read for each other, and I received a copy from her at no charge for purposes of review.
I give four stars to any book I enjoy that isn't also a triumph of beautiful writing and/or a profound reflection on the human condition. While Derelict doesn't, by that definition, reach the five-star level (nor is it aiming to), on my subscale within four stars, where 0 is "just above mediocre" and 9 is "just below amazing", I'd have to put it at least at a 7, knocking confidently on the door of 8.
June 2, 2014
L.J. Cohen's DERELICT is a well-written, fast-paced adventure. The characters are diverse (a real bonus in science fiction) and well-written, and the plot and pacing are ideal for anyone who loves good science fiction.
I call this "good science fiction" in particular because the tech doesn't feel like a "fake overlay" on a story that could have happened anywhere. This isn't something else shoehorned into a space or futuristic setting. Cohen's world is fully built and carefully developed, creating a natural, realistic feel that puts her (in my opinion) among the great science fiction writers. If you enjoy John Scalzi or, Lynn Viehl, you should be reading L.J. Cohen, too.
I call this "good science fiction" in particular because the tech doesn't feel like a "fake overlay" on a story that could have happened anywhere. This isn't something else shoehorned into a space or futuristic setting. Cohen's world is fully built and carefully developed, creating a natural, realistic feel that puts her (in my opinion) among the great science fiction writers. If you enjoy John Scalzi or, Lynn Viehl, you should be reading L.J. Cohen, too.
August 11, 2020
I have had notes on this review for literally three years, trying to do it justice, and now I'm going to just give up and say I can't do it justice with the way my brain is. But I loved this. I loved the angry main characters, and the tech, and the arcs with chronic pain (it's a spoiler to explain more than that), and I loved the small world. What a good SF saga. I wish more people had read this.
October 4, 2016
I've had Derelict sitting on my Kindle for AGES now and I am glad I finally started reading - this is such a fantastic coming-of-age space opera with a diverse group of teens who are NOT annoying and written like real people and not some constructed personalities.
May 14, 2014
This review is for the Kindle edition ebook.
Disclosure: I was given my copy of this book by the author as a review copy.
Actions of the parents often make like difficult for the family.
Four teenagers find life unbearable, and find themselves doing something about it. Learning to work together is not easy, but is something required for survival.
I thought this book really exemplifies the need to learn to work together. Too many times, teens and young adults think they can conquer the world, as long as they are allowed to do it alone. It is a monumental task to learn to work together, and this story describes it well. I was pleased that all of the teens were allowed to work through their challenges, and each one learned they were not alone in their challenges. The idea that for every action, there are consequences is well presented. Sometimes, those consequences are within our control, but sometimes, they are beyond our reach.
LJ Cohen writes because teens and young adults need books to read. The better those books are, the more they want to read them. This is one of the best. I can honestly say I am thankful for authors like this one, because I really enjoy reading good books.
I can easily recommend this story to those who read Science Fiction and Fantasy, but especially those young adults looking for more. This book should be read by the parents of those young adults, also, because it reminds us that our actions as parents can have an effect on our children. I will be reading more by this author.
Disclosure: I was given my copy of this book by the author as a review copy.
Actions of the parents often make like difficult for the family.
Four teenagers find life unbearable, and find themselves doing something about it. Learning to work together is not easy, but is something required for survival.
I thought this book really exemplifies the need to learn to work together. Too many times, teens and young adults think they can conquer the world, as long as they are allowed to do it alone. It is a monumental task to learn to work together, and this story describes it well. I was pleased that all of the teens were allowed to work through their challenges, and each one learned they were not alone in their challenges. The idea that for every action, there are consequences is well presented. Sometimes, those consequences are within our control, but sometimes, they are beyond our reach.
LJ Cohen writes because teens and young adults need books to read. The better those books are, the more they want to read them. This is one of the best. I can honestly say I am thankful for authors like this one, because I really enjoy reading good books.
I can easily recommend this story to those who read Science Fiction and Fantasy, but especially those young adults looking for more. This book should be read by the parents of those young adults, also, because it reminds us that our actions as parents can have an effect on our children. I will be reading more by this author.
August 11, 2016
This first book in Cohen's Halcyone series is a great start. The main character, Ro Maldonado, is a prickly and talented young woman with an abusive father. And let me tell you, her father is a major jackass, a criminal, and an all-round candidate for worst father ever. However, his bad parenting is almost equaled by Micah Rotherwood's dad, a disgraced senator in league with Maldonado senior. All of the despicable behavior is in spoiler territory, so 'nuff said.
When Ro discovers Micah in the crashed derelict ship, she wants to move in as well. She's fascinated by the 40-year-old tech and wants badly to fix this abandoned ship for her own. Micah has been using the space for botany experiments, which involve growing some illegal plant material.
Jem Durbin is a brilliant kid who is a little bit infatuated with Ro and eagerly takes on projects to help her revive the Halcyone. His brother, Barre, is a genius in a completely different way involving music, but has a bit of a drug habit. When Jem finds Barre unconscious, he asks Ro to hack the medical system to get rid of any evidence of drugs in Barre's system. As soon as he can get his brother up and moving, he takes him to the Halcyone to hide out from their parents. Jem knows Barre will be sent to rehab if he's found, so off they go to join Ro and Micah on the derelict ship.
Okay, four brilliant teens messing about with an old ship. What could go wrong? Plenty is barely sufficient to cover it.
Overall this is a great setup for the series as we learn about the main actors in the series books to come (there are three in the series as I'm writing this, so hurry up and get started now).
This is a strong opening to an entertaining series which is not all fluffy YA kid stuff. There is plenty of tech here to satisfy the hardcore Science Fiction fan.
Highly recommended. I'll definitely be hitting the other books in the series soon.
When Ro discovers Micah in the crashed derelict ship, she wants to move in as well. She's fascinated by the 40-year-old tech and wants badly to fix this abandoned ship for her own. Micah has been using the space for botany experiments, which involve growing some illegal plant material.
Jem Durbin is a brilliant kid who is a little bit infatuated with Ro and eagerly takes on projects to help her revive the Halcyone. His brother, Barre, is a genius in a completely different way involving music, but has a bit of a drug habit. When Jem finds Barre unconscious, he asks Ro to hack the medical system to get rid of any evidence of drugs in Barre's system. As soon as he can get his brother up and moving, he takes him to the Halcyone to hide out from their parents. Jem knows Barre will be sent to rehab if he's found, so off they go to join Ro and Micah on the derelict ship.
Okay, four brilliant teens messing about with an old ship. What could go wrong? Plenty is barely sufficient to cover it.
Overall this is a great setup for the series as we learn about the main actors in the series books to come (there are three in the series as I'm writing this, so hurry up and get started now).
This is a strong opening to an entertaining series which is not all fluffy YA kid stuff. There is plenty of tech here to satisfy the hardcore Science Fiction fan.
Highly recommended. I'll definitely be hitting the other books in the series soon.
December 23, 2022
I immediately had great sympathy for Ro. She's a smart and ambitious character stuck in a difficult place (um, that place being, I want to say some sort of space base attached to an asteroid and / or some kind of broken-down older ship? To be honest I was a bit unclear about the structure of this world as it was introduced), and her dad is a nickel-plated fuckwit shading to legit evil.
Aside from the setting, which I enjoyed as a nicely-sci-fi-ey sort of 'base' thing (Daedalus) but didn't really understand (needs more info dump, I know I'm the only reader who likes info dumps but I needed dump here), I was also a little lost initially with the non-Ro characters and their motivations. This was really just a contrast with Ro's introduction, though, which was very clear and immediately engaging. The others were a bit more of a slow burn. Worth it in the end, though.
Jem and Barre are brothers, Barre a musician and mild junkie living under the threat of a rehab program that will essentially lobotomise him and end his extraordinary musical talent and potential.
Then there's Micah, science dude who is trying to put the drug cartels out of business while his dad and Ro's do dumbfuck deals with them. He's making harmless strains of some kind of opium analogue in the Halcyone, a derelict ship that is part of the Daedalus space colony, hoping to use it to break the cartels' backs. The drugs, I mean, not the Halcyone or Daedalus.
Then there's also Nomi, another character who is sort of more of a command / intel insider and not quite part of the inner protagonist circle but who has an adorable crush on Ro and so acts as a sort of love interest as well as a point of view character back on (in?) Daedalus.
The colony is run by an AI (also named Daedalus I think) which is more or less benevolent and not particularly 'I', if you know what I mean.
All these interesting little tensions and threads begin to intertwine, Ro's clashes with her father exploding into a full-blown conspiracy; Barre's artsy fartsy lifestyle colliding with Micah's pharmaceuticals; even the haunted past of the AI Daedalus and the AI on the Halcyone, and the war that took place and left a great big space-mess behind. All culminating in Ro taking the Halcyone for a little joyride, and Micah, Jem and Barre being dragged along.
That's it, that's basically the story. And that's ... fine?
It's compact, self-contained, and - notwithstanding my own failure to really grasp the overall structure of the world Cohen is working with - pretty easy to follow. The characters and their motivations are clear and well done. I cared about them all. I was horrified for Barre's fate and I wanted Micah to end those cartels. I wanted Ro to show her dad how fucking useless he was, and I wanted her to end up with Nomi because they were just adorabubble.
So, there were (a) good characters in (b) an okay-ly established setting doing (c) plenty of solid action for (d) solid reasons, and (e) it all ended more or less satisfactorily. It's just...
Okay. There was a lot more to it than that, and of course this was just the opening story in a larger narrative. The war, the past, the conspiracies and the cartels and all of it, will no doubt be a large part of the narrative going forward and they couldn't very well settle all of it here. There are things at play. The fight with Ro's dad and the senator (or whatever, Micah's dad) back at Daedalus, about the weapons, all that. Yeah. There's more to it, and more in up-coming books. There just ... I don't know, there could have been a bit more of it in this one too.
Thing is, I feel like there has to be a balance between the tantalising hints of a bigger picture that make the reader follow from book one to the rest of the series. And those were certainly there. This narrative had decent stakes on a personal character level, and the stakes don't always have to be of galaxy-shaking importance, but ... while this was enough for me to realise there was certainly going to be more in later books, there wasn't quite enough of it in this one to make me see this as the opening of a series rather than a self-contained story.
And that's also probably intentional! It's a good idea, for the first book in a series. The more self-contained, the better. But then also there's the risk of it being so self-contained, there's no driving need to follow into the larger narrative. For me, purely, I needed that info dump to get (b) a bit more solid, and that would have been a perfect way to bring the wider plot into it sooner, amped up (d) a bit, and turned (e) from satisfactory to a proper vindication and a "right, you're next" to the wider antagonist community.
Long story short, it was a good space opera. As opening to a bigger story, it was a little underwhelming.
Also, I realise the seals and weapons were evidence, but I absolutely would have destroyed them and spaced them just as a fuck you. Micah's dad fucked himself anyway, and Ro's dad can go to Hell. Just saying, in terms of a style note? Always destroy the thing the bad guy wants. Always. No exceptions.
Sex-o-meter
There was no sex here really. A bit of cute mooning and awkwardness, but no sex. There wasn't really call for it. One flesh-gobbet out of a possible five, and I think that gobbet came from the gore-o-meter. Either way it's not a very sexy gobbet.
Gore-o-meter
We're treated to a bit of fighting and injury and some gnarly med treatment stuff, nothing particularly wild. Zero flesh-gobbets out of a possible five, but I think this was where that gobbet came from that got into the sex-o-meter so let's round this up to one flesh-gobbet out of a possible five. Props for realistic portrayal of injury in this story, by the way!
WTF-o-meter
Again this was a mild one, there doesn't seem like much to report on (that wasn't based on my own confusion about how Daedalus worked) although I am getting a slight ping off the AIs and their 'personalities'. Barre's relating to the Halcyone AI through music is cool. Don't know if it's WTF but it's giving us an Electric Dreams out of a possible Electric Sheep. And that "Electric Dreams" isn't a play on the latter book title, it's a reference to the '80s movie.
My Final Verdict
I liked it! It was more the characters and their motivations that got me this time. Sure, they could have been doing something a bit more compelling but they could also just have been living their lives and their dramas and I would have been satisfied with a one-off story. Four stars on the Amazon / Goodreads scale.
Aside from the setting, which I enjoyed as a nicely-sci-fi-ey sort of 'base' thing (Daedalus) but didn't really understand (needs more info dump, I know I'm the only reader who likes info dumps but I needed dump here), I was also a little lost initially with the non-Ro characters and their motivations. This was really just a contrast with Ro's introduction, though, which was very clear and immediately engaging. The others were a bit more of a slow burn. Worth it in the end, though.
Jem and Barre are brothers, Barre a musician and mild junkie living under the threat of a rehab program that will essentially lobotomise him and end his extraordinary musical talent and potential.
Then there's Micah, science dude who is trying to put the drug cartels out of business while his dad and Ro's do dumbfuck deals with them. He's making harmless strains of some kind of opium analogue in the Halcyone, a derelict ship that is part of the Daedalus space colony, hoping to use it to break the cartels' backs. The drugs, I mean, not the Halcyone or Daedalus.
Then there's also Nomi, another character who is sort of more of a command / intel insider and not quite part of the inner protagonist circle but who has an adorable crush on Ro and so acts as a sort of love interest as well as a point of view character back on (in?) Daedalus.
The colony is run by an AI (also named Daedalus I think) which is more or less benevolent and not particularly 'I', if you know what I mean.
All these interesting little tensions and threads begin to intertwine, Ro's clashes with her father exploding into a full-blown conspiracy; Barre's artsy fartsy lifestyle colliding with Micah's pharmaceuticals; even the haunted past of the AI Daedalus and the AI on the Halcyone, and the war that took place and left a great big space-mess behind. All culminating in Ro taking the Halcyone for a little joyride, and Micah, Jem and Barre being dragged along.
That's it, that's basically the story. And that's ... fine?
It's compact, self-contained, and - notwithstanding my own failure to really grasp the overall structure of the world Cohen is working with - pretty easy to follow. The characters and their motivations are clear and well done. I cared about them all. I was horrified for Barre's fate and I wanted Micah to end those cartels. I wanted Ro to show her dad how fucking useless he was, and I wanted her to end up with Nomi because they were just adorabubble.
So, there were (a) good characters in (b) an okay-ly established setting doing (c) plenty of solid action for (d) solid reasons, and (e) it all ended more or less satisfactorily. It's just...
Okay. There was a lot more to it than that, and of course this was just the opening story in a larger narrative. The war, the past, the conspiracies and the cartels and all of it, will no doubt be a large part of the narrative going forward and they couldn't very well settle all of it here. There are things at play. The fight with Ro's dad and the senator (or whatever, Micah's dad) back at Daedalus, about the weapons, all that. Yeah. There's more to it, and more in up-coming books. There just ... I don't know, there could have been a bit more of it in this one too.
Thing is, I feel like there has to be a balance between the tantalising hints of a bigger picture that make the reader follow from book one to the rest of the series. And those were certainly there. This narrative had decent stakes on a personal character level, and the stakes don't always have to be of galaxy-shaking importance, but ... while this was enough for me to realise there was certainly going to be more in later books, there wasn't quite enough of it in this one to make me see this as the opening of a series rather than a self-contained story.
And that's also probably intentional! It's a good idea, for the first book in a series. The more self-contained, the better. But then also there's the risk of it being so self-contained, there's no driving need to follow into the larger narrative. For me, purely, I needed that info dump to get (b) a bit more solid, and that would have been a perfect way to bring the wider plot into it sooner, amped up (d) a bit, and turned (e) from satisfactory to a proper vindication and a "right, you're next" to the wider antagonist community.
Long story short, it was a good space opera. As opening to a bigger story, it was a little underwhelming.
Also, I realise the seals and weapons were evidence, but I absolutely would have destroyed them and spaced them just as a fuck you. Micah's dad fucked himself anyway, and Ro's dad can go to Hell. Just saying, in terms of a style note? Always destroy the thing the bad guy wants. Always. No exceptions.
Sex-o-meter
There was no sex here really. A bit of cute mooning and awkwardness, but no sex. There wasn't really call for it. One flesh-gobbet out of a possible five, and I think that gobbet came from the gore-o-meter. Either way it's not a very sexy gobbet.
Gore-o-meter
We're treated to a bit of fighting and injury and some gnarly med treatment stuff, nothing particularly wild. Zero flesh-gobbets out of a possible five, but I think this was where that gobbet came from that got into the sex-o-meter so let's round this up to one flesh-gobbet out of a possible five. Props for realistic portrayal of injury in this story, by the way!
WTF-o-meter
Again this was a mild one, there doesn't seem like much to report on (that wasn't based on my own confusion about how Daedalus worked) although I am getting a slight ping off the AIs and their 'personalities'. Barre's relating to the Halcyone AI through music is cool. Don't know if it's WTF but it's giving us an Electric Dreams out of a possible Electric Sheep. And that "Electric Dreams" isn't a play on the latter book title, it's a reference to the '80s movie.
My Final Verdict
I liked it! It was more the characters and their motivations that got me this time. Sure, they could have been doing something a bit more compelling but they could also just have been living their lives and their dramas and I would have been satisfied with a one-off story. Four stars on the Amazon / Goodreads scale.
October 1, 2022
Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book to review for the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC).
Once again participating in the SPSFC has forced me to expand my reading boundaries, this time into a YA book. I have not read many YA books but I have come to understand that they are defined by the audience and the protagonists being the twelve to eighteen age range and this book definitely fits into that genre.
The main protagonists in Derelict by Lisa Janice (L J) Cohen are; Ro, Micah, Jim, and Barre plus an assortment of adults - some of whom are sympathetic, some villainous, and some, even worse, parental. Stuck on a space station orbiting an asteroid millions of miles from anything interesting we have four adolescents who are more than a little unhappy with their lot in life, with much of their displeasure based on solid reasons. Connected to the station is a derelict spaceship that crashed into the astroid forty years ago. Needless to say, the derelict is just too enticing to ignore.
While it has been nearly six decades since I was an adolescent and over three since I was the parent of ones, I am not so senile as to have forgotten some of the many issues that have plagued that age since the beginning of time. From the first time a pubescent was told that they could not leave the cave to go hunting with their friends, parents and children have warred during this tense transition from childhood to adulthood. Seeking to protect their offspring, parents attempt to keep their kids from all sorts of real and presumed dangers - including sex, drugs, and “the wrong crowd”. According to Cohen, this battle will continue both centuries and light years from present day earth.
In addition to the teenage angst, this book has a lot of adventure, suspense, danger, science, and sex (well, imagined sex at least). If I had read this book as a teenager I would have loved it, probably dog-earing pages to show my friends. Of course, as a “former teenager” I also enjoyed the book, although probably for many different reasons.
Once again participating in the SPSFC has forced me to expand my reading boundaries, this time into a YA book. I have not read many YA books but I have come to understand that they are defined by the audience and the protagonists being the twelve to eighteen age range and this book definitely fits into that genre.
The main protagonists in Derelict by Lisa Janice (L J) Cohen are; Ro, Micah, Jim, and Barre plus an assortment of adults - some of whom are sympathetic, some villainous, and some, even worse, parental. Stuck on a space station orbiting an asteroid millions of miles from anything interesting we have four adolescents who are more than a little unhappy with their lot in life, with much of their displeasure based on solid reasons. Connected to the station is a derelict spaceship that crashed into the astroid forty years ago. Needless to say, the derelict is just too enticing to ignore.
While it has been nearly six decades since I was an adolescent and over three since I was the parent of ones, I am not so senile as to have forgotten some of the many issues that have plagued that age since the beginning of time. From the first time a pubescent was told that they could not leave the cave to go hunting with their friends, parents and children have warred during this tense transition from childhood to adulthood. Seeking to protect their offspring, parents attempt to keep their kids from all sorts of real and presumed dangers - including sex, drugs, and “the wrong crowd”. According to Cohen, this battle will continue both centuries and light years from present day earth.
In addition to the teenage angst, this book has a lot of adventure, suspense, danger, science, and sex (well, imagined sex at least). If I had read this book as a teenager I would have loved it, probably dog-earing pages to show my friends. Of course, as a “former teenager” I also enjoyed the book, although probably for many different reasons.
January 21, 2019
I loved reading this one! If you are a programmer, you'll understand more than I did but it' a great space adventure with damaged superheroes and villians! This would make a great movie!
June 10, 2017
Good story, fast-paced plot, interesting characters. Held my interest from the moment I opened it.
September 11, 2021
No. I couldn't finish this. Too much prattle in an attempt to character build. And too predictable. It just started feeling like it was a teenage drama, where the characters were all bound up in stupid stuff.
August 12, 2015
Lisa Cohen’s DERELICT is a punchy, fast-moving YA sci-fi novel with a gripping story and lots of heart. The characters are complex, flawed, and well-rounded. They inspire, they annoy, they bicker and fight. They find (and turn away from) love, form bonds, endure tragedies, and conquer personal demons.
What I loved most about the book were the technical details. Cohen writes about technology and computers with more skill and acuity than any writer I’ve read in recent memory. In the hands of lesser writers, lengthy passages about hacking, electronic security, or repairing communications systems might get stale or unbelievable -- but Cohen writes with such adroit precision that this simply never happens.
This is not to say that the book neglects its characters -- far from it. Each is vibrant and well-drawn, and the conflicts are all organic and credible. DERELICT tells a story about the family you choose over the family you’re born with. The young men and women of the story are frequently alienated from the common family structures many of us take for granted, and must learn to be inventive and self-reliant in a universe that’s stacked the deck against each of them.
I enjoyed it a lot, and am looking forward to the sequel. Recommended.
What I loved most about the book were the technical details. Cohen writes about technology and computers with more skill and acuity than any writer I’ve read in recent memory. In the hands of lesser writers, lengthy passages about hacking, electronic security, or repairing communications systems might get stale or unbelievable -- but Cohen writes with such adroit precision that this simply never happens.
This is not to say that the book neglects its characters -- far from it. Each is vibrant and well-drawn, and the conflicts are all organic and credible. DERELICT tells a story about the family you choose over the family you’re born with. The young men and women of the story are frequently alienated from the common family structures many of us take for granted, and must learn to be inventive and self-reliant in a universe that’s stacked the deck against each of them.
I enjoyed it a lot, and am looking forward to the sequel. Recommended.
March 23, 2015
Derelict grabbed my interest right from the start and by the end I really couldn’t put it down.
The lifestyles of the teenaged protagonists are equal parts alien (total indifference to space travel and life on a space station) and relatable (inseparable from their phones--excuse me, ‘micros’). The obstacles and challenges in their lives are real and serious, and not just the overblown emotions of hormonal high-schoolers. As such, I found them to be sympathetic and engaging and I cared about what happened next.
The descriptions of the tech, particularly the holographic and musical computer interfaces, were vivid and felt fresh to me.
The two weakest aspects of the story were the plot and the relationship budding between Ro and Nomi. The plot was fairly predictable, with few unexpected twists. That said, I didn’t really mind, as the journey was lots of fun. The connection between Ro and Nomi felt like it became too important too quickly. I suppose this could be explained by the all-or-nothing emotions typical of the young, but it bugged me a little.
The ending of the novel was satisfying but left plenty of threads for a sequel. I’ll definitely be reading the next book.
The lifestyles of the teenaged protagonists are equal parts alien (total indifference to space travel and life on a space station) and relatable (inseparable from their phones--excuse me, ‘micros’). The obstacles and challenges in their lives are real and serious, and not just the overblown emotions of hormonal high-schoolers. As such, I found them to be sympathetic and engaging and I cared about what happened next.
The descriptions of the tech, particularly the holographic and musical computer interfaces, were vivid and felt fresh to me.
The two weakest aspects of the story were the plot and the relationship budding between Ro and Nomi. The plot was fairly predictable, with few unexpected twists. That said, I didn’t really mind, as the journey was lots of fun. The connection between Ro and Nomi felt like it became too important too quickly. I suppose this could be explained by the all-or-nothing emotions typical of the young, but it bugged me a little.
The ending of the novel was satisfying but left plenty of threads for a sequel. I’ll definitely be reading the next book.
June 13, 2014
This is a fun, exciting book with characters that feel very real. It kept me turning the pages to the end. I was kind of surprised at the speed with which some of the conflicts were resolved in the tail end of the book. It leaves things open for a sequel, which I am looking forward to, but I was looking for something else to happen (hard to discuss it without spoiling anything) before the book ended. Instead, that resolution seems to have been pushed back to a subsequent book. Putting that aside, the writing carries the story and characters forward so well, I recommend the book to anyone who wants a Star Trek-like adventure tale with more depth.
Read
December 30, 2016This is a space opera about a bunch of kids who end up on derelict space craft with a broken AI. I wish they would've gotten on the ship sooner. It seemed like a huge amount of plot happened to get us to that point, and because it felt inevitable that they would eventually get on the ship, it felt like that part of the story took forever. Once they were aboard, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. The kids all have their own hang-ups, but they learn to work together, which is great. Also this book treats injuries very realistically, which is always nice. If you like space opera, give this a shot!
June 11, 2014
A quick interesting read. I like space scifi that's focused on ships/regular people like this (like Quarter Share, etc) and this fits the bill great. No sweeping space battles, no intergalactic polictics, just a handful of people in a tight spot. Focused, compact, and good.
July 2, 2015
Strong and fascinating characters and very believable relationship dynamics. Cohen balances adolescent concerns like parental relationships and growing up, with serious adult decisions for her young characters an active plot. I was engaged throughout and am moving around my reading schedule to get to the sequel sooner. Great read!
July 24, 2015
Its so hard to find good space opera aimed at younger readers. Will for sure read this to my nephew and new niece later. Maybe by the time they are old enough to start to understand there will be a sequel to read.
August 26, 2014
a fun read and a nice story arc. I hope there are sequels!
July 7, 2023
Okay story, reduced by weak world-building, flawed grasp of science and tech, and no clue as to command behaviors. Thought it would be fun, a la Indiana Hones or Star Wars, but the problems are o glaring the reader has to repeatedly choose to ignore them.
Having to look past the sloppy tech never ends in this book. The author didn't even bother to apply simple common-knowledge facts. ~sigh~
Its easy to not love the characters - "Time to put on your big boy pants." from an almost 18-year-old to a "younger" child. Really? THIS is the personality that woos cooperation? They can't get out from under their parents' control, but understand the intricate workings of information sharing in system-wide medical reporting?
The sloppy handling of so many things reduced what should be at least a 3-star effort. The adults are ALL evil or incompetent The modern-day American euphemisms (tribal drums, dog with a bone) that jar - we don't even understand slang from 1900s England now, they're going to retain idioms across cultures, space, and millennia? The Senator - Senator of what, to what body? It's as if the Author has the lack of understanding of politics and hierarchy in any organized system. Even grade-school children know to talk to their teacher before approaching the principal.
The 'genius' of these kids is quite selective. (Hint - don't try to write characters smarter than yourself.) The outcomes of their choices all fantasy, the parent all abusive/manipulative/neglectful, in a CLOSED environment, and NO ONE steps in or calls them on it? The parents' supposed resistance just melts away?
Also concerning that the author paints tolerance of pain as admirable. One has to wonder why there are so many "I can take it" pain episodes in this book.
Suspend expectations of reasonable, ye who read this. Imo this plays as a version of Star Trek meets Star Wars, sans fun aliens. Lame but fun.
Having to look past the sloppy tech never ends in this book. The author didn't even bother to apply simple common-knowledge facts. ~sigh~
Its easy to not love the characters - "Time to put on your big boy pants." from an almost 18-year-old to a "younger" child. Really? THIS is the personality that woos cooperation? They can't get out from under their parents' control, but understand the intricate workings of information sharing in system-wide medical reporting?
The sloppy handling of so many things reduced what should be at least a 3-star effort. The adults are ALL evil or incompetent The modern-day American euphemisms (tribal drums, dog with a bone) that jar - we don't even understand slang from 1900s England now, they're going to retain idioms across cultures, space, and millennia? The Senator - Senator of what, to what body? It's as if the Author has the lack of understanding of politics and hierarchy in any organized system. Even grade-school children know to talk to their teacher before approaching the principal.
The 'genius' of these kids is quite selective. (Hint - don't try to write characters smarter than yourself.) The outcomes of their choices all fantasy, the parent all abusive/manipulative/neglectful, in a CLOSED environment, and NO ONE steps in or calls them on it? The parents' supposed resistance just melts away?
Also concerning that the author paints tolerance of pain as admirable. One has to wonder why there are so many "I can take it" pain episodes in this book.
Suspend expectations of reasonable, ye who read this. Imo this plays as a version of Star Trek meets Star Wars, sans fun aliens. Lame but fun.
May 6, 2018
The Basics:
To most people, Halcyone is a derelict ship, relic of a bygone war, taking up space in the docks of Daedalus Station. To Ro, it might mean freedom from her father, if she can restore it well enough to impress the University boards. To Micah, it was, until lately, his secret lab, the place where he would find a way to break the cartel’s monopoly on medicinal marijuana. To brothers Jem and Barre, it's the wrong place, wrong time -- or maybe the right one, an escape from Barre’s impending forced brain surgery at the hands of their perfectionist parents.
The Downside:
An odd complaint from an odd reader: the flat, unvaried use of simple past tense robs the prose of the nuance and precision that some well-placed past perfect could add.
The intended subtext also sheds its sub a bit annoyingly often, with characters repeatedly stating out loud how important it is for them all to reject the mistakes of their parents and establish who they are independent of their last names, and hey, what a lot they all have in common! Then there’s the trouble of many of the critical adventure moments coming in the form of hacking, which is, for the most part, as crowd-pleasing as it sounds.
The Upside:
A group of very believably competent and determined teenage characters. Ro is the brusque, rough-around-the-edges, shell-like-a-tank-around-a-gooey-center type, for reasons that are understandable and plainly shown, and she has the skills to get away with it most of the time, but not too often. The whole accidental crew of the Halcyone hangs in the true-to-life adolescent in between, ready to take charge of their lives but doomed to flounder through the mistakes of inexperience that can only be cured by said floundering and mistakes. It’s the most terrifying state to exist in on a ship where mistakes mean explosive decompression, drifting for eternity through space, or execution by the mob, and that's why it works so well.
The antagonistic adults are not simply unreasonable, tyrannical, and condescending, as they might be in a more simplistic narrative, but deeply involved in their own fleshed-out agendas, and there are decent adults to be found too, just doing their jobs as best they can.
Futuristic aesthetics are well established but unobtrusive. The story is not an excuse for the author to wax on about how these future inventions are different, or about the minutiae of the history of a dozen alien worlds, but nor is it told in front of a verbal green screen that might as well be displaying a cafe in San Francisco as an industrial corridor through an endless star field. This future is lived-in and commonplace to its inhabitants but visible to us.
Shifting third person perspective is particularly effective here, for both scene setting and the story at hand. Rather than causing the plot slowdown that often comes with the juggling of several locations and subplots, it allows for special attention to each character within a very tight, interlocking situation, even when some of them are separated by the vacuum of space.
The surprising heart of the story comes in the form of Ro and Nomi, the beautiful and gregarious comms officer. Instead of having their first date as planned, the two women end up spending the duration of the book trying to find each other, and the result is stunningly effective for a couple who have only about three scenes together.
Definitely worth a read for fans of grungy space opera and prickly, take-charge heroines.
To most people, Halcyone is a derelict ship, relic of a bygone war, taking up space in the docks of Daedalus Station. To Ro, it might mean freedom from her father, if she can restore it well enough to impress the University boards. To Micah, it was, until lately, his secret lab, the place where he would find a way to break the cartel’s monopoly on medicinal marijuana. To brothers Jem and Barre, it's the wrong place, wrong time -- or maybe the right one, an escape from Barre’s impending forced brain surgery at the hands of their perfectionist parents.
The Downside:
An odd complaint from an odd reader: the flat, unvaried use of simple past tense robs the prose of the nuance and precision that some well-placed past perfect could add.
The intended subtext also sheds its sub a bit annoyingly often, with characters repeatedly stating out loud how important it is for them all to reject the mistakes of their parents and establish who they are independent of their last names, and hey, what a lot they all have in common! Then there’s the trouble of many of the critical adventure moments coming in the form of hacking, which is, for the most part, as crowd-pleasing as it sounds.
The Upside:
A group of very believably competent and determined teenage characters. Ro is the brusque, rough-around-the-edges, shell-like-a-tank-around-a-gooey-center type, for reasons that are understandable and plainly shown, and she has the skills to get away with it most of the time, but not too often. The whole accidental crew of the Halcyone hangs in the true-to-life adolescent in between, ready to take charge of their lives but doomed to flounder through the mistakes of inexperience that can only be cured by said floundering and mistakes. It’s the most terrifying state to exist in on a ship where mistakes mean explosive decompression, drifting for eternity through space, or execution by the mob, and that's why it works so well.
The antagonistic adults are not simply unreasonable, tyrannical, and condescending, as they might be in a more simplistic narrative, but deeply involved in their own fleshed-out agendas, and there are decent adults to be found too, just doing their jobs as best they can.
Futuristic aesthetics are well established but unobtrusive. The story is not an excuse for the author to wax on about how these future inventions are different, or about the minutiae of the history of a dozen alien worlds, but nor is it told in front of a verbal green screen that might as well be displaying a cafe in San Francisco as an industrial corridor through an endless star field. This future is lived-in and commonplace to its inhabitants but visible to us.
Shifting third person perspective is particularly effective here, for both scene setting and the story at hand. Rather than causing the plot slowdown that often comes with the juggling of several locations and subplots, it allows for special attention to each character within a very tight, interlocking situation, even when some of them are separated by the vacuum of space.
The surprising heart of the story comes in the form of Ro and Nomi, the beautiful and gregarious comms officer. Instead of having their first date as planned, the two women end up spending the duration of the book trying to find each other, and the result is stunningly effective for a couple who have only about three scenes together.
Definitely worth a read for fans of grungy space opera and prickly, take-charge heroines.
October 26, 2019
The Halcyone Space series now contains 4, no wait, 5 books. I noticed them earlier, but didn't pay much attention to them.
What actually triggered me was the cover and the title of book 3: Dreadnought and Shuttle. I can't say why, it just... spoke to me.
YA
The first two books I've read thus far. (Well, listened to audio-books, to be honest.) These are clearly Young Adult. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Cheap
... as there's nothing wrong with the price of book 1 either... Derelict sells for 99 cents on Amazon, buy the eBook and the audiobook at the same time, and you'll get the audiobook for euro 2.95. (Interesting, it's often cheaper to buy eBook and audiobook at the same time, then buy the audiobook separately.)
Book number 2 Ithaka Rising is euro 4.45, add the audiobook for 2.95. That's affordable!
The later books 3, 4 and 5 don't have an audiobook counterpart (yet), so I have been holding out on them for now. I just might pick up a paper or Kindle copy though, one of these days...
Suspension of disbelief
Of course, I can think of a few reasons why it would be unlikely for a lone female hacker to receive a derelict but warp jump capable (and thus dangerous) star ship as a reward, but let's not go there.
Once you've shuttered your sense of disbelief it actually becomes a fun read. There's (of course) the required amount of teen angst and family relations (what YA book could do without) but the characters are alive and all have their own voice.
The second book requires a little more suspension of disbelief, as a complete rebel community relies on the honesty of a bunch of teens. Evil governments are, well, evil, so there's little reason for an evil government to use evil means to get at the truth. Drugs, torture, bribes, whatever.
I haven't read / listened to books 3 and 4 yet. I do like the title of book 3 (and still don't know why). I might pick them up some day, whenever I run out of other stuff to read or listen to 😏
Titles
Derelict
Ithaka Rising
Dreadnought and Shuttle
Parallax
A Star in the Void
Verdict
Derelict and Ithaka are decent YA novels. The audiobook versions are great as well.
(From https://ninelizardsblog.blogspot.com/... )
What actually triggered me was the cover and the title of book 3: Dreadnought and Shuttle. I can't say why, it just... spoke to me.
YA
The first two books I've read thus far. (Well, listened to audio-books, to be honest.) These are clearly Young Adult. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Cheap
... as there's nothing wrong with the price of book 1 either... Derelict sells for 99 cents on Amazon, buy the eBook and the audiobook at the same time, and you'll get the audiobook for euro 2.95. (Interesting, it's often cheaper to buy eBook and audiobook at the same time, then buy the audiobook separately.)
Book number 2 Ithaka Rising is euro 4.45, add the audiobook for 2.95. That's affordable!
The later books 3, 4 and 5 don't have an audiobook counterpart (yet), so I have been holding out on them for now. I just might pick up a paper or Kindle copy though, one of these days...
Suspension of disbelief
Of course, I can think of a few reasons why it would be unlikely for a lone female hacker to receive a derelict but warp jump capable (and thus dangerous) star ship as a reward, but let's not go there.
Once you've shuttered your sense of disbelief it actually becomes a fun read. There's (of course) the required amount of teen angst and family relations (what YA book could do without) but the characters are alive and all have their own voice.
The second book requires a little more suspension of disbelief, as a complete rebel community relies on the honesty of a bunch of teens. Evil governments are, well, evil, so there's little reason for an evil government to use evil means to get at the truth. Drugs, torture, bribes, whatever.
I haven't read / listened to books 3 and 4 yet. I do like the title of book 3 (and still don't know why). I might pick them up some day, whenever I run out of other stuff to read or listen to 😏
Titles
Derelict
Ithaka Rising
Dreadnought and Shuttle
Parallax
A Star in the Void
Verdict
Derelict and Ithaka are decent YA novels. The audiobook versions are great as well.
(From https://ninelizardsblog.blogspot.com/... )
March 22, 2023
The simple thing is this: read the book. I love this book. I really love this book as a first book (if that’s really the case, I think it is?)
I’m happy to say Derelict by LJ Cohen is the best science fiction novel I’ve read in years.
That’s partly because I’ve steered away from science fiction from too many disappointments, partly because I’ve read a decent number of bad ones, but I doubled checked my Goodreads: the last great “science fiction year” I had was 2019 — Old Man’s War + Canticle for Leibowitz. That was a great year.
I’ve since read the garbage entitled Stranger in a Strange Land. So yes, I’ve read “classics” since 2019 that were garbage and also other voices that I refused to post on Goodreads.
LJ Cohen’s Derelict surprised me. And look, I know I published her story in Of Gods and Globes I, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everything she every wrote. No writer in that series swings for the fences every time, not even Juliet. However, LJ’s story in the OGAG series makes me cry every time I read it, so maybe check it out?
So yes, I mean it — this novel surprised me. I know her work made shortlists for other things, but I want to highlight some really interesting things she’s doing:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2023/03/21...
I’m happy to say Derelict by LJ Cohen is the best science fiction novel I’ve read in years.
That’s partly because I’ve steered away from science fiction from too many disappointments, partly because I’ve read a decent number of bad ones, but I doubled checked my Goodreads: the last great “science fiction year” I had was 2019 — Old Man’s War + Canticle for Leibowitz. That was a great year.
I’ve since read the garbage entitled Stranger in a Strange Land. So yes, I’ve read “classics” since 2019 that were garbage and also other voices that I refused to post on Goodreads.
LJ Cohen’s Derelict surprised me. And look, I know I published her story in Of Gods and Globes I, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everything she every wrote. No writer in that series swings for the fences every time, not even Juliet. However, LJ’s story in the OGAG series makes me cry every time I read it, so maybe check it out?
So yes, I mean it — this novel surprised me. I know her work made shortlists for other things, but I want to highlight some really interesting things she’s doing:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2023/03/21...
November 17, 2021
Derelict is a solid scifi tale and takes off with all the elements for a good read. A well-thought out universe, with enough technology to make it work and not distract (too often) from the people and plot. Though, the damaged AI on the Halcyone gets a bit of page time and I would have liked a bit more. The plot is clear and has plenty of action and twists to keep you turning the page.
Unfortunately, I struggled to relate to any of the main characters. They started out as angry and/or misunderstood (often with good cause), but pretty much ended up the same, despite the life-threatening, violent and world-shattering events they'd experienced together. I know this takes place over a week and this is a series starter, so I'm sure they will get more development time in subsequent books.
I would have liked a bit more time spent at the end with each of the main crew, learning about their emotional journey.
Overall, the story is well-written, but there were a few missed opportunities for me.
Unfortunately, I struggled to relate to any of the main characters. They started out as angry and/or misunderstood (often with good cause), but pretty much ended up the same, despite the life-threatening, violent and world-shattering events they'd experienced together. I know this takes place over a week and this is a series starter, so I'm sure they will get more development time in subsequent books.
I would have liked a bit more time spent at the end with each of the main crew, learning about their emotional journey.
Overall, the story is well-written, but there were a few missed opportunities for me.
January 5, 2024
OK. I was looking for stories about repairing spaceships, and this popped up in my search.
And I'm fairly happy it did.
Well written, believable characters, believable situation, believable "science". Ticked all the important boxes for me.
The characters are a bunch of teenagers, and all display various levels of typical teenage-brand idiocy.. (poor judgement, overly melodramatic emotions) but it all rang true to me - I could believe in these particular teenagers making these particular decisions, so even though i was rolling my eyes quite often, I usually had a grin to accompany it.
I liked this enough that I want to read book 2 of this series :)
Oh, and for those interested, its basically a quartet of teens stuck in a remote space station... and by various means get involved in repairing an old abandoned junker of a freighter and getting stuck on it when the ship-ai wakes up and decides it is time to run away :)
Enjoyable, even if far from my usual taste in characters.
And I'm fairly happy it did.
Well written, believable characters, believable situation, believable "science". Ticked all the important boxes for me.
The characters are a bunch of teenagers, and all display various levels of typical teenage-brand idiocy.. (poor judgement, overly melodramatic emotions) but it all rang true to me - I could believe in these particular teenagers making these particular decisions, so even though i was rolling my eyes quite often, I usually had a grin to accompany it.
I liked this enough that I want to read book 2 of this series :)
Oh, and for those interested, its basically a quartet of teens stuck in a remote space station... and by various means get involved in repairing an old abandoned junker of a freighter and getting stuck on it when the ship-ai wakes up and decides it is time to run away :)
Enjoyable, even if far from my usual taste in characters.
February 8, 2023
I did enjoy reading this book, and thought the plot was reasonably good. It seems to be targeted at a YA readership, so the young people being really clever, almost superheroes in their field, and all adults being stupid, was slightly irksome to this not young reader. There weren't many likeable characters, but that was cancelled for me by it being an enjoyable read.
Really, I would have liked to give four and a half stars - not a four star book but not equal with the best of the five stars. I would like a little more character development and a bit more realism; young people are not always right. I did like the comms woman, seemed more realistic than the others, and knew when to stop doing the wrong things and to trust some adults. However, as I said, the book is probably not targeting me.
Really, I would have liked to give four and a half stars - not a four star book but not equal with the best of the five stars. I would like a little more character development and a bit more realism; young people are not always right. I did like the comms woman, seemed more realistic than the others, and knew when to stop doing the wrong things and to trust some adults. However, as I said, the book is probably not targeting me.
May 30, 2017
I read this book as a book-swap to see if I would promote the book to my mailing list. I sent her FountainCorp Security, she sent me Derelict.
This book is not my personal cup of tea, but it's not a bad book.
She's got a pretty large cast and those sorts of ensemble books can get out of control. Ms. Cohen does a good job of keeping everything straight and keeping everyone in play. Her main characters have strong motivations and are different people pressed into service together by a mixture of circumstances and nefarious plots.
If you're looking for a YA science fiction with just a pinch of romance, you should check this book out.
This book is not my personal cup of tea, but it's not a bad book.
She's got a pretty large cast and those sorts of ensemble books can get out of control. Ms. Cohen does a good job of keeping everything straight and keeping everyone in play. Her main characters have strong motivations and are different people pressed into service together by a mixture of circumstances and nefarious plots.
If you're looking for a YA science fiction with just a pinch of romance, you should check this book out.
August 11, 2019
I kind of liked this book but the writing, dialogue, and descriptions of behaviors are all sort of awkward. I get that the main characters are all supposed to be full of teenage angst, but there are just so many places where somebody goes from being perfectly normal, to being impossibly angry, to being conciliatory, within the space of a page or two. There isn't a whole lot of deep character development, and the story is a bit thin. But it's an enjoyable read if you don't ask too much of it. I am not sure whether I'll bother going on to the second book...
June 11, 2025
Rosalon Maldonado works on an asteroid colony with a derelict spaceship attached. Her father is very dominant and abusive. She works on the spaceship in her spare time hoping to be able to get it to fly so she can escape her father. Micah, a senator's son growing 'weed' on the ship. Two brothers, Jem and Barre, doctors' sons are also part of the group. All have family problems. A enjoyfter discovering a conspiracy to smuggle arms the ship is launched by accident. The ship AI doesn't realize the war ended 40 years earlier. There is a lot of action and it is an enjoyable read.
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