Her Brother's Keeper

Privateer Andromeda #1

by Mike Kupari

DEBUT SOLO NOVEL FROM THE CO-AUTHOR OF DEAD SIX . Air Force weapons expert Mike Kupari, co-author of Dead Six and Swords of Exodus, offers up a science fiction adventure. When privateer Captain Catherine Blackwood is enlisted to rescue her brother from a treacherous warlord, she finds herself on her most dangerous mission yet.

It's been years since Catherine Blackwood left the stodgy, repressive colony world of Avalon. Now the captain of the privateer vessel Andromeda , she is the master of her own destiny. But Catherine soon finds herself back on Avalon after receiving a plea for help from a most unlikely her estranged father, esteemed Avalon Council member Augustus Blackwood.

It seems Catherine's brother, the heir to the Blackwood aristocracy, has gone off in search of treasure on the failed, chaotic world of Zanzibar. But Cecil Blackwood's plans have gone very, very wrong, and he has been taken hostage and held for ransom by a fearsome local warlord. Augustus, knowing his daughter is the only one who can be trusted to return his son safely, swallows his pride and hires Catherine to bring her brother home.

Catherine takes the job—but it won't be easy. Just getting to Zanzibar proves treacherous. And once she arrives, things only get worse. If she is to save her brother, Catherine Blackwood must face down danger at every turn and uncover a mystery four million years in the making.

About Her Brother's Keeper :
"After cowriting Dead Six and Swords of Exodus with Larry ­Correia, Kupari makes his solo debut with this space opera that is bound to attract fans of Mike ­Shepherd’s Kris Longknife series or Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War books. An excellent choice for both teen and adult sf readers."— Library Journal

"[P]age-turning action . . . may be Kuperi's best book yet."— Galveston County Daily News

“ A big, sweeping space adventure, with heroic characters you care about. Mike Kupari is an awesome storyteller.”—Larry Correia

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Military Fiction, Fiction

365 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

About the author

An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician in the US Air Force, Mike Kupari also served six years in the Army National Guard. He grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and enlisted at the age of seventeen. He has worked as a security contractor with several firms, did a tour in Southwest Asia with a private military company, and is an NRA certified firearms instructor. Mike is recently returned from his second active duty overseas with the U.S. Air Force.

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Her Brother's Keeper is not a terrible novel; certainly, my low rating of two stars doesn't mean this is a total fail for me. But there were several key points that really hampered any chance I had at enjoying the novel.

First and foremost, author Kupari has chosen to ground this book in a contemporary (if idealized) motif despite the plot being set in the future. I felt like I was reading about Afghan veterans throughout (e.g,. exploding people IUDs, etc.) but with some sci fi trappings pegged on. Honestly, I want my sci fi to be futuristic - where society mores change as society changes. Grounding this in present sensibilities dates the book immediately and fatally - in much the same way that we laugh at a Jules Verne view of the future as being charmingly antiquated.

Equally problematic for me is that the book doesn't feel realistic at all. The dialogue often comes off as over idealized - e.g., the war veteran with the 'happy colonial homestead' and energetic teen daughter he refers to as "sweetheart' or "honey" in patronizing tones. Or the wife that holds a geologic degree but happily makes dinner for his business visitors and is referred to as 'dear'. The dialogue was so unrealistic and clunky, the characters stiff and unbelievable (or oversimplified), that the book at times feels like an homage to the 1960s NASA space race. Heck, even adding in a Von Braun German engineer felt over the top. At least the overt sexism was missing in several places.

Colonies founded by countries rather than corporations or religions also felt fairly unrealistic. CJ Cherryh did this much better by putting 'clans' into star ships homes. But having colonies take on current (or mythical) social mores/customs based on country or history just feels lazy. I wanted more creativity in the worldbuilding.

Character-wise, we have the white hats and black hats. It's pretty obvious which is which (in a very eye-rolling way). Because the book takes so much time to gain momentum, there's not a lot distracting from the lack of solid and imaginative world building (glossed-over US soldiers in Afghanistan with cold-war sensibilities). Because there are several POVs, it's hard to get into any one person. Honestly, I would have jettisoned all the POVs except Catherine's - and then concentrated on making her a more nuanced person (the scene where she pats the eager teen daughter on the head and makes a generic speech about 'sticking to it" was painful to read, it was so cliched).

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Her Brother's Keeper. If it was really bad, I'd warn people off. But I do think there is an audience for Kupari's new series, I'm just not one of them. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Uri Kurlianchik · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is quite extraordinary. It's 100% generic. There isn't a single new idea, not a single creative turn of phrase, not one character with an iota of personality. Every single scene is taken from somewhere else with little or no change. Even the title is not original.

It's really quite remarkable.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

the blurb and excerpt (Baen has the first 9 chapters or so) will tell you most of all that you need to know about this book and decide if you want to read it or not as it is a clear example of its subgenre (space opera adventure);

personally when i started it, I couldn't put it down until the end and I enjoyed it tremendously - the ending is complete but there are a lot of elements thrown in (old mysterious cultures, a long ago killed by fire planet - the one where the hostage drama happens - who may or may not have anything to do with the present, various human cultures who may create troubles in the future for the main US-like polity of the era, genocidal aliens who were exterminated by humanity a century ago in a brutal war, a relic ship from the previous dominant human culture of a millennium ago, culture destroyed in a war against an "AI-god", so current prohibition on AI etc etc) so there is scope for much more in the universe

overall, modern adventure space opera, competently written, entertaining and worth reading

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one comes close to getting a 4. The story is a good one and I think it will draw most space opera fans in. Our female protagonist is a capable, respected and responsible spacer. This is a sort of "I told you so" to her family mainly because "she" is the oldest child but on HER planet females can't inherit titles.

Yeah her family is rich and ruling class... You'd think in the future most planets would be beyond this sort of thing.

However it's good in a way that she went off and became a tough, two-fisted spacer. See a very bad person (who knows maybe a space pirate) has kidnapped the heir apparent (her brother) and NOW dad has called her to, "go to the rescue".

So, pretty good book. You get a nice array of characters, a good plot and some adequate action. I like it and only the fact that I could lay the book aside and not really be in a hurry tpo get back to it brought it down to a 3.

I can recommend it. Enjoy.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baen books is noted for its large stable of Science Fiction writers. Many start off writing with an established writer to hone their craft and after a time they are turned loose on their own. Mike Kupari is one of those.
For a first solo novel it is very well written. There is a very complex plot that follows both Catherine Blackwood and her brother Cecil Blackwood. Cecril is trying to just stay alive and Catherine is working very hard to get to where he is being held to rescue him.
The plot seems simple but Kupari has added many unusual elements that serve to ramp of both the danger and the tension. While Catherine and Cecil play a big part in the story there are several very interesting not quite side characters and not quite main characters that add to the mix. There is quite a bit of backstory about several of the characters.
The world-building provides several of those unusual elements. Some of that is revealed in dangerous situations.
All of the elements for a great story are present. Unfortunately when all of this was put together it resulted in a book that was just a little to predictable. I kept reading but the tension that should have been there was missing. A solid start but a miss from being a book I would ever e-read.

[Beanbag Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written book with some very nice action set pieces and a decent story. I liked the characters and I'm sure that I will buy a sequel if there is one. Kupari is very good at writing military fiction having done a dangerous job in the military himself.

The story begins with privateer Captain Catherine Blackwood being tasked by her father to go to a distant planet to retrieve her brother who is being held for ransom by a ruthless warlord. She assembles a team of mercenaries to augment her existing crew and after some R&R and training, they're off on the dangerous mission.

The world is fascinating with far flung civilizations and culture clashes. Cat and her crew have the odds stacked against them and it seems like everyone in the universe wants to use them for their own purposes. Some nice tension and battle sequences ensue when that happens.

Kupari is also the cowriter of the Dead Six series with Larry Correia and I think he shows a lot of promise as a solo author. He's definitely another one to watch.

And, in spite of the fact it's not really representative, I do love that cover for some reason.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK first novel and while there are no major slips with character motivation or actions none of the characters really grabbed me either. It also contains two of my pet peeve tropes, 1,500 years from now and several horrible wars we will redivide ourselves into the old Terran nations like Scotland, Texas and Russia and that democracy was a failed experiment. The future belongs to monarchy, totalitarianism or anarchy. In keeping with this theme, several characters are noble. I feel the book cover should have been plain white with the words "science fiction" in blue, it feels very generic.

[Tracy Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this.
I loved the rodeo. That's got to be the first in a science fiction novel.
If you are wanting to get into science fiction, you can try this one. The science is not over the top.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining space adventure that unfortunately wears a little too long. The plot is centered around a rescue of an aristocrat's son being held hostage on a remote system. The long journey of several weeks through sometimes hostile systems serves (besides a small nod to hard science) mainly to facilitate a series of completely unrelated side adventures that could have been left out with only positive effect on the main story. These little episodes are some of the most exciting parts of the novel, but they could just as easily been published separately as short, worldbuilding stories or even served as the base of entirely new novels.

The characters are likeable and varied, if a bit one-dimensional and stereotypical. Pretty much everyone we're introduced to is not only competent at his or her job but thoroughly excellent, and the team only struggles under impossibly overwhelming odds. I felt also that there were maybe too many main characters that I was being asked to care about, and any sense of empathy on my part was getting watered down from a lack of focus.

Another point of the story bordering on unrelated is the major McGuffin of the story, the artifacts that the hostage and his team are being detained to discover. They hint to a tantalizing history but it never goes anywhere after that. Kinda disappointing here. There are also some convenient coincidences that move the story along--or at least cause things to happen--but they can be forgiven.

Recommended, if you can patiently work your way through an otherwise easy-to-read space adventure in the tradition of Jules Verne, with a healthy dash of heist planning thrown in.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book felt very sprawled out, but not very deep. And despite the several alien civilizations nothing felt particularly foreign or unusual. It was just different human civilizations plucked from earth and scattered among the stars. And Kupari didn't change very much, which doesn't feel at all realistic especially after a devastating war with an alien species. We can't even keep up with our parent's culture and yet somehow most human planets will have maintained their cultures recognizably? Where is the slang that each generation creates for itself? Where are the additional cultural traditions that spring up over time. Some which pass away quickly and others which result in white wedding dresses to this day.

So I guess these thoughts have been nibbling in the back of my mind and undermining the believably of the story. Meanwhile the different characters in this book are all jumbled together with their different agendas. I was kinda surprised that the author managed to tie up the loose ends at the end. And yet in some ways that felt too pat too. So a complex book that feels too simple to be really complex. I didn't not enjoy this book, but I didn't really enjoy it either.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last 20% or so is a good, action packed climax but it comes only after a looooong buildup with some sections (for instance the, believe it or not, horsey western rodeo scenes) adding little or nothing to the main story--reading like apprentice writing efforts pulled from the author's trunk and shoehorned in with a few name changes. The sex scenes were just...no. Also, references to the "icy vacuum" and an order to "turn the ship around" betray either an ignorance of, or contempt for, physics.

The aforesaid climax, though, and this clip, give me hope:

"'Wade! What's the status on those controls?''I'm working on it!' he said. 'I'm an explosive ordinance tech, not a goddamn space traffic controller!'" Sound familiar?

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too offensive to keep reading past the first 60 pages. The trappings of future technology on a 1920s sexist antisemitic society is just not interesting to me

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a rare talent when a story knows how to begin strongly, and end completely, in a comfortable way. Mike Kupari knows how to do that, and has published a very well-crafted ‘high seas in space’ novel.

And that's basically it. The characters are strong archetypes with a complication or three to add depth, and there is a hard-won and well deserved upbeat ending. The captain is a noble scotswoman gone privateer (think Grace O'Malley IN SPACE, except not as aggressive), the deuteragonist is a classic post-war Marshall type, with equal brains and brawn, and a good insight into people. The cultural archetypes are broad and interpretive, but with interesting flavors — I like Cargomaster Kimball's speech pattern of always using a title as part of a name.

Lastly, of course is the conclusion. This novel wraps up well, and almost completely. The dead are buried, the prodigal son has returned and seeks redemption, the naval captain actually didn't get much character development, but her surrogate, the marshall's daughter, Annie, did. I could see a possible sequel where Annie rejoins the ship after several years of training, but overall, it feels like this story is told.

Fun, fast, and slick, I quite recommend this.

[Fiannawolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting start. The narration was good for the audible version. Reminded me of the Galaxy's Edge series. If you love early Weber, then this might be the type of novels you can get behind, action was intermixed fairly well with character moments.

Looks like the next book will expand the setting. Looking forward to it.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll admit I didn't even give it a good try. Got a little way in and smelt where the book was heading. Everything was average. This is going to be a bog standard opera. I like bog standard operas, but this one didn't smell as good as the bog standard average ones.
Nope, I cut early. ... damn I loved dead six though ..

[Maurynne Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid entry into the genre, especially like the kick-ass daughter. Hoping for replacement for Kris Longknife which went off the rails. Not great lit, but a good way to pass the time, with likeable characters for the most part, but colonial attitudes. I'll be reading the second one soon, then I'll know. There's certainly lots of potential.

[Gillian Wiseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - not a bad book, and on other occasions I might have read it all. But it really didn't grab me and by 1/3 of the way through, I was a bit bored. Too much set-up, not enough move-along, and fairly stereotypical characters.

[Jeffrey Schmieder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good spacefaring novel, a sister trying to rescue her brother being held by a warlord on a distant planet, an ex-soldier from a western planet heading up the rescue team and taking along his teenage daughter to keep her out of jail. And the captured brother, an amateur archaeologist discovering the secrets of a long dead alien civilization.
Loved the world he Mike has created. A empire that came apart centuries ago, and very slowly trying to come back, many distant planets left to their own devices, along distant gates. Can't wait to read the next in the series.

[Kevin Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space Captain rescues her estranged brother in an action packed adventure. The multiple points of view really give the story added depth and life to the universe.

[Stubbyjedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent start to a new series. Good characters, and a good story. I have read his previous series. I have already bought the next in the series and can’t wait to start reading it.

[Tim Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book

Very well written. Engaging cast of characters, amazing sci-fi worlds and history, and a great story. I would highly recommend this book.

[Michael Rutkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining space opera book with plenty of good military sci fi action !

[Aaron Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a respectable first book by a new (in 2015) author. I wasn't able to fully get into his characters though, but presumably he'll get better the more he writes.

[Christy Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is potential there but I think there was some challenges with pacing.

[Julia Mattucci-clark]

Kupari heads to space

I was familiar with Kupari's more earthly action novels. He's created a new interesting universe with gratitude characters and lots of action.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes a bit too long to pick up speed (the first 30-40% of this book could be trimmed down considerably). However, once it finally gets underway it's a very enjoyable.

[Nico Janow · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real complaint about the book; it just didn't grab my attention. It was more of a slog than a 'can't put down' for me. I did wonder if it was a Traveller (TM) role-playing story; it would certainly work as a campaign. I haven't seen 'laser carbine' anywhere other than Traveller.

[Rowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Catherine is supposedly the main character, but there's so many POV characters that she gets lost in the shuffle.

The book turns into a teen drama YA romance set in a rodeo on Planet Texas for significant portions, which is not at all what the synopsis suggested the book would be about. I don't see what it has to do with the wider story. It's just setup to get a teenage girl onto Catherine's ship for the rescue mission in a way that I am baffled by. Like, she gets into trouble for assaulting a girl for killing her horse, and her father—whom Catherine hired specifically for mission security because the mission has the potential to be so dangerous—thinks it's a good idea to suggest that his daughter serve as a crewmember-in-training as her sentence? If he'd been established as a man with poor understanding of consequences or as someone who doesn't think about safety, this would make sense, but this is after he made a fuss about her safety going into the city alone so it makes no sense.

The book has a problem with focusing on things that don't serve to communicate its story well. There are sections that are fully described that could have been more gracefully integrated as backstory mentions, like an extended fight/attempted arrest sequence of a group of criminals that had no relation to the actual plot. The trial that decides the teenage girl will serve time on the ship happens off-screen, while the rodeo that serves as the set-up for the trial is described for far, far too many pages. And despite the first half of the book being substantially dedicated to setting up Annie joining Catherine's crew, she has no impact on the second half of the story. All that happens is that she confirms that yes, she does like being on spaceships. These sections don't add depth to the characters' personalities, which would somewhat justify their inclusion. As it stands, they just drag the story out. The team doesn't leave for its mission until page 190 of 515, and nothing they do up until then has any real bearing on how their mission is carried out.

Some things work out too neatly, meaning that potential story tension is avoided. Cecil is being held hostage, but he doesn't experience any direct hardship. Annie has to serve time on the ship as a criminal sentence, but that's fine actually because she really wanted to go to space anyway, and wasn't allowed to go before. Marcus has to go on the mission because it's the only way to make the money they need so he has no real choice, avoiding the potential tension of deciding between going on the mission and keeping the baby, or staying home and perhaps terminating the pregnancy, and avoiding the tension of Marcus prioritizing work and money over spending time with his family as it's said he did in the past. I think the set-up for these people going on this mission would be far more interesting if some of the choices they made were real choices. Alternatively, significantly shortening the extensive set-up for why they're working for Catherine could also have worked.

The second half of the book, after they finally leave for their mission, is more enjoyable. However, it's not Catherine and her crew who work to uncover the four-million-year mystery mentioned in the synopsis, it's the historian her brother employs—not even her brother himself! It's a little strange that the driving force of the plot, the alien artifacts, has so little connection with the intended main character.

Also, importantly: the mystery of what killed the planet Zanzibar is never goddamn solved. That question was the part of the book that convinced me to keep reading, so I'm super disappointed that it's never resolved.

[Kal Spriggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll preface this by saying that I read the eARC version of Her Brother’s Keeper and I did that several months ago when it was first available.

Her Brother’s Keeper is a solid space opera novel with definite elements of Military Science Fiction. The characterization is solid and the story is engaging and exciting.

Mike Kupari has woven a tale whose characters have influences in Homer’s Odysseus and Horatio Hornblower and with a story that is at times as dark as David Drake’s works.

All in all, it is a solid and engaging read. I will say that some of the side adventures were more interesting to me than the main story, but that’s more a matter of personal preference. My main complaint would be that certain characters (who I won’t name for obvious reasons), basically had “red shirt” written in their description. It wasn’t that they were bad characters, but compared to the description of other, more central characters it was the equivalent of “oh, and there’s Dave, don’t worry about him, he’s going to die.”

All in all, the characters were interesting, the adventure was solid and the characters who survive all have interesting growth. A good read for those of you looking for a new author and I’ll be reading the future books.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent book, but the editing in this one did not match the excellent quality I have come to expect from Baen. For that reason, a book that could have made me seriously consider giving four stars, will have to settle for three of them. The story was good enough, but the writing just wasn't there. I have to hope this is a result of it being a first solo effort, and future books from this author will improve. I kept feeling like things were a bit too contrived to be believable, and while the first part of the book was well paced, it didn't fill me with any real anticipation. On the other hand, the second half (well, perhaps the last third), seemed to rush along in an attempt to cram everything in before it ended. Add to that the numerous missing words and a few typos, and you get a book that feels more like a self published attempt rather than a polished professional work like Baen usually delivers. It's still worth the read, but it isn't likely to make its way onto too many will read again lists.