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Destiny Abounds
On the prison world of Urebai, a notorious Prisoner breaks free of her chains once more. On primeval Fade, a decorated warrior flees her home for the stars to escape her past. And under the light of a distant star, a solitary pilot prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice for her people.
This is how the tale begins.
Branwen Hawke left behind the swords and castles of her homeworld to take solace from the war that consumed most of her life. After stumbling into the role of captain of a one-of-a-kind starship with an unlikely crew, she must find a way to keep them together and thriving. But even with years of experience commanding troops, Branwen has her hands full with a lost pilot from a distant world, an engineer with crippling anxiety, an innocent young medic with a secret, a renowned Kala, and her insanely dangerous baggage.
Now tasked with an important mission that could make or break the crew’s reputation, Branwen must face her inner turmoil and find some sort of peace despite the struggles she can’t escape, while safeguarding the lives that have fallen so fatefully into her hands.
Destiny Abounds is the first book in the Starlight Saga series.
Destiny Abounds
Fade Fall
More to be announced.
This is how the tale begins.
Branwen Hawke left behind the swords and castles of her homeworld to take solace from the war that consumed most of her life. After stumbling into the role of captain of a one-of-a-kind starship with an unlikely crew, she must find a way to keep them together and thriving. But even with years of experience commanding troops, Branwen has her hands full with a lost pilot from a distant world, an engineer with crippling anxiety, an innocent young medic with a secret, a renowned Kala, and her insanely dangerous baggage.
Now tasked with an important mission that could make or break the crew’s reputation, Branwen must face her inner turmoil and find some sort of peace despite the struggles she can’t escape, while safeguarding the lives that have fallen so fatefully into her hands.
Destiny Abounds is the first book in the Starlight Saga series.
Destiny Abounds
Fade Fall
More to be announced.
345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2015
12 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Annathesa Nikola Darksbane
30 books54 followersAnnathesa Darksbane loves writing books, which you may or may not have noticed. Specifically, she loves writing more of what she’d love to read the most: action-packed books with likable, diverse characters that keep the pages turning—and with two published series and more on the way, she’s only getting started. She likes to put some twists, suspense, a bit of romance, and a lot of herself into every book she writes with the hope that you’ll enjoy reading them half as much as she enjoyed writing them.
On the off chance she’s not writing, she enjoys video games, martial arts, philosophy, psychology, learning more about almost anything, taking care of her little family, and dreaming of becoming an actual cyborg.
Sign up for our newsletter at www.DarksbaneBooks.com (you get free stuff) or message me here or on social media, because I’d love to hear from you!
On the off chance she’s not writing, she enjoys video games, martial arts, philosophy, psychology, learning more about almost anything, taking care of her little family, and dreaming of becoming an actual cyborg.
Sign up for our newsletter at www.DarksbaneBooks.com (you get free stuff) or message me here or on social media, because I’d love to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 3, 2015
This book is like Bioware's Mass Effect had an illegitimate love-child with the television show Firefly.
That's not a criticism. (I think.)
Branwen Hawke owns a starship. This is more unusual than it sounds, considering what she once was she once was - a peerless warrior from a planet of warriors who eschew the technologies of space in favour of the trusty sword-and-board. Her pilot is from a technologically accomplished, but dying people. Her engineer is a brilliant, anxious child - a counterpoint to their young medic. Finally their cargo; a refined companion, playing warden to the most dangerous criminal in all the galaxy. Branwen is responsible for this motley crew, along with their attendant baggage - as well as trying to turn a decent profit, of course.
Alas, and it does me no credit to admit this, but the pseudonym "Annathesa Nikola Darksbane" did not inspire me with much confidence. So if you're like me and a bit prone to judge a book by its cover then let me reassure you up-front. This is a well written and edited book. The writing is flowing and even, the pacing is smooth (barring a few stutters which thankfully don't linger on the palette), and the characterisation is excellent. The author is remarkably technically accomplished. And now that's established, we can move on.
This book is character-driven. That is a surprising thing to say about an action-adventure novel set in space, but it is surely true. Each character has a subplot, addressed in turn; the first half of the novel jumps between the action aboard the starship Destiny Abounds and the de facto galaxy capital planet of Altair, where Prisoner 286 and the Kala Sirrah are attempting to come to an accord. (A Kala, by the by, is a fancy and accomplished escort. That doesn't seem a euphemism for a sex worker, by the way, but genuinely just seems to be a fancy and accomplished escort.) Although Sirrah and 286 have an arc during this time, the starship basically does side-quests, picking up new characters and doing loyalty missions.
Why am I using gaming terminology, I hear you ask? Good question. The characters and world-building forcibly recall other excellent characters from reasonably famous places. Like mentioned previously; the book is a Space Western, mixed with SciFi and Fantasy. 286 was basically Jack from Mass Effect, for instance, down to how their abilities were strengthened, what those abilities were, and its effect on their personality. (Occasionally their attacks were even just casually called the same thing.) The fancy space escort Sirrah was very similar in manner, name, and activity to Inara Serra from Firefly. I could probably go on, but why bother? Certainly the authors gave enough spins on the original concepts to keep one entertained, and playing "spot the 'influence'" was reasonably delightful. Certainly the characters work without their backgrounds being particularly necessary. And everything is in keeping with a "space western"/SciFifantasy - sword-fighters, nanotech, magic criminals, and fancy space whores. Let's give them a pass here.
Otherwise it's a pretty good yarn. It's not a novel for romance fans particularly (bloody romance subplots - they are like a tumor) but fast, good action, fun times set in space. A pretty good read, all things being even.
That's not a criticism. (I think.)
Branwen Hawke owns a starship. This is more unusual than it sounds, considering what she once was she once was - a peerless warrior from a planet of warriors who eschew the technologies of space in favour of the trusty sword-and-board. Her pilot is from a technologically accomplished, but dying people. Her engineer is a brilliant, anxious child - a counterpoint to their young medic. Finally their cargo; a refined companion, playing warden to the most dangerous criminal in all the galaxy. Branwen is responsible for this motley crew, along with their attendant baggage - as well as trying to turn a decent profit, of course.
Alas, and it does me no credit to admit this, but the pseudonym "Annathesa Nikola Darksbane" did not inspire me with much confidence. So if you're like me and a bit prone to judge a book by its cover then let me reassure you up-front. This is a well written and edited book. The writing is flowing and even, the pacing is smooth (barring a few stutters which thankfully don't linger on the palette), and the characterisation is excellent. The author is remarkably technically accomplished. And now that's established, we can move on.
This book is character-driven. That is a surprising thing to say about an action-adventure novel set in space, but it is surely true. Each character has a subplot, addressed in turn; the first half of the novel jumps between the action aboard the starship Destiny Abounds and the de facto galaxy capital planet of Altair, where Prisoner 286 and the Kala Sirrah are attempting to come to an accord. (A Kala, by the by, is a fancy and accomplished escort. That doesn't seem a euphemism for a sex worker, by the way, but genuinely just seems to be a fancy and accomplished escort.) Although Sirrah and 286 have an arc during this time, the starship basically does side-quests, picking up new characters and doing loyalty missions.
Why am I using gaming terminology, I hear you ask? Good question. The characters and world-building forcibly recall other excellent characters from reasonably famous places. Like mentioned previously; the book is a Space Western, mixed with SciFi and Fantasy. 286 was basically Jack from Mass Effect, for instance, down to how their abilities were strengthened, what those abilities were, and its effect on their personality. (Occasionally their attacks were even just casually called the same thing.) The fancy space escort Sirrah was very similar in manner, name, and activity to Inara Serra from Firefly. I could probably go on, but why bother? Certainly the authors gave enough spins on the original concepts to keep one entertained, and playing "spot the 'influence'" was reasonably delightful. Certainly the characters work without their backgrounds being particularly necessary. And everything is in keeping with a "space western"/SciFifantasy - sword-fighters, nanotech, magic criminals, and fancy space whores. Let's give them a pass here.
Otherwise it's a pretty good yarn. It's not a novel for romance fans particularly (bloody romance subplots - they are like a tumor) but fast, good action, fun times set in space. A pretty good read, all things being even.
March 29, 2016
The writing was a little choppy for me in the beginning but definitely got better after the first few chapters. I liked the characters especially Branwen and Merlo. I loved the descriptions of the world's. The mystery/suspense parts kept my interest. I can't wait to see what happens next. I plan to read the short story Instinct about Branwen while I wait for the next book.
July 28, 2016
To start with – if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had already read, and enjoyed, every other book written by this pair of authors (not including a short story, which I haven’t read yet), I probably wouldn’t have given this book here a third chance. Yes, third. First doesn’t really count – it was just a causal like look over the book after completing the second book by this pair. Second one though – that one counts, it does. Since I started, and then fled the book. I just . . .. Well, that was longish ago. Third time was this time so I’ll just relay that one.
To a large extent, it probably would have been better if the book had started with any other character instead of the captains. I hadn’t actually realized it until stumbling through it and getting to other points of view, but the first, the captain’s point of view is that way on purpose. It’s off putting and annoying as hell though. Part of the reason why I didn’t immediately ‘get it’ is all the ‘errors’. Like the repeated use of words and phrases in, the supposedly, ‘non-point of view’ section. As in times when the phrase ‘it was’ was repeated. ‘The dog it was it was very large.’ (not an exact quote) or times when the word ‘the’ was oddly used. Mostly, though, it was the very unnaturally disjointed flow of the captains sections. I literally had to read the first page about 12 times just to figure out what the bloody hell was being said. It wasn’t that it involved difficult words, or the like, it was just so bloody weirdly worded. Took me getting to other points of view and seeing how smoothly, for the most part, those sections were, then getting back to the captains and again encountering the rough disjointedness of the captains to finally realize that her sections were that way on purpose. Once I realized that, everything began to become easier to read.
Right, so. I probably would have noticed, hmm . . I’m fairly certain I would have noticed . . . the similarities between this book and ‘Firefly’ (the 2002 show that was on Fox briefly). Well, at least vaguely. For the most part, only one of the characters has something of a 1 for 1 match. All the rest are vague. To a large extent, from the little given on the TV show, and in this book, Inara Serra (the ‘companion’ on the show), and Kalah Sirrah appear to be roughly similar characters. The rest, as noted, are mostly pushing puzzle pieces around, and pounded some pieces where they probably don’t really go.
Also on the ship, Branwen Hawke, Captain of Destiny Abounds, has some rough similarities with Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly. Well, both had military backgrounds that both were trying to put behind them. Both captains of a starship. And . . . that’s basically it in similarities. Not really similar, eh? Oh, and both using ships uncommon – though the Firefly was a cargo ship much outdated to the time Captain Mal flew it, while the Destiny Abounds being a rather technologically advanced spaceship.
Prisoner 286 has some vague similarities to a combination of two Firefly characters - Jayne Cobb/River Tam character. 286 has some super advanced fighting skills that seem kind of magical, somewhat like River, has some vaguely anti-social tendencies somewhat like River (though more how, at times, River might suddenly go from looking like she’s sleeping to running around ripping things apart); but also has the ‘doesn’t give a shit’ vibe that Cobb has, is as talkative as Cobb is, and is something of a bully like Cobb.
I was thinking Zimi must match up with Dr. Simon Tam, from Firefly, but then I thought more about it and thought that I might just be going for ‘medic on Destiny Abounds’ and ‘doctor on Firefly’ as basis. Like several others, Zimi appears to be a combined character. Fitting some of Shepherd Books gibberish and . . . gibberish into her character, combined with the medical part from Dr. Simon Tam (though Simon was a top medical professional, while Zimi is more self-taught –still, Zimi is much more skilled than you’d expect for someone basically self-taught), and the fighting skills of Simon (somewhat ineffectual (at least during one fight), desiring to do the right thing but might accidentally shoot one of the crew while trying to shoot an invader; so unlike Shepherd Book, who gave off the vibe of a pacifist type, but actually had been a skilled intelligence officer at some point).
The pilot of Destiny Abounds, Merlo, has an obvious match-up with the pilot on Firefly, Wash. Merlo, though, seems a lot more military than Wash (though both had/have military training). I’d been thinking that Merlo might be some combo of Zoe Washburne and Wash Washburne, though only because Merlo seems to want to find the military option in every situation, while Zoe was always ready for the military option, though not necessarily leading with it. Truth be told, other than having military training and being super good at piloting, there really isn’t that good of a match between Merlo and Wash (or Zoe). I mean, Wash liters stuff like dinosaurs figurines all over the place, while Merlo has no use for debris. They are barely similar. Just job title.
Also, somewhat obviously, the engineers on both ships vaguely match up. Vaguely. Kaylee is kind of socially awkward while being a brilliant engineer, like Mr. Leonard. But Mr. Leonard seemed scared of his own shadow, while Kaylee seemed to be more of the socially awkward, rather roll around in grease fixing things than bouncing around a party type.
And, right. Quite frankly, there’s a big chance I’d not have tried to ‘smush’ the two things together. This book and Firefly, if I hadn’t seen it in reviews. Hell, I could probably attempt to ‘mush’ any old show with the book. Like, say, Stargate. Branwen is kind of like Jack O’Neill – military veteran, kind of sits back watching the others do their thing, but ready to step in at a moment’s notice to take command. And, um, Merlo . . . um . . is kind of like the early brash Major Carter before she got seasoned. And . . . um . . . Mr. Leonard is like Sgt. Harriman, there to keep things running, but is on the side, watching – Mr. Leonard because he’s really really shy and fragile like, and Gary Jones because he’s a bit player with a few lines of dialogue (though in 112 episodes) …. Yeah, okay, I can’t match up Stargate with this book. Hehe.
Well, got distracted there with my little Firefly diversion. There are at least 5 points of view shared in this book. The main ones are Branwen Hawke, Merlo, Kala Sirrah Nazai, and Prisoner 286. The fifth involves a few times that Mr. Leonard gets to pop his head up glance around, meerkat-like. Hmms. There’s only one other passenger/crew member – Zimi Praff. I can’t recall if Zimi has any time taking over things.
The plot, to a large extent, seems designed to show how each crew member ended up aboard the Destiny Abounds starship, including how the ship itself got its name (it opens the book nameless). At first the ship consisted of Branwen as captain and Mr. Leonard as engineer. However they ended up on or with the ship is not mentioned.
Branwen Hawke is the captain but doesn’t really know much about technology. Apparently really old, but she dodges the age question as well as she can. Everyone else, unless I’m forgetting something, get described as being ‘young’ – many seeming to be described as being around 17 years of age or thereabouts (not sure why the book ended up being overrun with kids, but . . . whatever; though these are mostly observations made by other people gazing upon the characters, not internal thoughts or overt conversation – the young age, I mean). Mr. Leonard, as mentioned, is the engineer. He gives off a vaguely ‘I’m actually a robot pretending to be a human’ vibe, but the hints that are dropped probably leads me in a different direction.
Very quickly the ship adds a pilot – Merlo. Quickly as in almost immediately after the book opens. Merlo is a young woman who has spent most of her live being trained to be a pilot and is therefore super advanced in piloting. She has also been trained in military matters. Most other training, unless related to piloting, has either not occurred, or been of lesser importance. Mostly not occurred.
The three member crew bump around the ‘clusters’ carrying things here and there until they reach a specific planet. On this planet they need to deliver some medicine. While delivering the medicine they are attacked. Injuries occur, etc. etc. (I don’t want to give everything away here), and they end up being worked on by a medic. Named Zimi Praff. Shortly thereafter Zimi joins the crew.
Meanwhile, as the ship has bounced around, Prisoner 286 and Sirrah have been having their own story unfold (as in, they are traveling down the same story path, while the ship crew is on a separate path). Eventually 286 & Sirrah’s paths cross that of Destiny Abounds and they board as passengers. Because Destiny Abounds is super quick.
And so, once everyone is on board the ship darts around speedily doing the business required by Kala Sirrah. Much time in space occurs. Some on planet. Battles occur, some relatively massive. All planet side (a comment is made by Merlo while gazing upon, the as yet named Destiny Abounds, about how it looked like (a) a super advanced ship, (b) that had no obvious weapons; since that comment was made by Merlo who had no clue about that ship, or its capabilities, the question about whether or not the ship actually had weapons or not is still up in the air – weirdly).
Enjoyable book. Sucked me in, spit me out, and now I write this, whatever this is, here. Just like the other series I’ve read by this author pair, books and short stories are already named and mentioned to be releasing soon. Soon was last year. Something occurred which adversely impacted their writing plans, so I’ve no idea if this first book in a series will actually end up being an orphan book. Three books and two short stories all got released in 2015 – normally I’d not make comments like I made except for the fact that they had made this website that seemed to be tracking their work and putting up blog posts. Everything kind of froze, though, with no new information, and the progress bar on the writing locked at a certain number (19%?) for something like six or so months.
Regardless, I look forward to further adventures in this series and in the Dakota Shepherd series.
February 18 2016
To a large extent, it probably would have been better if the book had started with any other character instead of the captains. I hadn’t actually realized it until stumbling through it and getting to other points of view, but the first, the captain’s point of view is that way on purpose. It’s off putting and annoying as hell though. Part of the reason why I didn’t immediately ‘get it’ is all the ‘errors’. Like the repeated use of words and phrases in, the supposedly, ‘non-point of view’ section. As in times when the phrase ‘it was’ was repeated. ‘The dog it was it was very large.’ (not an exact quote) or times when the word ‘the’ was oddly used. Mostly, though, it was the very unnaturally disjointed flow of the captains sections. I literally had to read the first page about 12 times just to figure out what the bloody hell was being said. It wasn’t that it involved difficult words, or the like, it was just so bloody weirdly worded. Took me getting to other points of view and seeing how smoothly, for the most part, those sections were, then getting back to the captains and again encountering the rough disjointedness of the captains to finally realize that her sections were that way on purpose. Once I realized that, everything began to become easier to read.
Right, so. I probably would have noticed, hmm . . I’m fairly certain I would have noticed . . . the similarities between this book and ‘Firefly’ (the 2002 show that was on Fox briefly). Well, at least vaguely. For the most part, only one of the characters has something of a 1 for 1 match. All the rest are vague. To a large extent, from the little given on the TV show, and in this book, Inara Serra (the ‘companion’ on the show), and Kalah Sirrah appear to be roughly similar characters. The rest, as noted, are mostly pushing puzzle pieces around, and pounded some pieces where they probably don’t really go.
Also on the ship, Branwen Hawke, Captain of Destiny Abounds, has some rough similarities with Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly. Well, both had military backgrounds that both were trying to put behind them. Both captains of a starship. And . . . that’s basically it in similarities. Not really similar, eh? Oh, and both using ships uncommon – though the Firefly was a cargo ship much outdated to the time Captain Mal flew it, while the Destiny Abounds being a rather technologically advanced spaceship.
Prisoner 286 has some vague similarities to a combination of two Firefly characters - Jayne Cobb/River Tam character. 286 has some super advanced fighting skills that seem kind of magical, somewhat like River, has some vaguely anti-social tendencies somewhat like River (though more how, at times, River might suddenly go from looking like she’s sleeping to running around ripping things apart); but also has the ‘doesn’t give a shit’ vibe that Cobb has, is as talkative as Cobb is, and is something of a bully like Cobb.
I was thinking Zimi must match up with Dr. Simon Tam, from Firefly, but then I thought more about it and thought that I might just be going for ‘medic on Destiny Abounds’ and ‘doctor on Firefly’ as basis. Like several others, Zimi appears to be a combined character. Fitting some of Shepherd Books gibberish and . . . gibberish into her character, combined with the medical part from Dr. Simon Tam (though Simon was a top medical professional, while Zimi is more self-taught –still, Zimi is much more skilled than you’d expect for someone basically self-taught), and the fighting skills of Simon (somewhat ineffectual (at least during one fight), desiring to do the right thing but might accidentally shoot one of the crew while trying to shoot an invader; so unlike Shepherd Book, who gave off the vibe of a pacifist type, but actually had been a skilled intelligence officer at some point).
The pilot of Destiny Abounds, Merlo, has an obvious match-up with the pilot on Firefly, Wash. Merlo, though, seems a lot more military than Wash (though both had/have military training). I’d been thinking that Merlo might be some combo of Zoe Washburne and Wash Washburne, though only because Merlo seems to want to find the military option in every situation, while Zoe was always ready for the military option, though not necessarily leading with it. Truth be told, other than having military training and being super good at piloting, there really isn’t that good of a match between Merlo and Wash (or Zoe). I mean, Wash liters stuff like dinosaurs figurines all over the place, while Merlo has no use for debris. They are barely similar. Just job title.
Also, somewhat obviously, the engineers on both ships vaguely match up. Vaguely. Kaylee is kind of socially awkward while being a brilliant engineer, like Mr. Leonard. But Mr. Leonard seemed scared of his own shadow, while Kaylee seemed to be more of the socially awkward, rather roll around in grease fixing things than bouncing around a party type.
And, right. Quite frankly, there’s a big chance I’d not have tried to ‘smush’ the two things together. This book and Firefly, if I hadn’t seen it in reviews. Hell, I could probably attempt to ‘mush’ any old show with the book. Like, say, Stargate. Branwen is kind of like Jack O’Neill – military veteran, kind of sits back watching the others do their thing, but ready to step in at a moment’s notice to take command. And, um, Merlo . . . um . . is kind of like the early brash Major Carter before she got seasoned. And . . . um . . . Mr. Leonard is like Sgt. Harriman, there to keep things running, but is on the side, watching – Mr. Leonard because he’s really really shy and fragile like, and Gary Jones because he’s a bit player with a few lines of dialogue (though in 112 episodes) …. Yeah, okay, I can’t match up Stargate with this book. Hehe.
Well, got distracted there with my little Firefly diversion. There are at least 5 points of view shared in this book. The main ones are Branwen Hawke, Merlo, Kala Sirrah Nazai, and Prisoner 286. The fifth involves a few times that Mr. Leonard gets to pop his head up glance around, meerkat-like. Hmms. There’s only one other passenger/crew member – Zimi Praff. I can’t recall if Zimi has any time taking over things.
The plot, to a large extent, seems designed to show how each crew member ended up aboard the Destiny Abounds starship, including how the ship itself got its name (it opens the book nameless). At first the ship consisted of Branwen as captain and Mr. Leonard as engineer. However they ended up on or with the ship is not mentioned.
Branwen Hawke is the captain but doesn’t really know much about technology. Apparently really old, but she dodges the age question as well as she can. Everyone else, unless I’m forgetting something, get described as being ‘young’ – many seeming to be described as being around 17 years of age or thereabouts (not sure why the book ended up being overrun with kids, but . . . whatever; though these are mostly observations made by other people gazing upon the characters, not internal thoughts or overt conversation – the young age, I mean). Mr. Leonard, as mentioned, is the engineer. He gives off a vaguely ‘I’m actually a robot pretending to be a human’ vibe, but the hints that are dropped probably leads me in a different direction.
Very quickly the ship adds a pilot – Merlo. Quickly as in almost immediately after the book opens. Merlo is a young woman who has spent most of her live being trained to be a pilot and is therefore super advanced in piloting. She has also been trained in military matters. Most other training, unless related to piloting, has either not occurred, or been of lesser importance. Mostly not occurred.
The three member crew bump around the ‘clusters’ carrying things here and there until they reach a specific planet. On this planet they need to deliver some medicine. While delivering the medicine they are attacked. Injuries occur, etc. etc. (I don’t want to give everything away here), and they end up being worked on by a medic. Named Zimi Praff. Shortly thereafter Zimi joins the crew.
Meanwhile, as the ship has bounced around, Prisoner 286 and Sirrah have been having their own story unfold (as in, they are traveling down the same story path, while the ship crew is on a separate path). Eventually 286 & Sirrah’s paths cross that of Destiny Abounds and they board as passengers. Because Destiny Abounds is super quick.
And so, once everyone is on board the ship darts around speedily doing the business required by Kala Sirrah. Much time in space occurs. Some on planet. Battles occur, some relatively massive. All planet side (a comment is made by Merlo while gazing upon, the as yet named Destiny Abounds, about how it looked like (a) a super advanced ship, (b) that had no obvious weapons; since that comment was made by Merlo who had no clue about that ship, or its capabilities, the question about whether or not the ship actually had weapons or not is still up in the air – weirdly).
Enjoyable book. Sucked me in, spit me out, and now I write this, whatever this is, here. Just like the other series I’ve read by this author pair, books and short stories are already named and mentioned to be releasing soon. Soon was last year. Something occurred which adversely impacted their writing plans, so I’ve no idea if this first book in a series will actually end up being an orphan book. Three books and two short stories all got released in 2015 – normally I’d not make comments like I made except for the fact that they had made this website that seemed to be tracking their work and putting up blog posts. Everything kind of froze, though, with no new information, and the progress bar on the writing locked at a certain number (19%?) for something like six or so months.
Regardless, I look forward to further adventures in this series and in the Dakota Shepherd series.
February 18 2016
December 9, 2015
I've settled on 2.5 stars for this read. I don't know that I've ever read a book where I've fluxuated so much between really liking it and not really liking it. The characters were mostly well written even though I didn't like all of them. But I dislike how they all fit into the story and there was little explanation for how some of that started (prior to meeting Merlo). Where did Mr. Leonard come from and how did the captain end up with the ship? It's all kind of glossed over in some parts. The majority of the characters were extremely young and it felt like practically everyone in the story was a lesbian which in turn made the story feel more like some kind of social statement and in my opinion detracted from the story as a whole. The action parts were very well written and I enjoyed the excitement in those scenes as well as some of the character interactions, particularly with the Captain and her natural leadership skills and the way she was protective of her crew. The overall story wasn't bad but it felt rushed, and again, seemed like more time was spent on the romantic interludes(although I hesitate to call it that as one of the participants was a psychopath and it seemed more of a conquest than a romantic venture)than on building up the mystery and the villain etc. So, all in all, the writing was good, but for me, the execution of the story itself was a little bit off.
September 11, 2015
This book was SO COOL! It's the first book in a much longer series, and it makes no effort to hide that. There are many obvious, and less obvious plot threads that lead on to the next book. I had the opportunity to talk to the author, and asked about a few of the the things that puzzled me, thinking that they may have been oversights, the answer was a delighted grin, a wicked giggle, and a cheerful "You'll see."
She's got this planned out :)
Okay, on to the book itself!
The world of the Starlight Saga is rich and deep and this book only scratches the surface, I think. That said, this is not some dry deep socio-political literature but is a very entertaining romp and rampage that reminds me of some of the stories I read growing up: Fun, action packed, full of unique and interesting characters! The action scenes were amazing and vivid!
And at the same time, not gratuitous. Each character is important, and distinct, and wonderfully female in a genre dominated by men and women-as-prizes. The story itself feels like a first step into a much bigger and more complex picture, just as the characters themselves do!
Put bluntly, This was a tremendously fun read and I cannot wait for the next book. This series is and will be amazing!
I cannot WAIT for more and I'm already thinking about rereading it XD
She's got this planned out :)
Okay, on to the book itself!
The world of the Starlight Saga is rich and deep and this book only scratches the surface, I think. That said, this is not some dry deep socio-political literature but is a very entertaining romp and rampage that reminds me of some of the stories I read growing up: Fun, action packed, full of unique and interesting characters! The action scenes were amazing and vivid!
And at the same time, not gratuitous. Each character is important, and distinct, and wonderfully female in a genre dominated by men and women-as-prizes. The story itself feels like a first step into a much bigger and more complex picture, just as the characters themselves do!
Put bluntly, This was a tremendously fun read and I cannot wait for the next book. This series is and will be amazing!
I cannot WAIT for more and I'm already thinking about rereading it XD
October 19, 2015
Well good book. Though 286 and Sirrah dragged it down a bit. An character I don't like at all is just something of a drag and 286 is a sociopath without redeeming qualities, not even the quality of being entertaining or particularly interesting. Also So beside being a character that made the book worse she was also involved in disappointing me. As for Sirrah, she is just kinda meh, a tad bland maybe. I like the captain I like Merlo, the other two crew members are okay too .
The technology levels in the world were a tad weird, but if you accapt them the setting is interesting enough
The technology levels in the world were a tad weird, but if you accapt them the setting is interesting enough
March 24, 2017
I've given this book less of a rating then the other ones for a few reasons;
1) it reads like I'm reading firefly fan fiction
2) the world is not as well developed as the dakota series
3) no sight of possible follow ups when it left on quite the cliff hanger
4) it reads like I'm reading a firefly fan fiction
On the positive the action scene's were engaging, the characters fun and interesting to read and the relationships interesting enough to keep me going to the end without chucking a wobbly
1) it reads like I'm reading firefly fan fiction
2) the world is not as well developed as the dakota series
3) no sight of possible follow ups when it left on quite the cliff hanger
4) it reads like I'm reading a firefly fan fiction
On the positive the action scene's were engaging, the characters fun and interesting to read and the relationships interesting enough to keep me going to the end without chucking a wobbly
September 25, 2015
Did not finish
September 30, 2016
A page turner from cover to cover!
October 10, 2016
Couldn't finish this book. It was not a pleasure to read.
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