Deadfall: A Serpentine Series Novel

by Stephen Donald Huff

In the aftermath of a genocidal galactic invasion, a remotely isolated colony cut off from all sources of resupply must devise a desperate plan to save themselves from certain annihilation. With their last reserves of fuel and determination, they salvage and resurrect a centuries-outmoded spacecraft named Titan , providing it with a skeleton crew consisting of three novice young men led by two sage combat veterans. Their best hope for success resides in the ship’s volunteer captain, Paladin, a genetically modified warrior descended from an elite race of martial experts. Cold, hard, and heavily experienced, she must lead them on a daring one-way voyage to the outer fringes of the galaxy in search of resources vital to the colony’s survival.

When they achieve their destination having expended the last of their fuel, Titan’s crew discover and must confront the profound implications of an evil secret long concealed by the sinister Company, master of all human technology, employment and government within the galaxy. Before they can return home, they must somehow survive the shocking terrors that they discover hidden among the planets and moons of mysterious Deadfall.

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2016

Reviews

[Kate Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paladin carried the whole book for me

I went in for space battles and stayed for the captain. Paladin is cold and hard exactly the way the blurb promises, but Huff gives her enough cracks in the armor that she never feels like a stock action hero. By the middle stretch I was reading mostly to see what she'd do next.

[Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A one way voyage that actually feels desperate.
So many space opera setups say the stakes are high and then pull punches. This one commits. The skeleton crew scavenging a centuries old ship with no real backup plan gave the whole book a tension that stuck around from the first chapter to the last page.

[Mateo Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good entry point even as a first Serpentine book! Didn't realize this was part of a five book series until after I finished it, and it still worked completely as a standalone. Huff gives you enough of the Serpentine's history and the Company's shadow over everything without ever slowing the plot down to explain it all.

[MD Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing to read a crew that isn't secretly expert at everything despite being called novices. Their mistakes have real consequences early on, which made the back half of the book, once they'd actually learned something, feel earned instead of assumed.

[Natalie Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can tell Huff has an actual science background, the tech and biology details in this have a specificity that a lot of space opera skips past. Never info dumpy, just present in a way that made the world feel thought through.

[OC Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took a little while to get moving for me, lots of setup around the colony and why they're this desperate. Once the crew actually launches though it does not let up, and I ended up appreciating the setup in hindsight.

[Roxanne Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Went in expecting straightforward action and got a few scenes among Deadfall's moons that properly creeped me out. Huff knows how to hold back information long enough to make the reveal land instead of just throwing horror at the reader.

[Sebastian Zamorano · Rating 5 out of 5]

The combat veterans stole some scenes from the leads.

Paladin gets top billing and earns it, but the two older veterans backing up the young crew brought a weariness and dark humor that gave the book some of its best moments. Wanted more of their backstory by the end.

[Vivien Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Closed this one and immediately looked up whether there were more Serpentine books. There are, thankfully. The universe Huff has built here feels bigger than just this one desperate mission, and I'm curious what else is out there along that cosmic highway.

[T JERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in one sitting on a plane.

Short enough to finish in a single flight and paced well enough that I didn't want to stop for the snack cart. Good pick if you want a complete self contained sci-fi story without committing to a doorstopper.