The Echoes of Sol: Books 1-3

Echoes of Sol #1-3

by Charissa Dufour

Trust and Treachery

When space freighter pilot Calen Macleef accidentally wins Larissa “Bit” Earnest in a lucky hand of poker, his main concern is what his gruff and uncompromising brother Jack will say about it. Jack Macleef is the captain of the ship in a world where space travel has only recently become the norm and space piracy abounds. Painful memories of prior abuse surface for Bit as she finds herself on a freighter full of rowdy, ungentlemanly merchant marines. Jack works to find a safe place for frightened Bit amongst the ungentlemanly crew, but good looks and innocent ways continually charm the men. With tension and danger running high, each begins to wonder: will they survive the pirates... and each other?

Broken and Hunted

Mars: a beacon of safety and refuge, unless you’re transporting the disputed embryos of genetically modified animals intended for auction to the Martian elite.

Jack Macleef and his small crew of interstellar merchant marines—including “Bit,” an unexpected indentured servant—think they're on a simple cargo drop when things suddenly go awry. Dodging paint-hurling protestors and mercenaries bent on terrorizing the crew’s families, Jack and Bit have their hands full as they try to keep the crew from falling apart while still delivering the cargo on time.

Profit and Peril

After the delivery from hell, the crew of the Lenore is ready for a well-deserved rest. But just as they reach their ship, they receive an offer they can’t refuse. Desperately needing money to repair the limping Lenore, Jack Macleef takes the job, even though it toes the line of legality.

To his astonishment, the crew agrees to the illegal job.

Just when Bit thinks she has her male crewmates under control, a fresh wave of romantic inclinations wash through them, and Bit is forced to deal with it the only way she knows how—with a swift fist to the eye.

With half the crew tripping over itself to get to Bit, Jack flies the Lenore to Nye space station with the intention of secretly installing a nuclear reactor, freeing the station from the planetary government’s control. If he can succeed, he will have the money to repair the Lenore. If he fails, more than one life will be ruined.

Genres: Science Fiction

624 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 11, 2017

About the author

My journey to become a writer began in 8th grade, when I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and pulled from school to recover. During this time, I was left alone for hours on end and it was then that I discovered new friends within the pages of books. I also learned the blessing of creating my own friends by writing down the stories that plagued my lonely mind—as demented as that sounds. Therefore at the ripe age of fourteen, I wrote my first novel. It sucked! But I kept going and now I am finalizing my first indie novel, with sequels to come, and two other series along with a fiction based blog. I never imagined that first horrible novel about a man who crash landed on his long lost home world would turn into a lifelong passion.
I now live in the

Reviews

[Coco.V]

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[Janet Mccoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. Some action not a lot. Wanted to slap the main character sometimes for being stupid but overall the book was ok.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the premise of this series. Thank you for offering it for free on Smashwords.
Enjoyed Bit. Liked how she went from fearful and timid indentured servant to being able to kick butt with the rest of the crew of the freighter.
Liked the characters overall. Especially Oden. Found parts of Blaine to be a bit unbelievable.
Wish the author would have spent more time proofing and making sure the correct word was used. There are several times that a different word (pronounced the same) was used. An example is palate instead of pallet for a something to sleep on. There are quite a number of typos in this series. McCleef is also spelled McCleaf. Wish the character of Derek, the uncle, would have been developed a bit more - why did he own indentured servants and why did he turn traitor? Also could have used more set building on Mars and the Space Station so we could understand the landscape a bit more.
Almost gave it a 3 star but I know the author put a lot of time and effort into the writing of the book so I gave her much credit for that. Also since it was free... Would like to continue the series but the multitude of typos and incorrect words has me hesitating to continue.

[Cheryl Hyde]

While the story had some merit it lacked on any type of authenticity, but that is okay - it is fiction. While Bit is an entertaining character, there was a lot of crying and tearing up on her part which I found a bit difficult to believe because she is one tough individual - she has been an indentured servant since she was 5. I did enjoy her advancement in her skills and self-confidence throughout the three books.
If I were to rate this book on a star system it would be a 3 star, not so much because of the story, but the grammatical errors, however, I withheld a star rating. At times these were so blatant, it made it difficult to enjoy the story. Example - A sleeping area is a pallet not palate. Book one had fewer errors but books two and three could have used a lot more editing and proofing.
You have the potential for a really good and fun read - just need to clean up the writing. I want to continue to follow Bit, but am reluctant because of the errors in the first three books.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific story

Unique and lovable characters and we'll thought out situations. There are some editing challenges. I'm pretty certain Jack's cousin's name changes from David to Derick from book one to book 2. Little typo errors too. The premise of Bit's transformation is a hard sell sometimes, but she is such a great character it's easy to accept anyway. With all the ugly in humanity and this particular world, it's nice to see goodness in the crew Bit is out into. I'm ready to read the rest of the books. They end abruptly but don't feel like cliff hangers. They are shorter stories and could totally be reworked into richer and fuller novels but I'm sold on the series and love all the characters!

[Chuck Heikkinen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely start in the series of five books. Bit is the main character, an indentured servant who is won in a card game by a member of a space freighter crew. The first book is the slowest reading, setting up the background. After that it gets hard to put down. In the second segment, the crew is transporting rare animal embryos to Mars. In the third, they are hired to carry and install an illegal nuclear reactor on a space station off one of Jupiter's inhabited satellites. Bit changes from her original state of cowering fear to becoming quite intrepid. Fun reading in sci-fi that's not so heavy sci-fi as to lose the science amateur (me) in technical details.

[Chloe Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Premise

I usually like science fiction books and this one did have some merit however, I had trouble getting past the multitude of typos and misuse of words or choosing the wrong word to describe something. I wish the author had spent more time on editing her work. Maybe it is because I read so much and I teach grammar but the editing really bogged the story down for me.

I liked Bit and her story of being an indentured servant and being won in a poker game and finally being able to live a halfway normal life once she gets onto the ship. It is interesting to watch her grow and develop and learn to trust the men on the ship.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining page-turner about a world where slavery still exists - brought about by the banks. I really liked this dynamic, where a girl who has been sold by her father now has to try and function in a normal manner. And I like the fact that it is a tricky dynamic that causes her and those around her a lot of trouble. Add into the mix all sorts of mayhem with crooked dealings, piracy and double crosses, this is a space opera adventure with a difference.
7/10

[Dennis Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trust and Treachery
Broken and Hunted
Profit and Peril

The premise was good. Indentured servant was won in a poker game to a decent man who was a pilot on a starship freighter.
But the story got bogged down in the crew running around hiding on Mars. Except for the lead character the others don’t advance.

[John Shearer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echoes of Sol (1-3)

These 3 make a good read, in which the story is a bit Intense but kept at a slow boil until the end where it all comes together for a decent come on for the next story.

[Toni Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the fence between 3 or 4 Stars

Really liked the books but felt sometimes a bit much. Liked that all characters seemed to keep growing as books progressed.

[Bobtom · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better ones

A good balance of experiences, no violence for violence's sake. Fun times, good times, bad times, sad times. Want more!

[Dugald Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough Bit Impressed Very Much

Great little heroine, Little Bit, really grows from a tiny scared girl to an independent, determined and capable woman in this space adventure.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a way the story was all bad. But it had all theses holes and details that just didn't add up. As if this universe really wasn't thought through.

[Bruce McLennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is hard to review because it defies much of what it purports to be. It’s not science fiction even though it is written as a SF trilogy. The author has some difficulty understanding the difference between the solar system and the galaxy but she may be American. Descriptions of Mars and other locations are really poor and the whole thing could be set in a warehouse for anyone knows or cares. Much of the story is childish with the characters having a propensity to blush whenever things get tough or embarrassing. I really struggled between giving this one two stars or three. I relented.

[Mathew Dziuba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gaining freedom while fighting space pirates

Good series with hook into next series. I liked the growth of the main character becoming able to fend for herself as she learned about traveling the solar system on a cargo ship chased by various space pirates and assorted bad guys.

[Neil McGarva · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of the book was the overall plot. The writing wasn't bad but could be better. I think the book direction was revised a couple of times and should have been revised/reviewed a few more times.
e.g. Derek, Jack's uncle was a traitor, his name comes up a total of 4 times in the book. Once when his gear is being stored after his death and then nearly 300 pages later when we find out he was a traitor to the ship. No indication of how he betrayed the ship or how he died!
'Bit', and everyone else, did am awful lot (pages and pages) of running around from A to B to C and back to A then back to C ......... This section should have been a lot tighter.
It has been spell checked but NOT proof read, I spotted a couple words that were spelt correctly but not the correct words for the context.
I don't know yet if this was a first effort or not. If a first effort then I might try another Charissa Dufour book, otherwise I won't bother.

[Karl Schaeffer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got this off of Book Bub as an e-read. A modicum of character development and plot, with no world building. It feels like the author could, with a few short sentences, convert this book into any setting or time period imagined. I think it's a stretch to call it science fiction. The book has the barest, thinnest veneer of science fiction that appears easily rubbed off. Far be it from me to criticize a published author, because god knows I have no talent or inclination towards writing and publishing a book, so we'll just say these books are not on my favorites list.