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Obsidian Rim #1
Gravity
Help no one. Show no mercy. Stay alive.
Lehana Saar learned the smuggler's trade the hard way--as an indentured servant to the Rim’s most notorious pirate. With the skills she acquired and now with her own ship, the star freighter Phoenix, Lehana is known throughout the Rim as a trafficker who will take any job, however dangerous, for the promise of a good profit. But when she's forced to crash land near a mining colony owned by the heinous, galactic cartel QueCorp, she'll need all her cunning and experience just to survive. And maybe, with a little luck, she might even turn a profit by forging a deal with the mine's owners. That is if she can turn a blind eye to the dismal conditions and merciless exploitation of the thousands of QueCorp's slave laborers.
Forty-five years ago Kash Trider and his wife crashed on Ydro-Down. Captured by QueCorp, they were forced into the mines with no chance of release. Qubition ore killed Kash's wife and now only two things keep him going: his hatred of QueCorp and the hope of freeing his two children from the same fate. When the Phoenix crashes near the mine, Kash risks everything to get his children on that ship. But will the hard-edged captain help him escape or will she turn him in for the five million DIC price on the head of a fugitive QueCorp slave?
Buy Now to join this galactic adventure with a romantic twist.
Obsidian Rim Book 1
Cryoborn Gifts Book 1
- GenresScience FictionRomance
237 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 6, 2019
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Lynch
41 books164 followersMaggie Lynch is the author of 26+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Her fiction tells stories of people making heroic choices one messy moment at a time.
After careers in counseling, the software industry, academia, and worldwide educational consulting, Maggie chose to make her joy of writing a full-time job. She writes books where love and justice prevail in the end. Her fiction spans romance, suspense, fantasy and science fiction. Her non-fiction focuses on guiding authors to business success in their career through planning, distributing, and marketing their completed work.
After careers in counseling, the software industry, academia, and worldwide educational consulting, Maggie chose to make her joy of writing a full-time job. She writes books where love and justice prevail in the end. Her fiction spans romance, suspense, fantasy and science fiction. Her non-fiction focuses on guiding authors to business success in their career through planning, distributing, and marketing their completed work.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 14, 2019
Jessa's pithy review: Awesome first book in a new science fiction romance galaxy! If you liked Han Solo, you'll love Lehana, and her hero is steel wrapped in cinnamon roll yum. Great balance of SF and romantic adventure.
August 10, 2019
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader. I also have a pretty good interview with the author there.
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Lehana is a smuggler known throughout the Outer Rim as one who'll take just about any job if the price is right. That's actually about all that anyone knows about her, really. Thanks to a small computer problem, Lehana crashes onto a mining planet, seriously impeding their production for a couple of days. To appease the owners of the mines, as well as to get a little assistance, she agrees to one of those jobs she has turned down before.
Because of a bad experience she had with the man who runs the mine, Lehana decides to take one of his slaves with her as she leaves. What she doesn't know is that she helped other slaves—a man and his two cryogenically frozen children—leave the planet. She'd have been well within her rights to turn them over, but that didn't sit right with her. She's no supporter of slavery, but she's not a revolutionary either and would prefer to just do her own thing without getting embroiled in anything. Still, she can't hand over kids.
Taking that many slaves is enough to get her current clients to send people after her, and the rest of the book revolves around the questions: can she successfully deliver her cargo and make a profit off of it, before those coming to collect the brand new price on her head show up to collect? Can she—does she want to—save the lives of the stowaways? Will she work again after this stunt?
I really appreciated the way that Lynch set up these characters and introduced us to this world. It feels familiar to people who've read a smattering of Space Operas before, but it's not a clone of any that I know of. A mix of the routine and the new makes for an easy entry into the world for the reader. This applies for the way the characters were introduced to each other and became a team, as well as the world they exist in.
Lehana's a solid character to build a series on, and the other characters that were prominent were pretty strong, too. I don't feel comfortable getting into the characters as much as usual, I think you should get to know them in the novel rather than me getting into a discussion too deep, I'm just afraid I'd spoil too much. On the whole, I liked the characters—there were a couple of people on Lehana's crew that were sidelined most of the time, but the others really clicked well for me. I'd have preferred more time with just about all of them over the stuff that I'll talk about in the next paragraph. Now, the characters that I found the most interesting (at least one of them) were not the characters that Lynch found the most use for. I grant you that I may be more curious about them than I am others because Lynch didn't focus on them as much, so there are more questions about them.
My biggest gripe would have to be about the way that Lehana and Kash interacted with the ship to help the navigation—it just didn't make sense. I mean, I got it—both the way it was described and the way that Lynch used it to spur some character development in Lehana. But it's not something I could really buy/accept. I don't think this is a reflection on Lynch's writing, it's the concept behind it. It's hard to talk about briefly and without ruining the story for anyone, but I just didn't like it. This wouldn't be a big deal, except for the prominence it took in the storytelling. It's not a deal-breaker, but I found it annoying and boring at the same time. On a related note, I think the amount and detail of sexual references could've been toned down, but I skew prudish, I know.
I had a good time reading this—it was fast, it was fun, set in an intriguing world with well-constructed and entertaining characters. I think I'm curious enough about what's going on to come back for more—and maybe to check out some other works in this universe, just to see how they're different/similar. If you're in the mood for a nice space opera, this could just be the thing for you.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for this post, but I read it because I wanted to and the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced by her.
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Lehana is a smuggler known throughout the Outer Rim as one who'll take just about any job if the price is right. That's actually about all that anyone knows about her, really. Thanks to a small computer problem, Lehana crashes onto a mining planet, seriously impeding their production for a couple of days. To appease the owners of the mines, as well as to get a little assistance, she agrees to one of those jobs she has turned down before.
Because of a bad experience she had with the man who runs the mine, Lehana decides to take one of his slaves with her as she leaves. What she doesn't know is that she helped other slaves—a man and his two cryogenically frozen children—leave the planet. She'd have been well within her rights to turn them over, but that didn't sit right with her. She's no supporter of slavery, but she's not a revolutionary either and would prefer to just do her own thing without getting embroiled in anything. Still, she can't hand over kids.
Taking that many slaves is enough to get her current clients to send people after her, and the rest of the book revolves around the questions: can she successfully deliver her cargo and make a profit off of it, before those coming to collect the brand new price on her head show up to collect? Can she—does she want to—save the lives of the stowaways? Will she work again after this stunt?
I really appreciated the way that Lynch set up these characters and introduced us to this world. It feels familiar to people who've read a smattering of Space Operas before, but it's not a clone of any that I know of. A mix of the routine and the new makes for an easy entry into the world for the reader. This applies for the way the characters were introduced to each other and became a team, as well as the world they exist in.
Lehana's a solid character to build a series on, and the other characters that were prominent were pretty strong, too. I don't feel comfortable getting into the characters as much as usual, I think you should get to know them in the novel rather than me getting into a discussion too deep, I'm just afraid I'd spoil too much. On the whole, I liked the characters—there were a couple of people on Lehana's crew that were sidelined most of the time, but the others really clicked well for me. I'd have preferred more time with just about all of them over the stuff that I'll talk about in the next paragraph. Now, the characters that I found the most interesting (at least one of them) were not the characters that Lynch found the most use for. I grant you that I may be more curious about them than I am others because Lynch didn't focus on them as much, so there are more questions about them.
My biggest gripe would have to be about the way that Lehana and Kash interacted with the ship to help the navigation—it just didn't make sense. I mean, I got it—both the way it was described and the way that Lynch used it to spur some character development in Lehana. But it's not something I could really buy/accept. I don't think this is a reflection on Lynch's writing, it's the concept behind it. It's hard to talk about briefly and without ruining the story for anyone, but I just didn't like it. This wouldn't be a big deal, except for the prominence it took in the storytelling. It's not a deal-breaker, but I found it annoying and boring at the same time. On a related note, I think the amount and detail of sexual references could've been toned down, but I skew prudish, I know.
I had a good time reading this—it was fast, it was fun, set in an intriguing world with well-constructed and entertaining characters. I think I'm curious enough about what's going on to come back for more—and maybe to check out some other works in this universe, just to see how they're different/similar. If you're in the mood for a nice space opera, this could just be the thing for you.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for this post, but I read it because I wanted to and the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced by her.
July 3, 2019
Help no one. Show no mercy. Stay alive. Oh yes. I am so there. I love science fiction romance probably as much as “pure” science fiction, but only if it is “good” sci-fi romance, ie, where the sci-fi works as a sci-fi story and the romance works as a romance, yet somehow they fit together. Maggie Lynch’s new series, Cryoborn Gifts, described as “galactic adventure with a romantic twist” is just that kind of science fiction romance. It’s first book, Gravity (also the first book of the the overarching Obsidian Rim series), was a wild ride that gave me just the cool sci-fi feel needed (I love the whole backstory behind the Obsidian Rim region) while providing a fantastic heroine in Lehana Saar (just the kind of kick-a** gal I adore) and a great supporting cast from Kash Trider on down. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises. The book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series (both by this author and by the other authors who will be contributing their own series within the overarching Obsidian Rim series).
August 4, 2019
Exciting and fast paced
Obsidian Rim, Book 1- Gravity is a great venture here not space! If you want an adventure, you’re sure to enjoy one here! The plot is solid, with really interesting characters. I especially liked the authors crafting of Lehana’s crafty and cunning business acumen. Kash is a solid good guy. There is no romance in the typical romance novel way, but a good strong attraction that leads to a quite complicated ‘more’- which I actually found refreshing. The wormhole scenes were a bit difficult for me to follow, as were the descriptions of the things, other than physical electricity, happening when they touched- this would be my only critique of the writing of the story itself. However I must add that the kindle version is awash with misspellings, missing words, or double words which gets quite annoying and detracts from the story as you have to re-read sentences occasionally.
Obsidian Rim, Book 1- Gravity is a great venture here not space! If you want an adventure, you’re sure to enjoy one here! The plot is solid, with really interesting characters. I especially liked the authors crafting of Lehana’s crafty and cunning business acumen. Kash is a solid good guy. There is no romance in the typical romance novel way, but a good strong attraction that leads to a quite complicated ‘more’- which I actually found refreshing. The wormhole scenes were a bit difficult for me to follow, as were the descriptions of the things, other than physical electricity, happening when they touched- this would be my only critique of the writing of the story itself. However I must add that the kindle version is awash with misspellings, missing words, or double words which gets quite annoying and detracts from the story as you have to re-read sentences occasionally.
August 9, 2019
Kick-butt heroine rocks the Rim
Woo-Hoo! Lehanna is the one-woman wrecking machine who will set the Obsidian Rim on fire - for her life, her freedom... Not for a mate. She doesn't have/need/want one. She thinks that personal relationships are untrustworthy traps and she's no fool for love... ....Until she is. Then, look out, Rim worlds! This bad girl is gonna kick butt and take names in the name of love! Fast action, heroics, and dangerous enemies are no match for Lehanna in love. I cheered and hollered for this one! This is a voluntary ARC review.
Woo-Hoo! Lehanna is the one-woman wrecking machine who will set the Obsidian Rim on fire - for her life, her freedom... Not for a mate. She doesn't have/need/want one. She thinks that personal relationships are untrustworthy traps and she's no fool for love... ....Until she is. Then, look out, Rim worlds! This bad girl is gonna kick butt and take names in the name of love! Fast action, heroics, and dangerous enemies are no match for Lehanna in love. I cheered and hollered for this one! This is a voluntary ARC review.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews