Aftermath

The Vaedra Chronicles #4

by Ester Lopez

A controlling Captain has six days to finish training her student pilots before transferring to the Special Missions Team. When an astronaut mysteriously shows up on the flight deck, she is charged with teaching him to fly the same ships, which took six weeks to teach her students, but she must do it in the six days left or lose her chance to transfer. She must also discover his real reason for being on their ship.

While her student is a fast learner and an Air Force test pilot, she uncovers some things about him that lead her and the Admiral to believe a sinister plan is under way to take over the Earth.

Will she be able to stop this plan before it happens, or will the Earth succumb to an alien invasion?

Genres: Space, Science Fiction

210 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2020

About the author

Ester is a writer and publisher and lives in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, along with her husband, Jerry, two miniature horses, Pepper, and Bucky and a new puppy, Chewie. She has been writing sci-fi and paranormal adventure romances for over 30 years, writing on the edge of reality. She has four children's books out, "The Adventures of Charlie and Ellie," "Little Horses," "Across The Big Ocean," and "Affy & Milo." She recently finished book 6 in her Angel Chronicles Series, "Nephilim," and book 6 in The Vaedra Chronicles Series, "Vaedra Chronicles Companion II." In her spare time, she enjoys photography, sewing, crafts, gardening, canning vegetables, and making wine. You can find her on her website at www.esterlopez.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EsterLopezAuthor, as well as www.Instagram.com/esterlopez2956

Reviews

[Emily Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

An American astronaut, Torin Conolly, is found as a stowaway on board a ship bound for the Vaedra System, claiming that he is there to learn to fly their ships so he can teach others back on Earth. (Seriously? That is a weak explanation, and even more incredible when they agree to give him lessons! He is a glib talker, but still it seems unbelievable the aliens would accept his word for it so easily. No security protocols in space?)

The captors release Torin from the brig to begin his lessons. Captain Gadara ni Hovsep is a flight instructor aboard the Concordance and she is ordered by the Admiral to teach Torin. So she will try to find out why he is really there before she has to transfer to the Special Missions Team in 6 days.

When later the Admiral introduced Gadara to General Thompson of the U.S. Army, one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the President, and he asked if she could come to Earth to train Earthen pilots on how to fly the ships, Gadara choked on her drink! She mentioned that Torin Conolly had been sent for that purpose… and the General told her Astronaut Torin Conolly was killed in a crash years ago, along with his co-pilot, while testing a new stealth jet! Is it too late for her to discover Torin’s real mission? What is going on?

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars. Very enjoyable, intriguing, action packed, page turner and the book kept me engaged until the end
I highly recommend and will read again.

[Victoria Liiv · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and yes it is indeed the fourth in series. I don’t do this often, but every once in a while I might start a book series from somewhere in the middle of it. In the case of this book, I got a free review copy in return for my review.

The story starts off on an alien spaceship Concordance, where several officers are introduced right away in an information overload. It is clear that several of the characters were starring in the previous books as for me it took a while to get acquainted with everyone and remember their names.

They had found a stowaway on board, an Earther Torin Conolly. There is a suspicion about his intentions on the ship, as his name was not on the boarding list when the ship left Earth. Despite that, he is allowed to start training with Captain Gadara right away to learn all about how to operate their ships. All the information that was shared with an untrusted outsider baffled me and I hope any real spaceship would take better precautions when presented with a similar situation.

The alien crew had made a deal with a president on Earth - I can only assume it refers to the president of the United States of America - but there were also mentions about shadow society and a Black Government that are fighting against the lawful order. Most of what was going on around that topic must have been explained in the previous books, before Concordance took off from Earth and set its course to the alien planets. It would’ve made an amazing back story had I understood all of it.

What I did enjoy in this book was the details of world building. All the different alien species and the planets they originate from were brought out as a nice detail. The comparisons to Earth were slipped into the dialogues.

The dialogues themselves, however, sometimes felt dry and stiff and made me wonder about their conversational skills. Is this just the way a spaceship works? Or the way the alien culture functions. Some things that should have come as an after though or a logical conclusion were made painfully clear in the conversations. The dialogue said everything, leaving no room to the character’s own musings and emotional responses.

I give this book three stars, for the potential the storyline holds and the world creation.

[Seraphia Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aftermath is the fourth installment in Ester Lopez's space series. While this book is part of a series, I found it reasonably easy to get into this book's storyline and follow along with the characters that I find myself introduced to. I feel that this book is meant to be read as a standalone since it focuses on specific characters and only really touches on ones who might have a previous interaction/relationship with one of the main characters.
Aftermath is the first book that I have read by this author and I found the storyline to overall be engaging. Gadara is the alien pilot captain who is tasked with learning what stowaway Torin Conolly is really after. He "snuck" onboard with another individual's name but claims that he is meant to be there. But his mission is something different than what he first tells. There is more at work here and the clock is ticking on discovering the truth.
The storyline is good, but I found the dialogues to leave much to be desired. They felt stiff and awkward at times. I understand that some are aliens, but from what I was able to glean from the story they have been interacting with humans for awhile so I thought that their speech would be better. I was also disappointed in Gadara. She's depicted as a tough, no nonsense woman, but the minute she spends a few minutes around Conolly she loses focuses of her true agenda and mission. It left me disappointed in her because it portrays her more as a silly female easily distracted by a good looking man and a nice smile.
I don't mind the romance angle of this book, but it just seems like there really isn't that build-up and development that one would expect from these characters. Most of the story line takes place in space and is between Gadara and Torin, as well. I wanted to see more of her in action to be honest. But I do like the little twists here and there in the story line. The final chapters of this book really do amp things up which I like, but I appreciate that overall this story does keep me engaged from beginning to end.
I am rating this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's easy to get into, but has dull conversations and some minor mistakes as well. But the story does keep my attention and I did like some of the characters.

[Megan Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

While her student is a fast learner and an Air Force test pilot, she uncovers some things about him that lead her and the Admiral to believe a sinister plan is under way to take over the Earth. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read.