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Pirates of New Earth #2
Navigating the Storm
Kat Wallace is back in Bosch and as brash as before.
Kat wants to run her own life. But it seems as though everyone else has their own plans for her: Her commander wants her to lead. Her husband wants her to abandon her pirating ways. Her mother-in-law wouldn’t mind seeing her dead. And her past enslaver, Rob Abernathy, wants her back.
But Kat is determined to forge her own path. When a face from her past spurs a dangerous mission, she jumps at the opportunity unaware that it will have explosive results.
Follow her swashbuckling adventures as she learns to chart her own course and captain her own life through unexpected storms. The choices she makes may put her on the path to end enslavement on New Earth, but at what cost?
Kat wants to run her own life. But it seems as though everyone else has their own plans for her: Her commander wants her to lead. Her husband wants her to abandon her pirating ways. Her mother-in-law wouldn’t mind seeing her dead. And her past enslaver, Rob Abernathy, wants her back.
But Kat is determined to forge her own path. When a face from her past spurs a dangerous mission, she jumps at the opportunity unaware that it will have explosive results.
Follow her swashbuckling adventures as she learns to chart her own course and captain her own life through unexpected storms. The choices she makes may put her on the path to end enslavement on New Earth, but at what cost?
- GenresScience FictionFiction
279 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 11, 2022
11 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Branson
10 books105 followersAward-winning author Sarah Branson was a midwife for close to thirty years, helping families welcome their little ones into their arms in the hospital, at a birth center, and at home. Now she writes tales of action, adventure, revenge, and romance. Her stories are firmly rooted in the strength and resiliency of the human spirit.
Sarah first started conjuring stories of pirates when her family hopped a freighter to Australia when she was seven. As a child and as an adult, she traveled extensively across the US and the globe. Her children grew up in Northern Michigan, swimming in Sturgeon Bay and Little Traverse Bay. Over the years, she has worked as a receptionist, retail clerk, writing tutor, business owner, and certified nurse midwife. She also taught science and history to middle school and high school students in the U.S., Brazil, and Japan. Through these myriad experiences, Sarah developed a deep appreciation for people’s strength and endurance.
Her debut novel, A Merry Life, has been honored as the 2022 Connecticut Adult Fiction winner by the Indie Author Project, and was the 2022 Kindle Book Award winner for science fiction and was named a 2022 Book of the Year finalist in the action/adventure and science fiction categories by the Independent Author Network. It is the first book in the four-book new adult series Pirates of New Earth. The second book in the series, Navigating the Storm was a finalist for The Eric Hoffer Award. The series was followed by a young adult spin-off, Unfurling the Sails, a finalist for the 2023 Foreword Indies Award and for the 2024 Independent Author Network in both action/adventure and young adult categories. In 2024, A Pirates’ Pact, her first middle-grade book, was released and garnered a Best Book Cover Page Turner Award. A stand-alone novel, North Country, A Kat Wallace Adventure, is scheduled for publication in January 2025.
Sarah first started conjuring stories of pirates when her family hopped a freighter to Australia when she was seven. As a child and as an adult, she traveled extensively across the US and the globe. Her children grew up in Northern Michigan, swimming in Sturgeon Bay and Little Traverse Bay. Over the years, she has worked as a receptionist, retail clerk, writing tutor, business owner, and certified nurse midwife. She also taught science and history to middle school and high school students in the U.S., Brazil, and Japan. Through these myriad experiences, Sarah developed a deep appreciation for people’s strength and endurance.
Her debut novel, A Merry Life, has been honored as the 2022 Connecticut Adult Fiction winner by the Indie Author Project, and was the 2022 Kindle Book Award winner for science fiction and was named a 2022 Book of the Year finalist in the action/adventure and science fiction categories by the Independent Author Network. It is the first book in the four-book new adult series Pirates of New Earth. The second book in the series, Navigating the Storm was a finalist for The Eric Hoffer Award. The series was followed by a young adult spin-off, Unfurling the Sails, a finalist for the 2023 Foreword Indies Award and for the 2024 Independent Author Network in both action/adventure and young adult categories. In 2024, A Pirates’ Pact, her first middle-grade book, was released and garnered a Best Book Cover Page Turner Award. A stand-alone novel, North Country, A Kat Wallace Adventure, is scheduled for publication in January 2025.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 16, 2022
The discovery of Glitter – a sparkly element with properties that make it more prized than rum – changes the way the pirates of Bosch conduct business. They no longer plunder at sea; their plundering is more subtle, but equally rewarding. They ferry their cargo via ships of the air, accumulating markers and treasures while also freeing thralls when possible. One formerly enslaved thrall is Kat Wallace, but the ramification of her adopted father’s death is banishment to Edo, the home of her diplomat husband, Takai Shima, with their three children. But this isn’t the sanctuary she expects; someone wants her dead. Luckily, her period of exile is almost at an end and she’s eager to return to Bosch and her old way of life.
Upon her return, Kat rejoins the Bosch Pirate Force, which requires her to once again attend the training academy. She is a leader and adept at what she does, but she has no interest in becoming an officer. She prefers to do things her way, preferably guided by her own judgement and experience, rather than always adhering to the rules. Which, of course, gets her into trouble with an officer, Colonel Gia Ka’ne, who is assembling a flight unit and is need of a pilot. According to the Master Commandant, Kat is one of the best. Gia has her doubts and leans toward canning Kat until after she surpasses all expectations during her trial run at the helm. Thereafter, Gia’s team takes on extractions, intelligence gathering, and Glitter runs, with guileful pilfering when circumstances permit. During these missions, Kat’s mother watches over the grandchildren and Takai begins a three-year command of a colonial settlement ship, which provides him with the perfect opportunity to continue his illicit liaisons with beautiful women, far from where Kat might learn the truth.
Not everyone is pleased that Kat is back. An influential family, and a good friend of her adopted father, blames her for his death. A late-night encounter with one son upends the well-honed team that Gia has put together and it’s up to Kat to figure out how to make things right, which leads to unexpected consequences.
Nor is this Kat’s only concern. The man who once enslaved her is again a senator of the Federal Alliance, in spite of his downfall for which she is responsible. A hard-boiled, furtive man with both private and public personae, he establishes the groundwork that will permit him to run a global cartel that traffics in thralls while snatching control of Glitter from the Bosch. On a more personal agenda, he has definite payback plans for Kat and just the enticement to lure her back into his clutches.
Navigating the Storm, the second book in the Pirates of New Earth series, is not your typical pirate book. Rather, it is a blend of science fiction with steampunk and cyberpunk interlaced with realistic human emotions and experiences set in the twenty-fourth century. Thematic threads pertain to greed, slavery, reunions, lies, commitment, betrayal, loss, jealousy, and the corollaries of actions. Action is high paced and riveting, and interwoven with screenshots of pastoral family life and manipulations, either underhanded or aboveboard. This permits readers to readily identify with the characters and situations they face. Kat begins as a simple character who matures as the book progresses; hitting rock-bottom makes her stronger and savvier, and puts her on firmer ground to face whatever lies in the future. The glimmers brandished throughout the story whet readers’ hankerings for what happens next, which will be unveiled in Burn the Ship, the forthcoming title in the series.
(Review originally published at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Branson.html)
Upon her return, Kat rejoins the Bosch Pirate Force, which requires her to once again attend the training academy. She is a leader and adept at what she does, but she has no interest in becoming an officer. She prefers to do things her way, preferably guided by her own judgement and experience, rather than always adhering to the rules. Which, of course, gets her into trouble with an officer, Colonel Gia Ka’ne, who is assembling a flight unit and is need of a pilot. According to the Master Commandant, Kat is one of the best. Gia has her doubts and leans toward canning Kat until after she surpasses all expectations during her trial run at the helm. Thereafter, Gia’s team takes on extractions, intelligence gathering, and Glitter runs, with guileful pilfering when circumstances permit. During these missions, Kat’s mother watches over the grandchildren and Takai begins a three-year command of a colonial settlement ship, which provides him with the perfect opportunity to continue his illicit liaisons with beautiful women, far from where Kat might learn the truth.
Not everyone is pleased that Kat is back. An influential family, and a good friend of her adopted father, blames her for his death. A late-night encounter with one son upends the well-honed team that Gia has put together and it’s up to Kat to figure out how to make things right, which leads to unexpected consequences.
Nor is this Kat’s only concern. The man who once enslaved her is again a senator of the Federal Alliance, in spite of his downfall for which she is responsible. A hard-boiled, furtive man with both private and public personae, he establishes the groundwork that will permit him to run a global cartel that traffics in thralls while snatching control of Glitter from the Bosch. On a more personal agenda, he has definite payback plans for Kat and just the enticement to lure her back into his clutches.
Navigating the Storm, the second book in the Pirates of New Earth series, is not your typical pirate book. Rather, it is a blend of science fiction with steampunk and cyberpunk interlaced with realistic human emotions and experiences set in the twenty-fourth century. Thematic threads pertain to greed, slavery, reunions, lies, commitment, betrayal, loss, jealousy, and the corollaries of actions. Action is high paced and riveting, and interwoven with screenshots of pastoral family life and manipulations, either underhanded or aboveboard. This permits readers to readily identify with the characters and situations they face. Kat begins as a simple character who matures as the book progresses; hitting rock-bottom makes her stronger and savvier, and puts her on firmer ground to face whatever lies in the future. The glimmers brandished throughout the story whet readers’ hankerings for what happens next, which will be unveiled in Burn the Ship, the forthcoming title in the series.
(Review originally published at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Branson.html)
July 26, 2022
Navigating The Storm gets into your head in equal force to how deep you get into Kat Wallace’s. One thing that I REALLY love about this second book is how utterly and completely relatable all of Kat’s feelings are. It’s as if there is a spy camera Branson has been using in my life and penning all that she sees. But, perhaps these encounters, hang ups, events, decisions… are such common human experiences that it’s easy to feel tangled into her words. From the limitless bonds of genuine friends to the drifting of partners, the joy of your own children and the insufferable pain of genuine loss, the reader feels an empathetic bond with Kat’s entanglements and choices (sometimes even screaming into the paper “that’s the wrong choice!!!”).
This book feels like a necessary segway between the first, getting to know our heroine and her background, to what possible adventures await her in book three. We have to see and feel Kat- in her unbridled, rough-worn, independent, fierce, honest, and vulnerable positions to fully appreciate the entire series. This is a story that will engulf any reader and appeal to anyone with a past. The last interaction of characters, as well as the last few lines has me on the edge of my seat to read what comes next!
This book feels like a necessary segway between the first, getting to know our heroine and her background, to what possible adventures await her in book three. We have to see and feel Kat- in her unbridled, rough-worn, independent, fierce, honest, and vulnerable positions to fully appreciate the entire series. This is a story that will engulf any reader and appeal to anyone with a past. The last interaction of characters, as well as the last few lines has me on the edge of my seat to read what comes next!
September 20, 2022
A fantastic continuation of A Merry Life
Kat is still dealing with the effects of her actions in A Merry Life, she's become complacent in her life on Edo during her banishment. She aches to return to Bosch, and it is a topic of contention with her husband. Can she successfully transition back to Bosch and the BPF?
As good as I thought the first book was, this is so much better. I absolutely loved the character growth we got from Kat. She is still one of my favorite heroines. We were introduced to her awesome (and diverse!) new unit. I hope we get more from all of them in the next book! And no saga with Kat would be complete without some huge plot twists and emotional destruction. I was angry, I laughed, I cried. I cried a lot.
Without a doubt, this series (and this book) is one of my favorite reads of the year. If you like pirates and sci-fi, Sarah Branson has masterfully combined the two, and you should absolutely check this series out.
Kat is still dealing with the effects of her actions in A Merry Life, she's become complacent in her life on Edo during her banishment. She aches to return to Bosch, and it is a topic of contention with her husband. Can she successfully transition back to Bosch and the BPF?
As good as I thought the first book was, this is so much better. I absolutely loved the character growth we got from Kat. She is still one of my favorite heroines. We were introduced to her awesome (and diverse!) new unit. I hope we get more from all of them in the next book! And no saga with Kat would be complete without some huge plot twists and emotional destruction. I was angry, I laughed, I cried. I cried a lot.
Without a doubt, this series (and this book) is one of my favorite reads of the year. If you like pirates and sci-fi, Sarah Branson has masterfully combined the two, and you should absolutely check this series out.
January 3, 2023
Thank you to @katieandbreypa and @author_sarah_branson for providing me with a copy of this book for reviewing!
This book was set in the twenty fourth century, with futuristic vibes, science fiction, pirates and badass characters!
The characters were magnificently relatable, the family relations beautifully put, the action highly paced, and it's the kind of page turner book, that I couldn't put down!
The character growth for Kat here is impossibly amazing! She's so strong, savvy and an absolute badass!
This one just added to the angst of the first, and everything just got better, and I'm more than excited for the third book!
This is a story that hooks you onto it, and makes you fall in love and relate to the characters, grieve for them, yell at them and feel joy for them! This series has definitely become a favorite of mine this year, and I totally recommend!
This book was set in the twenty fourth century, with futuristic vibes, science fiction, pirates and badass characters!
The characters were magnificently relatable, the family relations beautifully put, the action highly paced, and it's the kind of page turner book, that I couldn't put down!
The character growth for Kat here is impossibly amazing! She's so strong, savvy and an absolute badass!
This one just added to the angst of the first, and everything just got better, and I'm more than excited for the third book!
This is a story that hooks you onto it, and makes you fall in love and relate to the characters, grieve for them, yell at them and feel joy for them! This series has definitely become a favorite of mine this year, and I totally recommend!
February 12, 2023
In book 2 we pick up where we left off in book 1. She's trying to navigate life as a mother with a dream and a husband who is, well less than supportive.
I love that this character actually depicts what life could be. Kat isn't a one-dimensional character. All parts of her life are discussed and they are all a mess at times, which makes her relatable.
She's a powerful FMC who doesn't need a man to protect her, in fact she's often protecting the men around her.
Kat has grown a lot in this book and she's learning to balance everything, just like most mothers. We are still left with the question of if Kat will change New Earth and get justice.
I also want to commend the author on a diverse cast of well-developed characters. Some of the diversity includes strong women, non-binary, different races, different sexual orientations, and more.
I love that this character actually depicts what life could be. Kat isn't a one-dimensional character. All parts of her life are discussed and they are all a mess at times, which makes her relatable.
She's a powerful FMC who doesn't need a man to protect her, in fact she's often protecting the men around her.
Kat has grown a lot in this book and she's learning to balance everything, just like most mothers. We are still left with the question of if Kat will change New Earth and get justice.
I also want to commend the author on a diverse cast of well-developed characters. Some of the diversity includes strong women, non-binary, different races, different sexual orientations, and more.
September 29, 2022
Still liking the characters and the story line. The "world building" is a little weak. In 3oo years there will still be filing cabinets for documents? The use of 21st century slang is still used? There are no other species? The style of clothes is essentially the same? I don't see much difference between Earth now and in three hundred years. There is very little futuristic bits in here. It doesn't distract from the story, but it does leave room for improvement.
September 10, 2022
Good book. It started a bit slow for me, but events that occurred in the fist book had to play out. After Kat got back to Bosch things really picked up. Some bad decisions and tragic events played a big part in this book. The ending sets up the beginning for book 3.
November 1, 2022
Great!
The intrigue and suspense is killing me! I always enjoy the banter of Kat and Abernathy. The rage is clear.
The intrigue and suspense is killing me! I always enjoy the banter of Kat and Abernathy. The rage is clear.
April 11, 2023
Thanks for the free kindle copy.
It was a little difficult to get into...probably because it is the second of a series.
It was a little difficult to get into...probably because it is the second of a series.
March 7, 2024
Heart Jerker
I am so glad that i was put on to these books. I have fallen in love with Kat and have some very strong feelings for every other character. everyone is so well written and I just don’t have the words to describe how much i loved this book.
I am so glad that i was put on to these books. I have fallen in love with Kat and have some very strong feelings for every other character. everyone is so well written and I just don’t have the words to describe how much i loved this book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews