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The Billion Worlds #2
The Scarab Mission
A scavenger and her oddball crew are catapulted into the midst of a strange secret at the heart of a derelict colony ship among the Billion Worlds of the Tenth Millennium in a new novel of explosive SF from James L. Cambias.
Solana Sina is a scarab, salvaging wrecked and abandoned space habitats among the Billion Worlds of the Tenth Millennium. She and an oddball crew—a raven, a cyborg, and a dinosaur—board the derelict colony Safdaghar hoping to score some loot before the colony gets catapulted into the outer reaches of the Solar System. But Solana and the scarabs come face-to-face with a gang of vicious pirates looking for slaves and treasure, and a mysterious stranger intent on preserving an explosive secret. Solana must overcome her own horrifying past to survive and escape before it’s too late. But there’s an even more dangerous threat lurking in the dark passages and ruined buildings of Safdaghar . . .
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About The Godel
“With this freewheeling story of an ancient, cunning artificial intelligence and its naïve human companion, Cambias (The Initiate) mashes humor, mystery, and looming apocalypse into a roundly satisfying space epic. —Publishers Weekly
Praise for Arkad’s
“Cambias has achieved a feat of an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history.” —Bookpage
Praise for the work of James L.
“Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should.” —Booklist starred review
James L. Cambias is a writer, a game designer, and the cofounder of Zygote Games. He has been nominated for the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the 2001 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He lives in western Massachusetts.
Solana Sina is a scarab, salvaging wrecked and abandoned space habitats among the Billion Worlds of the Tenth Millennium. She and an oddball crew—a raven, a cyborg, and a dinosaur—board the derelict colony Safdaghar hoping to score some loot before the colony gets catapulted into the outer reaches of the Solar System. But Solana and the scarabs come face-to-face with a gang of vicious pirates looking for slaves and treasure, and a mysterious stranger intent on preserving an explosive secret. Solana must overcome her own horrifying past to survive and escape before it’s too late. But there’s an even more dangerous threat lurking in the dark passages and ruined buildings of Safdaghar . . .
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About The Godel
“With this freewheeling story of an ancient, cunning artificial intelligence and its naïve human companion, Cambias (The Initiate) mashes humor, mystery, and looming apocalypse into a roundly satisfying space epic. —Publishers Weekly
Praise for Arkad’s
“Cambias has achieved a feat of an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history.” —Bookpage
Praise for the work of James L.
“Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should.” —Booklist starred review
James L. Cambias is a writer, a game designer, and the cofounder of Zygote Games. He has been nominated for the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the 2001 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He lives in western Massachusetts.
- GenresScience FictionHorror
341 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 3, 2023
10 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
James L. Cambias
65 books270 followersI grew up in New Orleans, was educated at Chicago, and currently live in New England.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 7, 2025
7.5/10 ★★★★
Questo romanzo mi ha sorpreso positivamente. Non avevo grandi aspettative: è stato pubblicato nel 2023 e non ne avevo mai sentito parlare. Grazie a Urania, che da decenni porta in Italia anche racconti poco conosciuti.
Missione Scarabeo è il secondo romanzo ambientato nell'universo creato dall'autore, il "Miliardo di Mondi". È però scollegato, in termini di trama, dal primo.
Siamo nel decimo millennio, e il nostro sistema solare è costellato di habitat: strutture artificiali su cui vivono le diverse specie della galassia. Ce ne sono più di un miliardo, e alcuni sono abbandonati o distrutti. Gli scarabei si occupano di esplorare questi habitat in rovina, alla ricerca di tesori.
La storia inizia con Yanai, una nave spaziale senziente che si è aggiudicata "l'appalto" dell'habitat Safdaghar, abbandonato da sedici anni. Non ricevendo manutenzione, l'habitat ha sviluppato una rotazione caotica che lo rende inesplorabile. Yanai dovrà prima di tutto stabilizzarne il movimento, poi spingerlo verso Giove, dove – una volta ripulito – sarà venduto. Il suo equipaggio è composto da quattro esseri: un dinosauro, un cyborg, un corvide e un’umana.
Appena atterrati su Safdaghar, però, qualcosa di oscuro emerge. L’habitat sembra infatti essere stato teatro di una feroce guerra. Il paesaggio è cosparso di cadaveri mummificati, e i segni della battaglia sono ovunque.
Il punto di forza del romanzo è la costruzione dei personaggi. I dialoghi sono divertenti e ben inseriti, e ogni membro del cast è caratterizzato con cura. Menzione d'onore per Daslakh, un mech intelligente: personaggio davvero eccezionale, il mio preferito. Il villain è uno dei più odiosi che mi sia mai capitato di leggere. La trama è relativamente semplice e funge da cornice alle storie individuali dei protagonisti.
La tensione resta sempre alta e il ritmo è serrato. C’è molta azione, ma anche tanta violenza, sia fisica che psicologica. Vengono affrontati temi delicati, come quello delle Qarina: ragazze geneticamente indotte a diventare schiave sessuali di padroni ricchi e potenti.
L’inizio è un po’ lento, ma a un certo punto la narrazione accelera, trasformandosi in un crescendo di suspense e lotta per la sopravvivenza. I personaggi mettono in discussione la propria fedeltà verso i compagni e finiranno per dubitare gli uni degli altri, in un clima teso, fatto di inganni e manipolazioni.
In sintesi, Missione Scarabeo è una space opera con elementi thriller e sfumature dark, che si lascia leggere con piacere. L’idea alla base offre molti spunti per futuri sviluppi, anche se non è del tutto originale. Lo consiglio a chi cerca un’avventura sci-fi con personaggi interessanti e un’ambientazione ricca di mistero e suspense.
Questo romanzo mi ha sorpreso positivamente. Non avevo grandi aspettative: è stato pubblicato nel 2023 e non ne avevo mai sentito parlare. Grazie a Urania, che da decenni porta in Italia anche racconti poco conosciuti.
Missione Scarabeo è il secondo romanzo ambientato nell'universo creato dall'autore, il "Miliardo di Mondi". È però scollegato, in termini di trama, dal primo.
Siamo nel decimo millennio, e il nostro sistema solare è costellato di habitat: strutture artificiali su cui vivono le diverse specie della galassia. Ce ne sono più di un miliardo, e alcuni sono abbandonati o distrutti. Gli scarabei si occupano di esplorare questi habitat in rovina, alla ricerca di tesori.
La storia inizia con Yanai, una nave spaziale senziente che si è aggiudicata "l'appalto" dell'habitat Safdaghar, abbandonato da sedici anni. Non ricevendo manutenzione, l'habitat ha sviluppato una rotazione caotica che lo rende inesplorabile. Yanai dovrà prima di tutto stabilizzarne il movimento, poi spingerlo verso Giove, dove – una volta ripulito – sarà venduto. Il suo equipaggio è composto da quattro esseri: un dinosauro, un cyborg, un corvide e un’umana.
Appena atterrati su Safdaghar, però, qualcosa di oscuro emerge. L’habitat sembra infatti essere stato teatro di una feroce guerra. Il paesaggio è cosparso di cadaveri mummificati, e i segni della battaglia sono ovunque.
Il punto di forza del romanzo è la costruzione dei personaggi. I dialoghi sono divertenti e ben inseriti, e ogni membro del cast è caratterizzato con cura. Menzione d'onore per Daslakh, un mech intelligente: personaggio davvero eccezionale, il mio preferito. Il villain è uno dei più odiosi che mi sia mai capitato di leggere. La trama è relativamente semplice e funge da cornice alle storie individuali dei protagonisti.
La tensione resta sempre alta e il ritmo è serrato. C’è molta azione, ma anche tanta violenza, sia fisica che psicologica. Vengono affrontati temi delicati, come quello delle Qarina: ragazze geneticamente indotte a diventare schiave sessuali di padroni ricchi e potenti.
L’inizio è un po’ lento, ma a un certo punto la narrazione accelera, trasformandosi in un crescendo di suspense e lotta per la sopravvivenza. I personaggi mettono in discussione la propria fedeltà verso i compagni e finiranno per dubitare gli uni degli altri, in un clima teso, fatto di inganni e manipolazioni.
In sintesi, Missione Scarabeo è una space opera con elementi thriller e sfumature dark, che si lascia leggere con piacere. L’idea alla base offre molti spunti per futuri sviluppi, anche se non è del tutto originale. Lo consiglio a chi cerca un’avventura sci-fi con personaggi interessanti e un’ambientazione ricca di mistero e suspense.
March 2, 2023
This was surprisingly good, and I had difficulty putting it down. I might have to check out more by this author.
October 28, 2022
While somewhat earlier in the timeline than The Godel operation, the first novel set in the fascinating Tenth Millenium Billion Worlds universe of the author (hopefully with many novels to come as there is vast scope here), The Scarab Mission is not a prequel or really connected to that one except that Daslakh the interesting spider drone AI (and a person of many facets and mysteries) appears though more as a secondary cast member here, so it definitely can be read independently, though of course reading the larger scale Godel operation first brings a better appreciation of the milieu.
In many ways, this is a typically exploration/treasure quest/mystery/adventure sf novel narrower in focus, but with a lot of immediate suspense. Some 16 years before, Safdaghar, a run-of-the-mill Jovian habitat goes dark in a disaster and after lots of legal wrangling, ownership of the derelict is finally assigned by the courts, so it is sold for scrap to some consortium in the far away Kuiper Belt. Yanai, a spaceship making a living in the salvage business, wins the bid to stabilize its orbit and using Jupiter's gravity field as a sling, send Safdaghar on its 40-year course through space to its new owners who would use its mass and elements.
Usually, Yanai has only two associates/crew, Solana, a young woman with a neurological problem as she cannot bear the sight of human faces, so tries to stay away from other humans and wears googles rendering faces to bland ovals when she must meet them, and Atmin, her corvid partner (un uplifted large raven traveling in a diamond spherical oval), but for this mission, two more crew members are enlisted, Pera a mercenary raptor dino with solid knowledge of weaponry and Utsuro a (cy) borg who has been recovered almost dead and with no memories - and definitely with an unfixable human body, hence his personality now residing in a purely mechanical body (worth the equivalent of 6000$ in the gigajoules currency of the time as we find out in an amusing aside at some point) - in a shuttle whose trajectory has been traced back to Safdaghar.
Since the habitat has been spinning wildly in the past 16 years, nobody could go and try and salvage stuff until Yanai stabilizes it, so Solana and Atmin hope to find enough stuff to get a good bonus share with Solana hoping to finally be able to undergo the (expensive) treatment for her neurological problem and live a reasonably normal life. Pera is mostly for the ride to Jupiter, but wouldn't mind some extra cash and of course, Utsuro wants to find out who he was as human etc.
Once they gain access to the habitat, it becomes clear that it was a scene of mass murder, and in fact of a devastating attack that killed its citizenry despite their valiant attempts to fight back; this is somewhat of a puzzle because on one hand there have been no report of a ship around it when the disaster happened and on the other because of the why of the attack; the only real claim to fame of the habitat was the rumor that it was the last hidden refuge of Pasquin Tiu, a famous Martian poet who refused to submit to Deimos (the major Solar System power residing in an orbital ring around Mars and determinant influence - sometimes as an outright occupier, sometimes as an ally of the planet and its many political configurations during the ages) and lampooned famously its citizenry and rulers and eventually had to flee for his life, as Deimos (once upon the time the one surviving major biological power that fought to a standstill the Inner Ring's AI war faction genocidal attempt to eliminate all living beings from the Solar System - see the Godel operation for echoes of that) still a power, but now, 6000 years after the Great War, only one of many such, as biological civilization has recovered and has been thriving in the Solar System and beyond, cannot afford to be seen as weak....
So despite various mishaps and dangers, Utsuro wants to find out what happened and to at least publicize the tragedy of Safdaghar even if he cannot bring its murderers to justice, so he insists on continuing the exploration of the habitat rather than taking some easy early pickings and useful elements and engines from where Yanai docked. Unfortunately with the habitat stabilized now and heading towards the highly populated space around Jupiter for the required sling maneuver, others can easily reach it and they may have more nefarious intentions as well as more firepower...
And so it goes with nonstop action, tragedy and heroism, and lots of vignettes about various moments in various characters' histories - most notably Solana's tragic past and the reason for her aversion to faces which brings new depth to the billion worlds milieu as well, the story of a habitat fallen from an oligarchy to (an idealistic revolution soon transformed into) a totalitarian communist state led by one Osiv Cizmar (!!) and a decadent engagement party among many other superb such.
Overall excellent, fast non stop action with superb characters in a very fascinating milieu, and while darker and on a smaller scale that The Godel operation, quite a few other facets of the Billion Worlds universe are explored through the backstories. Highly recommended and I definitely want more novels in this universe
In many ways, this is a typically exploration/treasure quest/mystery/adventure sf novel narrower in focus, but with a lot of immediate suspense. Some 16 years before, Safdaghar, a run-of-the-mill Jovian habitat goes dark in a disaster and after lots of legal wrangling, ownership of the derelict is finally assigned by the courts, so it is sold for scrap to some consortium in the far away Kuiper Belt. Yanai, a spaceship making a living in the salvage business, wins the bid to stabilize its orbit and using Jupiter's gravity field as a sling, send Safdaghar on its 40-year course through space to its new owners who would use its mass and elements.
Usually, Yanai has only two associates/crew, Solana, a young woman with a neurological problem as she cannot bear the sight of human faces, so tries to stay away from other humans and wears googles rendering faces to bland ovals when she must meet them, and Atmin, her corvid partner (un uplifted large raven traveling in a diamond spherical oval), but for this mission, two more crew members are enlisted, Pera a mercenary raptor dino with solid knowledge of weaponry and Utsuro a (cy) borg who has been recovered almost dead and with no memories - and definitely with an unfixable human body, hence his personality now residing in a purely mechanical body (worth the equivalent of 6000$ in the gigajoules currency of the time as we find out in an amusing aside at some point) - in a shuttle whose trajectory has been traced back to Safdaghar.
Since the habitat has been spinning wildly in the past 16 years, nobody could go and try and salvage stuff until Yanai stabilizes it, so Solana and Atmin hope to find enough stuff to get a good bonus share with Solana hoping to finally be able to undergo the (expensive) treatment for her neurological problem and live a reasonably normal life. Pera is mostly for the ride to Jupiter, but wouldn't mind some extra cash and of course, Utsuro wants to find out who he was as human etc.
Once they gain access to the habitat, it becomes clear that it was a scene of mass murder, and in fact of a devastating attack that killed its citizenry despite their valiant attempts to fight back; this is somewhat of a puzzle because on one hand there have been no report of a ship around it when the disaster happened and on the other because of the why of the attack; the only real claim to fame of the habitat was the rumor that it was the last hidden refuge of Pasquin Tiu, a famous Martian poet who refused to submit to Deimos (the major Solar System power residing in an orbital ring around Mars and determinant influence - sometimes as an outright occupier, sometimes as an ally of the planet and its many political configurations during the ages) and lampooned famously its citizenry and rulers and eventually had to flee for his life, as Deimos (once upon the time the one surviving major biological power that fought to a standstill the Inner Ring's AI war faction genocidal attempt to eliminate all living beings from the Solar System - see the Godel operation for echoes of that) still a power, but now, 6000 years after the Great War, only one of many such, as biological civilization has recovered and has been thriving in the Solar System and beyond, cannot afford to be seen as weak....
So despite various mishaps and dangers, Utsuro wants to find out what happened and to at least publicize the tragedy of Safdaghar even if he cannot bring its murderers to justice, so he insists on continuing the exploration of the habitat rather than taking some easy early pickings and useful elements and engines from where Yanai docked. Unfortunately with the habitat stabilized now and heading towards the highly populated space around Jupiter for the required sling maneuver, others can easily reach it and they may have more nefarious intentions as well as more firepower...
And so it goes with nonstop action, tragedy and heroism, and lots of vignettes about various moments in various characters' histories - most notably Solana's tragic past and the reason for her aversion to faces which brings new depth to the billion worlds milieu as well, the story of a habitat fallen from an oligarchy to (an idealistic revolution soon transformed into) a totalitarian communist state led by one Osiv Cizmar (!!) and a decadent engagement party among many other superb such.
Overall excellent, fast non stop action with superb characters in a very fascinating milieu, and while darker and on a smaller scale that The Godel operation, quite a few other facets of the Billion Worlds universe are explored through the backstories. Highly recommended and I definitely want more novels in this universe
October 28, 2023
Across the Billion Worlds, a scarab is a salvager of derelict or obsolete habitats. As part of Yanai’s crew, they were the scarab crew with the winning bid to salvage Safdaghar, an abandoned habitat. As the only human on the team, Solana joins Atmin, a corvid, Pera, a dino, and Utsuro, a cyborg, as they scavenge the Safdaghar. The biologicals hunt for valued items to increase their profits from this job. Even when a gang of pirates cannot sway the crew from their goal, a dark lurking threat just might.
The Scarab Mission is the second book in James L. Cambias’ The Billion Worlds novels. Though the two tales are loosely connected, The Scarab Mission is an exciting stand-alone novel. Cambias ties together a fun sci-fi fantasy with much darker horror undertones. Cambias uses the themes of genetic modification and mind control to exploit the fear of the loss of free will. Combining these fears along with a shadowy threat, Cambias scares up a space opera that is hard to put down. Those looking for a thrilling and chilling far-future adventure should join the mission.
The Scarab Mission is the second book in James L. Cambias’ The Billion Worlds novels. Though the two tales are loosely connected, The Scarab Mission is an exciting stand-alone novel. Cambias ties together a fun sci-fi fantasy with much darker horror undertones. Cambias uses the themes of genetic modification and mind control to exploit the fear of the loss of free will. Combining these fears along with a shadowy threat, Cambias scares up a space opera that is hard to put down. Those looking for a thrilling and chilling far-future adventure should join the mission.
April 18, 2023
I’ve enjoyed all of this authors books until this one. Don’t know if it was frame of mind or not but I found this book annoying. The protagonists make ridiculously stupid decisions with the obvious catastrophic results. One in particular I found ludicrous. A protagonist shows up in smart matter military armor and when asked to show that he was their to help he’s asked to remove his armor. Stupidly he does this and then is immediately overpowered and taken prisoner. I’m not done with this author but I’m really disappointed with this effort
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2023
The Scarab Mission by James L. Cambias is an amazing read! It draws you in and keeps you hanging on each word.
I love the way the story builds. The world of the derelict hab reveals itself page by page, along with the crew's histories and backstories. I could not put this book down as it ramped up to its ultimate climax. I enjoyed each story within the story as they were worlds unto themselves. But the winner for me was the eerie descriptions of the hab itself and life as it would have been when everything goes dark, and all that is left is waiting to be found.
I love the way the story builds. The world of the derelict hab reveals itself page by page, along with the crew's histories and backstories. I could not put this book down as it ramped up to its ultimate climax. I enjoyed each story within the story as they were worlds unto themselves. But the winner for me was the eerie descriptions of the hab itself and life as it would have been when everything goes dark, and all that is left is waiting to be found.
April 19, 2024
Excellent far future world(s) building, terrific cast—led (terrifying premise) by a genetically engineered slave hardwired to obey any human whose face she can see—and multiple murderous threats. Call it “SF Drama/Horror.” My favorite character is the raven who speaks in Shakespearean iambs: “Then let us do as soldiers should, and take our rest when now we can.” I do wish that the body count wasn’t so extreme, though.
December 11, 2025
A me piacciono tutte le varianti della cosiddetta Fantascienza ma è indubbio che il mio cervello va in sollucchero quando siamo nello spazio, quando ci sono milioni di habitat e miliardi di essere senzienti meccanici e biologici di ogni tipo e quando su premesse scientifiche credibili la fantasia va al potere immaginando “la qualunque”. Quindi devo dirvi che “Missione scarabeo” fin dalle prime pagine è stato una grandissima goduria. Aggiungeteci un po' di atmosfera misteriosa, perché forse qualcosa vi spia dal buio, una manipolatrice cattiva di grandissimo livello che mi sono immaginato con il volto dell’Uma Thurman di 20 anni fa, il tema del condizionamento comportamentale indotto geneticamente o attraverso impianti coercitivi che porta ad interessanti riflessioni sul libero arbitrio e capirete perché questa storia su una missione di recupero di un habitat dismesso e in sfacelo vi inchioderà dall’inizio alla fine senza darvi tregua. Apparentemente, solo un action-book dal grande ritmo, ma tra una scena e l’altra vi arriveranno anche le bordate sociopolitiche dell’autore, che lascia a voi il giudizio senza la pretesa di insegnare niente a nessuno. Ma devo dire, che la poesia finale, recuperata frammento dopo frammento, è la chiosa perfetta per questa storia da 5 stelle dove riesce ad andarsene forse solo chi se lo merita. Ad maiora
August 21, 2025
I really enjoyed this novel by Cambias, and I'd love to know if there are others in the same universe.
I particularly liked the following points:
- the idea of an extremely diverse solar system with artificial habitats, planets, and different spheres of influence, whose unpredictable state is exploited by scrap dealers and pirates;
- the basic plot is very reminiscent of what I would have liked to read as a kid (an abandoned space station, a mystery to unravel, two teams clashing, and interesting ideas about this particular distant future, such as the suits used to board Safdaghar);
- the character I found most interesting is Solana: in general, it's not that common to think of organic sex slaves; androids are usually used for this type of representation. And indeed, the quality of the writing is such that one can easily relate to the protagonist Qarina. Anton, with a similar problem to Solana, and Pera are also interesting, especially because the presence of a sentient dinosaur adds a further touch of fantasy, which is my personal taste.
Ultimately, I'd like to congratulate the author and hope to read more novels from him.
I particularly liked the following points:
- the idea of an extremely diverse solar system with artificial habitats, planets, and different spheres of influence, whose unpredictable state is exploited by scrap dealers and pirates;
- the basic plot is very reminiscent of what I would have liked to read as a kid (an abandoned space station, a mystery to unravel, two teams clashing, and interesting ideas about this particular distant future, such as the suits used to board Safdaghar);
- the character I found most interesting is Solana: in general, it's not that common to think of organic sex slaves; androids are usually used for this type of representation. And indeed, the quality of the writing is such that one can easily relate to the protagonist Qarina. Anton, with a similar problem to Solana, and Pera are also interesting, especially because the presence of a sentient dinosaur adds a further touch of fantasy, which is my personal taste.
Ultimately, I'd like to congratulate the author and hope to read more novels from him.
April 14, 2024
This was a decent far-future scavenger story that was much darker than I had expected. I liked it less than The Godel Operation, his first Billion Worlds novel. As always, read the publisher's introduction first -- although this one is somewhat confusing.
The Scarab Mission has moments, but it's a low-stakes story and confusing besides. I had trouble keeping track of the characters, especially the interlopers. The recurrent nastiness, violence and cruelty, and the high body-count . . . Well. I bought a Kindle copy for $7 and I didn't get my money's worth. The interlude on another, richer Jupiter colony-world was more entertaining.
Anyway, for me this was a 2.6 star read, rounded up. I don't really recommend the book. But you will see more positive reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
For some reason, the paper edition gets a separate page. If you like dark stories, you may want to give it a try.
The Scarab Mission has moments, but it's a low-stakes story and confusing besides. I had trouble keeping track of the characters, especially the interlopers. The recurrent nastiness, violence and cruelty, and the high body-count . . . Well. I bought a Kindle copy for $7 and I didn't get my money's worth. The interlude on another, richer Jupiter colony-world was more entertaining.
Anyway, for me this was a 2.6 star read, rounded up. I don't really recommend the book. But you will see more positive reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
For some reason, the paper edition gets a separate page. If you like dark stories, you may want to give it a try.
March 10, 2025
This one was definitely space-horror. It was a lot darker than the previous book, which I wasn't expecting. Basically the first two billion worlds books are standalone stories in the same universe with one character, Daslauk, overlapping. The characters were all interesting, and the villain was truly despicable. Not a light read, but exciting and thought-provoking.
May 20, 2025
Grazie ad Urania per averlo pubblicato. Mi e' piaciuto molto, ma ha messo a dura prova i miei nervi. E' decisamente un romanzo che ti prende molto emotivamente. Inizia come una storia leggera e spensierata, basti pensare che i protagonisti sono un'umana, un cyborg, un corvo e un dinosauro, ma diventa molto profonda e per certi aspetti, pesante. Non voglio scrivere molto per non fare spoiler.
September 10, 2025
Never read much Sci-Fi but this was super fun. Great characters and I was invested heavily in the plot and the developments being made. Page turner at the end which was good. Makes me want more from this universe and might check out more things aligned with it.
October 7, 2023
A slow start, but the action builds nicely. Be prepared for some big surprises.
May 7, 2025
Alta tensione, sempre con il fiato sospeso. Bello
March 21, 2023
There are a billion habitats in the solar system of the tenth millennium, James L. Cambias tells of scavengers to a habitat near Jupiter that suddenly went dark fifteen years before. It’s been sold for junk and the ship, the four scavengers are on, soon stabilizes it, setting it in motion for its destruction a decade in the future. The four, a genetic sex slave rescued years before who is looking to earn enough money to undo her subservient commands, a cyborg whose body had almost died when the habitat went dark, and is looking for missing memories, and two others hoping to collect hand-made items that the habitat specialized in, and intelligent raven and a dinosaur. The Scarab Mission(ebook from Baen) scavengers are soon joined by pirates from a close habitat looking to collect valuable metals. The problem is that something murdered all the inhabitants of Safdaghar snd might be still on board. This is a very tense tale of survival on the abandoned space colony and is impossible to put down.
February 14, 2023
This book is the sequel to The Godel Operation, which introduced a sprawling, far-future solar-system and a secret that spanned its history and might destroy it. The stakes of The Scarab Mission are much smaller, and it felt as if Cambias was playing in the sandbox he'd made. The story was occasionally inspired (the finger biting part was delightfully horrible), but the inspired pieces didn't link together. There was a lurking sense of "why does any of this matter?" But I read this on a long plane trip, and didn't mind it so much when the guy in front of me jammed the back of his seat into my knees. So thank you, Cambias.
March 17, 2023
Another solid book from Mr. Cambias, and one that is begging to be made into a screenplay. Without giving anything away the book smoothly shifts between three genres over the course of its story - from from cool band of criminals to - via very clever methods that don't compromise the cool band of criminals - falling out among thieves to SF monster movie. Characters are well drawn, you really feel and fear for your viewpoint characters, and the ending plays out in a satisfactory fashion. Solid Hard SF adventure. Give it a go.
And someone option it for a screenplay, please.
And someone option it for a screenplay, please.
April 17, 2025
This is straightforward, action-packed sci-fi with a few narrative gaps, but it's nonetheless a relaxing and quick read. I really enjoyed all the characters, and the atmosphere is just the right amount of dark and mysterious. I hope to read more by Cambias.
Sci-fi semplice e d'azione, con qualche buco narrativo ma rilassante e veloce. I personaggi mi sono piaciuti tutti e l'atmosfera é oscura e misteriosa quanto basta. Spero di leggere altro di Cambias.
Sci-fi semplice e d'azione, con qualche buco narrativo ma rilassante e veloce. I personaggi mi sono piaciuti tutti e l'atmosfera é oscura e misteriosa quanto basta. Spero di leggere altro di Cambias.
April 14, 2024
My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For some reason, the Kindle edition has a separate page.
For some reason, the Kindle edition has a separate page.
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