I’ve finally returned to this series after a year and a half. I had to read my own review on book 1, “Wanderer” to get caught up. This is a story about a human slave who happened to come upon a mysterious ship. He was accompanied by his owners, other humans who were definitely in the slave market. This is in the far future so humanity hasn’t learned much and the Empire is even worse than we could imagine.
Anyway, Jess, is ordered by his owners to board the space ship, but only after the first two slaves were killed by booby traps while moving towards the bridge. So, he’s not all that sure he’ll survive, but he has no choice. He and two other slaves board the ship and tentatively head toward the bridge. Surprisingly, they make it. Jess sits in the pilots set and that’s when things start happening. The ship grabs Jess’ head and starts a physical merging with his brain. His head is fixed to the seat and he can’t move. Then he finds out that he ship is not his enemy and has designated him to be the new pilot and Captain. All the doors shut and their slave collars drop off. Jess, Sal and Matt are now free for the first times in their lives. Obviously, they take off in their new ship. That’s a re-cap of book one.
Now the crew has grown a little and lost one of it’s members. Ali and Elizabeth have joined the crew with Elizabeth, an exceptional engineer, and Ali as another slave now free. They have also picked up a alien called Teeko. I’m not sure where he came from, but the Empire has always declared that there are no aliens in the known galaxy. He was a former slave who speaks somewhat like Yoda (Star Wars©). The ship is called the Wanderer of all things. They currently have a breather from their escape from captivity and now much figure out what to do. Jess is only 17, which is mighty young to be the Captain of a starship, but that he is. He is guided somewhat by the ship and has full knowledge of the ships capabilities and those capabilities far exceed any other ship in the Empire.
But, the ship has a yearning to return to its home system. That happens to be on the far, far side of known space almost beyond what man has explored. To get there, they have to travel through a very narrow corridor of slip-space which is highly guarded and protected by the Empire. They need new papers to disguise who they are. Of course, getting new papers means they might have to do some illegal trading so they head to a planet that might have the resources. Again, this is where things start getting good. Their ship is unlike anything in the Empire; it’s almost as if it’s a live! It’s going to have to be something special to get them out of the trouble they soon find themselves in. Great reading and very interesting.
I’m going to get the next book in the series, “Wanderer – Tainted Universe (Wanderer’s Odyssey Book 3)” which is already available on Amazon.