I’ve always like B. V. Larson’s books, especially the “Undying Mercenaries Series”. If you like some humor with your science fiction, that is the series to read. So, I was intrigued by this new offering from a good writer. It doesn’t say that this will be a series, but it could very well turn into one. It’s just up to the author.
Our Hero has died! Yes, right at the onset of this book, we find out that Captain William Gorman was killed under mysterieous circumstances. So, how do we continue a story with the main character. Well, remember, this is science fiction and just about anything can happen, even collecting on old bills that you didn’t pay because you were dead!
Yes, I’m afraid the late Captain William Gorman is going to have a very bad credit rating from here on. You see, he let his monthly payments to the cryo-lab lapse and now is in default. So, as would any business, they are not going to continue using their resources to maintain a frozen body if the monthly payments aren’t made. That’s when William Gorman’s clone wakes up, very cold and very confused. He does eventually realize where he is at and why! That makes him very nervous since the only reason he should have been thawed out was to take one of his body parts that the original Gorman needed! Yeah, that’s what the future is coming to. The clone is nothing but property although this one has all the memories of the original up until the time he died. He doesn’t remember that death, but he knows all about who he’s supposed to be and he doesn’t want to die again. Nobody would, right?
So, given the opportunity and being the very resourceful guy that the original William Gorman was, the clone Gorman manages to take off from the lab and is madly trying to escape to his own future. And that is what this book is all about. How a clone steps in and assumes the identity of the original person, yet he is the original person just grown at a different time and rate. From all appearances, those who worked with Captain William Gorman, a Captain because he owns and commands his own starship, or at least he did, don’t see any difference. Although many of them thought that Gorman had died, they accept this new Gorman just as easily since he does, in fact, act the same as the old one. Well, everyone except the person that killed him and she knows he’s not the same guy.
As the story unfolds, this new Captain Gorman wants to set out for the fringe territory where he once thrived as a gun runner for a certain boss criminal. Little doe this new Gorman know that his former Boss and soon to be boss again, is the very one that ordered him killed! You can see how things are going to get confusing. Well, they do, but not that confusing. I found the story very entertaining with, again, some humor added here and there. Very good writing.
I again, don’t know if this will turn into a series, but it very well could. There are a number of interesting characters and the setting for a lot of new adventures. We’ll just have to wait and see.