Once again, I picked up a new author and a new series without reading anything about the book. Sometimes that’s a mistake. This time, it was kind of a mistake, but not one that I can’t live with. You see, I’m a Male Chauvinist and I don’t like female leading characters! Yeah, I put that in print. It’s who I am and I’m not going to hide it. These are my reviews and I’ll write them like I want to. So, let’s move on and find out what I did like about the book.
Our main character is Lia (Lianetta Jansen) and she is the Captain of the “Matilda”, a rather dilapidated old starship. She has a crew of two, one named Caladan, and another named Harlan5. Caladan is somewhat human, but has only one arm. He is the ship’s pilot and very good at doing that even with one arm. He’s also a drunk like the Captain or prefers to sleep most of the time. The less work he can get buy with, the happier he is and the ship shows that.
The other crewman, Harlan5, is a robot! He’s also somewhat dilapidated, but tries to keep himself in working shape as much as possible. He’s also the only one on the ship that ever tries to repair anything. Still, spare parts are hard to come by and the Captain doesn’t seem to think about getting repairs when they are on a suitable planet. Fortunately, Harlan5 is a very capable robot and probably goes far beyond his original programming in order to keep the ship working. Although no one will admit it, Harlan5 is very close to being sentient, but even he falls back on the fact that he’s only a robot and can’t act unless told to do so. Yet, he always doing what is necessary because the Captain (Lia) and Calandan don’t care and are usually very impaired when not smuggling for some devious client.
So, that’s what and who you’re going to read about. I’ve read the scenario in several other books, only not with a female as the Captain and lead character. It doesn’t seem right. She’s as tough as nails and can very easily defend herself in most any bar fight. I’m not sure why the author felt that a female would be best in this role other than it provides a shock value for the readers at the start. Once you find out what she’s like, you can just assume she’s a male and go on, if you want.
Anyway, as usual in the smuggling business, if you don’t do what you’re paying client wants done or if you decide to change the original agreement, things usually don’t go well. And that’s what this whole story is about. Lia is supposed to find a data chip, secure it from those who currently have it, and deliver said chip to an evil warlord currently residing on or above Abaion 3. She things she has found out what the chip is for, but then finds out that it’s much worse than she expected. And as usual with this type of book, she gets a sudden change of conscience. She just might not deliver what was agreed. All heck breaks out with that idea.
I’m not sure I’ll be reading the rest of these books. Oh, the story is entertaining, but not the kind I like to read. Again, please refer to my initial paragraph statement and then decide who you are.