I picked this one last year during a Book Funnel sales promotion, when the cover and blurb caught my eye. Would I enjoy it?
BLURB: The New Gaian Empire is crumbling. An undefeatable enemy from the outer reaches is sweeping across the frontier stars, slagging worlds and sowing chaos. Soon, they will threaten the very heart of civilized space. James McCoy never thought he would get caught up in the Hameji wars. The 
youngest son of a merchanter family, he just wants the same respect as his older brother and sister. But when the the Hameji battle fleets conquer his home world and take them away from him, all of that is shattered forever.
So… a younger brother manages to flee the ruthless invaders along with his father, but then is determined to return to rescue his older brother and sister. This one is told in multiple viewpoints where we learn of James’ desperate efforts to get back to Ben and Stella, in between discovering what happens to them. The risk in swinging around the viewpoints is that the reader will identify more with one storyline and skimread the others. I have to say that Stella’s story particularly held me as her character developed from the panicky, desperate teenager quite rightly terrified by the prospect of what lies ahead of her, so at times I did whip through the other plotlines to get back to her. However, as the story moved forward, I found I was doing that less and less as Vasicek is good at showing character development and peopling his space opera adventure with characters I cared about, even some of the bit players. I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the eunuch detailed to serve Stella in her new life, since I finished the book.
The other strength of this story is that while events unspooled reasonably predictably at the start – they had to in order for the premise to work – Vasicek quickly allowed his plot to take several left turns into something for more edgy, so that by the time I was in the middle of this one, I genuinely couldn’t work out how it was going to end. Which was also something of a shock.
All in all, this pacey, well-crafted space opera adventure served up some real surprises and laid a strong groundwork for this series. Recommended for fans of space opera adventure, where the plot doesn’t go according to plan. But be advised the storyline involves forced abduction and rape, although that isn’t depicted in any detail.
8/10
Apr28
Brainfluff 
This sounds like a solid read, and the fact that the author was able to successfully write multiple viewpoints sounds like a bonus😁
Yes – it certainly was a solid read, Tammy:). And the book did draw me into the story…
Yes thanks for that info. I find lots of the older school scifi written by men included abduction / rape. I prefer my stories with strong women instead. So often I read women authors or UF, and these things still happen but less so. Fantastic review!
Yes… though the interesting issue is that this book is as much about how the younger brother is struggling to track down his sister and older brother, than the sister’s experiences – which didn’t go exactly the way I’d expected…
This really does sound like a good read and the fact that you ended up liking more than the one original storyline really demonstrates the character arcs.
Lynn 😀
Thank you, Lynn. Yes – I liked the premise and then was a bit worried at where it went, then was swept up back into the story again…
Thank you for showcasing another interesting space opera that would otherwise have flown under my radar! 🙂
You’re very welcome, Maddalena:))
I like when I am unable to work things out. Good to know about that turn.
It was a memorable and interesting read – I finished it last year and I can still clearly recall the story…