I was lucky enough to be approved for the second book in this space opera adventure, Chaos Vector, so wanted to get hold of this one in order to fully understand the story.
BLURB: Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens to find the unthinkable has happened…
REVIEW: I’ve tweaked the blurb to avoid a major spoiler that would ruin that amazing opening scene – and my firm advice is to avoid the wretched blurb before tucking into this one. That opening scene is one of the best I read in a long time and blew me away. I loved the situation Sanda finds herself in and was riveted by the ongoing dilemma and how it was going to play out.
However, that isn’t the only major plotline in this book. While I also enjoyed Biran’s storyline, there was another ongoing narrative which I struggled not to skim. It was about a scrappy girl from a poor background who pulls a job which goes badly, which simply couldn’t compete, when compared with the events facing Sanda and Biran, whose unfolding stories just went on getting ever better.
And then, Sanda’s storyline also became a bit more ordinary, turning more into a typical action-packed space opera adventure, rather than the fantastic tension-filled tightrope I’d inhaled in the earlier part of the book. That said, I don’t want anyone to think this is a bad or disappointing story. It is well crafted, with strong characters, vivid backdrop and convincing world. The problem was – it didn’t quite fulfil the promise of that amazing opening, howeverI am certainly looking forward to Chaos Vector with great anticipation. Recommended for fans of well-told space opera adventure.
8/10
Brainfluff 
I enjoyed this too. It was very ambitious and I think she did a great job pulling all the parts together😁
Glad you enjoyed it so much, too. Yes, it was an ambitious, wide-ranging plot for sure.
I have this one coming from the library. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I look forward to hearing what you think of this one, too:)).
Sounds good – even though the opening seemed to give extra high expectations.
Lynn 😀
It did. That opening was extraordinary and I thought I’d be reading a solid 10/10. But it didn’t turn out that way…
It’s so annoying when the blurb spoils part of the book but I’m glad it didn’t ruin your overall enjoyment of this one.
Fortunately, I only ever very lightly skim a blurb when I first request a book – and then promptly forget them. So I’m delighted that this fabulous opening didn’t get Spoiled – it would have been a tragedy…
Since I saw you read Chaos Vector as well, I imagine you saw how the promises of this first book have been fulfilled and how the storylines developed there: this is an amazing space opera series, indeed, and I can hardly wait to see how it will wrap up 🙂
I think you love this one more than I do… While I am very invested in Sanda and Biran, I’m not all that happy at the way the plot has devolved from the wonderful, tight-knit, tension-filled section in Bero in this slice of the adventure. I was frustrated at how little we saw of Tomas, given was a layered, interesting character he is – whereas Jules is just boringly generic… I was far more impressed with the plot development and story progression in Seven Devils, which I read before this one – and I think it suffered by comparison…
However, I’m very keen to see how the whole story wraps up!
I would have happily exchanged Jules’ “screen time” with more space given to Tomas, as well, and I hope he will figure more prominently in the next book, but I enjoyed the change of pace from Bero’s limited confines to a galaxy-wide exciting chase. This author is big on surprises, however, and I wonder what she still has in store for us… 🙂
Oh yes – I’m also really keen to see how the issues around the Protectorate are going to play out, too:))