Joe Vasicek | Brainfluff

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

Bookfunnel is running a promotion featuring space opera adventure novels for only 99c – click on the header to see the books on offer – including Running Out of Space. I love these offers as it means I can sample some new space opera series without breaking the bank😊. I’ve selected a few that caught my eye to share with you…

New Star Rising – Book 1 of The Indigo Reports by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Be careful what you ask an android to do… Bellona Cardenas Scordina de Deluca, daughter of the primary Cardenas family, went missing ten years ago. Reynard Cardenas, Bellona’s father and head of the family, receives anonymous, unsubstantiated news that she has been found. He sends the most disposable person in the family to investigate—Sang, the family android.

I really like the sound of this one – the fact that the family android is sent to solve the problem certainly sounds sufficiently intriguing for me to want to get hold of this one.

Bringing Stella Home – Book 1 of the Gaia Nova series by Joe Vasicek
HE’LL GO TO THE ENDS OF THE GALAXY TO SAVE HIS BROTHER AND SISTER.
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 Hameji battle fleets conquer his home world and take them away from him, all of that is shattered forever.
I like the fact that it is a younger brother setting out to save his older siblings that powers the narrative in this alien invasion adventure.

Illiya – Book 1 of the Taylor Neeran Chronicles by J.J Matthews
Human expansion into the stars has been under way for over a millennium as fresh worlds are colonized and newly discovered alien species are invited to join a loose commonwealth of planets that now extends beyond the Orion spur of the Milky Way galaxy. However, not all species are peaceful. A hundred years of war to repel the Xathen invasion turned into an uneasy truce that has lasted for nearly thirty years. Exploration of systems has resumed, with the Zanzibar sent to complete the survey of a planet on the fringes of Xathen space. When the Xathen declared war over a hundred and thirty years ago, contact with the first survey ship was lost, and they never returned home.
These are the chronicles of Taylor Neeran – university student, daughter of an absentee mother and passenger on the Zanzibar. Taylor has come along for the trip to explore a new planet, earn a few extra course credits, and get to know her mother. Well, that was the plan…

Again, I’m pleased to see that it is a family relationship that powers the narrative – Taylor’s mother organises to have her student daughter aboard so they can spend time together to get to know each other. But it won’t come as a shock to discover that poor old Taylor finds herself in spot of serious trouble quite quickly…

First Flyght – Book 1 of The Flyght series by S.J. Pajonas
Her future is brighter than the stars. But one betrayal will change everything…
Vivian Kawabata can’t wait to claim her privileged destiny. But when the heir to the family agricultural empire finds her bank account empty while shopping for expensive shoes, she’s horrified to discover that her own brother has financially stabbed her in the back. To stand a chance of restoring her rightful place in the universe, the honest and rule-following Vivian may have to break a few intergalactic laws.
After securing an old ship from her aunt, Vivian takes on two new roles: a sexy heiress collecting eligible husbands and a hard-nosed captain rebuilding a lost fortune by any means necessary. Completely out of her depth, she’d be sunk without the help of a relationship broker, a handsome ex-boyfriend, a hacker with a heart of gold, and the other potential partners she meets along the way. With a business that runs the razor’s edge between trade and smuggling, can the former high-society socialite get the money she needs or will her brazen ambition lead to a deadly crash landing?

This is another one that caught my eye, given that I have already know I like this author’s writing style – and the premise sounds like it could be a lot of fun, with all sorts of adventures along the way.