Lenni Reviews: "Escape Velocity" Jason M. Hough

(Image Source)

*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

After the destruction of their ships, Captains Skyler Luiken and Gloria Tsandi with their crews are stranded within enemy compounds, scattered and separated with no escape and surrounded by the Scipio; having survived a huge attack, and now must find a way to find their comrades, defeat an armada, and get out alive.

Despite the flurry of characters, this is an interesting space opera with some high handed concepts that feel bigger than they really are. Other than my personal curiosity about the previous books in this series, this one stands alone just fine. It's enjoyable, the characters and writing kept me interested but not enough to get truly lost in it and I found myself easily distracted instead of engaged. It comes in, does its thing, then it leaves fulfilling its task. Not bad, though. 3 out of 5.

Lenni Reviews: "The Thirteenth Man" by J.L. Doty

(Image Source)

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Charlie Cass - the unacknowledged son of a duke - is freed from a POW camp, he returns to find a kingdom on the cusp of war. The dukes are plotting against one another and the king and now with the presumed dead Charlie back in the picture, they fear he will interfere with their plans. But Charlie refuses to go down without a fight.

I'm not usually a fan of military sci-fi but I honestly have to say this was the characters that kept me interested in this book. Charlie is a compelling, sensible character who is smart enough to surround himself with competent, loyal, and colorful people. Especially the prostitutes. They made me laugh. The techno jargon and political dancing were a little much but I just let it wash over me until the cool stuff started happening again. All that posturing and double meaning give me a headache. It's why I could never be a politician...

As this book was filled with all these thrilling space battles and has a satisfying conclusion to the main conflict, I felt the epilogue deflated everything; especially after such a climactic ending. I honestly can't think of another way to mend all those plot threads together without adding a few hundred pages to the book so I'll let the exposition dump slide. For unexpectedly entertaining me despite being out of my usual tastes, I give this a 3.7 out of 5.

For more reviews, check out Lenni's blog: Haunting Hypatia.

Lenni Reviews: "Apex" by Aer-ki Jyr

(Image Source)

Humans have long since gone extinct and any remaining scrap of their civilization is heavily prized and ruthlessly hunted. Even the slightest scrap could change the course of a planet's role in the galaxy. So when courier for hire Jalia happens upon a group smuggling a very secret and very valuable bit of cargo, she's even willing to abandon her crew at a space station to take the job. But the cargo isn't just a bit of scrap and now every available ship and gun in the known galaxy is after her.

First off, this is a really cool space opera. I don't usually pick these up but when I do, I am rarely impressed and Aer-Ki Jyr impressed me. The levels of detail in the technology, weaponry, and abilities of each species are carefully thought out, fully described, and very interesting. The story stalls for those descriptions sometimes but it gets right back on track. I had vivid memories of the first time I saw Titan A.E., which is good and bad.

The good: It's just awesome. Aliens, spaceships, fun new technology, and space battles with intelligent, fun characters you enjoy interacting with. The book is tense, hilarious, heartwarming, and smart. I loved reading it.

The bad: I got a serious "Humans are the best evar!11!" vibe. Before going extinct, humans had the best tech, were self-healing, psychic super beings who could just fix all the things. Our only weakness seemed to be what ever cataclysm destroyed us. Granted this is thousands of years worth of inventions, evolution, and general progress to get there, but the fact we were just so darn perfect didn't sit that well. Nitpicky I know but it rubbed me the wrong way.

But this is not to say you shouldn't read it. If you like long space operas with cool aliens and battles, you'll love this book.

Want more of Lenni's writing? Check out my Amazon and Barnes and Noble pages.