When the first scene of a novel involves a starship captain covered with scratches crawling along the passageways of her ship to disentangle psychic space cats from the wiring, it seems pretty clear what you’re going to be in for, and I don’t think the first chapter mis-sells the product. This is space opera, with no effort or attempt at hard SF. Ships travel FTL through portals left behind by an ancient race, and that allows for a society that is well-connected with commerce, trade, and piracy.
The characters were fun, and I enjoyed getting to know them, but I am not sure I am chomping at the bit to read more. Space battles, fight scenes, enemies you don’t fully understand, I liked all that, but I guess for my tastes, this was too campy, too magical, too unrealistic.
I did love the sprinkling through of Spanish; that gave some depth to the characters, though unfortunately I don’t read Spanish. However, I was generally able to follow what was going on and I know a few common words so it generally made sense. Or, the quote was clear in context even if you didn’t know the exact language.
There is a sequel, and I’ve seen Valerie speak at one or two conventions and I like her style and ethos, so maybe I’ll read it eventually. I picked up a book from almost everyone I saw at the Flights of Foundry con a few months ago, just to broaden my horizons. I guess I know the limits of my tastes, and that is good!
—Spoiler—
I don’t like to include spoilers but this one isn’t too bad. There is a new piece of alien technology revealed right at the end that felt very Deus ex Machina to me. I loved the tech, and I loved the video game it was referencing, but it felt stapled on to the book as an afterthought. I guess if your progenitor race is sufficiently advance, the tech will feel like magic, and I am certainly looking forward to seeing how they can use this tech in the sequel… that right there might be the reason I pick it up.