Kate Sheeran Swed

Uwwwww weeeeee, this was a good one!! This was an action packed, unputdownable Space Opera with alien creatures, space cartels/space pirates, mild mannered muscly hacker bounties, politic-lite mushiness (for lack of a better word for the mess that was the devious political muck abrewing- although, for a Space Opera, the amount of political machinations were on the lean/subtle side BUT it's only the first book, there's time yet), self rescuing (for the most part) cleverly reckless damsels with loads and tons of moxie... and more.

With madcap schemes abound and a really cute burgeoning amore between our two MCs, I was hooked! There are the two dueling POVs from our two main characters. There is a kick ass (with tons more to her but for the sake of brevity I'll leave it at this and let you find out for yourself) FMC Sloane and Gareth- our equally kick ass (though more reserved) military commander MMC. Although it was not terribly hard to discern friend from foe throughout, it still proved fun to speculate which added to the story's allure. The characters were detailed, dynamic, relateable and well crafted... they, plus the the backdrop, stole the show. This laid the foundation for what appears to be a thrilling new Space Opera favorite of mine on the horizon.

Overall:

This was an easy to digest, scientific terminology-lite, space romp with a slightly snarky, slightly crazy, all sorts of hairbrained idea wielding female MC and all of the ensuing attention she garnered (both deserved and unjustly calamitous). Although the premise might not have been the most unique (it's pretty difficult to reinvent an already saturated genre), it was captivating enough that its questionable originality did not matter in the slightest. I didn't realize how much I wanted this to go on and on until the progression bar caught my eye and I saw how much of the book I had already consumed... greedily. I then sat there... still reading of course but now sitting there reading with a pout and a hope that it would last just a little bit longer...

It didn't.

HOWEVER, the fire was already lit and I was alight with need, anxiously yearning for the next book in the series... dramatic sounding? YES, but the pull is real so I thought I'd share.

Unfortunately, due to a torn retina and a slightly lengthy (10 day) stint in paradise, it took longer than expected to read and review this gem. My inability to get this book read on time is in no way indicative of Chaos Zone's merit or of how much I enjoyed reading it. I have never had the pleasure of reading any of Kate Sheeran Swed's previous works but this book has me clambering for more. I am definitely off to beg, borrow (I draw the line at stealing) or request my library to aquire a copy of book #2, Bounty War, toot sweet... I need to know what happens next!

Final 2 cents:

If you like Space Operas.... if you like strong space mafia battling female MCs that are reckless and slightly evil genius level lucky... if you like romance-lite reads with slightly cliffy endings... if you like lighthearted stories that cause time to mysteriously evaporate then I suggest you add this to your (probably) already teetering TBR!

~ Enjoy

*** I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ***… (meer)

More engaging that I'd initially suspected. It's a weird mix of controlling AI, fear and opera - Space Opera not usually being as literally interpreted as this - especially the 2nd installment which is very heavily Phantom based.

In an isolated system Toccata - AIs control much of civilization but are strictly limited in how much personality they are allowed to gain. A scientist attempts to increase this thinking to bind they're loyalty to himself. But as may always be predicted it all goes wrong, and he earns the undying enmity of one particular AI. 'She' in turn raises a small army of jilted or abandoned girls as assassins in all forms to track him down for 'her' ultimate revenve. This is the girls' story.… (meer)

Before I dig into this, here's a warning—this is the second novella in a trilogy. I cannot talk about this in any understandable fashion without talking about a couple of the things from the first book. Most of what I want to say is no big deal, but one thing is a spoiler for an important revelation in the first book. If it were me, I wouldn't mind knowing what I'm about to say when I started Parting Shadows Still if you'd prefer to be careful—you should just go read what I had to say about Parting Shadows and move on.

ARE YOU STILL READING? GOOD
So in Parting Shadows, we hear something about a vigilante running around Landry City—Astra speculates about that vigilante being one of the SATIS girls. Also, when Isabelle goes to the Opera in Landry City, something happens that rattles her—but other events are going on which makes that not such a big deal.

Phantom Song tells us about what happened at the Opera and about the vigilante. And that's just the early chapters.

This book overlaps the events of Phantom Song but largely happens in its aftermath. We begin with a cyborg attacking a transport ship carrying a friend of Isabelle's, Claire, and her mother. Claire is injured, but her mother gets her to safety. She wakes up as a cyborg herself—it was the only way to keep her alive. We later learn that it was SATIS who arranged for that. While she waits to see how raising an assassin goes, she has one constructed, too.

Claire spends her nights as that vigilante in order to find the cyborg that attacked her family (actually, she's just hunting for the cyborg, the vigilante stuff is a side effect—but let's not get into that). During the day, she's the star of Landry City's Opera.

Astra comes looking for the vigilante—to see if she's right about the SATIS tie and to recruit some help in her efforts to stop Keyes. The two end up joining forces to take down the Cyborg first.

ON ODD PREJUDICE
For a society so run by various AIs, there is a deep-seated prejudice against humans with cybernetic augmentation—no matter the reason for it. The prejudice is so strong that hospital staff—the same people that just saved Claire's life through the implants—treat her with scorn because of them. It's powerful but makes no sense.

Then again, no one said prejudices have to make sense. The ones that seem most prevalent in human society certainly don't. So, spot on there.

Because of this hatred, Claire has to adopt a new identity and cover her cybernetic parts with long sleeves, dresses, and mask. Which works because of her new identity's celebrity, but wouldn't cut it in any other circumstance. That's a nice touch—and the lengths Claire has to go to to protect herself paves the way for a very successful way to protect her double life.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT PHANTOM SONG?
I know even less about Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera than I do, so I'm not going to pretend to be able to talk about this take on Phantom.

This is a short enough work—and so easy to spoil its own events, much less those of the prior book, that I feel like I've been unusually shallow talking about it. But that's all you're getting from me.

After doing all the heavy lifting in the first novella—setting up the rules of the world, the way AIs work, SATIS and her girls, and so on, Swed can just play in this novella. The story is more developed, she can sink deeper into the characters (having characters who have had a natural emotional development also helps), she can involve more characters and plotlines. In short, she can do more. Which leads to this being a more enjoyable read.

I don't think this works that well as an entry point into the series—it's a trilogy, that makes sense. But this is a great way to follow up on Parting Shadows and sets the stage for a big conclusion in Prodigal Storm. Which is exactly what you want in the middle book of a trilogy.… (meer)