Little time has passed between the end of Ithaka Rising and this new book, throwing us into Micah’s life after he shuttled out of book 2, pretty early on. He’s still suffering from the injuries inflicted in Derelict and hoping to make a new life for himself. However, the despicable Alain Maldonado has other ideas. When Micah’s university room mate is kidnapped, it’s up to him and Halcyone’s crew to fly to the rescue.

Halcyone’s almost running smoothly – perhaps as smoothly as a forty year old ship that crash landed can be expected to run. That’s good, because almost everything else in the characters’ lives is falling apart. There are gigantic conspiracies, and it feels like every character in the book has a secret agenda.

Ro and Barre both pull off some pretty impressive stunts along the way, proving they have the brains and guts to take on the vast number of problems that can arise in space.

The story has a great combination of action and intrigue, with excellent pacing, as I’ve come to expect from the previous books in the series. The characters and their relationships with each other are well written, and I find myself caring about them. That’s a nice change from my usual fare on TV, where I find myself watching shows where I don’t like many of the characters (The 100, Fear the Walking Dead).

This book has a satisfying ending while leaving a lot of open questions for future books. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

About the Reviewer

Husband, father, and researcher, Ryan Toxopeus spends his free time working on his epic fantasy trilogy, Empire’s Foundation. He started writing the first book, A Noble’s Quest, in 2010 and fell in love with all aspects of storytelling. He focuses on fast paced, character driven plots. His motto: “If I’m bored writing it, others will be bored reading it.”

Learn more about Ryan and his work at https://prcreative.ca/ryan/