Ithaka Rising by LJ Cohen is the second in the Halycone Space series. It can be read and enjoyed by readers who missed the first book (Derelict), but I recommend reading both books.

Ro Maldonado, a gifted engineer, is the kind of young woman people might describe as “difficult.” Certainly, her childhood as the daughter of a complicated father with unclear loyalties hasn’t made friendships or trust easy for her. But she’s learning and, now that she has friends, she would do anything to help them, including taking on a dangerous mission in a not-quite-fully-functional ship to rescue one of them.

I admire the realism of this story in that there are no easy answers to the complex problems the characters face. A great adventure story that left me both satisfied and anxious for a third book!

About The Reviewer:

Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

This is great!

As a matter of fact, I think it’s the best indie book I’ve read, and I’m going to put it in my mental list of books I’d suggest for my kids to read when they’re older.

The four main characters are well fleshed out and following their individual stories fully immersed me in their lives. Each character had problems with their parents (who doesn’t at that age?), but as the story unfolds you learn more and more that puts you fully in the kids’ corners.

I think the only thing I found to be somewhat unbelievable was how each of the four kids on the backwater space station was a genius at something. Ro and Jem with their programming, Barre with his music, and Micah with his botany. If there were other young people on the station, I don’t remember them being mentioned, but the fact that it’s a lightly populated base makes it statistically improbable that you’d have 4 kids who are undoubtedly geniuses.

That one minor point aside, the book was incredible. Just when you think things can’t get worse they do. I was waiting for one other shoe to drop at the end, but it didn’t play out the way I anticipated. And that was fine. I like being wrong sometimes, and by the end of the book I was more than ready for the kids to have one less obstacle in their paths!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fast-paced, intriguing stories with no shortage of action and suspense.

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/