Griffin Barber

Barber, Griffin, and Kacey Ezell. Second Chance Angel. Last Stop Station No. 1. Blackstone, 2020.
Barber and Ezell have created a universe with lots of story possibilities. When we met some aliens called Mentors, they offered us a lot of very useful technology on condition that we joined their interstellar war. Our aliens won, but Earth was destroyed (collateral damage), so now humans are mostly refugees, migrant workers, and burned-out vets. Ralston Muck is one of the burned-out vets working show more as a bouncer in a cabaret on Last Stop Station. When Siren, the beautiful chanteuse he has been protecting, is kidnapped, her AI (the second-chance angel of the title) is looking for a new home and finds it in Muck’s head and off they go to rescue Siren. The first-person narration shifts between Angel and Muck, and both have distinctive voices. The action moves us right along, and the technology is a cut above average. A fun read. show less

Ralston Muck is eking out a living as a bouncer on a space station. He is a disgraced army vet who has had his AI removed. His only solace is listening to the star singer at the club where he works. Hearing her eases some of his pain as she sings out her own pain.

One night she disappears and her AI Angel somehow manages to leave her brain and find its way to Muck's. This is unheard of and even thought to be impossible. It is also impossible that Angel is starting to feel emotions but it is. show more

Angel recruits Muck to help her locate her original host which leads both of them into a galactic conspiracy and all sorts of danger. They deal with the space station's crime lord who is an alien and who sends him to another planet to look into the disappearance and some new drug. But danger follows them there and only a chance encounter with some people from Muck's past let them live through it.

I enjoyed the mystery aspects of this story and learning about the bigger conspiracy. I really liked the relationship that grew between Muck and Angel. I liked the worldbuilding which included interesting aliens, unique technology, and all sorts of secrets. show less

This was a decent sci-fi read. I liked Angel and while I didn't love Muck to begin with, his character grew on me. The underlying romance storyline is actually a fun idea and I enjoyed that "conflict".

I found “1636: Mission to the Mughals” (the umpteenth book in the Ring of Fire series) to be quite interesting. I felt that the time travellers were much more bit players than normal. Unlike most of the other stories in the series it is focused on the locals in India responding to the historic information about their country. Often the stories center around how the travellers in time use their knowledge to do things differently. While there are elements of that (mainly to do with show more childbirth, infections, and gunfire) mostly the story is the impact of the history knowledge from our time and how Indians are going to say “No. We will not become a part of the British Empire.” Of course this changes everything and India’s future has already become significantly different. I really hope that these characters and story are followed up on and expanded. show less