Cat Rambo

Farscape meets The Great British Bakeoff is a very apt description for You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo. Niko Larson is a former military leader for the Hive Mind who left to start a restaurant on TwiceFar Station. She took with her a multi-species selection of her former crew and they are on the verge of success in the form of a coveted Nikkelin Orb restaurant award. A threat to the station forces them to escape on board the sentient ship, You Sexy Thing. They escape with only a few possessions, show more including a crate addressed to Larson that happens to contain Atlanta, the heir to the Paxian empire. They find themselves unwillingly headed toward the clutches of a pirate king holding a deep grudge against Niko that he’s been nursing for years. Their quest for a successful restaurant now becomes a quest just to survive!

Cat Rambo has created a lovable cast of eccentric characters along with an adventure worthy of them. The character-driven narrative lets the excellent world-building unfold in the background as you experience it by watching how it has shaped and continues to drive these individuals. This includes the sentient ship which is exposed to new ways of thinking, and cooking, by its interaction with the crew. The plot moves forward at a steady clip with plenty of action, humor and surprises along the way.

You Sexy Thing is a lot of fun with a group of characters that you enjoy spending time with and a brisk plot filled with action, emotion and humor. Looking forward to seeing more in this universe!

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. show less

Written and published before the 1/6 Insurrection, this odd book sadly isn't nearly as speculative as the writers may have thought (or, maybe, hoped.) While not great fiction, it's clear-eyed (if too whimsically) about the challenges, both seen and unseen, facing America. Any recommendation should come with the book's own caveat: "As a parody/satire with occasional over-the-top elements, some reads may find certain portions of these stories caustic. But the read is reminded that this is a show more satire and neither the authors nor the publisher purport that anything contained in this anthology is either true or likely to happen, or is a true representation of the characters."

The book consists of three novellas:
-The Breaking of Nations by Harry Turtledove
-The Purloined Republic by James Morror
-Because It Is Bitter by Cat Rambo show less

Niko Larsen and her team managed to retire alive from the military of the Holy Hive Mind several years ago and since then have been trying to make a go of running a restaurant on the space station TwiceFar. But while in the midst of preparing to serve a very important food critic, the station is attacked and Niko and her crew are forced to take refuge on the bioship, You Sexy Thing. And that's really when all hell breaks loose with space pirates, old vendettas, and a sense that fate may have show more great plans for Niko and the ragtag group she calls family.

This was a fun space opera with a diverse and queer cast of characters doing all the things I love including found family, space adventures, and fascinating backstories that kept me turning pages. Cat Rambo has crafted a really fascinating tale. My only quibble is that their choice to use third person omniscient as the point of view makes for some occasional jarring perspective jumps as things moved from character to character without a section break. Otherwise, I had a grand time with this and look forward to reading the other books in the series. show less

Captain Nikko Larsen and the remaining members of her unit are retired from the military of the Holy Hive Mind, which is a feat in and of itself. They're running a restaurant on a space station at the edge of the known universe, trying to save up some money and keep a low profile. Unfortunately, some of Nikko's old enemies aren't willing to let bygones be bygones, which is how the crew find themselves aboard a hijacked sentient spaceship, headed toward pirate territory -- and mortal danger.

I show more love the whole spaceship-crew-as-found-family motif (especially if the ship gets to be part of the group), and that's a big part of this story. There's a cozy vibe when they're not in deadly peril, with a fun cooking angle as Nikko's head chef teaches the ship to cook, rather than just whip things up in its replicator units. I did feel that some of the big emotional moments didn't land as well as I would expect, but that's pretty much the only weakness I noted as I was reading this book. The ending wraps things up satisfactorily, but there's definitely plenty to be explored in a sequel. Recommended to fans of Hitchhiker's Guide and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. show less