What a wonderfully unexpected adventure! Set in the year 2247 there are aspects of the sci-fi genre present that we have all grown to expect and love but then parts of this book that are different and will surprise you. I stayed fully engrossed in Brooke Davis as your lead heroine, especially because she is anything but typical and what you would expect but it makes her all the more relatable and tangible. Really looking forward to the next instalment by Greg Spry, loved the action fighter pilot scenes, the drama's involving every character and seeing every character evolve in different ways, you never get bored! ( )

The plot is exciting, certainly! And... this is not altogether good. When the events go from peak to peak, with no valleys- the result is a plateau, meaning that each exciting event blends seamlessly into the next such, making each far less exciting.

I did not care for Brooke, the main protagonist, either. It's probably not a bad depiction of a self-involved addict! but I did not find that particularly interesting. In general, the characters were flat and felt to me more like ways to make the plot work than individual people in their own right.

As an aside: this reflects many of the fantasy tropes, in that exceedingly young and inexperienced people have a Destiny and get to be WAY more important, WAY faster, than is at all reasonable. This means that this novel might work better for YA than it did for me.

I am also not really a fan of effective Secret Conspiracies. Someone will spill the beans. Some of the conspirators will (GASP!) be as incompetent as everyone else, and screw things up. The effective conspiracies have happened in plain sight of everyone, and do not involve Secret Meetings (usually). I do like the fact that the Secret Conspiracy here is morally ambiguous, though, rather than just making the rich and powerful yet more rich and powerful.

I don't think the world- meaning here, the solar system- has been thoroughly thought out. How does supplying work? Who grows the food that feeds the colonies? How does trade work? These are glided over in favor of many, many battle scenes.

I am sure this book suffered some in comparison with my recent reading of another solar-system (mostly) set series, which was more thoughtful. Still- this was a pretty entertaining read.

I received this book, and its sequel, in exchange for writing an honest review. ( )

This book follows a military pilot who isn't good with people as she pursues her quest to be part of flying the latest and greatest space ships. She has a little problem that helps her when she's in battle, but hurts her when she's outside the cockpit. She also has a twin sister who is her opposite in terms of personality, but who can read her like an open book. As the pilot is pursuing her dreams of space flight, her sister is pursuing her dreams as a journalist. However, things aren't quite what they seem. During the course of a battle with extremists, Brooke finds herself in battle with an unknown craft. Following that craft she comes across a puzzle. One that eventually kills thousands of people. She is told to keep quiet, and we readers know that something hinky is going on with some bigwigs.

As time passes, Brooke is used for her skills, including her willingness to be self-destructive in her quest. However, she has been developing some interpersonal skills and starts to also develop a conscience. Much is unknown until near the end of the book, when Brooke decides to look deeper into the purported first contact. Her sister is on board, as is a friend and Brooke's amazing AI, Bob. Eventually, they have to make a decision about how far to push things--while they may abhor the means, are they justified by the ends?

It was a fun story, but I felt that it lacked strong character development. There were starts to relationships that never went anywhere. Brooke's motivation was partially explained, but the references to her difficult teen years weren't. I was left with a lot of unanswered questions, one of which was how Brooke came across and developed her working relationship with Bob. The supporting characters were fairly flat beyond their basic roles, and even Brooke's sister didn't seem to have any growth. It was an interesting concept, I just wasn't satisfied with the depth of the story.

I received this book free for an honest review. ( )

This is a fantastic voyage into a possible future. The character`s are solid and believable, the settings are awe inspiring and the story holds you until the end. I was on the edge of my seat through the climatic end battle, and heart broken with the loss. This is part one of the series, and I believe if the writing continues along these lines, the author will have a great setting for some great expansion. I have recommended this to all my friends who read sci-fi. ( )

Great space opera! Interesting science and politics, good characters, and it's first of a series. ( )