Darkship Renegades by Sarah A. Hoyt Book Review

Darkship Renegades 

By: Sarah A. Hoyt






Darkship Renegades is the Sequel to Darkship Thieves, and It continues the story of Athena and Kit from the first book.  The book is a bit slow to start, but picks up speed after the first couple of chapters.  The tone of this book is a bit less nonstop action adventure, and a bit more political and technological exploration oriented than the first book was.  The social structure of both the future Earth and Eden are explored much more in depth in this book than they were in the first one.  I really got the feeling that the author was trying to emphasize the extreme freedom of Eden vs the tyranny of earth in this book.

I found a few issues with this book as opposed to the first one.  For me the first part of the book was really slogging, and Athena does some things that would be out of character for her in the first book.  My impression from the story is that the author is trying to show that she is exploring the softer side of her emotions, but in my opinion she goes a bit too far with it.  The narrative in this book is also much more political than the first book and the author is a bit heavy handed with it. Since the author does a good job of contrasting the two very different worlds the story takes place on some political discussion is required, but the story would be better if there were less time spent on political philosophy. Despite this I do recommend this book because after the first few chapters the action speeds up, and between that and the dramatic tension in the book it becomes difficult to put down.

DarkShip Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt Book Review

DarkShip Thieves 

By:Sarah A. Hoyt






Darkship Thieves is a very good science fiction adventure that manages to pack a coming of age plot, a clash of spacefaring cultures plot, and some romance into one book.  The main character goes from being a spoiled, almost feral, rich girl to someone who values others and wants to earn her place in the world.  The book also explores the consequences, and human reaction to genetic engineering, and the mindset of the enhanced vs the originals.

The only things that threw me in this book are that much of the technology is not adequately explained, and at times the main character is almost too perfect at physical confrontations.  The lack of technical explanation is mitigated by the fact that the world this takes place in has regressed technologically from its peak.  The people in the story often don't know why something works. In addition the main characters prowess in a physical confrontation is balanced by her temper causing her many issues in the book.  Overall this is a very good book and quite fun to read.

Athena Hera Sinestra is a spoiled rich girl, who happens to have enhanced senses and fighting ability.  When she is attacked on her fathers spaceship she manages to fight her way to a lifepod and escape into the powertrees where solar energy is concentrated in powerpods that are used to power civilization.  Shortly she runs into a mysterious ship that can only be one of the DarkShip Thieves.  The DarkShip Thieves are one of her cultures biggest boogeymen, since they are rumored to serve Biolords who escaped from the riots and purges of their great war.  But when the operator of the ship saves her multiple times, and takes her home to Eden, the world the BioLord's former servants have made for themselves, when it becomes clear earth space is not savfe for her she realizes many things she was taught were a lie.  Over time Athena comes to make a life for herself on Eden and falls in love with her rescuer Kit.  When the time comes she marries him and begins to go on Powerpod runs with him.  The problem is things on earth are not as they seem, and her father will stop at nothing to get her back.  They are ambushed, and captured.  Now Athena must rescue her husband and  find out why she is so important.  What she discovers could overturn the very basis of her society, because it turns out that most of the BioLords never left earth.

This book will appeal to any science fiction space adventure fan, and the romance aspect is prominent enough to bring in that audience as well.

This book may be purchased at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print.

Endless Blue by Wen Spencer Book Review

Endless Blue 

By: Wen Spencer






Endless Blue is a space adventure/mystery/romance from Wen Spencer. As with all her books the best part of them is the interplay of her characters, and the process of them dealing with their own issues. In many ways this book is defined by the flaws in the characters and the way their flaws mirror the flaws in the society they come from. One thing that I particularly like in this book is that in coming to grips with their own problems the main characters are able to move forward with fixing those parts of their society. As usual Wen Spencer builds a complex world you hope to continue to experience, and there is nothing about this book that I dislike. This is the only book in the series, but I continue to hope that she picks up this world and these characters again.

Hab 12 (Scrapyard Ship Book 2) by Mark Wayne McGinnis Book Review

Hab 12 

By: Mark Wayne McGinnis






This is the second book in the scrapyard ship series, and it picks up where scrapyard ship ends.  This book diverges from the well known plot of the first book, and makes use of some of the discoveries made by the crew in the first adventure as plot devices in this one.

Scrapyard Ship by Mark Wayne McGinnis

Scrapyard ship is a near future novel involving a salvaged starship of unknown origins, and a massive threat to the security of the Earth.  I have read a number of these types, and It is a very good example.  The characters are what differentiates this book from its peers.  The action, and pace are very quick, and I got very caught in finding out what happened next.

The only complaint I have about the book is that I could tell the generally tell the broad plot outline from the type of book it was.  That being said there is nothing wrong with following a trope if you do it well and the author does it very well.

The main Character Jason Reynolds is a navy seal who has found himself in a bit of trouble because his sense of justice and honor sometimes outvotes his common sense.  The story starts with him under house arrest at his old family scrapyard with a shiny new ankle bracelet after an incident with some pirates.  When his daughter comes to visit they both end up finding out that there is an ancient starship hidden on the property the hard way.  It turns out that his father didn't disappear years ago, but has instead been fighting a long war against an alien menace that is now coming for earth.  Very shortly the invasion arrives and Jason must scramble to get those he cares about to safety.  Before he can get to her his ex-wife, who he still has feelings for, is captured and the alien Craing have made a fatal mistake.  Before her capture Jason was not sure he would take up the challenge from the father who abandoned him, but now the aliens have made it personal, and unlike his father he is not afraid to discover everything his new ship can do.

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy military science fiction, and ancient alien benefactors.  There are a lot of boarding actions, space battles, and hand to hand combat scenes for the military science fiction fan and plenty of clever capabilities that the crew unlocks on their salvaged ship along the way for the fan of the ancient alien technology.

The book can be found at www.amazon.com in print or as an e-book.

Lilo and Stitch Movie Review

Lilo and Stitch is a fun family movie that you can watch with your kids.  This animated science fiction film is really all about acceptance and chosen family.  The film does a good job of making you identify with both Lilo and Stitch, and under the comedy both of their stories are a little sad.  I really like the fact that this can be seen as either a girl and her alien or as an alien and his little girl movie because it becomes very obvious through the film that the are good for each other.

What I didn't like about this movie is the Galactic Federation.  The movie manages to portray the society as extremely rule-bound and formal, and sort of wild west at the same time.  The reasoning behind why they would want to imprison stitch are flimsy and don't make a lot of sense for a cosmopolitan society.

Basically the story follows the life and meeting of Lilo and Stitch.  Lilo is a little girl who lives with her sister because their parents died.  she has trouble fitting in with the other kids in her town, and acts out violently at times.  Stitch is a genetic experiment made by a mad scientist in the galactic federation.  He is basically made to be a force of chaos and destruction.  He is very hard to hurt, and highly intelligent.  When Stitch's creator is put on trial he is used as evidence against him, and stitch's behavior at trial end up getting him banished to a remote asteroid.  Rightly seeking to avoid this horrible fate stitch escapes confinement, steals a ship, and crash lands in Hawaii.  Looking like a dog he is picked up and taken to the animal shelter where Lilo adopts him.  Lilo is very understanding of his violent tendencies and tries, largely successfully, to help him overcome them.  In the course of doing this Lilo comes to terms with her own situation, and deals with her own issues as well.  Eventually Stitch is pursued, and ends up dragging Lilo into his problems.  In the end they save each other.  Stitch saves Lilo from being abducted by the Galactic Federation.  Lilo saves Stitch by claiming him as a member of her family, and not letting the Galactic Federation take him away.

This movie makes a great family movie because it shows that anyone can be good, and that everyone has a place where they belong.  It says that even someone who was made to be bad can overcome that with the right family, and an understanding environment.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.  It is also available on Netflix if you have a subscription.

Titan AE Movie Review

Despite the movie starting with the earth being destroyed this movie is a pretty upbeat science fiction story, about a people overcoming the loss of their home and at the same time a boy coming to terms with the loss of his father.  What could be a fairly depressing tale ends up being goofy but inspirational.  The film is animated so the there are no special effects to degrade, and the animation is pretty good.

The things that I don't like about this movie are that the destruction of earth does not hit very hard and it is never adequately explained why the antagonists the Drej are after us.  The best I could get is that the technology we were developing was a long term threat to them, but it was never explained why.  Despite these shortcomings I did really enjoy the movie as a basic hero's journey tale in space.

The story follows the main Character Cale who was a young child when he escaped the destruction of earth in the care of his fathers friends.  His father piloted a spacecraft that is supposed to be the hope of humanity, but was never seen again.  Years later Cale is working in a scrapyard when another of his fathers friends, Captain Korso shows up wanting Cale's help to find his fathers ship.  It seems his father left a map in a ring with  his son detailing where he planned to go.  Eventually Kale accepts his destiny and takes up the search.  Through the journey he sheds his bitterness and reconnects to humanity.  Their quest has many twists and turns and Cale becomes good friends with Korso's crew.  At one point Korso is revealed to be  a traitor, and it is left to Cale and his new friend Akima to find the ship before Korso and the Drej can destroy it.

This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good space adventure, but if you are looking for a hard science fiction film this is not for you.  There is definitely the type of science fiction with more fiction than science.  That being said this is a movie that you could potentially watch with the whole family if your children are not sensitive to mild personal violence, and the fact that the movie has the destruction of earth in the first scene.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming for rental or purchase.