Time Salvager by Wesley Chu

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Shelf Awareness Starred Review

RT Book Reviews Top Pick

RT Book Reviews July Seal of Excellence

The sequel, Time Siege, is tentatively scheduled for May 2016 (cuz folks keep asking)

Convicted criminal James Griffin-Mars is no one’s hero. In his time, Earth is a toxic, abandoned world and humans have fled into the outer solar system to survive, eking out a fragile, doomed existence among the other planets and their moons. Those responsible for delaying humanity’s demise believe time travel holds the key, and they have identified James, troubled though he is, as one of a select and expendable few ideally suited for the most dangerous job in history.

James is a chronman, undertaking missions into Earth's past to recover resources and treasure without altering the timeline. The laws governing use of time travel are absolute; break any one of them and, one way or another, your life is over. Most chronmen never reach old age; the stress of each jump through time, compounded by the risk to themselves and to the future, means that many chronmen rapidly reach their breaking point, and James Griffin-Mars is nearing his.

On a final mission that is to secure his retirement, James meets Elise Kim, an intriguing scientist from a previous century, who is fated to die during the destruction of an oceanic rig. Against his training and his common sense, and in violation of the chronmen’s highest law, James brings Elise back to the future with him, saving her life, but turning them both into fugitives. Remaining free means losing themselves in the wild and poisonous wastes of Earth, somehow finding allies, and perhaps discovering what hope may yet remain for humanity's home world.

Time Salvager had me holding my breath the entire time I was reading.  When I was near the end all I could think was that it was going to have a very bad ending leaving me with a very bad feeling.  Fortunately I got Tor’s newsletter talking about the sequal.  So the bad feeling did not come.  The end of the book is not the end of the story.  Now I was left wanting the next book to come out soon.  (See above – not soon enough for me and others).

I loved James.  He has all of the conflicted feeling that make a great hero.  Grace, the Mother of Time, is another great characters.  I don’t think I ever liked her but she really could set a mood and keep everyone on track.  Elise is the one who sets everything in motion when James brings she to the future.  The three do a great job of keeping the story moving.

None of that would matter if the world building and back-story were not as well done.  The plot lets us look at the world before everything went bad as well as giving a great look at the very dismal future. The secondary characters are also used to fill gaps in both plot, world building and back-story.

This is a very fast paced and exciting story. Time Salvager meets the mark for exciting tension filled Science Fiction.  The pacing is great, the writing very good, and plot has all the twists and turns needed to keep the readers interest.  I recommend it for any Science Fiction fan.  Just be warned.  You will join all of us waiting for the next book in the series.

Tor published Time Salvager by Wesley Chu in 2015.

Deep Into Darkness: Aliens, Alphas and Antiheroes by Elise Logan, Ella Drake, Kim Knox, Maguerite Labbe, Annie Nicholas

Science Fiction Romance

From Goodreads:

PANDORA by Marguerite Labbe

Sentenced to life on board a space salvage cruiser, Riff Korra and Zed Jakobsen find themselves drawn together out of mutual need. But when an epidemic of violence and insanity consumes their ship, will their bond give them the strength they need to escape?

BOARDED by Annie Nicholas

Liaison Sadie Beckit must accompany the mysterious Ambassador Nual to Central Station. Sounds easy enough, but the lawless void of space holds many dangers. To make things worse, Nual seems determined to make Sadie lose her professional control.

FORSAKEN PLANET by Elise Logan

Luci has gone, literally, to the ends of colonized space in order find some peace. Marooned on a desolate planet with limited supplies, Luci needs to learn to trust her team leader, Sakir Khyne. Together they must take out hostile forces and try to survive.

DARK IMMORTALITY by Kim Knox

Captain Andros: pirate, vampire, all-round bastard. When he takes Madelen Ariel as his own, his crew sees an opportunity to mutiny. They’re about to find out just how much of a bastard he really is.

FREEKER by Ella Drake

On the run, convicted murderer Chara stows away on a ship piloted by a big, sexy alien. Warrant puts the safety of his brothers above all else but the violent and sensual Chara makes him question the price of risk. 

Three of the stories in this collection fit the anti-hero description.  The other two fit the Alphas and Aliens description.

Pandora is a M/M story full of violence.  It was the longest in the collection.  It was well written but longer than I though it needed to be.  As M/M is not my cup of tea it was not one I enjoyed that much.

Boarded by Annie Nicholas was my favorite.  There were no anti-heroes in this one; just very good Space Opera and Science Fiction Romance.  I liked both Sadie Beckit and Ambassador Nual.  I would not mind visiting their world again.

Forsaken Planet by Elise Logan was another story that did not have an anti-hero.  Her two main characters, Luci and Sakir, are both on the side of justice and order.  It was my second favorite in the collection.  I though the world building in this story was the best of the lot.

Dark Immortality by Kim Knox did not appeal to me at all.  It did fit the anti-hero theme.  Captain Andros is just what the blurb says – an all-round bastard.

Freeker by Ella Drake is part of the Space Grit series.  Again we have the anti-hero theme.  This time both Chara, the female and Warrant, the male, are both bloodthirsty and love killing.  Of course it has to be for a good reason.  Drake turns out well written stories.  In this case it is a well written story where I did not like either main character.

I am not much for anti-hero stories and reading Deep Into Darkness did not change my mind.  I liked Boarded and Forsaken Planet but neither had an anti-hero.  Pandora, Dark Immortality, and Freeker just were not my type of SFR even though they were written buy authors whose books I have enjoyed in the past.  Those books did not have anti-heroes.

Deep Into Darkness was published in 2015.

I received an ARC of Deep Into Darkness from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesday - October 13, 2015

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Tease:

"I sat on the edge of my bed with the phone pressed against my ear, listening to the silence.  I stayed there for a while, letting her words sink in.  Then I hung up and looked down at my watch."

Page 57

The Book:

Ruthless by John Rector - I won a copy of this and it is still on my TBR pile.  After this tease he goes for his gun and finds it missing.  This looks like a great tension filled mystery.

Musing Mondays - October 12, 2015

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

Musing Mondays is sponsored by A Daily Rhythm.

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What fictional world would you love to live in, even if just for a day?

I always loved the world C J Cherryh created in Downbelow Station.  I would love to live on one of the trade ships.  The people on them were family and very close.  Of course part of my wanting to be there is because when I was young I always wanted to go into space.  Now that am I much older I am happy here on Earth.

The Oncoming Storm (Angel in the Whirlwind #1) by Christopher Nuttal

Military Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

In the year 2420, war looms between the galaxy’s two most powerful empires: the tyrannical Theocracy and the protectionist Commonwealth. Caught in the middle sits the occupied outpost system Cadiz, where young officer and aristocrat Katherine “Kat” Falcone finds herself prematurely promoted at the behest of her powerful father. Against her own wishes, Kat is sent to command the Commonwealth navy’s newest warship, Lightning.

Determined to prove she has value beyond her family name, Kat struggles to earn her crew’s respect and find her footing as the youngest captain in naval history. She soon discovers the situation on Cadiz is even worse than anyone in power anticipated. War isn’t just a possibility—it is imminent. Yet the admiral in position to bolster defenses refuses to prepare for a fight. Can Kat find a way to investigate the enemy, alert the Commonwealth, and whip an entire fleet into fighting shape before the Theocracy’s war machine destroys everything she holds dear?

The Oncoming Storm is Military Science Fiction with a lot of familiar elements.  In The Oncoming Storm they come together in a great story.  The first scene with Kat Falcone shows her confronting her Father for pulling strings to get her the command of a warship going to Cadiz.  That sets the scene for the rest of the story.  Kat and the Commonwealth are the good guys.  The Theocracy is the enemy and war is coming.

The story caught me from the first paragraph.  The characters were very well developed, the plot moved at a brisk pace, the world building and back story was supplemented by a appendix in the back of the book.  The plot, the characters, the pacing all make this a very good start to a new Military Science Fiction series.

This is book one in a new series.  Everything is set up an exciting series.

47 North published The Oncoming Storm by Christopher Nuttall in 2015.

I received an ARC of The Oncoming Storm from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Stacking the Shelves - Oct 10

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I added to my shelves this week. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what others have on their shelves. 

Another short list.   I am doing better at adding to my TBR pile

For Review:

Horizon by Tabitha Lord

Dragos Goes to Washington by Thea Harrison

Anything for You by Kristan Higgins

What Happens Under the Mistletoe by Sabrina Jeffries, Karen Hawkins, Candace Camp, Meredith Duran

Book Beginnings and The Friday 56

I'm linking up with Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings and Freda's Voice for Page 56. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Pick the closest book on your book stack and join the fun.

The Beginning:

"I'm dead if I don't get out of here."

Page 56:

"Subject on station but not reported for work today. Apartment checked. Not occupied since yesterday."

From Empire of Dust by Jacey Bedford a SciFi Psi Tech Novel.

OH NO - Not Mercy and Adam

I saw this wolf and coyote in Alaska.  Immediately I thought of Mercy and Adam.  Hope they never went to the far north and ended up stuffed.  For those of you who have not read the Mercy Thompson series it is by Patricia Briggs.  I saw her at World Con just before I went on the Alaska cruise.