Publisher: Angry Robot
Publishing Date: November 2017
ISBN: 9780857667090
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 3.4/5
Publishers Description: The shady crew of the White Raven run freight and salvage at the fringes of our solar system. They discover the wreck of a centuries-old exploration vessel floating light years away from its intended destination and revive its sole occupant, who wakes with news of First Alien Contact. When the crew break it to her that humanity has alien allies already, she reveals that these are very different extra-terrestrials… and the gifts they bestowed on her could kill all humanity, or take it out to the most distant stars.
Review: Expansive world building, great movement coupled with interesting characterization and a story line that is not only intriguing but brings back the grande space fairing odyssey.
I really enjoyed this novel especially the world building. To get drawn in by magnificent scale that wholly absorbs your focus and transports your reality is writing talent worth paying for. I am a big fan of the space operatic so I claim bias to this review.
“So why you no give 5 stars!!?” Callie is a great character with a hardened edge and initially has this rough, bawdy demeanor. The transition into stalwart honest captain is mildly strange in that she never recovers that rough cut side of her personality. Elena Oh, a seed ship survivor almost ruined the whole fucking novel. Oh, so hot is Dr. Elena Oh. Diminutive, sexy, perfect, antiquated and caring to the point of self-sacrifice. OH, and she wuvs the captains. Can you hear my inner scream? A real liberal viewpoint was rendered throughout the novel with gun lobbies mentioned (bad), all the gender-isms in futuristic play and anyone wanting to bang someone is not bothered by the sex they happen to be. Pretty central to the novel as it is always mentioned.
The aliens were great. The premise behind being called the Liars was too funny and the sudden shift in presentation was startling in that I was looking for other entities to come to the fore to claim responsibility. The Axiom aliens, although never revealed lend a disturbing presence that continues to impact even after their departure. The first in a what I hope is a good series.
Viking Jam 
So that’s what this noise was the other day- your inner scream? 😀 hahaha… Elena Oh sounds entirely too perfect!
Why the perfection? I don’t understand the need to have characters that don’t have some sense of the “real” to them. Ah well……
Not too sure … it seems to go two ways.. it’s either the ‘tortured’ personality that never sees how good they are or the way too perfect who have their head stuck up their ar#e… maybe just trying too hard to create a memorable character and thus losing touch with the realistic?
Great insight Liz. Subtle characters, to me, draw the reader in better than fakey overt types.