Admiral by Sean Danker

Tags

5 stars, military scifi, scifi, spaceships, spy, stranded, survival

Four people, strangers, are roused from their sleeper units for some unknown reason. They are not on the ship they thought they would be on. The crew of the ship is nowhere to be seen and the admiral didn’t even know he was an admiral. Thus begins the story of a group of survivors who have no idea where they are, where their next breath of oxygen will come from, if they will be rescued and what dangers they will face before they figure it all out.

Little by little they learn more about what happened, to the ship and to the crew. But the planet they crash landed on is extremely hostile to humans. There is no atmosphere, it is covered in a strange green mist and the surface is very unstable. They have limited power and almost no resources for getting off the planet. They have only each other to help them stay alive. They are going to get to know each other very well. And yet not at all.

There is an intensity to the story told in Admiral caused by so many unknowns. The biggest unknown is the admiral. Who is the admiral? Salmagard thinks she knows. So does Deilani. Nils isn’t sure. Even though the story is told entirely from the admiral’s point of view, it takes the entire book to definitively figure out who he is. Hints in the story might help you guess, but they might also help you second guess.

Throughout the book, the characters were constantly speculating, thinking, planning, moving, and acting on survival plans. They had no chance to sleep. This aspect of the story made it edgy. And I’m pretty sure the characters lack of sleep in the story led to some interesting dreams in my own sleep.

Is this a spy story – as hinted in the book’s blurb? Even having finished the novel, the spy element is vague at best, though I can tell you that there is a spy in the story. How’s that for absolute uncertainty?

Admiral is a departure from the type of novel I usually read. While you got to know 4 very interesting characters, you really didn’t get to know them very well at all. Especially the admiral. Most of my reads involve a more intimate understanding of the characters and of the relationships between them. Though I still prefer my normal fare, Admiral is a fascinating read and I am glad I read it. And I am likely to read the next book the Evagardian series when it is released. I can definitely recommend it to readers of SciFi.

 

Admiral by Sean Danker releases on May 3, but can be pre-ordered now.

“I was on a dead ship on an unknown planet with three trainees freshly graduated into the Imperial Service. I tried to look on the bright side.”
 
He is the last to wake. The label on his sleeper pad identifies him as an admiral of the Evagardian Empire—a surprise as much to him as to the three recent recruits now under his command. He wears no uniform, and he is ignorant of military protocol, but the ship’s records confirm he is their superior officer.
 
Whether he is an Evagardian admiral or a spy will be of little consequence if the crew members all end up dead. They are marooned on a strange world, their ship’s systems are failing one by one—and they are not alone.

Sean Danker’s Website

Admiral on Goodreads

Amazon Link:

 

Featuring: The Black Orchid by Celine Jeanjean

Tags

Adventure, favorites, mystery, Steampunk

I fell in love with Rory and Longinus and the city of Damsport when I read The Bloodless Assassin last fall. So, when I learned the book I read was only the first book of a steampunk series, book 2 (which did not yet have a name) became one of the most anticipated new books of 2016 for me. From the first word on page one to the last word on the final page, The Black Orchid met all of my expectations and has a place on my favorites shelf!

On April 29, my review for The Black Orchid will post at Smart Girls Love SciFi Romance.  I hope you will check that out.  But in the meantime, I thought I’d feature a few short excerpts that I really enjoyed and that depict why I love these characters so much.

Longinus on Fashion

He had taken such care over dressing the part too, right down to selecting just the right shade of aggressive nutmeg for his waistcoat — elegance mixed with a hint of intimidation.

and

Longinus couldn’t feel like himself if he wasn’t attired properly, and he knew he didn’t look like himself, either. Of course people would doubt his abilities if he was dressed in grey — grey! Who had ever heard of a competent assassin dressed in grey? Appearances were everything, and right now he didn’t look like the deadliest and most elegant assassin in town.

and

“There’s a lack of black silk, and who has need of black silk more than an assassin? Maybe we have a new assassin in town…”

and

“Oh, I know her well enough,” said Longinus nonchalantly. “We’ve had sartorial disagreements by proxy, and that tells me all I need to know about her.”

Rory’s Total Abandon

She backed the spider to one end of the roof and pushed it to full speed, hurtling towards the opposite edge. As she reached the edge, she pushed the lever that released a powerful burst of steam from the spider’s abdomen and legs. They jumped easily to the next roof.

“Yeah!” she shouted, grinning from the thrill of it. Cruikshank had taught her to use the spider, but had never let her take it out of the workshop. This was infinitely better than making it jump over chairs.

They jumped again, and Rory increased the speed. Her rope-like hair streamed behind her. The spider’s legs moved so fast on either side that they were a blur, and the rapid clicking they made sounded like rain hitting the tiles.

Rory threw caution to the wind, hooting and cheering at each jump as they continued to race towards Longinus’ tailor.

* * *

Longinus was so pale as to be almost grey by the time they reached their destination.

“This method of transportation is entirely inadequate for the Viper,” he announced in a shaky voice as he climbed down, staggering a little on shaking legs.

“Oh, was I going too fast?” asked Rory.

Longinus on Rory’s Skill With a Rapier

“You’re becoming less terrible,”

Rory When Longinus is Beset by Prostitutes

“Aw. Need me to defend your virtue, do you?”

Rory and Longinus Typical Conversation

“I feel a bit guilty now,” Rory whispered. “Not to mention, if we get caught, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in shit.”

“No need to get scatological,” Longinus whispered back.”

 

Those were just a few examples of why I adore Rory and Longinus.  Lest you think Longinus is shallow and Rory irresponsible, you should know it is not all fun and games and clothes shopping for these two.  There are plenty of serious and heartfelt moments that make them all the more appealing.

You might like to know a little about what the book is about.  Here is the blurb:

A couple of months after Rory and Longinus saved the Old Girl, they’re trying to settle into the honest life of being in her employ. Unfortunately, Rory is bored with nothing to steal, and Longinus finds living in Cruikshank’s workshop insufferable, what with the sub-par coffee and lack of suitable clothing.

When an old friend of Rory’s is found exsanguinated, Rory and Longinus fear that Myran has returned. To make matters more delicate, an important diplomat is visiting Damsport, and her death would make the city vulnerable to attack from Airnia, so the Old Girl tasks Rory and Longinus with uncovering and stopping whatever is going on.

As they investigate, clues lead them to the Black Orchid, a new brothel in town where the clientele has a tendency to vanish. But when the diplomat’s bodyguard is found dead outside the Black Orchid, Rory and Longinus find themselves framed as the masterminds behind the whole operation. To clear their names and save the city, they’ll have to solve the mystery of the Black Orchid before Myran catches up to them.

Living an honest life turned out to be far more complicated than they’d expected.

 

Celine Jeanjean’s Blog: Down the Rabbit Hole

The Viper and the Urchin series on Goodreads

Amazon Links:

Deadlocked

Tags

5 stars, aliens, scifi romance, space opera

I reviewed Deadlocked by Libby Sinclair on Smart Girls Love SciFi Romance. Deadlocked has only 91 pages, has more than enough to keep me interested.

Smart Girls love SciFi

Brielle Connors, fired from her job with the Cavaliers and apparently from the relationship she had with her boss, is left to her own devices. Her goal, prove to her former boss/boyfriend that he was an idiot to let her go. How to do that. Hmm.

Through, how shall I put it, clever determination (i.e. outright theft), Brielle manages to come up with the location of a mythical Xerian ship. Thought to have been lost during the war that ended decades ago, the ship and it’s payload are the find of the century (or whatever passes for a very long time in the Deadlocked universe). But Finn Strydom, an alluring, sea-green-skinned alien acquaintance/competitor, is already on the ship when Brielle docks. At this point, things get interesting. When I say interesting, I mean quite a few things. Amorous activities, capture by aliens, release, separation, a new job, another war. And some…

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