This is my kind of SF. I grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars but it was the smuggler's life of Han Solo, Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon that caught my imagination. I find the gritty life of trying to make a buck in a far-flung future captivating.
Firefly is another good example of this. This type of SF, without alien encounters or super-powers, is often described as a Space Western. I guess that's an apt description because it's just people with their own human motivations - on spaceships.
Anyway, this book felt like a love letter to Firefly and I was desperate to dive into this new take on that kind of structure. It was all that and a bit more. Brooks' writing is confident and he was unafraid to make time-skips to move the plot along. The dialogue was crisp and punched through with humour.
I love that he handled exposition through the narrative. He only revealed background when it was needed and through dialogue; the reader learned things at the same time as members of the crew did. This is how character growth is handled in TV and movies because the medium does not lend itself well to exposition. Adopting this kind of narrative makes this book move quickly.
I felt instantly at home in this book and I am thrilled to know there are at least two more in this world.
The plot? The rag-tag crew of the Keiko accept a smuggling, no-questions-asked, job to deliver a package to Earth. Things don't go as planned. That's enough to get you going. Trust me, you'll have fun.
Highly recommended.
Mike Brooks' website - http://www.mikebrooks.co.uk/
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| Mike Brooks |
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