Starship Freedom by Daniel Arenson

 

Starship Freedom by Daniel Arenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Solar System has been fully explored and exploited by humanity who at this point in its history has fought a system wide conflict between political ideologies (Alliance & Red Dawn) which was won by the Alliance comprising of nations which would be considered to be democratic/capitalist systems. However humanity is still tied to Sol with no FTL capability and even a belief that by now they would have detected alien life in the cosmos yet despite that the space station Rubicon is at the boundary of the solar system manned by one man from the Alliance and another from Red Dawn. Then the world changes as multiple alien starships appear in the vicinity of Rubicon, terrifying and huge they dwarf the station and then the aliens board the station and the true horror of what awaits mankind is revealed. Safely in orbit and now a tourist attraction the Starship Freedom captained by the legendary James King is ready to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with a full contingent of visitors. The ship is still crewed with spacers but no longer carries munitions for it's main guns or fighters and most onboard have to deal with the day to day demands of being a fun park. However when the ships AI notices something strange at the edge of the solar system King alone is the one man who despite ready to retire can not let the belief there is danger on the way but with no one to act he and his crew have to watch the chaos which erupts when dozens of alien ships "jump" into system.
Starship Freedom was a fast paced and entertaining read with some interesting characters, it lacks a little of the edge I prefer in my military scifi but this is the first novel in a series and there was more than enough here to seal the deal on purchasing the second novel (out soon).

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Asylum by Lindsay Buroker

 

Asylum by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a huge fan of the Star Kingdom novels and characters within I was delighted when this stand alone novel was announced and it certainly didn't disappoint. Asylum features the majority of the characters from the main series such as Casmir, Kim and Laser etc but adds two new characters whose stories drive the narrative.
Mari Moonrazor born into the Astroshaman culture desires what she has never had and escapes from her people armed with a "human" list of things to do (including eating chocolate) and recovers a piece of her terraforming tech from a crashed ship but the world of Odin and its people has little time for her kind and just surviving is a challenge. Kenji Chisaka is the son of a notorious terrorist raised to support his father in committing terrible acts, he abandoned his father many years ago and tries to live a life under the eyes of those who would condemn him regardless of his age at the time of the crimes. When these two young people cross paths well things really get interesting for both of them and then those in a position of power in the Kingdom notice them and well then it gets dangerous and exhilarating but still interesting.
Asylum was a good and entertaining read more so because it was a very welcome return to the Star Kingdom and the expansion of the story including new characters promises more if Lindsay is of a mind. Highly recommended for a stand alone scifi story but pure gold for fans of the existing series.



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