Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Genre:
Space Opera / Science Fiction / Epic Fantasy
Approximate
word count: 25-30,000
words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
“Noah
Mullette-Gillman was born in Montclair, New Jersey. He spent his
childhood there, as well as in the town of Manly, Australia, and the
woods of Upstate New York. He earned a multidisciplinary degree in
Philosophy and Creative Writing at Bard College in
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.”
Mr.
Mullette-Gillman is also the author of Luminous
and Ominous, The Dead Have Ruled Earth For 200 Years, Magic Makes You
Strange, The Confessions of Zeuspater,
and a mythological short story The
White Hairs.
To
learn more check out his website or friend him on Facebook.
Description:
“Barely
finding his feet amid a new reality in a new galaxy, Charlie Daemon
must investigate the mystery of his planet and starship, the U.U.S.
Shamballa, a crew made up of the greatest historical figures of the
22nd through 29th centuries, and discover if they are alone in the
Universe.”
Appraisal:
In
this episode, past relationships are further explored as well as new
worlds. Our crew is off to find more fuel reserves for the U.U.S.
Shamballa. The world they find is a frozen planet with curious
creatures and strange properties. As such they can’t stay to do the
actual mining themselves so they employ their robot forces to do the
work. Mullette-Gillman has quite an active imagination and employs it
well here.
Captain
Daemon makes some personal advancements and further exploration of
another city on U.S.S. Shamballa is explored. Wu Gwei goes into fight
mode when he makes an assessment of a situation −
he was a war lord in his previous life. Daemon has to exert his
position as Captain to shut him down. Crew member Kalligeneia
Athanos’ past life is examined more closely and we learn her
history. I am enjoying these flashbacks into each crew member’s
life.
Tension
is ratcheted up a notch when the crew wonders if they have a traitor
on board when alien visitors show up and the shields of the U.U.S.
Shamballa have been lowered for them to enter. There is a bit of a
cliffhanger at the end of this section of the story. Nayara Borges is
still unaccounted for and I am getting tired of hearing about Amber.
She is Charlie Daemon’s girlfriend who died in the last epic war
before Daemon materialized on the U.S.S. Shamballa.
I’m
not sure I approve of these serialized editions of stories many
authors seem to be leaning towards. Reading the four episode bundle
was fine, but reading one novella with a partial story at a time is
taxing. I want more story. I may have to wait for the bundles to come
out before reviewing. I feel like certain story arcs should be
completed with no cliffhangers between segments of a story. It’s a
personal thing with me and I was tempted to remove a star.
Format/Typo
Issues:
A
small number of proofing errors.
Rating: **** Four stars
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