Genre:
Space Opera
Description:
This is the third and final part of
Watson’s trilogy about the Uniterrean space ship Lovelace and her crew.
Amazon’s
description says: “The Lovelace is
ordered to respond to a distress call from unexplored space, and from a crew
who all died 200 years ago. What they find is not only amazing, but potentially
lethal. If Lt. Decker is going to make it down the aisle, she will have to
survive the dangers of planet Tolu first.”
It “harkens
back to the classic science fiction of Asimov, Clarke and Herbert, but with the
richly developed characters of a Roddenberry-esque story.”
Author:
“Felicia Watson started writing stories as soon as they handed her a pencil in first grade. When not writing, Felicia spends her time with her darling dogs, her beloved husband, being an amateur pastry chef, swimming, and still finds time for her day job as a scientist.”
"She’s especially drawn to character driven tales, where we see people we recognize, people who struggle with their mistakes and shortcomings, acknowledge them, and use that knowledge to grow into wiser human beings.”
Appraisal:
It is the 31st century. In the
middle book of the trilogy the Uniterraen space ship Lovelace, was repurposed
from a military vessel to a ship of exploration. The substantial crew consists
of the main character, Lieutenant Naiche ‘Deck’ Decker, her captain father, her
fiancé, her colleagues and friends and others who she probably just nods to in
the corridor. This crew has been together a long time now and has become an
efficient, well-drilled unit. It is also free of the angst that was evident in
the first two books, as ‘Deck’ worked out her various issues with her father, authority
in general, and her love life. This is conveyed without losing the
seat-of-the-pants excitement that made the first two books such a pleasure. New
characters supply the mis-steps that create the drama (at the heart of which we
still find ‘Deck’, ‘Kai’ and ‘Con’).
Watson has a lot of fun working up Lovelace’s
investigation of the distress call. The way the crew evaluates the paradox is
deft. During their attempts to help, they find a couple of invisible worlds: Watson
is a scientist, and knows how to build a good world, or two. There are humans
and other species involved who have never heard of Uniterrae. It is with these
that the conflicts reside which drive the book.
The heading of each chapter with an apposite
quote is carried through this final novel: these continue to enrich the
material which follows.
This is the shortest book of the three. It
gallops along. ‘Deck’ and ‘Con’ her team leader continue to get themselves into
scrapes, but in this book they act on actual plans that have received some
thought and probing for weaknesses (until they go wrong, which they always do
of course). In between missions (for which read adventures) there is a lot more
introspection than in the previous volumes. Some of the younger crew members,
with partners on Lovelace, begin to wonder about the logistics of having
children: some of the older crew begin to ponder retirement, or at least a
change of career. Here Watson shows her skill at developing character driven
tales, as well as convincing Trekker-type space opera. Watson asks important questions
of her cast. The downtime is not overdone.
By the end of the book, however, the major
players have their stories tied neatly with a bow. I found it quite hard to
slow down to that pace after the page-turning adventure that had come before.
But this is, of course, life: one cannot go on saving the universe forever. At
some point one has to learn how to change that diaper, or accept that desk job.
Or, possibly, both.
I shall miss the crew of the Lovelace.
I wonder where Watson’s imagination will take her next? I look forward to
following her on the journey wherever she goes. She is a fine writer, with an empathetic
heart, and that good scientific background.
You can enjoy this book as a standalone. But
I recommend reading all three, in order.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
I was working from an ARC, cannot comment on
what of the few typos and clunks I came across may have made it into the
published book.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: Judi Moore
Approximate
word count: 70-75,000 words
No comments:
Post a Comment