Be
careful what you wish for… You might get it.
Down-sized
astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He
just has to pretend to be the captain of an Alliance of Planets starship. His
lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the
ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.
The
only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules, tragedy resulted. She vowed never
again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the
crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover a saboteur and
get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do
attract.
I
really enjoyed this book and I want to recommend it. I agonized over how many roses to give it,
because it is basically Star Trek fan fiction.
Ms. Burton tried to separate it from fan fiction by calling her
collection of planets the Alliance and throwing in a lot of references to Star
Trek, like comparing Serenians to Vulcans and such, but the even though the
Freedom hails from the Andromeda galaxy, the crew attended Space Fleet Academy,
they have a non-interference rule (the Prime Directive), are all humanoid in
appearance, and they have a universal translator—although this one is implanted
behind their ears and looks like a mole.
Even their computers have a sexy female voice a la Majel Barret
Roddenberry. The ship has been orbiting
Earth monitoring Terran broadcasts and the chief engineer is a Star Trek fan
who emulates Commander Scott’s accent.
(How is it that Serenians from Andromeda have given people from Earth a
name that comes from ancient Rome?)
Fortunately,
I’m a Star Trek fan and I don’t mind reading fan fiction if it’s well
written. My only objection to Ms.
Burton’s book is that she didn’t file off the serial numbers well enough to
separate this story from Gene Roddenberry’s universe. I would suggest that Ms. Burton either write
straight-up fan fic or remove these similarities.
In
terms of characterization and plot, the characters were well-rounded and the
plot was fast-paced and pulled me in right from the beginning. This book is part of a trilogy and stood well
enough on its own until the cliff-hanger ending. Oh, yes—it has the kind of ending that means
you have to buy the next book to see how it turns out, and no warning at the
beginning that it’s part of a serial. I
do want to go back and buy the first book and of course I have to get the
third. So, if you’re a Star Trek fan and
you don’t mind waiting for the next book to see how the story ends, then I
recommend this book.
Length:
499 Pages
Price:
$3.99
Nice review!
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