Ending around September 29, 2014
Okay so it’s been more than a week since the first This Week on Kindle, but I’m back on the wagon and I promise you that from now on every This Week on Kindle will be exactly on time, and if you believe that I’ve got a friend looking for investors for this cold fusion device that he just got working.
So here’s a selection of what I’ve been reading since the last This Week on Kindle.
Trail By Ice by Casey Caloutte $2.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
I can’t remember what it was that convinced me to pick this up. The cover while professional enough doesn’t do anything for me and the plot synopsis does not describe a story that I would normally consider. There must have been something in the one of the reviews that piqued my interest. It’s the story of a lowly midshipman who finds himself the highest ranking survivor after a landing craft with a crew of thousands crashes on what was supposed to be a simple bit of gunboat diplomacy. Now Midshipman William Grace finds himself and a dozen or so mostly injured survivors in a hostile environment of a planet inhabited by an unexpectedly hostile population with the only means of communication with the fleet in the hands of the enemy. It’s a story of injured and starving men trying to survive in an artic environment, which Caloutte actually made interesting but I was still relieved when contact was made with the natives and Grace and company were fighting for more than just survival.
Edge of Solace by Casey Caloutte $2.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
After Trail By Ice I immediately picked up Edge of Solace. William Grace, now a Lieutenant, starts Edge of Solace in what is possibly an even worse position than in Trail By Ice. Within a few pages he’s floating in the vacuum of space hoping for rescue after the space station where he was a supposed to board his next assignment was destroyed in a surprise attack. After some bureaucratic shuffling Lieutenant Grace is eventually assigned to a ship, but instead of taking the Executive Officer position on the ship that him mentor had picked for him he ends up on a ship with an untrusting Captain. Grace is from the colonies and to a large portion of fleet officers that hail from Earth take it as a given that eventually the colonies will revolt against the home planet. Thus any officer from the colonies simply can be trusted especially now that there is a shooting war going on. Grace finds himself having to fight on two fronts, his own fleet and the real enemy. While I enjoyed Edge of Solace for some reason it’s storyline has not stuck with me like Trial By Ice.
Edge of Redemption by Casey Caloutte $2.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
While Edge of Solace isn’t quite the romp that Trail By Ice is, I still picked up Edge of Redemption as soon as I noticed it was available and I’m glad I did. As a reward for his outstanding service to the United Colonies Lieutenant William Gracehas been rewarded with a brand new ship. A brand new untested ship made from a hollowed out asteroid that looks like a potato. The United Colonies loads him up with a crew with other colonials with fellow colonists Grace and sent them way out to the edge of nowhere where there is no possibility that he or his crew could interfere in any uprising against the United Colonies. Despite its name the United Colonies are dominated by Earth and it is beginning to distrust its sons and daughters that have travelled to the stars. Probably because of his competence Grace is sent on what should be a milk run if it wasn’t for his unproven ship and unproven crew. Of course as a reader it is easy to guess that any mission that Grace is on is not going to be a milk run. This is the end of this trilogy but hopefully this won’t be the last we have seen of William Grace.
Fortune’s Rising: Outer Bounds One by Sara King $3.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
I’ve read some other Sara King books I didn’t really care for and to be truthful I didn’t realize this was the same author when I picked up Fortune’s Rising. Which is a happy accident, because if I had remembered I would not have given it a shot. The story takes place on a colony world that is being brutally oppressed for it’s natural resource. A native creature that resembles a large slug produces eggs that contain a “yolk” that can temporarily boost intelligence or if administered during infancy can produce geniuses. Unfortunately the slug like creatures called shriekers don’t take too kindly to having their offspring harvested and if not handled with extreme care release a physic scream that will kill or drive crazy anyone in the vicinity. So the United Space Coalition recruits locals, or more accurately enslaves locals to harvest the yolk. These locals are treated as slaves and even though they are technically citizens. The story centers on a kid who happens to be a child prodigy, and likely psychopathic, and her more stable and pragmatic teenaged sister who have been euphemistically drafted to harvest yolk. Throw in a romance between a local rebel and one of the Coalition pilots an emancipated android and some smugglers and pirates and you’ve got not only a rollicking good time but a unique and interesting read.