I’ve said this many times before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but it really is nice to be asked to read a book by a publicist/ author and when its one that you’ve enjoyed it makes it even more lovely. Vidar Hokstad’s first book in the Sovereign Earth series is a sci-fi novel that I thoroughly enjoyed and devoured in two sittings. I just couldn’t put it down. I was captivated by the world building of space, travel and trade that Vidar has created. Flight travel especially bought forth a new way for readers to envision how crew on a spaceship take flight. Very original.
Forty years ago a signal from the outer reaches of space were detected, humanity could finally state they were not alone. The Centauri exchanged vital pieces of information for humanity to advance and they offered up ways to trade via gates. A year before the completion of the gate, the lives of humanity changed forever, tensions and political suspicions arise.
Captain Zara Ortega of the ship Black Rain, and her rag tag of a crew are on a mission to retrieve some ‘goods’ from the space station of Vanguard. All seems to go well until they arrive to hand over the product to their contact near Mars. That leads them to running for their lives as the truth of what they retrieved contains secrets that shake the very ideals of a trade partnership with the Centauri.
Betrayal, deceit and loyalty are tested, so who can Captain Ortega trust?
The writing is very detailed in laying the foundations of the physics of space travel and the world in which Zara and the other characters live. Sometimes I wondered if this was too much detail, but all that background is needed to move the story forward and to set it up for the novels that will follow. The detail may be vast but it by no means takes over the story and events take on a fast pace as we travel with Zara and her crew.
Am I left with wanting to know what happens next? Yes, I certainly am.
Hayley's Book Room 
Leave a comment