Synopsis:
Mykl d’Angelo, skipper and owner of the loderunner Pegasus, had fallen on hard times – and he'd just had the worst day of his life in that field. Due a minor misunderstanding, his crew had stolen the "Short Shit" - the ship's only shuttle, leaving him and two others behind to crew the ailing (and now understaffed) loderunner on their own. As if that weren't bad enough, just a few hours later, the rickety old ship literally lost its stardrive in the middle of the middle of nowhere. To add insult to injury, Mykl's two remaining crewmen were killed in the explosion.
Marooned alone in deep space, Mykl d’Angelo counted his blessings, offered prayers to any gods who specialized in miracles, and prepared to await (A) seemingly unlikely rescue, or (B) a lingering death. ...The universe however, seemed to have other plans.
Review: Blachart by Christina Engela 29/8/20
Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
While Fantasy is my primary love in literature, I have always enjoyed a good science fiction yarn and when this one came to me via the narrator I figured it may just satisfy an itch I'd been having of late.
Sheesh, where to start with this book? Simply put, it has everything! There's adventure, space battles, fistfights, pirates and, of course. romance.
The story revolves around Mykl, ex-combat pilot turned down-on-his-luck cargo captain who begins the book afloat in space after most of his crew, for reasons unknown, mutiny and fly off in the ships sole shuttle. Shortly afterwards the starships drive explodes, killing his two remaining crew and leaving his marooned in deep space with no hope of survival. That is, until a ship full of marines rescues him from certain death only to then get into a battle with a ship full of space pirates, Mykl has to rely on his military training to survive and capture the dreaded Blackhart!
It's only now that things really start to get bad when his military contract is reactivated and he's tasked with a critical, a possibly suicidal mission into enemy territory.
Every primary character in the book, from Mykl himself to Ripley and Blackhart himself are extremely well fleshed out, interesting and fantastically voiced by Nigel Peever, each given a real sense of identity and more than a little snark. In addition to the reading, there is the addition of sound effects and some incidental music which is just enough to add atmosphere without distracting from the reading like often can happen with this in audiobooks.
There's so much in this story that I could talk about but I don't want to spoil anything but do strongly suggest that, if you like Buck Rogers, Firefly or Pirate stories you give this book a go as I thoroughly enjoyed everything it had to offer.