Star Nomad (Fallen Empire) (Volume 1)

So the Rebel Alliance topples the Old Empire. But unlike what happens in Star Wars, these rebels aren't cut out for governing. The Empire has collapsed – but there's nothing waiting to take its place. Now there's only anarchy, poverty, pirates, and old enemies.

Alisa was an officer in the rebel army. Now she's got no money and she's stranded on a dead-end world light years away from her daughter. She hatches a plan to steal her mother's old ship. One problem: an Empire officer's squatting in it. If she wants the ship, she's going to have to take him too.

This one was … okay. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of books in Buroker's Junkyard series. The characters in this one were nowhere near as compelling. And the heteronormative gender binary felt stale and disappointing.

Definitely a fun and fast book.
The story has very much a familiar atmosphere for Firefly fans, although the environment is different. It reads fast and furiously, with a lot of action and great moments.

3.25, giving it a bit of a bump up rather than down because in spite of its, it was an enjoyable read.

In a lot of ways this is very much a Generic Space Opera, with a dash of Firefly, and a pinch of Star Wars, blended together into what is, honestly, a fairly dull little universe. There is nothing here that you haven't seen before if you've been paying any attention to Sci-Fi at all.

Honestly, it reads like the first session in a Traveller campaign. Which, if that's your thing, makes this a fun read, and makes you want to keep on. It was the perfect sort of book to read at the end of a vacation when you're stuck on a plane for way too many hours.