336 pages
English language
Published Dec. 13, 2020 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
Terminally ill salvage pilot Ash Jackson lost everything in the war with the alien Vai, but she'll be damned if she loses her future. Her plan: to buy, beg, or lie her way out of corporate indenture and find a cure.
When her crew salvages a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.
Very novel take on the repercussions of a first contact scenario. It's also a rare instance of a story set in a military environment that doesn't revolve around fighting the war.
It started okay but then some ideas felt underdeveloped and it was not clear how the alien technology worked and what was really going on with the characters' hallucinations. The writing style didn't attract me too much and I thought there was overuse of metaphors to describe things. I was confused by some terms used to name objects, sometimes I found there was not enough context to understand what that object was. The ending was very abrupt and to be honest, I still quite didn't get it. I don't feel compelled to continue reading the next book.
not a «wow», but i actually quite liked the book! my favourite part of it — the aliens who for a change are... alien enough that one actually starts asking oneself if understanding is even possible between us and them :-)
The only thing I didn't love was the tag line on the cover.
"They didn't know we could die"
It spoils such a major point in the book.
