This is the follow on to THE STARS NOW UNCLAIMED, it is the story , here we follow Esa and Jane and their journey to rescue children with rather special abilities…….but someone else wants these children.

This is a frenetic paced space opera, full of battles, action, witty banter and lots of danger. With great characters and gripping plot this is a thoroughly entertaining read.

A brilliantly fun, escapist space opera - loved every moment of it! The banter between Esa and Kamali is often laugh-out-loud hilarious, but their relationship is also so heartfelt. For fans of Becky Chambers!

I was a little daunted when I first picked this book up when I found out that it was the second in the series (the first is THE STARS NOW UNCLAIMED ), but my fears were soon laid to rest as I found it so easy to catch up with these characters and the world they were in, and now I'm just eager to pick up book one to find out how it all started as I had so much fun reading this and following the 'adventures' of Esa and Jane as they travel to different planets to rescue childen with supernatural abilities - but this time they're not alone as someone else wants these children, and will go to extreme lengths to stop others getting in their way.

The pace is relentless with this story and that's what kept me so engaged! There was always something going on - action, battles and plenty of banter! The main draw of this story I think is the relationship between Esa and Jane and it was fun to see it evolving and to see how much they connect with one another - even if Esa does drive Jane mad with trying to guess her age all the time!

As they travel around they face a lot of danger (mazes of dead people is a new one on me!!) but never lose their humour and I loved the mix of the action with the sassy banter!! My family thought I was mad sometimes when I was reading and would just burst out laughing at the antics going on!

I'm so glad that I was drawn to this book by the stunning cover and the premise of a space 'soap opera' as it definitely delivered on that front! It was great to read about these characters who were faced with some difficult circumstances whilst having to deal with their own emotions and trying to do good. Book 3 of the series will be out in 2020 and I'll definitely be there for that as I can't wait to hear more of Jane and Esa!

Am I being silly if I suggest that science fiction is, in fact, one of the most subjective and varied genres out there? I feel like I very rarely read two sci-fi books that are similar and I find it so hard to recommend books in this genre since everyone likes different things! If you enjoy the kind of science fiction I like*, I think you'll enjoy this book too!

*I'll go into more detail don't worry.

I love the worldbuilding in this book and in the previous book in the series. I think the idea of 'the pulse' an incident that degrades the technology of various worlds - but affects them differently, is one of the strongest aspects of this series. It allows for huge variation between different settings and it means you can keep the characters from being overpowered! While this book focusses less on the nature of the pulse in comparison to book one, it still allows the setting to flourish.

Where in The Stars Now Unclaimed it was the setting and the world that really stuck with me, in this book it was the characters. You can see why Becky Chambers' endorsement has been used so prominently in the marketing of this book, the character-focussed science fiction is strong with this one. I wouldn't say this book had as much of an impact on me as a reader as, for example, A Closed and Common Orbit, but certainly, I can see the similarities between these authors.

This book, as you'll see from the summary, follows on from the events of book one, but with enough of a time jump that Esa is no longer a child and has joined Jane in her mission to scour the universe for other gifted children. The book is actually told from Esa's perspective (if I'm remembering correctly the first book was from Jane's) which I really enjoyed. I thought that Esa was a wonderfully multi-faceted character who managed to simultaneously be a badass sci-fi heroine and also to spark a kind of empathy. Obviously, you want her to be storming around the galaxy defeating bad guys but at the same time, you're aware that three years ago she was just a child living on a planet with no idea of the horrors to come in her future. There's a lot to do with the theme of responsibility, and also of processing trauma which are things that I think work well in this kind of setting.

This book, plotwise, didn't feel (to me) as though it had too much substance. I did enjoy the main storyline but it felt incredibly quick and then suddenly it was done. I'm not sure this story felt like it had the same 'universal' scope that the first book did. I think this is because the first book had to set up some universe-wide concepts where this is more of a story within that universe. I personally found that this was perfect for me because I was in need of something simple and that was a change of pace from the slower, more 'deep' books I had been reading up until that point. So, my suggestion is this, if you want to enjoy this book then make sure it's the right time for you!

Overall, I think this is a great addition to your sci-fi books shelf - if this is the kind of science fiction you enjoy!

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

A Chain Across the Dawn is available now!

Absolutely brilliant, with the galaxy's best spaceship!
Having read and loved the first book, I couldn't wait to read this one. And I wasn't disappointed! The first book was brilliant, in my opinion, and this carried that on.
As before, what really sold it for me was the wonderful characterisation - all the characters were well developed and just made sense. Obviously my favourite still is Schaz, the spaceship, who has a wonderful line in pithy and sarcastic comments. But the other characters were also great, with Sho being a wonderful addition, and the author also managed to give character to a being made of fire, presumably not the easiest thing to do.
In addition to the excellent characters in this story, there is the story itself. Well, it was fantastic. You could never predict what twist the story was going to take, which was great, and there were just some wonderful ideas. There were, towards the end, more pages of talking than action, but this was necessary to take stock of what had happened and why it was happening, before as usual the action taking over and completing the story.
I was overjoyed to find, at the end, that there will be a third story out next year, and will certainly be looking out for that one! If you like real good, slightly old fashioned scifi (not space opera, not fantasy), with a brilliant story as the main component, then I cannot recommend this highly enough.

A solid sci-fi, entertaining and engrossing.
I appreciated the character development, the world building and the fascinating plot.
It's the first I read by this author and I look forward to reading other.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Solid action, interesting dialogue, exposition, character development, gripping plot; all in all, a wonderful book, as enjoyable as the first one, if not more.