This was fantastic. Get paced and the perfect mix of science with fiction!
I loved the pacing of this novel as it was very much 'one more.page' and before I knew it I'd finished

This is billed as Golden Girls meets Babylon 5 – which is odd and inaccurate. There’s a human-only space station – so no exotic aliens or weird cultures to explore. The cast of characters are on the mature side – rather than excitable kids with laser guns. But it isn’t particularly obvious.

The plot is a bit tangled. Lots of politics without the exposition to make it interesting. There are vague hints of top-secret nanobot drama, but with no real villain identified until halfway through it all feels a bit vague. Effectively the first half is a police-procedural with some sci-fi trappings.

The use of tech is very well thought out. It gives a great vision of what persistent Augmented Reality would be like – and there’s some fun to be had in the idea of what computer hacking looks like in the future. As it progresses, it becomes increasingly cyberpunk.

Sadly, the cast is just too large. By half-way through the book, I felt that I didn’t know who was who or what they were doing. I kinda gave up trying to keep track and just went along for the ride. The book doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. Is it an emotional melodrama or a space shoot-em-up? Is it a political intrigue or police pot-boiler?

It’s a good story – but doesn’t quite pull all the elements together.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

(Content warnings: Blood, death, murder, violence, gun violence, vomit, gore, vehicle accident [it's a flying car accident, so it bears a resemblance to both a car/plane crash])

Okay, first, the diversity in this book was absolutely lovely, it was the most inclusive book I've read in a while and it's clear the author put a lot of effort into it. The main cast is made up entirely of older women, which was so refreshing to see, there's lots of characters of color, LGBT characters, etc, etc. Some highlights for me included:

- the blind main character who uses a cane and assistive technology - I love to see sci-fi stories explore how technology can accommodate disabled people instead of erasing/"fixing" them :')
- multiple (though minor) characters using ze/zem pronouns (you don't see humans using neopronouns in sci-fi often, nice), and also the use of M. as a gender neutral alternative to Mr./Mrs./Ms. aka top 10 things that make you go omg can we please implement this into the real world right now immediately. Like as as a nonbinary person who doesn't really like Mx.? Totally filed that away in my brain for future reference.
- Muslim characters! (I can count the number of Muslim characters I've encountered in science fiction on one hand, so that's something that really stood out to me, though as I'm not Muslim I can't vouch for the accuracy).

Now, having said that... I'll be real. The characters sure are diverse, but they're just so flat and uninteresting, OOF. Which is at least partially due to the sheer amount of them. (And this is coming from someone who read that 19 POV Expanse book and ENJOYED it). The number of more or less important side characters you have to keep track of is excessive and more than once did I have to search for a name in the ebook to try to remember who's who. There was this one dramatic betrayal towards the end of the book where I literally went, "uhhh wait, who's that again?". And I think it's because of all those many, many side characters that the main cast suffers; I feel like if it merged or cut out most of the side/minor characters and spent all that time developing the leads instead, it could've been quite solid, but instead it just constantly felt like there was something missing.

Plot-wise, it was more action-packed thriller than the murder mystery I expected, and it was okay, but not good enough to carry a story when the characters didn't - see, I don't actually mind flat characters when the plot has me too busy losing my mind from excitement. But it just never quite gripped me [sad emoji] Though I DID love the gradual reveal of what exactly went down on Earth, I was not expecting such a chilling and ballsy backstory. THAT part slapped, 100%. The worldbuilding was really well done, too, if not super unique. Anyway, if you like fast moving sci-fi thrillers with lots of action and combat (so much combat!) and don't mind simplistic characters, you'll probably enjoy this book.

Oh, and one more thing that kinda sapped my enjoyment of the book was the, uhhh, the copaganda. Unfortunately™ I find myself unable to sympathize and root for cops even in a setting so far removed from our reality (and like. can you blame me. especially in the current political climate). I'm sorry dude I simply do not care for Toiwa and all I could think whenever it came up how virtuous and principled and stuff she is was huh! Cool copaganda you've got there! Yeah, I definitely enjoyed her chapters the least. Do I think it was intentional on the author's part? No, dude's clearly trying to be progressive and props to him for that. Was I still uncomfortable with the story being completely uncritical of the police as an institution and wanting me to constantly align with and root for cops? Yeahhh.

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)

The ”thing” I’ll be happiest to see in the rearview mirror: pre-pub comparisons of a book to multiple existing stories. Is there a name for that? This story is billed as “Golden Girls meets The Expanse with a side of Babylon Five” . . . who comes up with this marketing stuff?

Golden Girls. Nope, unless the fact that almost all the characters in this socially conscious saga are women and some of them are mature but still kicking ass big-time. . . no comedy. The Expanse. Okay, if you like your hard sf technology banged into your face on every page in every of the vast expanse of characters, as in “isn’t my djinn cool?” Babylon Five. IDK, never watched it, but if there’s supposed to be a strain of hip humor I sure didn’t see it.

The book had a slow burn for me, a very slow burn, but I persevered and finished. It’s a mashup of genres and locales, ticking the list from earthside to space station to bonzo space battle. Is it a murder mystery or a spy story, a revolt against totalitarian control or a cautionary tale of religious zealots?

The best part for me was the brief space battle climax at the end. My favorite character was the unsighted data investigator with her sensor network. She was cool! The saga is set up with tons and tons of backstory and the promise of sequels and traitors ahead. Maybe there will be improvement as they come. 2 stars.

Thanks to Mr. Appel, Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author is a convention/online buddy for the last few years (and his wife and one of his kids as well).</p>
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<p>John Appel is having a good time.</p>
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<p>I am often dubious about the advice to write the books you want to read, because there are loads of reasons why a particular person might not be able to do that. (Let's start with: not everyone is a writer.) I'm pretty sure that John, however, wanted to read a book that was an action-packed space adventure full of older characters (mostly women from non-European cultural origins) who had to use their lifetimes of experience as their situation spiraled from a multiple-murder crime scene into riots and beyond to a coup attempt with interplanetary implications.</p>
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<p>And that's what he did.</p>
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<p>For the moment, at least, John is not going to make the list of lapidary writers crafting perfect gems of sentences. Luckily for all of us, he doesn't pretend that that's what he's after, instead of focusing on getting his readers as many varieties of action as the plot can bear, leaning on research and personal experience for the bits that go biff-bang-pow and imagination for the bits that are interplanetary spies and nanotech mind control.</p>
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The premise of this book was exciting. I love sci-fi, the comps were right up my alley. Golden Girls, Babylon 5? The Expanse? Sign me up!
All with a diverse cast of characters? I couldn't believe how amazing it sounded.

And, for me, it turned out to be too good to be true. The cast of characters are all different races, ethnicities and religious affiliations and it turned out not to be done well.

My first issue with the book came before I was even 5% into it. A Black woman who was wearing, what I figured out were twists. He described her twists as "twist-outs". A twist-out is the style you get after taking down the twists. And that instantly pulled me from the story. I looked it up and the author is an older white man.

Nothing against him, I appreciate an effort made to bring in diversity. Please, write these characters but do your work.

After the "twist-outs" issue, I was taken out more and more from the story. Typos, words being used incorrectly and even moments of significance to religions being used wrong. The world building was solid but fell apart whenever one of these issues cropped up.

Plus the characters were flat. I wish he'd put more effort into them the way he had the worldbuilding. And the worldbuilding and idea are what I'm giving this book two stars on. I just couldn't get into it.

With the problems it has in regards to misused words and things that a Black editor would have caught or someone who was affiliated with the groups he wrote about, it highlighted some issues. The publishing world is not as diverse as it needs to be for the amount of people telling stories.

Stories get white washed by virtue of having eyes on them that aren't part of those groups. People who don't live those lives and don't understand so the stories end up weaker for it.

It's the simple things that make a story. Those need to be tight. And the way it was going, the little things were wrong so often that I stopped caring.

This was a space opera extravaganza that gripped me. I needed something light following my previous read and this filled the gap nicely.

The characters are unique and refreshing. It's brilliant seeing a cast of mature sleuths in action and I loved the camaraderie and dialogue.

I hope we come back to this world as it's clear by the end ,(no spoilers) that there's room for sequels, which I warmly welcome!!

This fun space opera was a very enjoyable read. Action-packed and great pacing. The geriatric space adventurers is a nice take, and the mystery aspects of the story were strong. Fully developed world building and a thrilling plot. I really liked this book and am looking forward to more from John Appel.

Golden Girls meets The Expanse with a side of Babylon Five.

So that's the tag line that grabbed my attention on Netgalley and I think it delivered. That it's set on a space station was what sealed the deal for my wanting to read this.

I won't give any spoilers but I can say that between the murder mystery thread and the wider political conspiracy intrigue, I don't know which part I enjoyed most. I don't think I've ever read a story that had the main protagonists in this circumstance as what we now consider senior citizens. I liked that perspective and found it very cool. That the main investigators were working with decades of experience and life behind them seemed to inform their actions and made for a richer telling. I also liked that the young one was in her forties and she was the one who while, strong and very good at her job (she totally held her own and I quite liked her), sometimes chaffed running up against the experience of those ahead of her.

The station was described in vivid detail and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. That there are other stations mentioned had me hoping this is a series or duology so that maybe some time can be spent on those as there are said to be differences. I enjoyed reading about the technology and none of it seemed impossible and made this feel grounded in the possible world we inhabit. I'm interested. The political tensions and the larger Commonwealth situation seemed to open the story to more as well.

I'd read another by Appel and hopefully in this universe.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

This is strong on story than characters, but still enjoyable. This felt a little different than the typical sci-fi story. It's a fairly light read and the older characters give a different flavor. I think a lot of sci-fi fans will like this one.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

This is a really great book, absolutely loved it! Delightful that most of the main characters are in their 60s, with all the baggage and wisdom that can come with that. Even the younger characters are mature. This starts out as a murder investigation set on a space station, but evolves into a very complicated political situation involving three different governments and an insurgent group. There are a lot of viewpoints to follow, and each is presented with a lot of sophistication and nuance. There are police, military, government, criminal, and private citizen viewpoints to keep straight. Just about every person in a position of authority or power is a woman or non-binary person, but in a very matter-of-fact way. I can't think of a single character described as white. There's a reason for this, several centuries prior a limited number of people having escaped Earth via space elevators at various points along the equator. The conflict that led to that is explored enough to not be a gaping hole, but as this story evolves it becomes clear it's not over yet, which opens the door to a sequel I hope is in the works!

Short review due to my disabilities.
this was a fun read. It had everything I wanted in my space opera = humour, high stakes, fast pace, quick read, and a warm comfy feeling. I particularly enjoyed the older cast of characters and hope the author continues to develop this world with more novels.

Now that tagline dragged me in...

This was absolutely fantastic. It was space opera at its finest and I loved it.
The story moved along at a great pace, meaning this was a un-put-downable and the action was effortless and a credit to the writer as I really visualised what was happening.. I just kept thinking 'one more page' and before I knew it, I was finished! (I travel a lot for work). I love wormholes, space, snark, wit, and tech-light scifi so absolutely brilliant for me.

The characterisation was a little light, but I felt that suited the novel and the pace. If I wanted heavily nuanced characters I would look to read something that wasn't Golden Girls meets The Expanse with a side of Babylon Five!!! All three of those shows had great characters, but they were so much more: politics, communities, worlds, social issues, grit, the works and I felt that this book offered everything in an easy-to-digest format.

This is unique. The older main cast of characters is just so refreshing and I want more.

Thank you Netgalley/John/Rebellion

This year, I'm trying to read more science fiction, as my reading list has been overwhelmingly fantasy-based in recent years and I'd like to get more of an idea of what's going on in other parts of the SFF genre. As a result, Assassin's Orbit looked like it might be a good bet for a standalone science fiction novel to help with this.

The basic premise of the novel is that it's set in a universe inhabited by people who have fled from Earth through a one-way wormhole trip, fleeing particularly from a nanotech based virus (the Unity plague) that was being used to control the population en masse. Various cultures have inhabited and colonised their own planets in this new area, with a fierce interdict on such research being undertaken, as well as developing space stations - it's on one of those, Ileres, that the majority of our action takes place, starting with the killing of a government minister and a situation that rapidly unfolds from the investigation of that murder.

In general terms, the world-building of Assassin's Orbit is pretty good and the plot pushes on in a fairly relentless manner. I would probably have given it more than 3 stars if the characterisation had been equally as thorough. At one point, when I was about 20% through my first read of this book, I had to put it down for a few days and then, when I returned, I couldn't remember who any of the characters were. This is never a good sign. Other than 'get revenge' and 'not get myself killed', there didn't seem to be much going on in terms of character's motivations and I found myself not really giving much of a crap about anybody surviving this.

I get the feeling this is a first novel and, if that's the case, it's not bad but it's just not got the emotional hook to the characters that I need to care about them. That something to work on for next time around, I think.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A mass murder is just the beginning of something that threatens to engulf the universe in death and slaughter.

This book has everything I love about science fiction.

It's got a large cast of characters (which carries it's own bonuses and perils), and while the action starts small, it quickly moves to world spanning, and we're left with a sense of reasonable doubt as to who is behind everything until the end. The action scenes are excellent, there's a real sharpness in the description of everything from hand to hand fighting to the wars between starships. I love that the characters aren't twenty five year old models who just happen to be brilliant at everything, the scenes with a woman at retirement age merrily blasting her way to victory over people much younger than her was a joy to read, and I love that there is no immunity from the reaper.

I just didn't love it as a whole.

I remember reading Ancillary Justice some years ago and having similar problems with that, just something about it didn't work for me. I should have loved this book, and yet, despite reading to the end of it, I found myself unenthused, and for the life of me I cannot think why. For books that I don't find enjoyable, I normally give a lower rating, but the writing here was good, the ideas excellent, and I'm loathe to mark down something that could well be brilliant for the next reader, just because it didn't gel for me.