Science Fiction

Honor’s Flight: Fallen Empire Book 2

by Lindsay Buroker. 2016 ebook.

This is the plot summary from Amazon. It is NOT mine:

“After spending four years fighting for the Alliance, fighter pilot Alisa Marchenko only wants one thing: to reunite with her young daughter. But this involves a journey to her former home world, which has become the last imperial stronghold. Since the imperials have a lot of reasons to loathe members of the Alliance right now, just getting down to the planet will be a challenge, and it doesn’t help that her passengers are stirring up trouble of their own…

Even if Alisa is able to land, she may find that more questions await her than answers, and that her late husband kept a startling secret from her, one that could change her life forever.”

My thoughts:

I read the first book in this series, Star Nomad: Fallen Empire Book 1, a couple months ago. I loved it. I put off reading the second one (this one) for awhile, and I’m sorry I did. I’m in love with this series.

I am completely invested in this story. There is excellent characterization and the dialogue is very natural. I see myself in the lead character, Alisa Marchenko. She is sarcastic, flawed, sometimes judgey. I feel as if I know her. She’s not the only one, though. All the characters are well thought out and so far all of them are fairly dynamic. They all have their own quests or missions as well as their own secrets. They are the types of characters I want to read about forever. Luckily, this series is quite extensive with 8 books (so far). #8 was just released in November. I can’t wait to get to it!

The books are in the Sci-Fi genre, fully action packed, with one adventure or tricky situation after another. The books so far feel a lot like the short-lived but forever-worshiped Sci-Fi series, Firefly, but with some of the roles reversed. There is an old cargo ship, a “religious” doctor with a dark mission, an attractive cyborg with a conscience, a sense of honor and his own agenda and quest, a quirky spiritual character with a deep knowledge of science and secret societies, a female engineer who just wants a job, a strong male body guard, and a witty, sarcastic female captain with a quest of finding her daughter. All of this in a post-war galaxy. Love it.

As stated above, there is non-stop action in this series with clever plans and excellent dialogue. The characters, while sometimes not trusting of each other for good reason, are also supportive and create an interesting dynamic. The females and male characters are strong yet vulnerable with personal as well as professional issues. It is a universe where it feels as if females are treated and thought of as equal to men. I never got a sense of sexism in any way with these books. I really like that; especially the captain of the ship being a female. There are many intertwining subplots that are revealed in a measured way that doesn’t feel hurried or drawn out. My only criticism, if I HAD to give one, is that some times the action is a little too active, meaning it seems that there is too much going on. But, they aren’t drawn out too long, so the feeling passes.

So far there is no romance, although it seems to be leading that way with the main character Alisa and the Cyborg, Leonidas. I have to say that I hope they get together romantically. I like how the author is taking her time with this, though, if it ever does develop into something. It makes it much more realistic as well as satisfying when something does happen. 2 books in and I am rooting for the match.

I give this book, and the series so far, 5 out of 5 stars. Excellent read!

EDIT: I read all the books in the series and have to say they are all excellent and recommend the entire series so there is no need for me to individually review them. They are all high-action, good characterization, and a fun read.