Rob BoffardRecensioni

This was fun but flawed. I loved the energy and the humour and the action scenes and even grew to like the main character, Teagan Frost, but the pacing sometimes needed to be tighter and the ending went on for too long, mostly to set up the next book in the series (which I probably won't be reading, at least not this year).

It would make a wonderful movie or even a TV series where I'm sure the pace would be tightened and there would be a little more discipline in the storytelling. But hey, maybe I'm just too conventional to value the chaotic energy of this book.

I loved the start. What's not to like about an attempted covert penetration of a secure facility that ends with Teagan Frost, and her teammate jumping off the eighty-second floor of an under-construction skyscraper with nothing between them and the ground but an office chair and Teagan's hope that she has enough power not to turn both of them into pavement pizza?

I liked the way the way Teagan Frost developed, slowly waking up to how much trouble she's in and how few people she can trust. I mostly liked her humour and even when it annoyed me it served to increase my empathy for her teammates.

The plot was clever enough to throw me a few curves, some of which were telegraphed and some caught me by surprise. In the end, the mystery and its resolution did make sense although most of the energy and the fun of the book is in the frenetic action that follows when Teagan is told that she has 22 hours to sort everything out or she'll be disappeared by her own side. (I know, you'd think that would be 24 hours right? Like in movies? But that just shows how tough Teagan's boss is).

If you're looking for fresh, frantic and fun entertainment then 'The Girl Who Could Move Shit With Here Mind' is worth listening to.

I recommend the audiobook version. I thought Lauren Patten did a great job in getting across Teagan's cocky but sometimes misplaced swagger and Graham Haldstead adds a creep factor as the guy we know is important to the plot but we don't know why. Click on the SoundCloud link below to get a feel for the book.

https://soundcloud.com/hachetteaudiouk/the-girl-who-could-move-sht-with-her-mind...

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/a-shtload-of-crazy-powers-by-jackson-ford/

Another one that I did not finish. It’s a sequel and I’m not inclined to seek out the first either.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---

And now I’m trapped under a collapsed bridge, in a burning van, having just taken a faceful of meth, while a biker gang shoots at me and my friends with automatic weapons.

We’ve all been there.

WHAT'S EYE OF THE SH*T STORM ABOUT?
Obviously, spoilers for the previous book are going to come into play here...if you're concerned about that, skip to the stars at the bottom and move on. Actually, I'll make it easy for you: ★ ★ ★ ★. Proceed at your own risk.

It's been two months since Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air, L.A. (and the rest of California) is still struggling to deal with the loss of infrastructure, lives, jobs, and sense of normalcy that had been ripped from them. Teagan and her team have resumed their work as best as they can.

The book opens just as a mission to uncover an illegal gun sales ring goes horribly awry—leading to my opening quotation. Before the team has a chance to recover from this debacle, they're sent to investigate a strange occurrence that is right up their alley. A storage unit complex—the entire thing, from asphalt to walls to ceilings and everything in between—has become electrically charged. Technically, that's impossible, right? But so are psychokinetics like Teagan and the earthquake-inducing little boy we met in the last book.

Teagan figures out a way to get her inside the complex and discovers the cause--another little boy. About the same age as the one she faced off with two months ago. But this boy is different—he's scared. He's not in control of his power at the moment because he just wants his dad and to get away from "the Zigzag Man" (whoever that is). Teagan knows her job is to bring the kid in and turn him over to the authorities. But she can't do that—this boy, Leo, isn't out to hurt anyone. He's not trying to fry California or anything. He just wants his dad, and Teagan can't imagine subjecting Leo to the experiments and testing that he'd be subjected to if she did her job.

So, she goes AWOL, hoping to reunite Leo with his family before she figures out what to do with her employers. She's eventually tracked down by her friends—some agree to help her, some try to apprehend Leo. Things get messy from there. And they all learn pretty quickly that Leo was right to want to get as far away as humanly possible from the Zigzag Man.

REGGIE
Of the group, the character we've spent the least amount of time with. This makes sense—she's the "woman in the chair," as Ned Leeds would put it. She's their hacker, their supervisor, the one calling the shots from home base and doing what she can to dig up information for them in the field. She's also in a wheelchair, limiting what she can do in the field (but she pushes those limits as often as possible).

This book solves the we-don't-get-to-spend-time-with-Reggie problem by giving her several point-of-view chapters. When we're not with Teagan, we're with her. And I loved it—I'd take a Reggie solo story anytime. She's just a rich character—getting to focus on her and having some of her backstory filled in are just great. She had a pretty impressive résumé already, but what she accomplishes here proves that Teagan's not the only impressive one on the team (that could be said for all of them, really, but I want to focus on Reggie).

Her future looks pretty different going into Book 4 than it has so far—but I'm looking forward to seeing what she does in this new stage of life. I predict things will look better for her within the next 400 pages than it does now.

I DIDN'T EXPECT THIS TO COME UP
There's a subplot running through all this where Teagan deals with the come down from an accidental (and large) exposure to meth and struggles to experiment with it some more. This is due to the withdrawal symptoms she's suffering, and also because it turns out that meth supercharges her abilities for a brief period and that sounds really handy right now.

Now, I don't know how realistic all the non-superpower effects of meth and the temptation to use it again so soon are. But it feels real. And the fact that I have to clarify "non-superpower" does put us outside the realm of realism already.

Teagan goes through a lot in this book (and series), but the way she looks into the temptation of great power at a great cost and cannot shake it immediately was really well depicted and—so far—the most compelling. This temptation keeps calling her name, she's able to justify/allllllllmost justify experimenting with the drug. And maybe giving herself over entirely to the addiction.

TEAGAN'S GROWTH

I reacted… poorly. Hey, just because I’ve been trying to think through my decisions doesn’t mean I’m perfect, OK?

This is already longer than I'd planned, so I'm going to be brief here—in my post about Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air I talked about Teagan's growth in terms of power and maturity—and how far she has to go. That's still present, but she's making progress—and she's aware of her need.

I think she gives herself more credit than she deserves in this quest up to this point—but she's moving in the right direction. And who wants a perfect protagonist anyway?

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT EYE OF THE SH*T STORM?

Over the past few years, I’ve become very familiar with the giant spurt of adrenaline you get after surviving something that should have killed you.

It always arrives around five minutes after I nearly die, beginning with a prickle on my arms, a delightful tremor in my fingers. Then a feeling of well- being, flooding through me, quickly growing to a kind of hysterical euphoria. It’s like an old friend by now. One I’ve been hanging out with for so long that I know everything they’re going to do before they do it.

There was a point where my eReader was at risk of flying through a window. Thankfully for the sake of marital harmony (and my poor eReader), that didn't happen (my notes read, "No no no no no no no no," and I was able to limit it to that). Frost has demonstrated that no character is safe, the status quo is not respected, and that readers should not think that anything is settled. This is not a bug, this is a feature. Not necessarily one that promotes emotional health in a reader, however, but it's a feature.

What Ford's cavalier attitude toward my blood pressure does is heighten every moment, intensify every conflict (even if it doesn't seem like it's time for a major happening), and keeps you focused throughout as you speed through the pages.

I've been annoyed with myself for not staying on top of this series since the summer of 2020—and now that I'm almost caught up—I'm even more annoyed with myself. But for now, I'm just happy I got this posted so I can move on to the next book in a few days.

If you're into super-hero-adjacent kind of stories, this series is a must-read. Could you do okay by starting with this book? Sure—Ford won't let you get lost and will help you get oriented in the midst of things. But do yourself a favor and start with the first book and do it soon.

Not bad, fairly snappily-written character-driven sci-fi piece about being trapped in space. A lot of said characters follow tired archetypes a bit too much, but that's OK really.

This book was the first time I was introduced to the phrase "A thick English accent", and I can't work out what it's supposed to mean. (Thick accent should mean it's difficult to understand AND "Foreign"/non-native) I've seen this once or twice elsewhere since by American authors, so perhaps it's not Boffard's fault for using awkward phrasing.

There is no good reason that it's taken me three years to read this book given how much I enjoyed its predecessor. But it did, and now I can answer the question:

WHAT'S RANDOM SH*T FLYING THROUGH THE AIR ABOUT?
Teagan and her team are back on course after the events of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind , she's still haunted by those events (or, more specifically who was behind them). Still, they're back in action as if they'd never been chased by the police, and have even added a new member to the team (and I'm so glad that Ford figured out a nice way to work him in) to the series.

Teagan's no longer considering her team coworkers (coworkers by coercion, no less), but friends. She has plans to take cooking classes. That's not all, she's even trying to repair the disaster that is her friendship/budding romance. Things are looking up, basically.

Which means it's time for things to start going wrong. And boy howdy, do they go wrong in a big way. One thing that Teagan, her team, and the shadowy government officials who employ them learned in the previous book, is that there are other people out there with abilities like hers.

For example, there's this cute little kid—he's smart enough that it's a super-power in and of itself—he's like Teagan, but his powers work best with rock, dirt, soil—basically, anything you focus on in Geology class. And he discovers that if he can access a fault line, he can do a whole lot. Between his power, his intelligence, and a complete lack of moral compass—this discovery isn't good for anyone.

The question quickly becomes: can Teagan and the rest of her team stop him before mapmakers need to redo the Western coast of North America?

THE STAKES
That last line wasn't a joke—the stakes are literally that high in this one. This is a big jump—we go from a confused younger adult convinced he's doing the right thing by killing a few people to literally risking several states and provinces? "Ford's not really going to...oh, yes he is."

It's hard to imagine how the stakes could be higher (I'm a little nervous about the next two books), but this remained a very personal story. Amidst the threat of death and widespread destruction, the novel is about Teagan, the boy, and a few people in their immediate circle. Yes, the fate of millions hangs in the balance—but our focus never gets bigger than twenty people.

PERSONAL GROWTH
At the end of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Teagan's in a better place than she began the novel in—she's gained a little self-acceptance, has a better relationship with her team, and so on. But she's essentially the same person. Which is both good and bad.

What we see in this novel is how much she needs to grow as a person—and as someone with abilities and knowing how/when/why to use them. She does grow a lot in these ways, as you'd hope. But we also see how far she still has to go. Sure, readers could tell that (like her rival) her abilities could be strengthened and improved in her debut—but I don't know if I realized how far she had to go emotionally as I did this time.

It's good to see that she is growing—and seems to be aware of her shortcomings, so we can expect to see more of it. Which is all we can ask for.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT RANDOM SH*T FLYING THROUGH THE AIR?
This is just what you want in a super-hero-ish kind of book. There's drama, there's action—the kind that CGI wouldn't quite render right—there's comedy, there's honest and brutal emotion. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what I want in any kind of book (well, I don't demand action in every one...but you know what I mean). There's a depth to RSFTtA that TGWCMSWHM didn't quite have, but it maintained the same voice.

Yeah, I talked about emotional growth and high stakes and all—but at the core of the book is still Teagan's snarky inner monologue taking us through everything. She takes some hard hits physically, mentally, and emotionally through these events, but it's still her voice talking us through them. So the book is still entertaining no matter what.

If Ford is going to up his game—and up Teagan's as well—this much between books 1 and 2, I can't imagine what's in store for us in the next two books. But man, am I going to enjoy finding out. I do recommend grabbing the first one before diving in here, but it's not essential. Either way, pick this up.

Okay, I liked this book. I thought that it was good. It had sci-fi, a murder mystery, some twists and turns, and a great twist ending. But I felt like maybe it was a bit too long towards the end. Maybe Ford's writing style didn't really stick with me as much as I wanted it to. A pleasant read, but not something I'd return to, and not something I'd probably pick up again.

I love this series!! I ordered the remaining books before I even finished the first.

Entertaining.

Teagan Frost is a telekinetic operative for the government. Fresh off surviving a raging flash flood she finds herself right back in the middle of things. Her next shock is that her brother and sister are back from the dead. Before she can even wrap her head around that she finds herself trapped in a hotel full of gun-toting maniacs. And, oh yeah, her powers have disappeared.
A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford is the fourth book in the Teagan Frost series and starts right in the middle of the action. Teagan is on the run from the cops after a car crash, being chased on foot and by helicopter. After a brief interlude to fill in some backstory, Teagan finds herself being released from jail into the hands of a pissed off boss. She's only been released because she's been requested to be part of a protection detail by a Senator who happens to be on the oversight committee for the clandestine agency for which she works. That lands her in the aforementioned hotel trying to figure out what's going on, why is it happening and how to stop it.

Teagan's friend Annie wakes up in the hospital and tries to find out where Teagan is. Unable to contact her or anyone else at the China Shop, the cover agency for which they work, Annie sets off on her own. Relying on her mom and Reggie, recently dismissed manager of the agency, she attempts to track down Teagan's brother and sister. Soon, all of them are hip deep in danger. Annie on her own path and Teagan trying to uncover a conspiracy and stop it, all without her powers.

Ford begins the action with a bang and keeps up a breakneck pace throughout. Teagan is sarcastic and fun to be on this ride with. The story is filled with other great characters, especially Teagan and Annie. The mystery is intriguing and the plot is relentless. Uncovering what is going on is half the fun with plenty of twists and turns along the way. There is a lot of backstory with events that happened in previous books, but A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers is a self-contained story that is satisfying on its own. You'll know a lot more about the characters if you've read previous entries, but if you're not worried about spoilers you can jump right in with this book.

This book is nonstop fun and a great entry in the series. I look forward to more.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

Adrift by Rob Boffard is an edge-of-your-seat sci-fi thriller about a small group of people on a tourist shuttle becoming stranded in deep space with very few options. Sigma Station is a tourist centre situated on the edge of the Horsehead Nebula. When the station is suddenly attacked and destroyed, thousands of people are killed but one small group in a tourist shuttle is overlooked. They have no weapons, very little food or drink and no idea of what to do next. The pilot manages to get them to the gate that allows the spaceships to jump through the wormholes to come to Sigma, but it has been destroyed as well. Not only that, but the attack ship is also there and this time it doesn’t appear to overlook them.

There was a lot going on in this book. Both passengers and crew had interesting backstories. Some of the passengers had ulterior motives for being there while others had secrets they were unwilling to share. The narrative jumps among the characters but the main focus is on Hannah, the tour guide who was on her first day at work, Corey a ten year old passenger who is obsessed with spaceships, and Jack an angry, estranged alcoholic. The story isn’t as much about the science of space as it is about the interaction among the characters, how they react to danger and who is reliable under stress and can come up with ideas for their survival.

I enjoyed this sci-fi survival story both for the exciting adventure and also for the development of the characters. As most of the story was set in the small tourist shuttle, it was quite claustrophobic but the author nailed the tension that developed both from the close confines that these people were in as well as the dire situation that they were thrust into. Adrift is a clever, thrilling, and well written book.

It's a book that grows on you

Boffard, Bob. Adrift. Orbit, 2018.
Bob Boffard, whose Outer Earth series was set on a space station after a population collapse on Earth, has the knack of writing fast-paced science fiction thrillers with characters whose fates engage us. Adrift is also such a book, with the added virtue that its plot is tighter and more controlled than the earlier series. A large space station at the end of a wormhole is a tourist destination. A young woman is working her first day as a guide on a shuttle that gives passengers a good view of the Crab Nebula. Their pilot is a chain-smoking Russian with post-traumatic stress. But she has the skills to pilot the shuttle out of danger when the station is blown up by an unknown spaceship. The characters are a mixed bag, and we get to know them all. My favorite is Corey, a kid whose name I bet is an homage to Cory Doctorow in that he resembles so many of Doctorow’s clever juvenile protagonists. The story’s ancient ancestors include Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and a host of films about airliners with baddies onboard. Is it mind candy? Sure. But that did not keep me from staying up late to finish it.

You know, it’s funny, how when altered humans are engineered the people doing it never really stop to think how the person they’re doing it to will feel. Teagan’s character reminded me a little bit of Liv Moore from iZombie. Teagan’s love for the city she was finally “free” to explore is hard to put into words – the various descriptions of LA through her eyes are hilarious, heart-wrenching, and beautiful. I didn’t really think that the book plot (or Teagan) was better served by a romantic interest and Teagan’s response at the end was… something. The characters are well rounded with their own individual stories – there’s only one who lacked in background information (of the China Shop crew), Paul. The character that I want to know more about is Africa – he seems like such an interesting person.

I loved the misfit camaraderie of the China Shop crew. I enjoyed the black ops government missions that have a customary smart-ass. Teagan is funny – she’s just not Deadpool level funny. The second POV was intermittent and slightly frustrating. My wish would be the choice between additional chapters to bring them fully into the story or to eliminate their POV chapters. There were several unexpected twists and turns in the plot and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel to see how they pan out.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy superheroes, comics, science fiction, suspense/mystery titles. A big thank you to Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this quirky and often hilarious book – all opinions are my own.

Ford, Jackson. Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air. Frost Files No. 2. Orbit, 2020.
Teagan used to think she was the only psychokinetic in the world. No such luck. There is another one now, a four-year-old boy who doesn’t mind causing an earthquake or two. As with the first book in this series, the story works best when Teagan is onstage. But Random Sh*t did have one unexpected element—there are some rather subtle examples of different kinds of selfishness. That is like finding a piece of steak in the middle of your birthday cake. However nourishing it might be, I am not sure it belongs there.

Ford, Jackson. The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with her Mind. Frost Files No. 1. Orbit, 2019.
In science fiction sometimes it is true that everything old is new again. From 1962-1972 James H. Schmitz wrote an entertaining bunch of short stories featuring Telzey Amberdon, a genius, psychic law student who works with a sharpshooter named, what else, Trigger. Together, working for a government agency of psychics, they take care of a lot of future baddies. In The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with her Mind, Teagan Frost works with a covert group called China Shop Movers to clean up a lot of psychic crime on the mean streets of future L.A. She is more of a punk valley girl than Telzey, but her spunk and young-adult angst are similar. Girl Who is entertaining when Teagan is telling her own story but falls into cliché when the villain tells his. Three and a half stars for this one. Yes, Virginia, a sequel is already out, and it does have an asterisk in the title.½

Nothing beats this title. I requested this pretty much only because of it.

That being said, I read it with an open mind and expected a bunch of snark to go with my telekinesis. The trick to this kind of genre book is not to expect anything outright original but think of it as a great way of telling a fun story.

And for the most part, it is. It's not about science. It's about running a snarky mystery novel with all the heisty action, running, fighting, and reveals that keep our MC alive. You know, with the law and the bad guys both after her and all of it under a time limit. Fun... and slightly forgettable.

Which is a shame because I really LOVE the title! And perhaps I've been spoiled with some truly bonkers snark by Chuck Wendig, so this stuff is not all that breathtaking. It's average. Amusing. And let's face it, it'll probably sell. :)

After all, it has ONE HELL OF A TITLE. :)

Title: Adrift

Author: Rob Boffard

Publication Date: June 2018

Genre: Sci-Fi

Score: 3/5

Adrift is a bit of an odd duck. It starts out seemingly as a YA novel, but goes surprisingly dark. A group of tourists to the wormhole Sigma become victims of a war long thought over. Characterization is decent, but the story founders as it goes on.

To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

86 points, 4 ½ stars!

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind is going to be one of my favourite reads of the entire year. I loved this book, and I loved it even more for knowing that there is going to be a sequel to it. I loved the entire concept of the book. Reading The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind, it was like it was written for me. It had almost every element of urban fantasy and sci-fi that I love, and only some I dislike.

The hardest part about this book is figuring out how to abbreviate it. TGWCMSWHM? Move Sh*t? Or even to abbreviate it at all, because how could you ruin such an awesome, descriptive title? This is going to be a hard one. The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind is a mouthful. On two occasions now I've brought up the book to other people, and they've thought I was joking that it was really called that. Yet it is awesome.

I just enjoyed the hell out of reading The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind. It was like watching an action movie that isn't taking itself seriously. This is the kind of urban fantasy I want to read more of, in a genre I already adore. It was made even better because it was probably the most LA thing I've read in quite some time. It isn't that only people in LA would argue about what streets to use during a mad dash across the city, it is that they'll do it every single time. And the characters in The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind do it every single time. As an LA native, though I don't live there any longer, it was like hanging out with family.

The story isn't really any different in The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind as it is in many other urban fantasy series. Someone is dead, and they are blaming our main character, Teagan Frost, for doing it. All because the fact that she is the only one who has her powers, and only her powers could have caused the death in this way. Right? No, apparently not. Teagan has 22 hours (she isn't even allowed 24!) to clear her name, or the government will lock her up and experiment on her. Again.

Teagan Frost is fun. She doesn't really like being a government agent, she just doesn't have a choice. She loves food, and wants to own a restaurant, instead. She also just wants to have fun and eat good food. She wants to be a normal person, as normal as she can be with telekinesis that no one else has. Her workmates are scared of her, but she is okay with that, for the most part. She has her friends, who don't know what she can do, and she isn't going to let a bunch of people who don't matter make her feel worse about herself.

The ending was special to me. It isn't often I get blindsided by the end to a book. An end that I didn't actually see coming. I didn't expect the stakes that ended up happening. I definitely didn't expect the twist at the end. Maybe I should have, maybe I couldn't have. But it is definitely special to me. I love being surprised.

The entire book is also special to me because of what happened with the romance over the course of the book. Once again, I didn't expect parts of it to play out as it did. And I respect the hell out of Jackson Ford for doing what he did with it. I didn't expect how it played out, because I have never, ever seen it done that way. And it is a way that I dearly wish more authors would use, because it is so effective, and so much more honest than what I normally see. I absolutely adored it.

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind is a bit predictable. But I'm alright with that, because mostly it is just a hell of a lot of fun. However, sometimes I really wished it would just have taken itself a bit more seriously. It just took everything a step too far over some lines I have in my head between serious, ridiculous, and over-the-top. I'll be okay with the ridiculous elements, until just one more thing will set me over the edge into territory I couldn't take seriously or believe anymore. That's okay, I just had trouble adapting to it.

I loved this book as much as I hated it. Which really means that I loved it so much that every time it diverged even a tiny bit from what I wanted, it was jarring and discordant to me, and I got upset by this divergence. But, I loved it all the same. The next title in the series, Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air, is going to be on my preorder list as soon as I find it on Amazon.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Jackson Ford, Orbit, and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to review this copy!

I enjoyed Adrift. It was a good vacation read, with lots of action and a decent pace. The concept was well thought-out and original. The writing could use a little polish, as there were some disconcerting passages where the point-of-view wavered between characters, but otherwise the prose was clean.

Sometimes, you just have to read a book based on the title alone. I mean, what’s not to love about a book titled The Girl Who Could Move Shit with Her Mind? The story is equally snarky, and I enjoyed every minute of it. There are moments of earnestness and true darkness, as well as the requisite danger one needs in a thriller. The thing is that it never takes itself too seriously as a novel, which makes it that much more entertaining a story. This is escapist reading at its finest, especially as it is unapologetic in serving that purpose. I don’t know who Jackson Ford really is, but I certainly hope he or she publishes more in this vein because it is so much fun.

I had a feeling The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind would be fun to read, and I was right. It's something I haven't read before, and I was drawn straight into the story from the start. Teagan is a unique heroine with abilities to move things with her mind. She's obliged to work with the government, unfortunately. She's accompanied by an unconventional motley crew who work with her. Teagan is funny, brash, totally unique and likeable in a delightful kind of way. I liked the dialogue, word choice and narrative structure of the story. I read it quickly. This story was everything I hoped it would be. Even if you don't think it's for you, give this one a try. Definitely different and fun! Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl That Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. This book opened with a bang...here is the opening lines so you can see what I mean!

"On second thoughts, throwing myself out the window of a skyscraper may not have been the best idea.
Not because I’m going to die or anything. I’ve totally got that under control.
It wasn’t smart because I had to bring Annie Cruz with me. And Annie, it turns out, is a screamer. Her fists hammer on my back, her voice piecing my eardrums, even over the rushing air."

Now, tell me you can stop reading the book after that! Ha, no way!
This book is funny, suspenseful, fast paced, full of unexpected turns and twists that changed the plot completely, and terrifically well developed characters (even the evil ones, if you can figure out who that really is).
This is a exciting fantasy, excellent mystery, stunning thriller, and a laugh-out-loud comedy rolled together with lots of unpredictable action scenes! Loved this book so much! I can't wait for book two!
I haven't read this author's work before but I will now be a stalking fan of their books!

Mixes and matches tropes from other genres into a batsh*t crazy thrill ride that never lets up. It also has a great female lead. Teagan is one of those characters that will alternate between making you laugh or cringe at what she just said/did, but she will never bore you! The plot gets dangerously close to going too far over the top, but never enough to stop you from turning the pages. A nice twist towards the end and then a hint at what’s to come in the sequel next year. The story here does wrap up nicely for those worried about major cliffhangers. Should be a great choice as a beach read this Summer.

I received this novel from Orbit Books through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.

When a book manages to surprise me by offering much more than I expected from it, it’s always a wonderful discovery: this was indeed the case with Adrift, a story that ended up being more than the sum of its parts, and a compelling read. The Red Panda is a dilapidated tour ship taking groups of tourists around Sigma Station to admire the Horseshoe Nebula, and this trip does not look much different than the countless others that preceded it: the travelers are restless and grumpy because they had to wait for their guide, young Hannah Elliot, who is on her first day on the job and understandably flustered and lost; Captain Volkova is a disgruntled veteran of the recent war that pitted Frontier and Colonies against each other, and prefers to keep to herself in the cockpit, drinking and chain-smoking; and last but not least, the ship’s barman just called in sick, so the tourists can forget any catering during the excursion.

If this collection of small annoyances can remind us of the unavoidable hiccups of organized tours, what happens next is totally, shockingly unexpected: out of the jump gate linking Sigma to the rest of the galaxy comes an unknown ship that proceeds to attack and destroy the station and the gate itself – only the Panda, thanks to Volkova’s piloting skills, manages to remain unscathed and out of sight of the enemy ship. With limited resources and a run-down vessel, the ten survivors of the attack face a bleak and short future: the destruction of the jump gate cut them off from any kind of communication and help, and with no easily reachable destination their life support and supplies will be depleted soon. Worse still, the attackers might return and this time discover there are still witnesses to what happened…

It’s at this point that what might have been a relatively simple survival story, set in a claustrophobic environment, turns instead into a detailed character study and one that singles out each personality, shifting our initial perspective for every one of them while showing the individuals’ changes brought on by the harrowing situation they find themselves into. One of my favorite narrative themes is that of a group of people thrown together by unforeseen circumstances and forced to work together for their survival, and there could not be a less homogeneous crowd than the Panda’s passengers (and captain). Hannah, the tour guide, is a young woman still trying to find herself and her path in life: shy, insecure, and plagued with a heavy burden of self-doubt, she finds herself in the improbable role of leader, if nothing else because she’s wearing the tour operator’s uniform. At first I found it hard to sympathize with her, because she came across at somewhat whiny, but as circumstances forced her to take on the responsibility of keeping the group together, and as safe as possible, I warmed up to her and came to appreciate the effort she put into the unwanted task that fate dropped into her lap.

Another character whose outlook changed drastically is that of Jack, the equivalent of a present-day travel reviewer: he’s a man quite down on his luck due to a series of negative turns, and he has all but given up on everything and everyone, becoming a cynic and a listless drunkard. During most of the story he tends to flow with the tide, letting his disillusionment with life guide his steps, and yet there is a powerful need for redemption in him, one that might lead him toward a much-needed change.

These are only two examples, but the entire group runs through some pretty wild alterations as the story unfolds: what happens aboard the Panda is indeed a thorough study on the effects of hopelessness and despair boiling over in the close quarters of the ship, a place with no escape – not just from the predicaments at hand, but more importantly from one’s own demons. And every one of the Panda survivors does have some demons to fight, even the two teenaged sons of the Livingstones, a couple on the verge of divorce. What’s interesting here is that we are made privy to the characters’ background story, so that we are able to learn what shaped them in the past and what makes them the persons they are: these flashbacks are not only placed at very convenient points in the narrative, but they also blend in a seamless way with the survivors’ present predicament and in some fashion influence the way each character chooses his or her actions.

The Red Panda itself becomes a character at some point, because this dilapidated vessel, that probably never saw better days, is part and parcel of the troubles of its ten occupants and the way it’s described – the substandard parts, the accumulated grime, the scarce supplies that would have been inadequate even if tragedy had not struck – makes it stand out in sharp relief and share with the reader every one of its ominous creaks, obnoxious smells and claustrophobic environment. Yet, like the humans it shelters, even the Panda becomes capable of unthinkable feats and manages to battle its way through incredible odds, to the point that it’s impossible not to root for it, as if it were somewhat alive and sentient.

Adrift is indeed the kind of story that compels you to turn the pages as quickly as you can as the narrative develops in often unpredictable, but always believable ways – maybe with the exception of the too-rapid change of heart of one particular character, that seemed much too quick given the beliefs that moved his actions and had informed his choices up to that moment. Still, it was a little snag that I could easily move past in the breathless journey that was this highly enjoyable story.


Originally posted at: SPACE and SORCERY BLOG

4.5 stars...

Loved it! The suspense was great and there was non-stop action the entire ride! I literally held my breath through quite a bit of the book.

The boys, Corey and Malik, were my favorite characters out of all of them, besides the pilot, Captain Jana Volkova, I liked her a lot too, but the kids were seriously the stars of the show.

I only had an issue with one small part- Roman turned sides way too easily. It seemed like one minute he was plotting their demise and the next he was helping to save them. I can see what the author was trying to show-that Corey being a child had a profound effect in his decision but geez, it just happened a little too quickly.


All-in-all a nice thrilling space adventure and definitely worth reading!

*I received this ARC from the author and the Goodreads FirstReads program in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!