Megan E. O'Keefe

I enjoyed Megan O’Keefe’s Velocity Weapon, which offered an original take on the story of an AI ship looking for a pilot. It gave us good world-building and engaging characters, but it had flaws in the plotting. The Blighted Stars has many of the same virtues and flaws. It is a planetary adventure with spies aplenty and a soupcon of romance. It attempts Dune-like worldbuilding, with a planet that has an ore that makes interstellar travel possible and creates the sort of physical enhancements and consciousness transfer usually associated with nanotechnology. Yes, it is spice by another name. The planet also has a lichen that destroys the ecology. That should be enough, but there is also a sentient fungus with an agenda of its own.
Too many plot elements make reading this promising and ambitious story a chore.… (altro)

I picked this book up on a whim on a family trip to the local Barnes & Noble. And then it sat on various coffee, side, and end tables before I finally got around to it a year later.
Part of me is glad I waited so long, because if I hadn’t then I would have been waiting for the second book in the series to come out (which it did back in July) and been left for months with burning unanswered questions.
I ordered the 2nd book moments after finishing this one, once my idiot ass saw all the “book 1” indicators.
It’s paced perfectly to lead you right into the second book, and the cliffhanger is perfect.
Action, intrigue, spaceships, and great world-building and frankly I have questions. Can’t wait to see what gets answered!… (altro)

Engrossing plot with a breakneck pace, check.
Badass female main character (military type) check.
Politicians being politicians, check.
Cool AI’s, check.
Something wicked this way comes, check.

Anyway, Velocity Weapon is an entertaining space opera, without being a great or groundbreaking book. Of course, not every book has to be groundbreaking…

I enjoyed following Sanda (the badass, see above) and Bero the sentient spaceship. Bero is by far the most interesting character in the book and I would have liked to see more of him as well as chapters with his POV. Biran’s character is basically “I want to save my sister!” and “Oh, did I make the wrong decision again?” Boring…
The plot involving Jules and her heist gang also bored me – things happened, characters reacted, and nothing was resolved (the author was saving that for the next book, obviously).
To be fair, I flew through the second half of the book – there were some very interesting reveals, last minute rescues, and hints of dark conspiracies.

There is an annoying trope in some sci-fi books set hundreds and thousands of years into the future: people still listen to classical composer X, read this and that classic novel, and everyone in every star system understands the cultural references. I get it, humanity has been so busy colonising space that no one has had the time to create new classics☺ Velocity Weapon is guilty of that as well, with Beethoven and Le Petit Prince thrown in. Grrrrrrr.

I am beginning to sound grumpy, but this was an entertaining read, despite its flaws.
… (altro)