3.5/5 stars.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.] ( )

It was a little hard to get into, but that was probably because it started in media res, and most of the world building was therefore done very much on the fly.

It's the story of the Oconodians. There are changes happening with some of the people on their home world and so the government sets out to go into space and find a new planet to live on. Dael is the Admiral of the Fleet of five ships that get sent out on this Advance (hence the title, heh) mission. Then there's Spinner, she's the young, brash, and not always one to properly obey orders, CAG of the main ship, and at first she seems like she's always let and always will be a thorn in Dael's side.

Of course, it would be a boring book if their relationships didn't change over the course of the book, and indeed, as the five ships make their journey through space, they find friends, and they meet enemies as well.

Reading it made me want to go read some of the Star Trek media tie in novels that are on my TBR shelf, but that's not to say this novel was a Star Trek clone at all. To me it seemed to be Star Trek, crossed with Battlestar Galactica (mostly the newer version of that series) with a lot of different (some contemporary, some classic, some cool-y out there) stuff mixed in.

It was an awesome Science Fiction novel mixed with a pretty good romance (I won't speak about the cover, I don't judge books by their covers). And if it is really the start of a series, I eagerly await the next book in it.

I just had one gigiantic niggling question when I finished reading the book. Um... did I miss something humongous at the beginning of the book. Because, Spinner gave the XO three middle fingers?

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )