So close to being wonderful

There was so much to enjoy about this book in the Audible form. The character development was great, the beginnings of the plot was great, the relationships between people developed as the story moved forward; that was all wonderful. But as I read the book I got so tired, so so tired of feeding the cat creature. There was so much effort involved in developing the cat creature I thought the cat creature could be used to scent out the missing, or be used as an early warning system for the approach of villains, But no, we just spent the book talking about how hungry the cat creature was. I also got very tired of the captain’s rage, she raged about this, she raged about that and then she wasn’t mad anymore. I got annoyed with her unwillingness to accept help, I got annoyed with her unwillingness to move her relationship forward because of A promise made to keep her safe, it made no sense at all and then the whole convoluted thing at the end of the book bringing all these plot pieces together didn’t make any sense at all to me and so overall it was sort of disappointing because of how weak the plot climax was after such a great start for 70% of the book, (other than cat creature)And the other thing that I found very annoying was a vocal habit of the narrator in the audible edition. Overall her performance approached excellence and she captured the tempo of the scenes well and caught the differing personalities well. But it drove me bonkers to have her drop the medial T sounds in words. “Impor-ant” “forgo-en” “mor-on” (forgotten, important, Morton). It’s a lazy vocal habit and it’s annoying. It is not a regional accent.
Apologies for my typing and editing which is entirely related to trying to compose using only opposable thumbs.

11 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Five Firefly stars

I’m stoked to find a new space opera series with so many of the things I love about the Firefly series, particularly a ‘verse recovering from war, an engaging crew trying to live their best PTSD life taking odd jobs with their shabby-but-loved ship (the Starlight), and smart, complex women in multiple roles.
But, this isn’t derivative fan-fic; there’s plenty of fresh characters, settings and plots, including humanoids with various telepathic abilities and a fabulous space-fox named Luna. Being book 1, the first half of the book brings a “working with the enemy” vibe as the crew takes a high-risk, but high-paying recovery job and forms an uneasy alliance with a team of former soldiers from the Volovian (Sp?) side of the war.
The second half adds in espionage and romance.

Yes, this is a romance book. And, it appears each book in the series will focus on a different couple within the crew. Don’t let that turn you off; unlike many who can only deliver one or the other, this is one of the few authors I’ve found that can deliver great space opera and romance in the same book. Also, the two naughty scenes are mostly mild and indirectly described. If you can handle slightly more than Firefly levels of romance, you’ll be fine. (This author’s Consortium Rebellion trilogy is stronger with both the romance and the descriptions of the naughty bits, in case more sizzle also works for you).

Were there faults? The action and humor were both more sparse than a book about bounty hunting space rogues should be. I also could have done without the occasional F bombs (perhaps this could have followed Firefly’s clever use of Chinese). The narrator was mostly excellent, although she sometimes skips consonants, like pronouncing “pattern” as “pa-ern.” There are a few tropey, predictable things, like when the guy and gal make out to avoid detection or when a character thinks “if I come back to the pool early in the morning, I can take a dip and no one will be here”… and therefore we all know someone will be there. But, hey, they don’t call this genre space opera for nothing. All things considered, these are minor quibbles that added extra flavor. I will gladly move on to book 2 in July.

9 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Recommended by Ilona Andrews with good reason

Ilona and Gordon Andrews are friends with Jessie Mihalik so when this was recommended on their blog, I tried a sample. I was instantly hooked. The story is complex and I second guessed right along with Tavi. World building is excellent and the characters, even the minor ones, are fleshed out and interesting. The only fault I can find is with the narrator. Frankie Corzo has a very annoying habit of not pronouncing “t” in the middle of a word. Important becomes impor’ant and Morton becomes Mor’on. Maybe that’s just a personal hang up, but it effectively threw me out of the story every time. I’m really hoping this is the start of a series because I will continue to follow Tavi and her crew.

6 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Duped again.

I've read this author before. Her work is so far from real sci fi that it doesn't deserve the title. Even calling it space opera is pushing it. I'm so sad I used a credit up on this. The author relies on tawdry plot holes for her weak plots. In this story, one abused plot hole is the alien societies oaths of silence. Overused big time. And we have a supposedly adult and veteran earth captain who takes a mission from her career long military enemy with almost no information. Then we have to watch her get made about having no information even though its what she signed up for. The reader can pick out the future couplings for the future books in this boring romance series. That's just another distraction. Our supposed adult lead male and female main characters start making out during a high risk reconnaissance. No. Just no. Ugh. Couldn't finish.

6 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

I don't regret the credit...

...but it could have been so much more.

I discovered Jessie Mihalik during my perpetual quest to find more Ilona Andrews. She's closer than most but falls just short in almost every way. I started with her Consortium books and enjoyed them to varying degrees but this review is for this book.

This world definitely has more firefly/Star wars vibes than the last set that felt a bit more Star Trek in level of technology. Though in both cases I would have preferred a greater degree of exposition and world building.

There were a couple of issues I had with this one that just kept creeping up and niggling the back of my mind lessening my personal investment slash enjoyment:

Much like her previous collection, this book skips straight past steamy to land firmly in the "adult video" territory. It's not to my personal taste but that's subjective.

The level of suspension of disbelief for this one is way up there. without spoilers, there are some pretty egregious holes in the plot and history of the world; some real "why didn't they just do this?" moments.
Also, there is no way in the universe that humanity posed any kind of threat against the major alien race in here and somehow we fought them to a standstill? they have more advanced tech, nearly invulnerable space armor, can communicate instantly and read minds with telepathy... and have super powers.

My last gripe is that the author misuses common phrases... like a lot. Each time it happened it was like nails against a chalkboard. I'm not sure if she needs another proofreader or to listen to the ones she already has, but it's bad.
For example: She says that's that his shorts "leave nothing to the imagination," and then immediately follows it up with "and I had a good imagination." It'd have been appropriate if they left "everything to imagination," or "just enough to the imagination." but she just told us they left nothing so the quality of her imagination had no baring on the situation.

On the whole, this was only okay. I love stories about ships, crews, and chosen family and was expecting to like this one quite a bit more than the last set but, sadly, I don't think I'll be continuing with this collection.

3 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Not sci-fi. It's more like Space Fantasy/ Romance

This book should have a shirtless man on the cover. Anything else is misleading. If you are looking for Science Fiction, this is not the book for you. There is plenty of magical stuff and other than space ships and aliens, not much science. If the thing that gets your juices flowing is a sweaty shirtless telepathic alien who seems to always be working out and seems to enjoy giving foot rubs, you will love this book.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Not a good book

This story was slow, predictable, and boring. I'm so glad I didn't pay full price. The narrator did an okay job. The author spent too much time on the wrong parts of the story: too much time traveling rather than investigating. Too much time spent on building the romance, which wasn't all that good. And for the love of God, people (humans in this case) use contractions when they speak. The dialogue between Tavi and basically anyone felt stilted and staged beyond comprehension

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

An enormously enjoyable listen.

There is a particular Romance/Science Fiction niche in literature that is slowly expanding and in my opinion, nobody writes this particular niche better than Jessie Mihalik. She has rapidly become one of my favorite authors, her prior series - the Consortium Rebellion trilogy, has a treasured place on my bookshelf.
"Hunt the Stars" has a strong, compelling heroine, a taut, suspense-filled storyline and slow-burn, simmering enemies-to-lovers romance. The world building, which is essential in science fiction, is immersive and is done without detracting from the plot. It is important to note too, that the author navigates consent in a seamless way, which makes the book even more enjoyable. I will refuse to finish romance books that have questionable consent (in that the characters have sex while drunk, for instance). I am happy to report that the author writes consent exceptionally well in all her books, the sex scenes that are in this book are both hot and meaningful. The author has a particular ability to write strong, idealistic and lovable characters that stay with you after you put the book down. The narrator did an excellent job and it was an enormously enjoyable listen. Highly recommended.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Loved first half. Second part not so much

Spoilers?
A bit?
For my taste too much explicit sex not enough story in the second part of the book. But pleasant tale ,solid world building ,some good characters. So if ya like a heavy sprinkling of sex you will enjoy the entire book.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Horney Woman Meets SciFi

Two thirds Science Fiction, one third sex. The SciFi part was pretty good. But then the author added a bunch of sex to make the book longer so she could make a little more money. Fortunately, with my IPod I could skip the sex and just stick with the main story. All the sex really added nothing to the story. It was just a waste of time. I wont buy anything from this author again.