Independent Flight

by T.M. Baumgartner

A pilot grounded on a backwater planet... An illegal AI fleeing to the Independent Federation... If they work together, they just might make it out alive.

328 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2025

Reviews

[Connie P.]

Okay, I really don't know much about speculative fiction. I'm more into mysteries and police procedurals. But I've read a couple different series by this author and I've loved all of them. That includes the cozy mysteries written as Tess Baytree. The reason I love her books so much, no matter what the genre, is her characters and her dialogue. Her characters are fun and interesting and alive. They have so much offbeat humor. They are so genuinely funny that you wish you could go on an adventure with them because even when someone is threatening to blow them up or vaporize them, they still seem to be having a good time. Captain Rose de Mure is the pilot, and the crew of her ship. She's pretty fearless, optimistic, unafraid of finding out “what if”, and she's friends with some pretty strange beings, like Betts, who has 4 arms and several clones. She's also enemies with Rance Micklage, the stupidest member of a very powerful family. While trying to avoid Rance and save the universe, Rose finds herself in charge of an AI that will either get her killed or make her rich, and Poppy, the youngest and possibly smartest member of the Micklage family, who stows aboard her ship and might also get her killed when the family wants her back. Even the AI in this book, Scruffy Note of Disrespect, or Scruffy for short, makes me wish I had an AI robo-dog to pal around with. Ordinarily, this is not a genre I would choose to read, but knowing that it was written by T.M. Baumgartner, I was pretty sure I would enjoy it. And I certainly did. I will definitely read the next book if she makes it a series. I received this book as an ARC and I can honestly say it was fun from cover to cover.

[Barbara]

I have enjoyed everything I’ve read by this author and Independent Flight was no exception. It was however exceptionally great, exceptionally exciting, and exceptionally funny, with a fast-paced story, brimming with heart, good-will, and friendship. Rose is a pilot, who is stuck working in a salvage yard and working on her ship that is missing a cardinal crystal, which allows for hyperspace travel. She discovers an AI who claims to have a synthetic crystal and promises if she gets them home, they will provide her with a reward. What ensues is lots of bad guys chasing them, one in particular is very unpleasant but pretty easily outwitted it seems, help from a four armed friend, a robo-dog (which the AI inhabits), a cranky kitty and a plot to conquer an independent group by extremely nasty means. Rose is a fly by the seat of her pants kind of pilot, which leads to some hair-raising escapes, always in the nick of time, and she has a kind heart, which leads her to being involved in rescues and schemes that most people would run from. I enjoyed this story so much, and I really hope there are more adventures for Rose and friends, which I will certainly be eager to read.

[Dr susan]

Awesome sci fi adventure

I love Independent Flight! The Jackson Drift series is still my favorite of Baumgartner's books, but Rose and Scruffy are definitely a close second. The story is well-written and exciting, the "good" characters are loveable, and the snark and humor are great. Bad stuff happens, but the good guys prevail. Flight has everything I look for in my favorite sci fi books.