Race to Deep Abignon

The Kestral Voyages #1

by Steven Lyle Jordan

Carolyn Kestral’s last encounter with the hostile, spiderlike aliens known as Raians, and their attack virus—code-named Venom—didn’t kill her as expected, but all the same destroyed her career in the Orion Guard. Now the proud owner of a Quicksilver-class freighter, she gathers a small crew and goes into business on her own.

But when a clandestine first run attracts the attention of the Spiders, Captain Kestral’s crew worries that the stress could trigger the virus, turning her into a lethal human weapon at the worst possible moment…

Genres: Science Fiction

ebook

First published April 27, 2005

About the author

Steven Lyle Jordan is an award-winning science fiction writer with a love for science, technology, the environment and its impact on humanity and the future. He’s earned an average 4.4-star rating on Amazon with his novels, featuring fascinating characters, rousing action, realistic science and future scenarios. He’s also been a panelist at AwesomeCon and Escape Velocity conventions. His work is available at The Novels of Steven Lyle Jordan.

Reviews

[Isis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Space opera, apparently inspired by Star Trek and Firefly, though I would not have pegged it for fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off had the author not copped to it in the end notes. Which to me (alas) were the best part - kind of a mini-essay on what the author loved about Star Trek and how he felt the continuing franchise let him down, and why he made certain choices in writing this book. Meta yay!

But the book itself, not so much. The plot's interesting enough, although some of the details made me roll my eyes, but the (technically competent) writing is flat and uninspiring. There's a lack of structure to the story - where events ought to be built upon an ever-rising framework of ever-increasing tension, they just kind of happen, one after the other, and this sucks out all the excitement and drama that ought to be there. (And I'm not even getting into the sex scenes, which are very seriously gratuitous and not remotely hot.)

[Catherine Fitzsimmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setting of this book drew me in at its opening and I really liked all the details involved in the construction and operation of the spaceship. However, there were some serious logic flaws with the story that can't be overlooked. How a hostile alien race would be allowed, without objection, to board and search a civilian vessel in its own territory still boggles my mind. Also, I found the reactions of the crew to the captain very odd, that the captain would allow her crew members to openly question her mental state, pry into her private life, and threaten to abandon her, civilian operation or not. While the book didn't lose me entirely and there were things I liked about it - largely setting related, particularly the "alien" humanoids - the story and characters had some serious holes, and tension was lacking.

[Isaac Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The similarities to firefly are uncanny. It's the story of a gruf ex-military captain starting out her own running cargo. Her pilot (mark) knows her past, a married couple in her crew, a first run and bad guys. I felt it read like a good pilot; the setup, the broad overview of the galaxy and a compelling plot that successfully introduces our crew. I immediately downloaded the 2nd kestral book when I finished.

[David Hampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, maybe 3.5 starts, but not 4. Too short, weak character development. BUT, this is the start of an episodic space opera, so much of that will probably come in later books. Unfortunately, I have no desire to continue. It definitely read more the pilot to a proposed SciFi show than a novel... I may be old fashioned in asking my novels to have a firm ending..

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book! It's so good. It's a Firefly/Star Trek mash up. But it has it's own take on things so dont write off this book based on my description of it. I can't wait to read the other 2 in this series.