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Per space opera. Every one of these action-packed, complicated books had something that held me back from pure enjoyment, but they are still all really, really good space operas.
The Asarlai Wars by Marie Andreas
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR Warrior Wench
Vaslisha Tor Dain is a mercenary starship captain with a few simple rules: A good ship is better than a great man, in case of confusion always err on the side of blowing someone’s head off, and never fall for a telepath or a member of her crew.
All of those are about to bite her in the behind.
Vas’s life takes a turn for the worse when she comes back to her crew after what should have been a two week pleasure trip to find out she’s actually been gone a month and has no memory of missing time. Her beloved ship, The Victorious Dead, has been sold for scrap and its pieces scattered throughout the galaxy. In addition, there are unmarked ships blowing apart entire planets and the Commonwealth government can’t, or won’t, stop them.
And that’s just her first day back.
Vas has to fight her crew, the Commonwealth, and a mysterious cadre of warrior monks to get her ship back and save a universe that may not want to be saved.
MY REVIEW FOR Warrior Wench
Warrior Wench is a pretty standard Space Opera with standard characters. I struggled to believe the captain for the first 10-20% of the book – she has a wicked temper that I just don’t see thousands of mercenaries following without question. Too reactive to be a captain of an elite multi-species unit.
But the temper is not entirely out of place when a merc comes back from vacation to discover her ship has been sold for parts. Even a Star Trek captain may be violating some of the conventions if the Enterprise had been through a Ferengi chop-shop.
When I hit the 20% mark … I kind-of lost track of the world outside the book. The non-stop action finally sucked me in. This story is action driven and the characters are along for the ride.
Is the manuscript exceptional? Nah. Did I pick up the next book of the series at 3 am when I completed this one – absolutely. The author has a way of adding mishap upon disaster on top of complication that is just – chef’s kiss. I am having a blast reading this series.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR Victorious Dead
The galaxy was in for a world of hurt—chaos unseen since the violent, sadistic Asarlaí ruled hundreds of years ago.
And for the first time in her life, Vas doesn’t know if she can fight hard enough to stop it.
Vaslisha Tor Dain was a simple sort of mercenary starship captain. She fought hard, drank hard, and killed people when all else failed. Those were the good days–blown to interstellar dust when a band of crazed monks tried to resurrect a race of long-dead homicidal rulers: the Asarlaí.
Vas and her crew defeated the first wave but at great cost, both professional and personal. Now lying low, she’s been taking tedious recovery jobs with a new ship, a new second-in-command, and a galactic government that has gone into hiding but is still on the hunt for her and her ship.
But there are noises in the distant corners of the galaxy that the Asarlaí have found new allies and another way to come back from the great beyond. A painful and brutal way that will destroy worlds.
In the darkest night of deep space, if she sits too still and thinks too long, she still misses her former ship, scattered in pieces across the universe, and Deven, her former second-in-command, also scattered in pieces across the universe.
When what should have been an easy job with easy money backfires in her face, the cosmic conspiracy engulfs her again.
The ghost–make that ghosts–of her dead lover appears, as do the deadly, long-gone Asarlaí who want their empire of worlds back. Never mind that other beings live there. And Vas realizes lying low was never a possibility, not for the Warrior Wench, and never for her.
Death is final. Except when it isn’t. But the righteous in battle are always the VICTORIOUS DEAD.
MY REVIEW FOR Victorious Dead
The non-stop action of the first book continued in the second installment of the series. Somehow, even with never-a-minute-to-breathe, the author still provided just enough time so a reader can get to know the characters as individuals. Not deeply, but deep enough to care if they survive the non-stop action. Victorious Dead even has a save-a-cat moment that manages to both be sappy and not sappy at all. A balance of Space Opera in being completely overblown, mesmerizing in its grander, while also accessible and fun.
There is one character which is complete deus ex machina, and the story even comments about how impossibly lucky our heroines and heroes are to have the character rescue them when all else fails. But as the emergencies and crisises continue to tumbling on top of each other, eventually the chain of the thriller reaches a strength to even capture the god-level character within the event horizon of the disasters.
If you want the non-stop action of a thriller within the romance and melodrama scientific-defying wonder of space opera, pick up this book.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR Defiant Ruin
The fight for the Commonwealth comes to an explosive conclusion!
The good news is that Captain Vaslisha Tor Dain and most of her rag tag band of mercenaries managed to survive a devastating confrontation with the resurrected ancient enemy the Asarlaí. The bad news is that the Warrior Wench has crash landed on a deserted planet in an unknown galaxy. Priority number one is getting off this dead rock and hopefully reuniting with the rest of their missing crew.
Sadly, that’s easier said than done, especially when a supposedly long ago destroyed ship called the Defiant shows up.
Vas and the gang can’t seem to catch a break, for just as they are starting work on salvaging the Defiant, Garmainian bounty hunters suddenly appear to claim a prize on Vas’s head.
Vas is guilty of a lot of things, but she honestly can’t remember the crime she is accused of committing and as far as she knows hasn’t ever been to Garmainian space. Disturbingly, this crime apparently occurred during the mysterious missing weeks Vas experienced on her recent “vacation”.
Vas and her second in command Deven’s to do list keeps getting longer: escape from the Garmainian hunters before they get executed; reunite their small banged up fleet and try to get back into Commonwealth space; find out if their frenemy Marli survived; and of course, finally defeat the Asarlaí for good.
Unfortunately during the six months Vas and company have been stranded, the Asarlaí have been on the move….which means time and options are rapidly running out!
MY REVIEW FOR Defiant Ruin
Third novel of the Asarlai War series was published in 2018. The follow-up trilogy completed in 2025, so everything you need to read of this space opera goodness is available. (Book 3 does tie things up, but also tosses in a spanner into the engine to set up the follow-up trilogy.)
I am going to admit the willy-nilly way of galaxy and system and planet and governments makes me twitchy knowing just how much space is between galaxies in the universe and between planets within systems, but if you can turn off the science-y part of your mind and treat this like a fantasy with blasters and spaceships and aliens, you will be fine.
Vas and Deven have finally leaned into their attraction to each other and admitted their love, much to the relief of the crew. But that is about the only thing going right as they are shipwrecked on a planet outside the Commonwealth and beyond most space lanes. They are trying to get back into the deep-dark of space, because they are not meant to be planet-bound, but even the planet’s atmosphere is working against them. Things go from bad to worse as bounty hunters investigate the shipwreck specifically for her, because a civilization she had never heard about has put a bounty on Vas for stealing sacred texts…and her brother-her dead brother-told them where to find her. Then things start getting really bad.
Non-stop action, these well-known characters (after two books) are fleshed out and believable. The history of the aliens and bad guys and politics continues to build.
Very good space opera and worth the read if that is your cup of tea.