The Icarus Plot by Timothy Zahn

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery, Space Opera
Content: Strong language

 

There wasn’t much money to be made as a Trailblazer, searching out new worlds for possible development. Still, it was safer than the bounty hunter career that had cost Gregory Roarke his left arm six years ago. And thanks to his Kadolian partner Selene’s ultrasensitive sense of smell, they occasionally discovered a medically promising seed or spore they could sell under the table. It was a quiet life, uneventful and mostly legal. 

Until Roarke was approached by two men with a proposal: track down a mysterious woman named Tera and, through her, locate a secret project called Icarus. 

The challenge was intriguing. The unlimited budget was tempting. But Roarke had a more personal reason to accept the job. 

The chance for long-delayed payback.

 

I was so excited that Timothy Zahn decided to write another book set in this world. I loved The Icarus Hunt and I was looking forward to reading this. It didn't disappoint! Some of the characters from The Icarus Hunt were included in this book, and I loved it.

This is a space opera with a good mystery at its core, that includes lots of alien races. I love that about Timothy Zahn's books. This book had quite a few surprises. Every time I thought we knew what was going on, there was another surprise unveiled. Every time this happened, it put a big smile on my face. There were some very humorous lines in this book, and Roarke's little anecdotes always starting with the line "As my father used to say..." was amusing, up to a point. It did start to feel overused after a while.

This book functions as a sequel to The Icarus Hunt, but you can still read it as a standalone. I wouldn't recommend that though, because you won't have the knowledge of  some of the characters that you would have by reading the other book first. This also functions as the start of a new series called Trailblazer. I'm looking forward to reading more!