A Dead Ship in the Deep Black (The Lyra Cycle Book #1) by Rene Astle

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

 

Rule number 1: Whatever you do, don't open the box.

Well, that’s rule number two actually. Rule number one is don’t take salvage jobs from people who’ve tried to sell you to an Antillian bug salesman.

Neara “Tink” Bell is used to a life of odd jobs and even odder crewmates, working as the engineer and all-around fixer on the cargo ship Lyra. But when the ship picks up two new crew members and a salvage job on a third-rate space station, things go sideways in a cosmic way.

Alek Wa is on the run. And he’s pretty sure he can hide amongst the motley crew of Lyra . But that’s not the only reason he’s on-board. He has a mission. If only his minders had told him what it was.

Captain Rebeka Mino just wants to retire with a whiskey and a steamy novel. She’d even let the ship’s cat sit on her lap, provided he keeps his claws to himself. Too bad the ship keeps getting shot at.

And when they arrive at the coordinates for the salvage job, they're confronted by a dead ship in the deep black.

Can Tink keep the Lyra running despite unexplained accidents? Can Alek outrun the people hunting him? Can Rebeka prevent their pursuers from blowing them up? Most importantly, can they keep their curiosity in check and not look in the box?

Find out now in this rollercoaster ride of a sci-fi adventure!

 

This was a fun space adventure that in some ways reminded me of Firefly, but it was still it's own unique thing. At first, because of the way some parts were written, I thought this was going to end up being too heavy on the romance, but I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't go that route. There are definitely two hunky men that seem to be interested in the same character, but I also knew that I couldn't trust at least one of them. In the end, I did end up figuring out correctly who could and couldn't be trusted. I thought that part of the story was a little obvious, but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book. 

I liked the overall plot of this book and the ending made me want to pick up the next book right away and keep reading. I did restrain myself because I wanted to read other things before the end of the year, but I do plan on reading the second book in January.

This ebook is free on all platforms right now.