Hello people! I hope you all are happy and safe, and that February has started in the best possible way! Today I am finally back with another review for the SPSFC. The first step of the contest ended in January, so now we are entering the second phase, and I will tell you more in a few days when the allocations for the books are decided. And I am so looking forward to seeing which books from the other groups we will receive! Anyway, while we are waiting I can still talk to you about the books I have read in the first phase, so let's go!
Title: Heritage
Series: Tales of the Phoenix Titan #1
Author: S.M. Warlow
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Pages: 624
Heritage is the debut novel from S.M. Warlow and the first instalment of the Tales of the Phoenix Titan series. This space opera is perfect for fans of Firefly, the Expanse, Star Wars and Mass Effect.
Make them proud, son of Earth.
25 years after the fall of Earth, the Commonwealth is locked in a vicious, galaxy-spanning war against the Revenant. Countless worlds have been lost in the fighting, and now one crew must come together and stand in the way of galactic annihilation.
Nathan Carter is an efficient criminal, but when he's hired to steal supplies from a Commonwealth warship, what starts as an easy job soon transforms into something that could change the course of history. Now, Nathan must work with a group of unlikely allies to protect a woman whose heritage is the key to everything.
To me, this was the most wholesome book in the bunch of books that the Red Stars Team had to judge this year. It's not that the other books were bad, but this is the most cohesive of the lot, there is never the feeling that it is lacking something and it is well-balanced, well-edited, and well-done as a whole. And sure, the fact that there was a lot to love here helped, but at the moment I am talking only in general, besides the personal enjoyment of the book or the story or the characters, but just about the book per se.
And, as I was saying, there is a lot to like here. We have a really rich and diverse world-building, and it's a bit of a shame that it becomes secondary as the story progresses. On one hand, it makes perfect sense because once the story is really going, you become absorbed by it, because the pace picks up and things start to happen one after another, and there are so many questions that you need answering that the setting becomes less important. But, on the other hand, we get to see some really interesting things in this universe, and some interesting species and cultures and I would have loved to know more about them all. The richness of the world reminded me a bit of Becky Chambers' books. They are not really similar per se, and Heritage is darker and more centered on the plot, but the universe depicted in both is vast and full of life, and we get to meet a lot of different species out there and learn a bit about their culture and their society. It is a beautiful thing. And yep, I wanted to see more of it, to explore more planets and meet more aliens, but who knows... maybe in the rest of the series?
Anyway, it is a minor thing, really, because we have some really good characters in there too, that would capture your interest, all of them are well-developed and complex, and even if I am not the biggest fan of Astrilla (not that she is bad, but she is not my favorite), I really enjoyed Koble, Nathan, Vol and Oxarri's company. And I would have loved to spend more time with Russel, Rain, and the droid. Just to nominate a few. Nathan and Astrilla are the MCs, but the secondary characters are not there to be wallflowers, at all! They all are real, with their own personality and their own quirks and all. And even if I really liked Nathan, more often than not, I preferred the secondary characters. And that's saying a lot about it!
Also, the villains are quite scary, and we have a lot of twists and plots and intrigues. And action. A ton of it. I think that the villains part could have been developed a little more, I mean we get their motivation and we get to see a lot of them (and sometimes this is quite gross!) but it feels like in here something could have been deeper. But, again, it's minor, you get the motivation and the whys and hows are pretty clear, so no problems here!
It was an amazing ride, and I had a really good time with this book! And even if I wasn't expecting it, this has become my personal favorite of the bunch!
And that's all for today! Have you heard of this book before? Are you interested in it?? Let me know!!
Happy reading!
S.
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