Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery
Reviewer: Jay
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About The Book
Another spaceship, another explosion. Harold Galahad would love to wake from this particular nightmare that is so eerily similar to the events that cost him his beloved wife and destroyed his soul. But the only way out is by saving the ship and its entire crew.
If you ask Harold Galahad, he isn’t fit to lead a crew or command a ship. But nobody is asking Harry.
Instead, he finds himself back on the bridge, on a ship stranded in space, no help in sight, only kept alive by remnants of a gradually failing life support system.
His crew? A nurse running out of tentacles and eyes to care for all the wounded, a chief engineer who knows all about her systems but struggles with people, a chief of security who thinks everything can be solved with paragraphs from the Company’s handbook, a cursing chief of logistics, an anxiety-ridden communications officer, and a first officer who stays mysterious and feigns ignorance. This ship needs a captain to avert a complete disaster that includes the death of everyone on board.
Can Galahad overcome his trauma? Can he find solutions where there are none? And worst of all, can he unravel all the mysteries surrounding the ship, its crew and the system they all work for?
If you enjoy a complex tale that brings a human element to all species that travel space, combined with a multi-layered mystery, and starring a broken hero, Herald Petrel by Strange Seawolf will deliver.
Warning: contains adult language and a considerable amount of swearing — it is a cargo space ship in a desparate situation, after all.
The Review
This is a long and engrossing story which is kind of a thriller, set in the aftermath of an explosion on a space ship. As the captain investigates, things take some very strange and violent turns, and the eventual answers are not what anyone had expected.
Although everything – initial damage, investigation, rescues and attempts to resolve the issues – is obviously dependent on technical problems, Captain Galahad is an administrator, not a scientist, so it is necessary for his crew to explain things to him in terms most readers wil understand and the events are never bogged down in too much jargon.
There are romantic pairings of various genders, which makes things more interesting. There are also non-humanoid species amongst the crew members, which adds to the diversity of the cast of characters and helps the reader (and the captain) to see things from different angles. Even the humanoids, who are in the majority, are from wildly different planets, cultures and religions.
The way everything takes place on a disabled spaceship makes for a sense of confinement that is almost claustrophobic, and adds to the tension of the unfolding drama.
The book is well written, particularly in the way it explores different beliefs and mindsets, and although at times it’s fairly obvious that English is not the writer’s first language, this is acceptable, given that the entire tale takes place a long ways from here and a long time off from the present.
If you enjoy ‘hard’ science fiction and space opera with a helping of romance, you will love this book.
5 stars.
The Reviewer
I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.
