Megan E. O’Keefe is one of my absolute favorite scifi authors and her books always shoot to the top of my TBR. I have not yet been disappointed by anything I’ve tried from her. There is always something for me to love that stands out in each book. I’m glad that I still have some of her older titles to read while I wait for a new book.
Synopsis
A search for a missing person uncovers a galaxy-spanning conspiracy in this thrilling standalone space opera from award-winning author Megan E. O’Keefe.
The Black Celeste is a ghost story. A once-legendary spaceship collecting dust in a cosmic graveyard known as the Clutch. Only famed pirate Bitter Amandine knows better, and she’ll do anything to never go near it again. No matter the cost.
Faven Sythe is crystborn, a member of the near-human species tasked with charting starpaths from station to station. She’s trained to be a navigator her entire life. But when her mentor disappears, leaving behind a mysterious starpath terminating in the Clutch, she is determined to find the truth. And only Amandine has the answers.
What they will find is a conspiracy bigger than either of them. Their quest for the truth will uncover secrets Amandine has long fought to keep buried – secrets about how she survived her last encounter in the Clutch, and what’s really hidden out there amongst the stars…
Review
This was a highly anticipated book for me because I really enjoyed O’Keefe’s last two series and was eager to see how she’d handle herself with a standalone novel.
The strongest aspect by far for me was the world building. She immediately drew me in with that from the first page on. Somehow each of her scifi universes feels very different from the others and I always love learning about the creatures and lore within them. This was well done all throughout.
The pacing of the plot was a little dicey for me sometimes. The setup felt pretty long for a standalone so I was worried that it wouldn’t come together well enough. For the most part, I think she did well. There were some exciting moments along the way and then it all really built up towards the climax at the end. I did struggle a little bit with following some of the finer details there and the ending felt a bit abrupt before the epilogue, but overall it was cool to see the conclusion.
There were two main characters that came from very different backgrounds and I definitely preferred one over the other. While Faven had lots of neat world building in hers, I thought Amandine’s background and emotions were better developed and conveyed. Granted, Faven did work on limiting her feelings on purpose but even when she did get emotional in various situations, it just didn’t come across the page as fluidly.
There were several prominent side characters and there as well I felt like some of them were better developed than others. Amandine’s crew was pretty fun to follow along with and while Faven was surrounded by interesting people, they felt a bit more flat than I would’ve liked. I liked how distinct their roles were within Faven’s life though and how that affected the story in different ways.
Overall, I had a good time reading this book. As always, the world building stood out and there were definitely some characters I liked to cheer on, which made it a pretty quick read for me. I do still have to say though that it doesn’t quite reach the level of The Devoured Worlds for me. There were several things in this standalone that made me reminisce about her last series and now I’m so tempted to read that one again.
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