Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Rivas Series: Chaotic Orbits #1
Published by DAW Books on August 6, 2024
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 192
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
But Ada doesn’t care—all that matters to her is enjoying their fine food and sweet, sweet oxygen—until Rian White, the government agent in charge, starts to suspect that there’s more to Ada than meets the eye. He’s not wrong—but he’s so pretty that Ada is perfectly happy to keep him paying attention to her—at least until she can complete the job she was sent to pull off. But as quick as Ada is, Rian might be quicker—and she may not be entirely sure who’s manipulating who until it’s too late…
Full Speed to a Crash Landing is the first book of a planned trilogy, the Chaotic Orbits series. It follows our Heroine Ada as she narrowly escapes death after her ship loses all power and communication; there also seems to be a three foot hole in the side of it. Still from the beginning it is understood that Ada is a bit on the dodgy side and shouldn’t be trusted, since she is up to something; we the reader have to follow along to discover. The big question is why she might want to be on the ship which rescued her and what is she up to.
“Surprised that clunker of yours has lasted as long as it did,” he adds.
“I can fix her, no worries,” I say.
“There’s a three-meter-wide hole in the side.”
“We all have our flaws.”
This was in short story format and with under 200 pages we have to fit a lot in, in a short time. What we get is a really fast paced story, with not a lot of time for character development and world building. Ada, running out of oxygen is rescued by the team coming to salvage the ship wreckage from a developing planet. She has been at the crash side for a few days salvaging already but there is more to it and she is up to something, but so are the people on the rescue ship. Rain is running some kind of classified mission and looking for some material that was on the crashed ship. With a little help from Ada, they should be able to get their hands on it. Ada definitely has designs of her own and spends quite a bit of time distracting Rain with her interest in him.
Ada was quirky and pretty funny. You are going to either love her or hate her; I don’t think there is a big in-between for her character. She has something to hide and the crew of the ship she was rescued by also has something to hide. It is all kind of teased out along the way until Ada’s true game is revealed at the end. The love interest part was very quick with not a lot of substance to it. I still can’t decide it it was just a distraction tactic by Ada or if there is really something more substantial there. I found the planet description that the ship crashed on fascinating, along with the different Earths and the culture of each. The interactions with the crew were really interesting but I kind of wanted more depth there.
The ending was not completely unexpected, but I still have some questions about the why of it all in the bigger picture. That will probably come with a few more explanations in the next book of the series.
This is for those of us who want a quick, lite, heist and intrigue type story. This will also require you to put aside some science/physics facts sometimes and just go with it. So if you are up for something without a ton of depth, this could be a fun story for you. I had a good time and my expectations from a short story are definitely different than those of a full length novel. I think if you go in like that you will have a good time.
That’s how close life and death are. Not just here, in space or on a volatile planet. Everywhere. Everywhere in the universe, you’re one cracked O-ring away from total failure. And we all just go through each day, ignoring that. Pretending like we don’t see the cracks.
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Sums up pretty much how I felt.
If you just want a fun fast read that you don’t have to think a lot about this is a great short book.
I had a good time with this one, too. Looking forward to part two.
Yes me too. I think it should be fun. I really want to know more about the resistance side of it.
This one sounds interesting and the characters sound fun. Been into some science fiction lately too.
It was a good fast read and really easy to get through. Great for after something that was intense.
Thank you for a punchy, to the point review which has given me a chance to pass on this one, Robin:)). I liked the premise, but I generally prefer a bit more heft to my characters, even in a fast-paced action adventure.
As someone that tends to read some monster books with a lot of depth it is sometimes hard for me to just go on a whimsical jaunt instead of an epic journey.
“quick, lite, heist and intrigue type story” sounds up my alley!
This could be super good after an emotional or long read to just clear the pallet.
This sounds like it would be good for a quick fun read after a heavier one. I do like the sound of it.
Exactly! I need those sometimes too.
I loved the first YA series I read by Beth Revis. I have this one and need to get to it. Great review!