THE BLIGHTED STARS
Author: Megan E. O’Keefe
Date released: May 23rd, 2023
Category: Sci-Fi
Synopsis: She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.
He's the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin's father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.
Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she's sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that's bigger than both of them.
The UnReel Take:
Story: 9.0
Writing: 9.0
Characters: 8.5
Setting: 9.0
UnReel AR: 8.9
Bottom Line: My wife and I went to Barnes & Noble on a Friday evening, with the plan of picking up 2-3 books each to read for the weekend. I wandered over to the Science Fiction section, and as my eyes scanned the shelf, this book stood out amongst the rest. A quick read of the summary and it was promptly added to the growing stack in my arms. The Blighted Stars is the first book in a series that will be known as ‘The Devoured Worlds.’ Who doesn’t like a space opera (or any genre, for that matter) where people from opposite sides of the spectrum grow from hatred to… something else. It also doesn’t happen quickly. It takes time. The banter and tentative relationship building between characters by itself is enough to keep you wanting to turn the pages. But that is not the only element to this book. Enter a complex and fragile galactic political environment that you only scratch the surface of in this first entry to the series; just enough to set the scene and pique the curiosity. But that is also not all. Enter an unknown enemy discreetly pulling the strings, doing everything in it’s power to stop any kind of progress the main characters make. This book has action, suspense, romance, adventure, and even ample amounts of horror. A friend asked me if I could relate it to anything else I have read or seen, and I said, “imagine Altered Carbon meets The Expanse meets The Outer Worlds.” I went into this book with no expectations, having heard nothing about it, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I eagerly await the release of the second entry into this universe.
Ideal Reading Location: Assuming you are like me and don’t have enough money to hitch a ride to low orbit, I’d say next best option is in a cabin in the woods. If you can’t swing that, settle for a very dark room.
Drink Pairing: A green smoothie of some sort. Trust me, it will make sense.
Maybe your experience will be different!