Heads up out there, fans of Firefly, The Expanse, Crudrat, The Ship Who Sang, and other adventures in the REAL stars! You need to read Lost Souls and sign up to join the Get Lost series!

I hate to admit my age, but I grew up during the Golden Age of Science Fiction – Heinlein, Bradbury, Clarke, etc. Then graduated to McCaffrey, Norton, Schmitz, and SO many others. My “keeper” shelf is full of these, and Bujold, of course! This book reminded me of the best of those. Exciting and suspenseful adventure in space!

Noah has created a thoroughly fleshed-out and detailed, and REALISTIC, universe peopled with fully developed characters. But like ALL good storytellers, all of that is a dense background to the tale and the people in it.

I require a sense of humor. If ANYONE thinks humanity would make it into space without a sense of humor and fun, well, seriously, who wants to spend time in a floating in a metal hunk with a bunch of stiff-necked military types? And I have to admit, I love a book with witty and sarcastic and funny and revealing quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Don’t ask me why. But Noah offers those up on a silver platter, or rather on a piece of dented hull plating from a Dragonfly.

I won’t give away the plot (I really don’t understand why some reviewers do that), but Noah does a great job of conveying Hel’s sense of loss and confusion and answers-just-out-of-reach to the reader. He also made me fall in love with Moss (much in the same way that I fell in love with Malcolm Reynolds). Moss’s sardonic sense of humor and pick-yourself-up-and-brush-yourself-off attitude give the reader hope that things will work out. Hel’s plucky determination in the face of the void that is her past and her sheer gutsiness has the reader rooting for her from the beginning.

This book, this series I am SURE, will make a wonderful movie or streaming series. (And, although it leaves you with hope for another in the series, it doesn’t leave you “hanging” on a cliff!) It’s a story of hope, comradeship, and new beginnings.

Creative and complex and fast-paced and exciting. Fantastic story telling and terrific characterization. I want MORE adventures in this universe.

JUST PLAIN FUN!