I received an eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Sci-fi
Age Range: Adult
Star Rating: 4 stars
Series: first book
Blurb:
One kickass immortal sailship captain. Captain Karenna Yilmaz of the Earth Union Fleet has it all. Adoring husband? Check. The enduring loyalty of her crew? Check. Transformation into a beautiful ageless immortal? Check. Check. Check. But when a dimensional rift brings her low-down, dust-sniffing, no-good younger self hurtling into the present, Karenna’s carefully-constructed life wavers.
One snarky dust-addicted loser. Flight Officer Ren Yilmaz is pretty sick of the hand she’s been dealt. Her supervisor is an idiot. Her ex-husband is vindictive and has ruined her career. And now, here’s her perfect future self, who everyone fawns over, while Ren is still ignored and alone.
They’re the same person, 60 years apart. Both their ships are one in space, one in time. Karenna needs to get her crew home safe and sound. And Ren has to get back to her reality and out of Karenna’s shadow. Working together would mean literally facing their past–including old traumas and transgressions best kept hidden. But if they don’t, they’ll be stuck with each other until the end of time.
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
ANCIENT AS THE STARS is a time-slip sci-fi where a life collides, bringing a lot of personal baggage with it.
The heart of the story is Ren’s struggle to get justice – and an escape – from bosses who are taking advantage of her, one of whom is her ex and deliberately turning a blind eye to her line manager overworking her and taking all the credit. You are cheering her on from the start as she tries to find a way not only to escape the situation but ensure the pair get their comeuppance.
Both Ren and Yarenna narrate. it was interesting seeing the same person from two stages in life – one currently going through the nightmare of revenge and professional abuse, and the other years later thinking they’re over it and able to handle the situation professionally. Yarenna does not react as kindly as you’d hope, thinking she needs to stay impartial about this matter in her past. It causes a great fiction between them.
At the same time, the mini fleet are trying to track down a terrorist, with various uncooperative agencies involved, needing to jump through hoops. All the while, the fleet is stranded far from home and must find a way to escape – and decide whether they can send those from the past back.
This is the start of a series. One of the non-narrators raises an issue about the solution to the problem, the many ethical nopes about it, so I’ll be interested to see how that plays out in the next book.
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 