Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’KeefeVelocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe
Series: The Protectorate #1
Published by Orbit on June 11, 2019
Source: Won
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 533
Format: Paperback
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four-stars

Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in Velocity Weapon, the first book in this epic space opera by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe.

Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction.

However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost. The star system is dead. Ada Prime and its rival Icarion have wiped each other from the universe.

Now, separated by time and space, Sanda and Biran must fight to put things right.

Velocity Weapon is really entertaining – a bit long perhaps, but a lot of fun. So why have I been sitting here looking at this blank review on and off for days now? I don’t want to give away any of the plot points and those are what make the book interesting.

The blurb above gives you the basic setup. Sanda is awesome, tough, resourceful, vulnerable. She was clearly the strongest of the characters and the parts from her point of view were the most compelling. Her brother Biran is a politician, but he still has some hope in the system, even if his faith is stretching thinner and thinner. I like that he doesn’t give up hope, ever.

There’s a third character whose point of view we see the story from, but she’s not mentioned in the blurb. Jules is in a different system. She’s a thief whose last job went wrong and she is in major trouble. We don’t know how her story fits in with Sanda and Biran until the last few chapters. The story just kind of ends though. After 500+ pages, I would have preferred something to be wrapped up. Instead, we just start to see how everything is tied together. Things, and people, are clearly not what we think, but we’re going to have to wait for the next in the series to learn more. I’m not a fan of cliff-hangers, but at the same time, the book was getting long for me as it was.

That’s one of the things I enjoyed about Velocity Weapon. You think you know what’s going on and then O’Keefe throws somethings at you that I, at least, didn’t see coming. There were several times where I was caught off guard and found myself laughing at just how much I had been taken in. Now, granted, I don’t read a lot of space operas, so maybe some readers will be more prepared for the twists than I was.

Velocity Weapon is full of action, political intrigue, drama and just a hint of romance. I’m looking forward to what comes next.

This counts as 3 pts in the COYER Treasure Hunt  (celebrate 2019 – read a book that’s number in the series can be made from only the numbers in 2019 (e.g.: 2, 1, 9, 10, 12, 19, 20, 21, 29, etc.)- Velocity Weapon is #1 in a series).

About Megan E. O’Keefe

Megan E. O’Keefe was raised amongst journalists, and as soon as she was able joined them by crafting a newsletter which chronicled the daily adventures of the local cat population. She has worked in both arts management and graphic design, and spends her free time tinkering with anything she can get her hands on.

Megan lives in the Bay Area of California. She’s won the Gemmell Morningstar Award for her fantasy debut, Steal the Sky, and is represented by Sam Morgan.

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