I suspect this might be my first Sci-Fi novel...

... and there are two reasons why I picked it up:

1. one of the tasks for a challenge I am participating in asks that we read a sci-fi novel
2. this one was by Lindsay Buroker

- action-packed, humorous,
adrenalin-pumping -
4/5 on Goodreads

I discovered Lindsay Buroker sometime around the beginning of this year. I was just looking for some good fantasy and happened upon her Emperor's Edge series on Amazon that had rave reviews. I took a chance on what she called her high fantasy, steampunk novels and I found I couldn't put them down until I was done with the last one. It was fast-paced and action-packed. But most of all I enjoyed her characters. So when the challenge task called for a science fiction novel, I thought of Buroker's Fallen Empire series. 

Star Nomad is the first of the lot, and fairly short with just under 250 pages. As I have come to expect of Buroker, it is a blur of action right from the very first page. Alisa Marchenko is a former Alliance pilot who is trying to get back to her little daughter after the war. She salvages and fixes her old ship, the Star Nomad and with her engineer, a former imperial cyborg, her hired bodyguard who loves to barbecue, and a couple of unsuspecting but interesting passengers, she sets off into space and finds herself heading straight into trouble after trouble after trouble...

If you're not a fan of action, this can get quite exasperating. However, it does set your adrenaline pumping, and your eyes can't help but move swiftly across the pages. As I mentioned before, one of Buroker's strengths is her characterisation. However, I felt rather let down with this book when I found Alisa was an almost exact replica of Amaranthe (the lead protagonist in The Emperor's Edge series). They both have a cleanliness fetish; they both talk nineteen to the dozen and a lot worse when they're feeling nervous or afraid; they both have the exact same sense of humour (which is quite disorienting when you've moved from the other series into this one); they both have a soft heart; and they both have a thing for men with steely dispositions. Only the frills are altered to suit circumstances and the genre. But at their core these two women are essentially the same character. 

However, once I told myself to stop comparing and contrasting the two protagonists of these two series,  I was able to get into the book and enjoy it. The mining ships reminded me of the Romulans from Star Trek, and what do you know? The author admits to being greatly influenced by that television series when she came up with this part of her plot. Like I said in the title, this is my first sci-fi novel, not counting dystopian fiction, so I cannot compare it to others of the genre. However, I have seen a few sic-fi movies, and think Star Nomad works fairly well within this genre.

Have you heard of Lindsay Buroker? Or are you into Sci-fi? Would you like to give this series a try?...In case you do, I suggest your first read The Emperor's Edge series. Not that you need to in order to read the Fallen Empire, merely that it came first. :D