Shattermoon: the first in the action-packed space opera series The Long Game Paperback – 14 June 2018

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Shattermoon. It has to be considered an old school classic style sci-fi story, or space opera, rather than an example of the crop of high tech and cyberpunk novels, but it loses nothing by that. The characters were well defined and engaging and the story flowed rapidly, which made it difficult to put down. I couldn't help feeling disappointed that I as not able to reach for the second volume of the series to continue with the crew. If you like space adventure novels then the lead character, Orry, and her sentient spaceship, Jane, make Shattermoon worth a read.

There are promising aspects to Shattermoon, the first book in a SF series by new writer Dominic Dulley, but originality is not one of them. That's perhaps not as important in an opening book as establishing a strong team of characters and providing a thrilling adventure that brings them together, reveals aspects of their backgrounds and personalities and places them into a dangerous situation that gives some insight into the universe they are operating in and highlights potential for future conflicts. On those points Shattermoon certainly delivers.Orry and her family of grifters have managed to pull an elaborate scam on the Count of Delf, an important family at the heart of the Ascendancy, and in the process obtains a green pendant, an ancient heirloom that has been in the Delf family for a long time. Without knowing why, this pendant becomes a valuable artefact that has Orry and her family pursued by the authorities and a notorious and ruthless raider known as Morven Dyas.Despite all the trappings of the genre there's a feeling that the essential character of Shattermoon is not so much a SF novel as a ripping Bond espionage adventure set in space. There are no real science-fiction themes explored here as such, the space setting used as little more than a colourful background for the situation that develops, the pendant no more than a maguffin that draws Orry and her crew into a larger developing military conflict. For a large part of the novel that involves is having Orry, Mender and Harry rush from one place or planet or moon to the next, either being chased or chasing someone else, getting into a repetitive cycle of gunfights and traps, bearing losses and injuries and moving on, the pendant passing from one agent to another.There is some science-fiction behind the nature of the green pendant and its importance to the forces at work in this universe, but none of this is particularly imaginative or original. On the other hand as a first novel there is potential here, not least in the colourful characters that Dulley creates. True, some of them are no more than stereotypical Bond villains, but the make-up of Orry's crew leaves plenty of room for further development, and there is perhaps even room for some real science-fiction ideas to be developed. What is most pleasing about Shattermoon however it that it works as a standalone book, wrapping up the storyline and not leaving you stranded waiting for the next book, but intrigued enough to want to read more in The Long Game series. And if a long game is what we are looking at here, Shattermoon isn't a bad start.

I loved the central character, Orry as she escalates from one crisis to another. 'Shattermoon' is very well written with a dry humour which negates some of the awful violence recounted. The descriptions of the technicalities with future civilizations are light and clever and suspended my disbelief entirely. I can't wait to read more of Orry's adventures in the next book of the series!

I enjoyed this book. It had a good pace. There is perhaps a bit too much dialogue at the expense of descriptions, but I didn't mind. It kept the story going. If you want a light read that's got plenty of sci-fi adventure, then you can't go too wrong with this.

Sorry I just couldn’t get into this. I attempted several times. It was a rare ‘did not finish’ for me.