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Source: ARC from author
Book Description:
When Molly gets kicked out of the Naval Academy, she loses the only two things that truly matter to her: the chance to fly in the Navy like her father had and her training partner, Cole. A dull future seems to await until a her father's old starship turns up halfway across the galaxy. It, like her father, has been missing for a decade.
Molly and Cole set out with the seemingly simple task of retrieving the starship but it quickly turns wrong. They run from one danger into another, picking up a crew of alien misfits and runaways along the way and leaving chaos in their wake. Together, they forge a whole new future.
Review:
Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue is an exciting, fast-paced YA science fiction adventure with elements that will appeal to both males and females. The characters were interesting, and the world-building was very good.
The writing was very good overall, but there were a number of "huh?" points that confused me while I was reading. For example, until about halfway through, it appeared that the navigator only ran the weapon systems and the pilot guided the ship. It took me some time to get it through my head who "the navigator" or "navigator's seat" referred to because giving this title to the weapons officer didn't make sense to me.
Also, there were a number of continuity problems. I kept going back to re-read sections to see if I'd missed something only to find out I hadn't. For example, the hyperdrive wires were soldered to four rods in the drive room and the wires needed to be removed and properly grounded to the ship's chassis. Yet everything was apparently fixed even though Molly only deals with one rod and walks away without grounding the wires. Or Cole has an improvised metal dagger in his hand one second and then he's punching a dangerous enemy the next with no mention of him losing the dagger. Or Cole loses his Navy badge in the first half of the book only to suddenly have it with him again at the end. I found this very distracting, but luckily it didn't happen that often.
People have asked me to mention covers. When I got this ARC, one thing that bugged me was that it seemed to be Cole and Molly on the cover yet they're both supposed to be 17 years old. The Cole on the cover is obviously much older than that. Then it hit me that the Cole on the cover is the author. I wondered if that meant the character of Cole was going to be a "Mary Sue" for the author. If so, it wasn't terribly obvious, and I decided to forget about it after reading for a bit.
The book ended with a mild cliffhanger, but everything in this book was resolved (well, except the last sentence on page 108). There were aliens. There was no bad language or sex. Overall, I'd rate this book as fairly well-written, clean reading.
If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.
Excerpt from Chapter One
Molly floated in the vacuum of space--no helmet on, no protection at all. In the distance, a starship slowly drifted away. It was her parents' ship, and they were leaving her behind.
She swam in the nothingness, trying to keep them in view, but as always, she spun around, facing the wrong direction. It was the only torment the old nightmare possessed anymore. After years of waking up--screaming, crying, soaked in her own sweat--she'd whittled it down to this.
She tried to relax, to give up her fight for another glimpse. They were out there, even if she couldn't see them. And as long as she stayed asleep, suffocating and alone, her parents remained among the stars. Alive.
"Molly."
A voice pierced the dream. She cracked her eyes and blinked at her surroundings. Beyond the carboglass cockpit loomed a scene similar to her dream, but filled with a fleet of Navy ships.
"Gimme a sec," she mumbled, rubbing her lids and snapping her visor shut.
"Take your time. Your shift's not up for another ten."
Molly turned in her nav chair to face Cole Mendonca, her pilot for the last two years.
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