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arhgee's review
4.0
Good book from a new author. I probably wouldn't have known about this book if I didn't use the website RisingShadow to track new releases. Maybe the publisher could buy some ads from Amazon to bump it up in the kindle store so more readers learn of it?
malreynolds111's review
4.0
Murder mystery in Space with political overtones. I love the choices that Nathalie made. The ending raised it from a 3 to a 4 star for me.
ARC from Netgalley
ARC from Netgalley
marilynw's review
4.0
Refractions by M V Melcer
Narrated by Patricia Rodriguez
It's in the future and Earth is a mess. But there is Bethesda – humanity's first extra-solar colony and the hope of developing others like it. Except that the colony has stopped communicating with Earth. So a ship has been sent to Bethesda and it'll take thirty five years to get there and then thirty five more years to get back home. What kind of people would volunteer for such a mission, a mission that will mean never seeing their loved ones and friends again, a mission that means the volunteers come home to a world that is seventy years plus further along while the volunteers have been in stasis most of those years?
The story is mostly in the "future" present day although it also goes back to before Nathalie Hart, a Canadian space pilot, volunteers for the trip to check out what has happened at Bethesda. Imagine her surprise when she is not only accepted for the trip but made second in command, a job for which she is in no way qualified. She's not been trained for the job but also she understandably has PTSD from the latest events on Earth, events that she feels she is responsible for, events that killed so many.
Ha, when things go very lopsided on the ship and Nathalie ends up in charge, and then things go even more lopsided, seeing Nathalie crumbled on her floor having what seems like teenage rebellious hissy fits put fear in my heart, too, that she could not do the job. Nathalie has no confidence in herself. She just wants to sulk in her cabin and have everyone stop depending on her. But Nathalie pulls herself together, her immense guilt is something that pushes her to pull herself up by her bootstraps and at least pretend she can do the job, pretend she can lead a diverse team that is made up of hostile parties who could turn on each other in an instant.
Nathalie wins me over in the end. So do many other characters who I wasn't fond of at first. When the going gets tough, when the going gets impossible, maybe people can pull together, not all of them, but some of them. Maybe there is hope for humanity even though some super powerful somebodies would like to take everything away from anyone but the super powerful few. Patricia Rodriguez does a really good job with the narration of this space opera. There are so many characters, with various accents, and foreign words and her narration even helped me to keep track of the characters since she gives them distinctive voices.
Pub November 16, 2023
Thank you to Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.
Narrated by Patricia Rodriguez
It's in the future and Earth is a mess. But there is Bethesda – humanity's first extra-solar colony and the hope of developing others like it. Except that the colony has stopped communicating with Earth. So a ship has been sent to Bethesda and it'll take thirty five years to get there and then thirty five more years to get back home. What kind of people would volunteer for such a mission, a mission that will mean never seeing their loved ones and friends again, a mission that means the volunteers come home to a world that is seventy years plus further along while the volunteers have been in stasis most of those years?
The story is mostly in the "future" present day although it also goes back to before Nathalie Hart, a Canadian space pilot, volunteers for the trip to check out what has happened at Bethesda. Imagine her surprise when she is not only accepted for the trip but made second in command, a job for which she is in no way qualified. She's not been trained for the job but also she understandably has PTSD from the latest events on Earth, events that she feels she is responsible for, events that killed so many.
Ha, when things go very lopsided on the ship and Nathalie ends up in charge, and then things go even more lopsided, seeing Nathalie crumbled on her floor having what seems like teenage rebellious hissy fits put fear in my heart, too, that she could not do the job. Nathalie has no confidence in herself. She just wants to sulk in her cabin and have everyone stop depending on her. But Nathalie pulls herself together, her immense guilt is something that pushes her to pull herself up by her bootstraps and at least pretend she can do the job, pretend she can lead a diverse team that is made up of hostile parties who could turn on each other in an instant.
Nathalie wins me over in the end. So do many other characters who I wasn't fond of at first. When the going gets tough, when the going gets impossible, maybe people can pull together, not all of them, but some of them. Maybe there is hope for humanity even though some super powerful somebodies would like to take everything away from anyone but the super powerful few. Patricia Rodriguez does a really good job with the narration of this space opera. There are so many characters, with various accents, and foreign words and her narration even helped me to keep track of the characters since she gives them distinctive voices.
Pub November 16, 2023
Thank you to Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.
robotcommander's review against another edition
5.0
I was given an advance release copy via NetGallery for this book.
This is a near-ish future book dealing with space travel and technology. The main character Natilie has a lot of baggage and guilt she brings into space. The book begins at the base of a space elevator in Kenya (owned and run by the Chinese Government), and then quickly moves to the main character waking up in a hibernation chamber surround by smoke and alarms. Natalie then must solve a mystery of what happend to the lost colony and who wrote mysterious cyrilic writing on her cyro-tube.
This book is excellent, I recommend it to sci-fi fans and also to people who enjoy reading about inner guilt and drama.
I don't often give 5 stars, but this book deserves it.
I can't wait to see what happens in the next book as the world is fleshed out more.
This is a near-ish future book dealing with space travel and technology. The main character Natilie has a lot of baggage and guilt she brings into space. The book begins at the base of a space elevator in Kenya (owned and run by the Chinese Government), and then quickly moves to the main character waking up in a hibernation chamber surround by smoke and alarms. Natalie then must solve a mystery of what happend to the lost colony and who wrote mysterious cyrilic writing on her cyro-tube.
This book is excellent, I recommend it to sci-fi fans and also to people who enjoy reading about inner guilt and drama.
I don't often give 5 stars, but this book deserves it.
I can't wait to see what happens in the next book as the world is fleshed out more.
barbtrek's review against another edition
5.0
Although this book broke my “I won’t read anything related to climate change” rule, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the story. The main character was well-developed, although I did get a bit confused with some of the minor characters. I would categorize this as soft science fiction or speculative fiction because the science isn’t explained in great detail, and the story is primarily character-driven. I particularly relished the “sciency” mysteries the crew faced. I’m awarding it 5 stars purely because of how much I enjoyed the story. I made an effort not to overanalyze the character motivations.
Without giving away any spoilers, I can say that I found the ending satisfying, although there were a few moments when I feared I wouldn’t. I’m definitely open to reading more from this author. I want to express my gratitude to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book, but rest assured, it did not influence my review
Without giving away any spoilers, I can say that I found the ending satisfying, although there were a few moments when I feared I wouldn’t. I’m definitely open to reading more from this author. I want to express my gratitude to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book, but rest assured, it did not influence my review
erikoreads's review
5.0
It’s been some time since I’ve read a sci-fi book, and this was a lot of fun! So happy I got to join the @letstalkbookspromo book tour, and got an eARC from NetGalley.
niccith's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Nathalie Hart is not the perfect commander. Nathalie suffers with constant guilt. She often questions her ability to lead. Guilt is the reason she joined the rescue mission to Bethesda’s human colony.
Refractions is a space opera, a murder mystery, a story dealing with betrayal and sabotage. It offers all that I love about Space Opera.
The author does an incredible job of keeping me highly engaged in the storytelling. I enjoy how she has incorporated current day issues, slowly revealing details in the narrative, creating tension and surprise. She goes beyond the typical discussion of racism found in Science Fiction books. Here we are addressing global planet power and the fall of an empire.
What I love the most is the portrayal of Nathalie Hart. She starts out with a characterization that had me go “umm.” She’s crying me a river. I was tired of reading about her guilt. As the story moves along, however, we amass information about the event that destroyed her.
Suddenly, Nathalie is amazing.
There will be a sequel
Refractions is a space opera, a murder mystery, a story dealing with betrayal and sabotage. It offers all that I love about Space Opera.
The author does an incredible job of keeping me highly engaged in the storytelling. I enjoy how she has incorporated current day issues, slowly revealing details in the narrative, creating tension and surprise. She goes beyond the typical discussion of racism found in Science Fiction books. Here we are addressing global planet power and the fall of an empire.
What I love the most is the portrayal of Nathalie Hart. She starts out with a characterization that had me go “umm.” She’s crying me a river. I was tired of reading about her guilt. As the story moves along, however, we amass information about the event that destroyed her.
Suddenly, Nathalie is amazing.
There will be a sequel
roytoo's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
This one has me staying up late reading. A very well done story exploring social identity, reckoning with past mistakes, coming to forgive yourself and others for mistakes.
All wrapped up in an engaging story to unravel the mystery behind a failed space colony.
Be warned that christianity is part of some of the social identity story line. It came on a little strong at first and had me wondering if this was a book with a hidden proselytizing agenda. Thankfully that was not the case.
All wrapped up in an engaging story to unravel the mystery behind a failed space colony.
Be warned that christianity is part of some of the social identity story line. It came on a little strong at first and had me wondering if this was a book with a hidden proselytizing agenda. Thankfully that was not the case.
bibliovino's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
A gripping space exploration novel with a stark warning and a heart of steel!
A slow beginning builds up steam as Nathalie and her crew face dangerous complications and even more volatile personal conflicts. I appreciated the interesting character dynamics paired with the diabolical science conundrums. Nathalie is a complex character with ghosts in her closet and a laudable sense of both self preservation and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Really well done!
Thank you to Let’s Talk Books, NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.
A slow beginning builds up steam as Nathalie and her crew face dangerous complications and even more volatile personal conflicts. I appreciated the interesting character dynamics paired with the diabolical science conundrums. Nathalie is a complex character with ghosts in her closet and a laudable sense of both self preservation and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Really well done!
Thank you to Let’s Talk Books, NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.