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A review by ladymacbeth_1985
Stellar Instinct by Jonathan Nevair
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
A James Bond in space story, Stellar Instinct is an entertaining, fun romp with cool aliens and exciting action scenes.
One of the things that take me out of spy/espionage stories is when the agent is a complete douche. Lilline is not. While tough and rather arrogant at times, she also has a self-identify thread that travels through the entire book. She has personality, aside from being a spy, in that she loves her grandmother, debates her career choices (in that they limit her interpersonal relationships), and wants to be a poet. She’s also a consummate badass and has a huge list of skills (the one she prefers is flying fast ships). She’s a seasoned agent, high up in the company she works for, and while her competency is never in question, she isn’t a superwoman. I also loved that there wasn’t a romance in the novel - that was refreshing.
My favourite character was her boss, Asher Lauden, a fish-like dude (in that he has gills, black eyes, and translucent skin), who smokes a pipe constantly. That felt like a throwback to classic spy movies, which was fun. There is a line that was repeated a bit too much though, about him exhaling smoke from his gills, but Lauden was so fun I can overlook that. In fact, all the characters are fun because there are a lot of aliens! Lilline travels to different planets, running into and fighting with a few different species of various body shapes. It’s one of those futures/realities without alien xenophobia (like Star Trek and Star Wars, in a general sense). It was a great world-build in that regard.
The story is okay - the immensity of the problem seemed like a “third book in a trilogy” issue, not a stand-alone, but it made sense, and I liked the way it poked fun at demented trillionaires. There was a twist I expected, but it came from a different angle than I anticipated. We basically have the typical espionage format - a mystery to solve which turns into a person to hunt down, interspersed with a few action scenes against hired goons, a couple of fights against the right-hand person, and then the climax with the villain. There are also a few tropes of the genre, such as the fancy party, the gadgets, the techie, and car chases (though these are far beyond cars).
There is honestly nothing else I can really say in critique of the novel. It has moments of humour, the prose is great, easy to follow, and balanced. There are a few chapters in the second person which was surprising but while I wasn’t sure why the second person was necessary, it was well done.
Overall, if you like spy stories, aliens, high-tech space adventure, and struggling poets, you’d likely get a real kick out of this one. I highly recommend it.
One of the things that take me out of spy/espionage stories is when the agent is a complete douche. Lilline is not. While tough and rather arrogant at times, she also has a self-identify thread that travels through the entire book. She has personality, aside from being a spy, in that she loves her grandmother, debates her career choices (in that they limit her interpersonal relationships), and wants to be a poet. She’s also a consummate badass and has a huge list of skills (the one she prefers is flying fast ships). She’s a seasoned agent, high up in the company she works for, and while her competency is never in question, she isn’t a superwoman. I also loved that there wasn’t a romance in the novel - that was refreshing.
My favourite character was her boss, Asher Lauden, a fish-like dude (in that he has gills, black eyes, and translucent skin), who smokes a pipe constantly. That felt like a throwback to classic spy movies, which was fun. There is a line that was repeated a bit too much though, about him exhaling smoke from his gills, but Lauden was so fun I can overlook that. In fact, all the characters are fun because there are a lot of aliens! Lilline travels to different planets, running into and fighting with a few different species of various body shapes. It’s one of those futures/realities without alien xenophobia (like Star Trek and Star Wars, in a general sense). It was a great world-build in that regard.
The story is okay - the immensity of the problem seemed like a “third book in a trilogy” issue, not a stand-alone, but it made sense, and I liked the way it poked fun at demented trillionaires. There was a twist I expected, but it came from a different angle than I anticipated. We basically have the typical espionage format - a mystery to solve which turns into a person to hunt down, interspersed with a few action scenes against hired goons, a couple of fights against the right-hand person, and then the climax with the villain. There are also a few tropes of the genre, such as the fancy party, the gadgets, the techie, and car chases (though these are far beyond cars).
There is honestly nothing else I can really say in critique of the novel. It has moments of humour, the prose is great, easy to follow, and balanced. There are a few chapters in the second person which was surprising but while I wasn’t sure why the second person was necessary, it was well done.
Overall, if you like spy stories, aliens, high-tech space adventure, and struggling poets, you’d likely get a real kick out of this one. I highly recommend it.