Space Junque

 


Review of Space Junque by L. K. Rigel


Overview from www.goodreads.com: The DOGs want to destroy the world. The gods want to make a new one. The trick is to survive both.
At the end of the 21st century, civilization is at the brink of collapse. When hydroponics agronomist Char Meadowlark is warned of an impending attack by the eco-terrorist group Defenders of Gaia, she flees to the airport hoping to get off planet. The DOGs strike in the midst of Char’s escape, and pilot Jake Ardri offers her only hope of survival. He takes her to the orbiting Imperial Space Station, the seat of world government.

When the conflict goes global and the planet threatens to implode, ancient gods return to take control of humanity and impose a new world order. Char and Jake are caught up in a divine plan to save the world - but first they have to get through the apocalypse alive.

My Review:

I had a close encounter of the weird kind just now when I sat down to write this review. Though I got it for free as a Barnes & Noble e-book on their website, it is no longer listed on their website. I am not sure why but I did find a listing for it on Good Reads so I can thankfully still post a photo here. Sorry if the size is different.

This story is a novella introducing the Apocalypto series. Space Junque is named after the space ship that one of the main characters, Jake, drives a ship with that name and apparently likes to use it as joke.

“He winked and said, ‘See you at the junk, Tyler.’”

“She ran to catch up with Tyler. ‘What did Jake mean, see you at the junk?’


‘J-u-n-q-u-e. He takes private pays up to Vacation Station on the Space Junque. His shuttle. He use that line on everybody, man or woman.’


‘Ah. You want to see my Junque? Got it.’” P.13

The story begins however with Char Meadowlark’s attempt to get “off planet.” But leaving the Pacific Zone will not be easy. She barely escapes with her life though it cost her new friend Tyler his.

 I don’t want to give away too much of the story so I will skip most of the plot description and talk about characters. Char is our most developed character and the only one I felt that I got to know well during this little jaunt.

 
She is one of a few “natural born” people currently alive some one hundred years into our future. She also has a twin sister engaged to man who Char basically believes is just a mid-level government official. Her sister Sky has vanished but the fiancé, Mike, is looking out for her and gets her when he senses danger or does he know more than what he is telling?


Then there’s Jake, the cocky pilot who likes to make jokes, but takes his devotion to his friends seriously.
 
But I think my favorite character of all is perhaps Rani. An unusually tall woman with a slight Hindi accent who is tough enough to look out for herself but nevertheless cherishes her connection with her boss Jake. When she runs into trouble though, she must ask some unusual strangers for help.


The last thing I want to point out here is that this story has elements of both Science Fiction and Fantasy which was a little different for me. I was all settled in for Sci-Fi when suddenly we have a goddess thrown into the mix for good measure. Weird.

 Still overall, it was an interesting book and, mostly, a good read. I am still undecided yet though about whether or not I’ll read the sequels.

 

Contains: scenes of sexuality, violence, a few words that may not be for children