Her Brother's Keeper
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
DEBUT SOLO NOVEL FROM THE CO-AUTHOR OF DEAD SIX. Air Force weapons expert Mike Kupari, co-author of Dead Six and Swords of Exodus, offers up a science fiction adventure. When privateer Captain Catherine Blackwood is enlisted to rescue her brother from a treacherous warlord, she finds herself on her most dangerous mission yet.
It's been years since Catherine Blackwood left the stodgy, repressive colony world of Avalon. Now the captain of the privateer vessel Andromeda, she is the master of her own destiny. But Catherine soon finds herself back on Avalon after receiving a plea for help from a most unlikely source: her estranged father, esteemed Avalon Council member Augustus Blackwood.
It seems Catherine's brother, the heir to the Blackwood aristocracy, has gone off in search of treasure on the failed, chaotic world of Zanzibar. But Cecil Blackwood's plans have gone very, very wrong, and he has been taken hostage and held for ransom by a fearsome local warlord. Augustus, knowing his daughter is the only one who can be trusted to return his son safely, swallows his pride and hires Catherine to bring her brother home.
Catherine takes the job—but it won't be easy. Just getting to Zanzibar proves treacherous. And once she arrives, things only get worse. If she is to save her brother, Catherine Blackwood must face down danger at every turn and uncover a mystery four million years in the making.
At the publisher’s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kupari (Dead Six, with Larry Correia) makes his solo debut in this unsatisfying galaxy-spanning space adventure set in our far future. Catherine Blackwood's estranged aristocratic family intrudes on her successful privateering business, sending word that her brother Cecil is being held for ransom on the distant, barren planet Zanzibar. Catherine takes her crew and a plucky band of "Texan" mercenaries along with a young girl who dreams of going to space to rescue Cecil. But while her ship rockets toward Zanzibar, Cecil discovers the planet's secret history, thought to be lost forever. The rescue attempt doesn't begin to unfold until the novel's last 100 pages; most of Kupari's narrative is devoted to establishing the cast of characters, but few are given any intriguing or original motivation. After the characters have been named (confusingly there's an Anna and an Annie), the crew spends a lengthy, too-realistic time traveling to their destination while engaging in pointless subplots. Catherine is ostensibly the protagonist, being the ship's captain and subject of the title, but the focus rapidly shifts to grizzled space cop Marcus. It doesn't really matter, though, since nobody experiences any significant character development. There's also a strange mix of sexual mores. Though Kupari pulls out the stops for some high-energy action scenes, the book's plodding pace and uninspired characters muddy any entertainment that might be found.
