The Andromeda’s Captain
By Becca Fox
Do you like science fiction/fantasy book series? A series is a double-edged sword.
Writing a series expands a writer’s creativity. It’s possible to embrace the story’s present while opening the door for exploring the past and future in greater detail. They can introduce more characters and show so much more about their lives at different points in time. The writer can easily hide heroes and villains if desired to give readers a more complicated puzzle to solve.
While a series can open exciting doors, it also puts roadblocks in the way. Continuity is crucial, and fans will abandon a series if there’s not a solid flow. If a character dies in Book 2 but suddenly waltzes into Book 5 as if nothing ever happened, then there’s a problem. There better be some acknowledgement by characters that hey, look who returned from the dead. Or bring into play a plot that would cause a character’s disappearance/death/resurrection to make sense. Or there’s a twin (evil or not), a clone, an alien, or other similar being taking the OG character’s place. And if the writer incorporated an intriguing mystery, it better get solved.
TV series have given plenty of warning of what can happen if writers break that bond. As viewers like me got hooked in the first series, fan speculation flourished. The writers assured the public during Season 1 that no, the characters hadn’t died, nor were they in purgatory. They also introduced a smoke monster and a strange numerical string as part of the show’s mythology. When the series ends, there’s no explanation for the smoke monster, a lame usage of the string that explains nothing, and a whole bunch of dead people. I know I’m not the only person who refused to watch a minute of rebroadcasts. And if you have any hope of being on my good side, do not remind me about How I Met Your Mother.
The biggest challenge of a series is getting new readers to join the ride after it’s already started. Either the writer is sacrificing what was important in the previous book(s) to bring in new viewers, or the writer is bogging down existing readers with so much repetition that bore existing readers into abandoning the series.
The Andromeda’s Captain is the second book in the Andromeda Chronicles series. If you’ve read the first book in the series, then you’ll enjoy finding out what happened to Taren Platinum and others impacted by the interrupted wedding. You’ll see familiar characters in new settings and enjoy seeing them grow as they navigate different locations.
If you’re wondering who Taren Platinum is, then you’ve got an extra reading assignment. You’ll want to read the first book in the series, The Andromeda’s Ghost and then dig into book 2. Reading them back-to-back would be a good binge.
The wedding and its associated peace treaty aren’t spoilers – they’re just loose ends from the beginning of the first book. The Andromeda’s Captain picks up events right after the first book. In addition to the main characters from the first book, we learn more about other characters trying to make sense of what happened. Some of the characters from the beginning of Ghost are reintroduced and explored.
Becca Fox does an excellent job of developing her characters while maintaining true to their established spirits. Their motivations are clear, so the story makes sense. And like the first book, Fox resolves the main plot presented while also leaving some unanswered questions. I was satisfied by how the story ended but am interested in seeing how other storylines could develop in the next book. In a series, there’s a challenge where each book has to include a resolution while leaving the door open to tell what’s next, and Fox successfully navigates the challenge. I enjoyed The Andromeda’s Captain, but I’m eager to find out the release date for the next book in the series.
Thank you, NetGalley and BHC Press, for providing a review copy of this book.
