Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
It’s refreshing to find a book with as many or more female characters than male. It’s not only the quantity but the strength of the females characters that I enjoyed. Victoria, or Vick to her crew, is the captain of the Condor and they desperately need to find some valuable space salvage. Fuel and supplies are running low and the crew needs a good score. Her crew, the Vultures, are some of the best around and know what to look for. They pick up on a distress signal and hope the ship is worth investigating since the signal is only two days old. As they arrive at the ship they know it will have some great technology they can sell and get them the money they need.
The Dreadstar has been badly damaged and they find several Malagaths survivors onboard. They were on the run from a Dirregaunt cruiser and now the salvage mission has become a rescue mission. The Springdawn notices the Condor and now Vicks hopes they can slip away before their ship becomes the next victim. It turns out the Vultures found something more valuable than advanced technology onboard the Dreadstar. The commander of the ship is the First Prince of Malagath. Vick hopes this rescue will allow the humans to forge a much needed new ally and, if lucky, some new technology.
I enjoyed the power struggles that Scott Warren worked into the story. It seems that even in the world of space travel and multiple races everyone wants to be the top dog. There are interesting characters, both human and xeno that filled the story. The political complexities in the plot are well written and I love the multiple strong female characters, including the protagonist. We are also given a steady stream of action and interesting dynamics between the races. In the universe created by Scott Warren the human race is at the bottom of the technology ladder, which is an interesting juxtaposition since we like to think we are always at the top.
Book Info
Length: 226 Pages
Publisher: Parvus Press
Release date: October 4, 2016
To Purchase Vick’s Vultures Click Here
In the far future, alien technology captured by the Union Earth Privateers has fueled Earth’s tenuous expansion from a single planet to a handful of systems across the Orion Spur.
Victoria Marin, captain of the U.E. Condor, and her crew of Vultures have been running dry for months. In danger of losing her command and her credibility if she can’t locate fresh salvage, she locks onto the distress signal of an alien ship in hopes of valuable cargo. What she finds instead is First Prince Tavram, the heir apparent to one of the largest empires in known space. Tavram’s ship has been crippled after narrowly escaping an ambush and his would-be assassin is coming to finish the job.
The Vultures launch a high risk mission to rescue the prince and recover every last scrap of xenotech they can before the hunter catches up to his prey. But there are more dangers than notorious interstellar assassins when it comes to ferrying an alien prince across the stars, and Victoria must contend with dangerous alliances, old grudges, and even her own government if she means to bring her crew home alive. Whether she succeeds or fails, the consequences of her choices will affect the path of all humanity.
Scott Warren, biography
Scott Warren is 26, and lives in Central Oregon where he splits his time between writing, aviation, and art. One of his dreams was to someday write a novel and illustrate the cover, and he has accomplished this with the release of his debut novel, The Sorcerous Crimes Division: Devilbone. He writes as a hobby, favoring self-publishing and never having expected such a positive reaction to his work. A small, but growing number of readers offers constant encouragement.
“I just sat down one day and said, ‘There’s no reason I shouldn’t have already written a novel’. That’s really all it took. That, and being too stubborn to quit. I started writing from 11 PM to midnight every night, and whenever else I had time, and in three months I had a rough draft. It was another year before I was confident in self-publishing my work, and despite the roughness of my novel work the reception has been amazing. I’ve been reading voraciously all my life, and my hope is that my favorite authors, Erikson, Pratchet, Gaiman, Jordan, Scalzi, and others will have a deep influence on my work while I explore my own style and stories.”
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