Kash soon attracts unwanted attention from the powerful Consortium Government due to his sentient ship Calynn retaining her memories of once being a teenage girl whose brain was implanted into the ship’s nerve center. To divert unwanted attention, Plekish installs Calynn’s mind into a powerful synthetic body, one she can use to practice Omia’s sexual expertise. Tressler teases out Kash’s protective side for both Calynn and Omia—whom Kash falls in love with almost instantly—but Kash’s plan to safeguard them backfires spectacularly when Omia is kidnapped by a corrupt senator and sold into a trafficking ring. Tressler sends Kash and company careening through the cosmos, as they rescue trafficked women, make last-minute deals with unsavory characters, and pick fights along the way.
Tressler’s animated characters spout humorous dialogue and cleverly extricate themselves from the clutches of gamblers and crime bosses, but frequent tangents divert the plot’s flow, and the story’s sexual exploitation may not be for everyone. Nevertheless, the clever antics of this passionate crew offer a winning combination of high-stakes adventure, camaraderie, and inventive future worlds.
Takeaway: Galaxy-spanning adventure starring a slick-talking rogue and synthetic pilot.
Comparable Titles: Therisa Peimer’s Taming Flame, Clio Evans’s Cosmic Kiss.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: A
