STARBREAKER – Amanda Bouchet
Nightchaser - Book 2
Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN-10:1492667161
ISBN-13: 978-1492667162
ASIN: B07L42PBQM
April 28, 2010
Science Fiction

Tess Bailey, once known as Quintessa Novalight, waits in a restaurant, filled with nervous misgiving. Daniel Ahern, a man she has never met, will give her information on how to free his wife, renowned scientist Renee Ahern, from one of the Dark Watch (galaxy patrol) prisons. A mission that the head of the rebel council gave her team of Nightchasers (rebels). Her previous enemy, now lover, Shade Ganavan, sits across the room, talking to her through her communication device, trying to calm her. They are the two most wanted individuals on the galaxy's bounty hunters' list. Ahern finally arrives and tells Tess his wife is imprisoned at the prison on Starbase 12. The prison where Tess had been held during her teen years and brings her only bad memories. Ahern tells how the prison break can take place.

Getting herself and her crewmates back to their ship the Endeavor, an old cargo cruiser, is difficult. She has already lost two crew members, Miko and Shiori, and doesn't want to lose more. Jax, Fiona, Miko, and Merrick are now Tess's family.

Overseer Novalight, the megalomaniac Imperial Ruler of the galaxy, is known for destroying inhabited planets. He had been madly in love with Tess's now dead mother and is the man she once believed her father. He isn't, but he wants her, or rather her rare blood type of A1 which is used to create the super soldiers for the Night Watch. Her uncle, General Nathaniel Bridgebane is the Overseer's most powerful enforcer. Bridgebane is determined to catch Shade for his betrayal.

Dangerous situations in STARBREAKER make it a very intense read. In between these powerful scenes, escape and hiding from the Dark Watch create many precarious situations lined with hopelessness, but this only helps build Tess and her team's strength. Tess learns surprising information about herself while the once unexpected love grows between Shade and herself. An interesting and fervent read about humanity's future in the stars.

Robin Lee