Star Nomad by Lindsay Buroker

Title: Star Nomad
Author: Lindsay Buroker
Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, LGBT+
Publisher: Indie
Format: Kindle
ISBN: 9781534634558
ASIN: B01FWOW72W

Summary: The Alliance has toppled the tyrannical empire. It should be a time for celebration, but not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After barely surviving a crash in the final battle for freedom, she’s stranded on a dustball of a planet, billions of miles from her young daughter. She has no money or resources, and there are no transports heading to Perun, her former home and the last imperial stronghold.

But she has a plan.

Steal a dilapidated and malfunctioning freighter from a junkyard full of lawless savages. Slightly suicidal, but she believes she can do it. Her plan, however, does not account for the elite cyborg soldier squatting in the freighter, intending to use it for his own purposes. As an imperial soldier, he has no love for Alliance pilots. In fact, he’s quite fond of killing them.

Alisa has more problems than she can count, but she can’t let cyborgs, savages, or ancient malfunctioning ships stand in her way. If she does, she’ll never see her daughter again.

My Review

Narrative style: first person | Perspective: single (Captain Alisa Marchenko)

I am a huge, huge fan of Lindsay Buroker. I first got sucked into her steampunk fantasy series years ago with her book Balanced Upon the Blade’s Edge and instantly fell in love with her characters and writing style. Fast forward to a few months ago and I’ve been reading through a science fiction horror phase. Basically, I’ve been desperate for science fiction set in an entirely different world. So when I found this series, I immediately picked it up and dug in.

Brooding Heroes for the Win

Yes, I’m that reader.

I love a great romance in my SFF books, especially with the unpredictable brooder the heroine can’t get a pulse on. And a rogue cyborg human from the other side of the war is just the ticket.

While this story didn’t give all the answers to the cyborg, his aloofness was a perfect balance to Alisa, who always delivers one bad sarcastic joke after another at the worst possible times. She makes him uncomfortable in all the best ways, and in turn his reactions trigger her own insecurities.

Reader note: The romance is only in the beginning stages for this story, blossoming a bit at a time throughout the series.

A Heroine worthy of Serenity

This story is comped to Firefly in the blurb, and it delivers! Alisa reminds me a lot of a female Captain Mal—she knows what she wants and she’ll do what’s needed to get her way.

But as the heat turns up in this tale, she’ll put her life on the line for her crew as each person slowly steals a safe space inside her heart.

Secondary Characters are Fantastic

Each one has their own strong personality, their own moods, and together they create a brilliant mix of personalities where anything goes. Plus who can go wrong with space chickens?

What I Wished I Liked, But Didn't

I wanted more heat in this romance. It’s super sweet, and like I said above it chips away at the entanglement one small piece at a time throughout the series. Personally I just wanted a bit more heat, but it certainly didn’t derail my enjoyment of the book.

Overall

I loved this story, and it was a brilliant beginner to the series. At the time of writing this review I’ve already read the first five books. I would recommend it for anyone who loves Firefly, starship science fiction, or just needs their romance far away from Earth.

Reviewer Bio

K. J. Harrowick is a freelance developer, graphic designer, technical coach, and author of the science fantasy novel, Bloodflower. You can find her reviews on Goodreads, Hàlon Chronicles, Bookish Valhalla, and occasionally Amazon and Book Sirens.