"The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship exploding..." I'm grateful to Orbit for a free advance copy of Velocity Weapon. Debut author O'Keefe's novel is a proper serving of space opera - a genre I don't read regularly, but when I do, it has to be just right. And this is. We have a space war, political machinations, galaxy spanning civilisation, futuristic technologies, a doomsday weapon, and a nagging feeling that someone we can't see is pulling the strings. All smoothly written, with pace and verve - and more to come. When Sergeant Sanda Greeve wakes in a survival pod after the disastrous battle of Dralee, any joy at her survival is soon tempered as she's told it has been hundreds of years since Dralee. Both her homeworld and Iscariot, planet of her enemies, have been destroyed by Iscarion's new planet-busting weapon, along with her family, and she's now stranded on an enemy ship. The Light of Berossus, the only human left alive in the system. The Light - or Bero, as he prefers to be known - is himself a character in the person of a brooding AI who welcomes Sanda (as well he might after so many years alone). But as she explores the ship and begins to discover what went on there, she has to question what he knows - and what he did... Between chapters detailing Sanda's discoveries in the year 3771, the book follows her brother, Biran, in 3541 - the time of the battle itself. Biran has just passed out as a Keeper, one of the ruling class of his planet. Keepers are implanted with chips containing the plans for the Casimir Gates that link humanity's colonies in disparate start systems, and they also direct affairs on those colonies. Believing Sanda to be marooned in her survival pod, Biran is about to risk a great deal for her. There is also a third strand - a heist organised by a group of criminals led by Jules, on another, unidentified, colony world. This might risk breaking the flow of the other two narratives, but O'Keefe's writing and plotting easily makes Jules' adventures absorbing in themselves, not least as she uses them to feed us additional information about the doings of the Keepers. In a neat contrast to Biran's high-mindedness, Jules seems pretty much amoral - she just wants to get a break, and claw her way up from the bad side of town. But the existence of that bad side and the way that people like her are treated does rather undermine the glittering vision of future society that Biran holds. How this will play out in future volumes remains to be seen but I think the idealism of Keeper society may actually mask some dark secrets. The story itself was a joy to read. O'Keefe's writing is, as I said above, always compelling and the story itself moves along at a rattling pace with many surprises, reversals and twists (even as the seeds are planted for a much bigger story than a squabble in a remote system). The book may not be groundbreaking, but in giving Sanda a leg damaged in battle O'Keefe places a character with a disability centre stage (and gives the book overtones of Treasure Island) and she also has the original of her spacefaring civilisation be Ecuador, not the US, Russia or China, making it a little different. Spending time with Gunnery Sergeant Sanda Greeve is fun - she is a protagonist with a lot of whoomph, rather overshadowing comms specialist Tomas and indeed, little brother Biran. I would strongly recommend this book - and am looking forward to its sequels.

I rushed apace into this book, eagerly anticipating space-faring, crash-bangy things with complex characters. So I totally overlooked that it is "Book One". SO .. about half way in as the unfolding drama moved to two thirds in I starting getting the feeling there was just too much going on for it to be resolved by the end of the paperback. Unless of course there was a really abrupt ending. But Megan E O'Keefe wasn't giving the impression she would throw away the ending. This is an ever expanding universe-builder of a book. There are a few timelines and character groups that are clearly defined, in quite good detail, but in short chapters so you can keep it all in the air. A couple of times I wondered what was happening to a particular character line but an update soon came. There are a number of regular tropes that are taken and twisted to give a new perspective to: AI/Sentient spaceship; mysterious super weapon; enhanced humans; network of star gates; 'galactic' corporations; vying global military conglomerates to name a few. There are twists and turns aplenty. I did associate many parts of the set up with other authors' work but The Velocity Engine is nuanced enough to make it an individual piece. It kept me engaged and wanting to turn pages so I read it quickly. The big problem is we do not know how many parts the story is in - two, three, six, never-ending. Whatever it is I am hooked. Potential Spoiler - I am sure we will see more of Lavaux.