Format: Paperback, 432 pages
Release Date: February 1, 2022
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera
Octavia Zarola would do
anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even
if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former
general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to
not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship,
Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.
With
so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the
hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader
pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse,
and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is
reason enough to shut up and deal.
But when they uncover a deeper
plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi
suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war.
With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide
where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her,
or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield.
And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.
Hunt the Stars is the first installment in author Jessie Mihalik's Starlight's Shadow series. The
story takes place after a war between humans and an alien race called
Valoffs. The war ended with a tentative peace between the two races, but
both agreed to keep to their own sectors of space and not bother each
other. Octavia "Tavi" Zarola, hero of Rodeni, is the captain of Starlight's Shadow. She and her crew, Elias Bruck and Kee Ildez, are bounty hunters who hunt criminals and murderers. They're not exactly rolling in the dough.
When Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy, offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to. The catch, however, is that they must travel to Valovia in order to find the heirloom, and Tavi just happens to have a bounty on her head and isn’t welcome there. With so much money on the line, and a bounty on Tavi's head, Torran and his crew, Chira, Varro, and Havil, insist on joining the hunt for protection.
Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal. There's a lot of history and world-building that explain why they are enemies. But even enemies can become allies in the right situation. Putting together two crews who fought on opposite sides of a devastating war has many challenges, yet this crew makes it work.
When you add to the mix Anja Harbon and Lexi Bowen, both who saw war against Torran's people, you get an eclectic group of men and women who are loyal to their leaders. But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.
Torran has the ability to move objects with his mind and can actually kill that way too, so Tavi treats him as a threat to her crew at first, until they develop some trust. Torran’s fellow officers aren’t developed as much, although there is some nice tension between Kee and Varro, Torran’s first officer. I absolutely adored Tavi’s pet burbu Luna, a small, fox-like creature that she adopted from Valovia and who is devoted to her and her crew. Burbus have the ability to communicate telepathically in emotions and images. Luna absolutely adores Tavi and her crew, and seems to tolerate Torran's people.
I read that the next book in the series, Eclipse the Moon, will focus on Kee Ildez and Varro Runkow, a Valovian weapons expert who makes her pulse race. In the grand tradition of Princess Leia, Rey, and Wonder Woman, this series features fierce, powerful young women who through adversity and battle, come into their own and become warriors. Terrific love stories, a fantastic tale spanning galaxies, and kick-butt heroines, all make for an amazing, cross-promotable series. These books are sure to appeal to readers of romance, sci-fi/fantasy, and the ever-growing YA fantasy market.
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