ADMIRAL - Sean Danker



There was a time when I wouldn't have even considered reading a military fiction book, even military science fiction. But the descriptions I had seen for Sean Danker's Admiral looked really appealing to me so I thought I'd give it a read. I'm glad I did.

A ship in deep space has for sleepers (individuals in a cryogenic stasis) aboard.  They are members of the Evagardian Imperial Service. The ship loses power and brings the individuals out of their sleep.  They all seem a bit groggy and unfamiliar with one another.  The last to wake is in a sleeper pod bearing an admiral's insignia. And so the individual takes command over the other three (an ensign, a private, and a lieutenant).  But is he really an admiral?

They find themselves stranded on a planet, their supplies running out, no way to send a distress call, and their limited sensors indicate they may not be alone.  Can someone who may or may not really be an admiral command this small team and keep everyone safe until help arrives?  Will the three others support and follow the one they think is possibly an admiral? Why did their ship suddenly lose control? Where are they and is anyone else near?

Sean Danker has written a powerful science fiction mystery with a great deal of suspense.  There are some shades of Alien here, but this story is much more about the four protagonists. Who are they? Who are they to one another? Who are they to those who sent them out on the ship?

The action is intense and because we get to spend some time with each of the four protagonists we get to experience their concerns and fears, which compounds our own. I felt as though we never really know what is happening, but that puts the reader in the same position as the characters. This helps us empathize with them, creating an intense experience.

This book was Danker's debut, and he really hit a homerun.  There are now six books in the Admiral series as I write this and I'm definitely going to go look for the next one right away.

Looking for a good book? Admiral, by Sean Dankers, is a solid, suspenseful, sci-fi mystery, well worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Admiral

author: Sean Danker

series: Evagardian #1

publisher: Ace Books

ISBN: 0451475798

hardcover, 309 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more