Ready for some escapist fun with women at the helm? These books feature strong women who take names after the prerequisite drubbing of enemies. There's also a lot of good world building and complicated characters, so hold onto your helmet and prepare to blast off.
K.B. Wagers is back with her second installment of the Indranan War series, After the Crown. Queen Hailimi has executed the traitors who tried to kill her in the first book and looks to institute some social reforms. Unfortunately, the seditious element was not entirely wiped out, and now Hail is on the run with a few of her followers. Turns out, the lessons and ethos from Hail's past as a gunrunner may be useful after all.
Revered genre writer Alistair Reynolds does his spin of the pirate tale in Revenger. Arafura and Adrana are sisters whose psychic abilities allow them to leave their impecunious circumstances and sign on to a ship seeking treasure across the galaxy. This happy state of affairs does not last long, as Adrana is kidnapped. Arafura thinks she will do anything to get her sister back and take revenge, but the price may be more than she can pay.
Unbreakable is W.C. Bauer's first foray into science fiction. Lt. Promise Paen is a space marine from the backwater planet of Montana. Situated as it is near the border of two empires, Montana is vulnerable to pirates, and Paen is sent to head a contingent to clean up the problem. Solid military science fiction follows as things rapidly get out of control and Paen tries to avoid a full-out galactic war.
Iain Banks' Against A Dark Background tells the story of retired antiquities thief Lady Sharrow. Sharrow is the scion of an aristocratic family and is required to return the Lady Gun, an extremely powerful weapon stolen by one of her ancestors, to a group of religious fanatics or face ritualistic murder. Lady Sharrow gathers her crew of neurally bonded mercenaries to her and searches deep space for both the gun and the book of Universal Principles, which might tell her where the Lady Gun is located.
Got more tales of female interstellar derring-do? Tell us about it in the comments.
Add a comment to: Tough Broads In Space Part II