I just finished reading Lindsay Buroker’s Star Nomad, the first in her Fallen Empire series of novels. Star Nomad is a science fiction book in the space opera genre with a fast-paced plot and likable characters. The setup reminds me of the Firefly and Star Wars universes. It made reading enjoyable.
The main character of the alliance, captain Alisa Marchenko survives a space crash. Despite this, she is stranded on a lonely planet with no money or resources to return to where her daughter is in a distant world.
Regardless of winning the war against a tyrannical galactic empire, the Alliance has failed to lead things after victory, and the galaxy is in chaos. Instead, criminal factions begin to take control of the Empire’s legacy.
The story begins when Alisa has recovered from her injuries and is about to return to her daughter. To do this, she needs a spaceship and a crew. Alisa gears up with the “Star Nomad”, an old space freighter that once belonged to her mother and was Alisa’s home as a child
During the trip, Alisa finds herself with a strange crew who joins the adventure. The crew consists of humans and cyborgs belonging to different Empire or Alliance allegiances.
The Author succeeded in forming the character of Alisa, a capable space pilot and a nuanced, compassionate person. I admired Alisa’s optimism versus Mica’s pessimism and really enjoyed the dialogue between the two. The author also managed to portray the changing relationship of the crew as they struggled to overcome their differences and work together to survive their perilous journey.
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