It is summer and that means I have time to read! Welcome to my book review. Today we will look at Fractured Stars by Lindsay Buroker. Note: there may be spoilers, but they are pretty mild I think.

Fractured Stars follows McCall Richter and Arjun “Dash” Deshmukh. McCall finds things, criminals, missing shipments, that sort of thing. She is not really a bounty hunter, as she will call the law enforcement to collect any of the bad guys she does find. But she is successful, owns her own ship and has two big secrets. First, she helped to liberate an android – it is not stealing if the android didn’t want to stay with its previous owner. Second, she is autistic – high functioning, but definitely struggles with people. There is surgery in this futuristic world that would correct McCall’s autism, but she doesn’t want to have it done. Especially after living her whole life this way. 

Dash is a weak Starseer, a former bounty hunter and currently a spy for the Alliance. Working as a deputy with a cyborg sheriff, Dash recognizes McCall from his earlier life as a bounty hunter. He knows she is good at her work and that she has scooped a bounty from him on more than one occasion. He is also enough of a Starseer to realize that McCall is hiding secrets. 

Their adventure is set before the events of Lindsay Buroker’s Fallen Empire series. Set in a future of teraformed planets with high tech cyborgs and magic starseers, this is a fun space opera adventure. The empire has not fallen, but it is not loved either. And the Alliance is growing. While McCall and Dash have different goals, they do work together to escape a prison, recover a ship and hide their secrets for the people around them – as best they can.

Lindsay Buroker has a great world set in space. It is rich, complex and full of stories. This book is both very different from and very similar to her Fallen Empire series. They are both set in the same world and both feature strong female characters owning their own ships. These are people who want to live between the stars, not bound to one single planet. Romance does happen. Does that mean the characters are any less strong? No, I really don’t think it does. 

Further strength comes in different ways. Yes, both Alisa (from Fallen Empire) and McCall are problem solvers. But where Alisa will dive head first into a fight or sweet-talking another, McCall will take a different approach. For McCall people are more of a problem.

One of the setting aspects I really like is the conflict between the Empire and Alliance. Buroker does a really good job discussing the benefits and drawbacks of both systems of governance over her series. I really like that the Empire, while generally described as the bad guys also has its strong, well-reasoned supporters. 

Fractured stars is a romance adventure – a space opera. It is well written with thoughtful and engaging characters. It is a great book. And I am deeply torn. I love that it is currently a stand-alone. However, I also really want to read more about McCall and Dash. 

5 stars out of 5 – it was a really good read.

Happy Canada Day!