Astray

The Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist, Book 1

By: Jenny Schwartz

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Nora Devi is a xeno-archaeologist with a complicated past.

She has buried more secrets than she’s dug up. Widowed in the recently ended twelve year war between Capitoline and Palantine, she now makes a living as an independent tagger in border space.

Captain Liam Kimani could be credited with ending the latest royal war. Instead, he’s blamed for it. Dirty commoners aren’t meant to lay their hands on royalty.

He has no regrets.

When Liam and his crew of the battlecruiser RC Genghis Khan are exiled to Capitoline’s border they discover that life in unexplored space can be more dangerous than war, and that their best chance of survival lies with a mysterious, elusive tagger.

The only problem is that Nora’s secrets might destroy the precarious stability of the entire Human Sector.

Astray is a fast-paced, enthralling space opera of lost societies, ancient aliens, rugged warriors and semi-legal pirates.

©2021 Jenny Schwartz (P)2022 Podium Audio

Disappointingly YA

Lots of editing issues in an okay YA book.

Main character isn’t a xenoarcheologist by vocation or training, though she has good experience from a previous job. She’s a tinkerer and mid-level engineer by schooling, vocation and preference. That’s pretty cool by itself. Why add the xenoarcheology?

The author reiterates information frequently and never refers to ships by their nicknames. People never say, “I’ll meet you back at the CC Genghis Khan.” They’ll “Meet at the Khan in an hour.”

I enjoyed the adventures and characters; their personalities and motivations are consistent throughout. My impulse is to immediately get the sequel — it’s a great cliffhanger — but I won’t care tomorrow. It’s not enough to outweigh the flaws.

I suspect I’m mostly dissatisfied because this is yet another YA story without a YA tag. C’mon, Audible. I don’t want to spend money and credits on YA when I’m looking for something more.

Excellent!

Good story. Well written, very nicely plotted. Good narration by Ms. Zeller. Nice cliffhanger at the end - setup for book 2. Recommended!

Many directions

A very good story with lots of different components to it! It includes a possible slow burn romance, but it includes action adventure mystery, in other words, all the components I like in a good sci-fi story. I never knew what direction the main female character will be taken to, but well worth the ride. it has different POV’s, which sometimes can distract from the story, but in this case, adds to it. It ends in a cliffhanger, so I can’t wait for the second book. I’ll also be looking into other books by this author.

Very good series

It may not be hard core Sci Fi, but it has aliens, AI's, and star travel. It's also a very good story that grabs your interest and doesn't let go...

Vt. Fan

Fantastic! Excellent! I have read this whole series and enjoyed it but the audiobook version was even better. I hope the whole series and her space sheriff series goes on audiobook format also. Highly recommend.

A nice read

I liked this book. It's not an absolute favorite, but it is a nice ride with more twists and turns than I expected. worth a listen and enjoyable.

Bravo!

Loved this book. Fast paced, not a dull moment, and wonderful character build up! And as always Emily Woo Zeller is amazing!

it took a while

It took me a while to get into this book, but now I'm intrigued. On to the second volume.

Great Story & Storytelling!

I love Jenny Schwartz’s writing and Emily Woo Zeller’s storytelling. So, this was a double win for me. I find this a unique Sci-Fi story with a strong smart lead and adorable secondary characters. I rarely read and listen to a book but this series is one of those series I absolutely will do both. If you are decided give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

A good story

A good story that describes a new universe with little legacy from other sci-fi. The character work and the mysteries in the start takes up a few chapters before the action gets rolling. Very clever story.

Great story

I really liked the characters and how the story developed. A bit slow at times.
Will definitely listen to the next book.