Deus Ex Mechanic

The Cricket Chronicles, Book 1

By: Ryann Fletcher

Narrated by: Honey St. Dennis

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Alice is the best mechanic the corrupt Coalition regime has ever seen. When she’s kidnapped by an infamous vigilante space pirate named Violet, she has to make the hardest decision she’s ever made: escape back to the comfort of the Coalition, or risk everything to fight injustice?

When Violet decided to ransack Coalition vessels, she never though she’d also have to fight her feelings for Alice. Will giving into an affair with the treasonous mechanic cloud her judgment and jeopardize the safety of her crew?

As they fight side by side against ruthless rival pirate captain Leo and his crew, will they grow closer together, or will everything fall apart and leave them stranded in dark space?

©2020 Ryann Fletcher (P)2023 Ryann Fletcher

good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narration was great.

10/10!

(I received an advance copy of this audiobook.)

This series is exactly what it says on the tin — grungey space travel, powered by steam engines and sapphic romance.

If the premise grabs you, you’ll love it. The characters grew on me immediately, and the pace travels at a good clip. It’s giving… Star Trek Lower Decks, with the aesthetic of Firefly, except made for and by The Gays(tm). And it reads really easy, I ended up devouring the entire thing in a day.

I remember hearing Fletcher’s Cricket Chronicles are coming to their conclusion soon, so I’m excited for further audiobook adaptations of the rest of the series!

Enjoyable listen

I found this to be a great listen and interesting plot and a little bit of everything. The characters are very likeable too. Nicely paced too and moves through the plot at a pace that keeps you along on the journey. All round enjoyable listen.

Promising premise …

… but I don’t think I was the target audience for this one. It felt a touch too unbelievable, even within the realm of sci-fi. The love story between Alice and Violet came across to me as forced and entirely out there, whereas the alluding to other characters’ relationships was a bit ‘in your face’. I think what bothered me most was not having any indication of what Alice looked like beyond “long silver braids” and tall, until about 3/4 of the way through the book. It was also mentioned multiple times that she’d been part of the Coalition for decades but was unaware of what was happening outside the boiler room on the ship. Yet, she spoke as though she was just an ignorant young adult, not an intelligent mechanic with years under her belt.
As for the narration, I have yet to find a female narrator I could tolerate and there were times I tuned out completely because all the characters sounded the same.
I wanted to walk away but have this thing about finishing what I started. Like I said, the premise was so promising… it just fell flat right out of the gate for me.
I received an audio copy from the author but a review was not required.

Very enjoyable

Not my usual genre but I was keen to give it a go. It took a while for me to get used to the narrator's strong US accent but she grew on me the more I listened.

Memorable and interesting characters make this a very compelling listen. I'd like more world building but as there's a whole series of these books I guess I'll have to wait for the next one to be released as an audiobook.

Engineered to Perfection

I bought the physical book after seeing someone share a video about it on Instagram, I was then fortunate enough to receive a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for a review. Having enjoyed the book more than anything else in years I was eager to listen to the audiobookand can honestly say it was a pleasure to listen to. Honet St. Dennis did a fantastic job of the narration. I am on my second listen through now as I eagerly await the release of the final book in the series.

This review will be spoiler free and general to the series as a whole so you should be safe to read it if like me, you like to go into a story relatively ignorant.

THE SETTING (so don’t read this bit if you want a complete surprise): Queer space pirates in a galaxy ruled by a cruel authoritarian government. People are tagged and traced, but rebellion is in the air. Steampunk aesthetics are artfully woven in which is a huge bonus to an already rich and interesting narrative.

I was completely hooked from the first word. Any book that starts that way deserves respect.

The Author manages to create in-depth characters, provides good foreshadowing, with wholesome amount of representation for queer people as well as people of varying ages, body types and backgrounds. The universe feels like a real melting pot of different people, ideals, and goals which makes it all feel that much more relatable.

The overall story is satisfying and enjoyable.

The spice is strong and well written.

There is (over the series in varying amounts) mystery, suspense, excitement, sex, romance, humour, steampunk and great food.

I have read most of the series at this point and can honestly say it just gets better and better.

Ryann’s writing style is such that the books are a pleasure to read and this only compliments the overall world building and characters.

Two warnings:

One, you won’t want to do anything but read. You will forsake all to get another moment into the story. I found myself still up at three in the morning when I had to get up for work two hours later.

My second warning, you’ll be hungry. I don’t mean just in a spicy way, like actually hungry. The descriptions of food will leave your mouth watering and you’ll be googling the food to try and recreate it.

So get these books ordered, get a pot of tea (or whatever beverage of choice you desire) and get ready for a fantastic read or listen.

Sweet, fast-paced, and engrossing

(I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review)

This was such an enjoyable story, pulling you into the company of the Cricket crew and the experiences Alice has with them. It’s a lovely take on a chosen family, and the central love story is sweet and full of tension. I’m an occasional sci-fi reader slightly worn out by the genre, but here, the integration of the story’s technologies with the narrative was really smoothly done in a way that was credible, consistent, and never cumbersome.

The narrator is a great fit equally for the action scenes and the tender moments.