Forbidden Sanctuary

Star Lawyers, Book 2

By: Tom Shepherd

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

What terrible secrets will Tyler Matthews and his star lawyers discover within the forbidden sanctuary on the mysterious, sacred planet Adao-2?

Can the legal team from Matthews Interstellar Industries learn the truth in time to save M-double-I’s century-long quest to open Jump Gate Omega, bridge the 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy, and prevent economic ruin and war in the Milky Way?

While Tyler, J.B., Rosalie, and Lucy (her shapeshifter cat) battle pirates and religious fanatics, Suzie and her holographic A.I. colleagues - former ladies of the night, re-purposed as legal assistants and starship crew - face an even deadlier foe. This unknown enemy threatens to delete all the starship Patrick Henry’s programs and terminate their existence forever.

To make matters worse, Cousin Esteban languishes in prison on Suryadivan Prime, where the former Catholic monk faces a death sentence for crimes he did not commit.

Rollicking sci-fi fun, packed with humor, romance, and deep space adventure, punctuated with courtroom battles on alien worlds. Fans have dubbed the Star Lawyers series “Star Trek meets Law & Order.”

©2018 Tom Shepherd (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Awesome book for future lawyers

As a prospective law student studying for the LSAT, i was craving entertainment that would keep me excited about my future without being as mind-numbing as TV Lawyer Dramas. This series has dome just that.

The children are at it again!

Tyler and J. B. have been sent to claim and protect space gate Omega. There is plenty of action and space battles. They get caught in a conspiracy to claim the gate and take it away from them. Tyler and J. B. establish Star Lawyers and attack with litigation. They stand to lose their cousin Enrique and the gate as well. There is plenty of humor written within the book! The narrator performs the story with aplomb!

Great listen!

My main reason for listening to this series was due to Scott Aiello’s voice. Amazing performance. Once book 1 was finished I was hooked!! I can’t get enough!

Fun read

Fun, funny and fast-paced. Characters are week drawn and complex. Love the combination of space tech and spirituality. Narrator did a great job with all the accents and made the characters come alive. Looking forward to the next installment.

This is an Outstanding Sequel and Series!!

Forbidden Sanctuary, although actually being the second in the series, is more like Part 2 to Jump Gate Omega, than an actual Sequel, in that the Noah Brothers have still to save the Jump Gate Legacy Project that their Grandfather started all those years ago. Tyler Noah Matthews III (although he goes by Noah) sent his boys, Tyler Noah Matthews IV, and J.B. Matthews, along with their Sister, Rosalie Matthews to the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate to go and project the Jump Gate, after the religious arm of the Suryadivan’s, the Supreme Council of Pontiffs, nullified the contract that the Matthews Company had with the Suryadivan’s, and made it so that no one from Matthews Corporate could go near the gate.
It was up to the Team to save the day, and on the way to the Protectorate, they had an adventurous time, getting waylaid by Pirates, Terrorists and various Aliens. However, Tyler and J.B. also found a ship that had previously been used as a flying brothel, and repurposed it, into Star Lawyers Corp., a legal firm that has mobile legal offices, run by the ‘Holographic’ staff that had been reprogrammed from the programs that had been on the ship previously. This ship, now called the Patrick Henry, has a crew of several living staff, The Noah Brothers, and Rosalie, Mr Blue, a Quirt-Thymean, Paco Leon, the ships Chief Mechanic, and Inspector Demarcus Platte, Head of Security, along with Yumiko Matsuda, an Investigator for the firm. The rest are Holographic staff made up from the members of the previous incarnation of the crew, as their programs were A.I., but they have been reprogrammed to be Legal Aides, Assistants etc, aboard the ship, which has emitters all over, allowing them to move freely around the ship with clients.
Although Tyler managed to get a temporary injunction against the Suryadivan Court to allow the Jump Gate to continue, this won’t last. Tyler and Rosalie were almost killed by a bomb as a result.
This is an intense story, and one in which at first look, you might think, Seriously?? Lawyers in Space?? No thanks… But it is not what you think, and it is just too good to pass up. For starters, there is more action in these books than most of the Mil Sci-Fi books I have read, the Elite Assassin known as ‘Naca Jen’ or ‘Night Storm’ cuts through more people than plastic packing at Christmas, but only if they are bad people.
The court action is actually very well done, with that short and sweet type of Lawyer style we have gotten used to on most of the TV shows, were our Intrepid Lawyers either decimate the opposition, or find themselves in a lot of trouble and needing that magic card to help them out of the hole. Either way, it makes for gripping and entertaining reading, and Shepherd has not only done his homework on legalese, to make it sound good, but he has added this additional layer of intrigue to the entire concept in that we have ‘Alien’ legal systems, making it that much more interesting as there are all these cultural differences on a galactic scale that the team has to be aware of.
In this second part, we get to see so much of this as the team is fighting for multiple different things, not just the Jump Gate. The Matthew Brothers are not only fighting against the Gate injunction, which is nigh on impossible as it is a religious order, but they also have to contend with a Murder charge against a member of their Family, Estaban, who is arrested for the murder of one of the Suryadivans.
On top of this, their other Cousin, Julieta, is still missing, and has been for months now, and no one knows where she is or has gone?
On the Galactic front, Matthews Corp are facing some difficult times as investors and other companies are getting funny as they are not sure if their project is going to get off the ground, and all the money they have spent is going to be wasted, and the Gate will be non-operational.
This is a brilliant story, it is so complex at some layers, with a multi-faceted story, that is incredibly intriguing, fascinating on so many layers, gripping and compelling on so many others. You find yourself totally captivated to the book, having to finish it, as you just HAVE to know what is going to happen next, it is such an intense and enthralling story.
The really exceptional aspect of this book (apart from the Character work), is the Galaxy (world) building, which is so intricate, so detailed, and in-depth, and comprehensive. This is such a clever and well-designed bit of Galaxy Building, there is just so much detail, with all the Characters, Ships, Planets & Locations, Technology, the Races (the aliens in this series are just so awesome), but Shepherd has captured all of it and made sure all of it links up, this is going to be so good in later books when you look back at this earlier detail, such as the names of the ex-escorts that once worked on the pleasure cruiser, that now work as respectable staff on the Patrick Henry (And there is some great discussion of the tech for this to – great research).
Of course the really outstanding factor is the Character work, Shepherd’s Characters are extraordinary, Tyler is almost a textbook case of a dozen different varieties of issues coming from his Father, but at the same time, he has a deep seated loyalty to his friends and whatever cause he decides to fight in, even if it will cost him everything, including his own life.
His relationship with the AI program aboard his ship is rather fascinating, and only goes to prove how far he will go to save something, or someone that he truly cares about. J.B. is another matter entirely, having a rather more sedate personality, but again, he is deeply loyal, and will do anything to help those he considers friends. The final sibling on the team Rosalie, appears to be helpless at times, weak almost, but she is also the most intelligent of the group, with a keen ability to understand and speak alien language, as well as some other hidden talents.
There are SO MANY Characters in this book, I could fill pages trying to review them all, from the ever hungry, but brilliant Mr Blue, the intense Inspector Platte, and the beautiful, but deadly and skilled Yumiko.
Then of course there is the exceptional collection of ladies that was once the escorts, and is now a range of other roles, and the person who looks after their equipment, and the rest of the ship, the Chief, all of these characters are just sensational, and remarkable in their own way.
Shepherd’s character work is both creative and clever, and at all times, utterly masterful in the realistic, gritty nature of each of the major and minor characters, and the quality of the detail and depth of the each of the characters.
This is another aspect of the ‘World’ building that is just astounding, and the sheer quantity of notes Shepherd must have for this series could fill a library.
Overall, as a sequel, this is a fantastic follow-up to Jump Gate Alpha, and a brilliant Part 2 to the series, as well as a sensational setup for the rest of what is going to be not only an intriguing series, but one that is just going to be so much fun. If you haven’t already started Star Lawyers – get onboard the Patrick Henry – it is one ride you don’t want to miss!!

loved it

I love sci fi and courtroom thrillers and this series gives me both. I want more!