The Sculpted Ship

Silver Queen Series, Book 1

By: K. M. O'Brien

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Starship engineer Anailu Xindar dreamed of owning her own ship, but she didn't find the courage to actually go for it until she was forced out of her safe, comfortable job. She goes shopping for a cheap, practical freighter, but she ends up buying a rare, beautiful, but crippled luxury ship. Getting it into space will take more than her technical skills. She'll have to go way outside her comfort zone to brave the dangers of safaris, formal dinners, a rude professor, and, worst of all, a fashion designer. She may even have to make some friends...and enemies.

The Sculpted Ship is set on the outskirts of an interstellar empire where FTL travel is commonplace but intelligent robots are rare and expensive. Though the Iris Empire has stood for 1,000 years, a talented individual can find plenty of opportunity. But the nobility of this empire guards its privileges jealously.

©2017 Kevin M. O'Brien (P)2017 Tantor

Very Giod story

I really enjoyed this book. It had everything in it. Roch people, both bad and good. espionage with subplots, however, the main plot u had about either needs to be developed more.


Krop Circle LLC.

Best Science Fiction Novel I have enjoyed in years

One of the best Science Fiction Novels by a new first-time author, that I have enjoyed in years. This Is a tough one to review as the reading by Tanya Eby adds so much to this essentially gentle adventure story that I decided to wait a year and read the normal kindle version to be sure the book could stand on its own two feet without the redoubtable Ms. Eby Interpreting it with her superb talents. It Can. The ship itself earned its place as the title character for me, but I am an engineer so that might color that opinion. The Protagonist is inherently likable which is a major plus in a story like this with its refreshing lack of death and violence. That is a courageous decision for a first-time author in a series starting book, and the author should be applauded for it. If you are looking for a truly refreshing Science fiction listen this should be right at the top of your next listen pile.

A great start to an excellent series, waiting anxiously for the next book. I keep checking weekly.

Interesting read

Pros:
- Solid, likeable characters.
- Realistic sci-fi premise.
- Longer read.
- Has it's moments, especially toward the beginning and end.
And my favorite part of the book - The main character fails at what they're trying to do almost as much as they succeed. (They still get a lot of things handed to them on a silver ship though...)
- No romance. (This is a personal preference.)

Cons:
- Author spends much more time then they should explaining mundane things, and setting up characters and scenarios. Although they're well thought out and realistic, easily half the book is just this... For what it's worth, they kind of pan out overall.

Space Cozy

There's probably already a catchier phrase for space cozy, but you get the idea. There's a plot here and some action-y stuff, but a lot of the book follows the protagonist getting their cargo business up and running--and it's great. It's not fast-paced, and it does feel like a novel written early in a career, but it's enjoyable and shows promise and there's enough intrigue in the story to keep me going for this book and tee up plot lines for the next. Head-and-shoulders above a lot of the new-author stuff I read. I hope O'Brien finishes up that second book, fingers crossed.

Dang. Now I want more!

This is a wonderfully twisting story about how your dream can take you where you didn't expect to go.
After turning down a new contract because of overly restrictive clauses, our heroine leaves her ship to strike out on her own. After getting her pilot certification, she goes in search of a ship. But what she stumbles upon is a ship that is more a work of art than just a simple cargo spaceship. However, despite being not quite spaceworthy, she has secrets. And thus starts the adventure.

Absolutely cannot wait for next book!!!

The Sculpted Ship begins the adventures of a very relatable female character with realistic supporting characters in a wonderful blend of sci-fi imagery. I cannot wait to see what the amazing ship is fully capable of and what these now endearing characters happen into. I cannot express how happy I am to have a well written female hero join the ranks of a male dominated genre. Well done on the voice talent too!!

I Love this story!

I Wish there was a series. Please give us more. Read it you will love it.

Very good science fiction story. Well done.

This was in my To Be Read listening queue for a while. Had a false start a while back, and switched to other books. Wish I had stayed with this one, it's really great story telling and narration. I noticed this book came out 5 or more years ago and checked social media to see if there is more. The past few years the author was posting that they were almost done with book 2. But, it's 2022 and there is no book 2 in the real world. Oh well. Too bad.

It was entirely enjoyable

I am happy that I found this one. It was a enjoyable book and I hope that the author gets around to making a sequel.