Theft of Fire
Ratings12
Average rating3.8
Prometheus Didn't Finish the Job
At the frozen edge of the solar system lies a hidden treasure which could spell their fortune or their destruction—but only if they survive each other first.
Marcus Warnoc has a little problem. His asteroid mining ship—his inheritance, his livelihood, and his home—has been hijacked by a pint-sized corporate heiress with enough blackmail material to sink him for good, a secret mission she won’t tell him about, and enough courage to get them both killed. She may have him dead to rights, but if he doesn’t turn the tables on this spoiled Martian snob, he’ll be dead, period. He’s not giving up without a fight.
He has a plan.
Miranda Foxgrove has the opportunity of a lifetime almost within her grasp if she can reach it. Her stolen spacecraft came with a stubborn, resourceful captain who refuses to cooperate—but he’s one of the few men alive who can snatch an unimaginable treasure from beneath the muzzles of countless railguns. And if this foulmouthed Belter thug doesn’t want to cooperate, she’ll find a way to force him. She’s come too far to give up now.
She has a plan.
They’re about to find out that a plan is a list of things that won’t happen.
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1 primary book#1 in Orbital Space
Orbital Space is a 1-book series first released in 2023 with contributions by Devon Eriksen.
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Theft of Fire has the best space combat I have ever read. It is thrilling and engaging. Its also unbearably horny. If you are an Elon Musk fan boy and you want to read a book about a space miner who really really needs to jerk off but can't for some reason then this book is for you.
This book was getting some hype on Twitter so I tried it. I don’t know if that was a great decision.
To start with the positive, after I pushed myself through the first 25% I was sufficiently hooked that I powered through the rest in one day. The character concepts are good, and the setting and realism are solid. The structure of the novel being focused tightly around three characters is enjoyable.
But the writing… It feels very “young adult”. A first-person narration where the narrator character is constantly expositing robs the setting of any mystery. And the way he keeps voicing his same thoughts to the reader, over and over, is tiresome. He’s constantly horny, mean, arrogant, self-loathing, oblivious… and just finding more and more ways to tell us this. This is what makes the first portion of the book so frustrating, as until the other two characters get introduced and given some depth and agency, you’re just struggling to care about his moping internal monologue. Which, to be clear, continues being ridiculous through the whole book! There’s just more going on to pull you along as a reader through that narrative sludge.
And yet, I became sufficiently attached to the characters and setting that I’ll probably pick up the forthcoming rest of the series. I just might kind of hate myself while doing so.
It's always weird when I review a book by a friend (or in this case the husband of a parasocial Twitter friend) ‘cause I know I'm supposed to give five stars. But I recently read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and gave that four stars, so understand my rating in that context: it was very good, I enjoyed it a lot, but it was “only” Heinlein-level quality.
This is a sort of Firefly-esque universe, with a good “classic sci-fi” feel. The author clearly knows actual science, but uses it merely to make the technical aspects accurate. It's engaging and keeps up a good fast-but-not-hectic pace throughout.
Highly enjoyable. Impatiently awaiting the eventual sequels.
