Astray

The Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist, Book 1

By: Jenny Schwartz

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

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

Good

Hope the series is as good as book is intend to continue hope I can count. to fifteen wordsl

Good plot. Decent narrator.

Not the best sci-fi but engaging enough to make me want to find the sequels on a library based platform. The only really annoying bit was the fake curse words that made the story feel childish at times. It made it hard to believe in the supposedly ‘tough as nails’ protagonist.

So Slow

I'm 4 chapters in and cannot follow at all. This is one of my absolute favorite genres and I just can't like this story. Too boring.

Complicated but fun read

I’m going to be listening to this whole series! Its complex theme and characters had me enjoying every minute. Plus chucking at many of the scenarios.

fantasy sci fi

a little slow and uneven. I doubt I'll read the rest of the books.

Awesome SciFi!

The storyline was great! Nora’s story had me so invested and rooting for her, and her development over the book is amazing to watch (or listen!).

The narrator did an amazing job, which is super important for me in choosing which books to listen to. I just can’t believe I have to wait another month for a credit to get the next book!

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.

it took a while

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

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.

Nice start, but is that a book?

Didn’t feel like a whole book and I don’t care where it goes from where it left off. Hate that I wasted a credit on it as well as my time.