Series: Chilling Effect #1
Published by HarperCollins on September 17, 2019
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera
Pages: 448
Format: eBook
Source: ARC
“Jam-packed with weird aliens, mysterious artifacts, and lovable characters... a tremendous good time and an impressive debut.” -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)
A hilarious, offbeat debut space opera that skewers everything from pop culture to video games and features an irresistible foul-mouthed captain and her motley crew, strange life forms, exciting twists, and a galaxy full of fun and adventure.
Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister Mari is kidnapped by The Fridge, a shadowy syndicate that holds people hostage in cryostasis, Eva must undergo a series of unpleasant, dangerous missions to pay the ransom.
But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship’s hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead after she rejects his advances, and her sweet engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.
To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she’s built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down.
As soon as I saw Chilling Effect advertised as a mix of Firefly and Mass Effect, I knew I had to send a review request (Thank you, Harper Voyager!). Psychic cats, pompous alien emperors, and a mysterious villainous organization wreaking havoc sounds right up my alley. I’m a huge Mass Effect fan so while reading I was reminded of my favorite parts of the game. Captain Eva could definitely have been friends with my fem-Shep. Irreverant, kick-ass, and a bit of an anger problem, Eva was so much fun to read about. I didn’t completely jive with her but I was happy to watch her adventures and interact with her crew. I loved the sketches that were the side characters and I sincerely hope they get their chance to shine as the series continues. Chilling Effect had a great balance of humor, action, and drama. The villainous organization, the “Fridge”, always cracked me up.
The characters were all older than I am (by a small amount anyway) but I found them very relatable. I found myself wishing for more world-building. Science Fiction and Fantasy can be tough as usually it takes a significant amount of world building to truly immerse myself as a reader. I also frequently lost track of Varak’s various emotional scents. I found myself wishing I had a physical copy so I could flip back to remind myself. As it was, the romance was a bit lackluster for me and the added difficulty made it tough to stay immersed in the story. The team has already been together for a significant amount of time so we miss the budding relationship, and it felt like all we were waiting for was the big reveal which is a bummer. Granted this isn’t a romance, but a space opera, so maybe my expectations are skewed a bit.
Non-romance, I wish we had a bit more world building. I had trouble keeping up with the various races, hierarchies and what have you. I’m sure a bit will change between my version and published and I can only hope that different alien races are either capitalized or italicized to help me differentiate. Also, I need more psychic cat moments! The scenes that are there were incredibly funny and I grew awfully fond of those tiny crew members.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this romp and it is an admirable effort for a debut novel. With a bit more world building and canon I could see myself loving a TV or video game adaptation. I will definitely be looking for the next book in the series!
