A bureaucrat and an interstellar trader must overcome treachery and their broken past to save the last inhabitants of a dying planet. Frontier planet Polaris-Gamma is dying, afflicted by a suspiciously-timed blight that destroys all crops. Worse, the whole system is now under military quarantine by the Central Galactic Concordance to prevent the catastrophic blight from spreading. The settlers … spreading. The settlers must escape—or perish.
Caught behind the blockade, independent trader Gavril Danilovich finds his interstellar trading ship commandeered in the desperate plan to escape. He tells himself that’s the only reason he stays, and not because he’s worried about the woman he walked out on two years ago—who still lives on Pol-G.
Government supply depot manager Anitra Helden races to gather the last of Pol-G’s assets. Her plan to launch a mothballed freighter off Pol-G may be crazy—but it can work, if she can talk Gavril into helping. Their precious cargo? Four thousand stranded colonists.
Can Anitra and Gavril, and their ragtag crew get past the deadly military blockade?
It’s a desperate bid for freedom in deadly deep space—get your copy of Last Ship Off Polaris-G today!
Series note: The events in Last Ship Off Polaris-G take place several years before Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance, Book 1). Think of it as an introduction to the series, and a foreshadowing of things—and people—to come.
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The Central Galactic Concordance series:
• Overload Flux (Book 1)
• Minder Rising (Book 2)
• Zero Flux (Novella 2.5)
• Pico’s Crush (Book 3)
• Jumper’s Hope (Book 4)
more
Slow build tension and slow burn in a suspenseful sci-fi romance in this earliest adventure of the Central Galactic Concordance series. I loved the short novella, Pet Trade, that I read as part of the Pets in Space series and wanted to keep going with the rest of the books in the series
Last Ship Off Polaris-G jumps in with planetary government official, Anitra Hedren, enlisting the help of one-time vacation fling, Gavril Danilovich, to help her do what she can to further a secret evacuation of the colonists off the dying planet right under the unsanctioned Central Galactic Concordance’s unsanctioned blockade. They tentatively reach out to each other teaming both feelings and their psychic ‘minder’ gifts against a traitor in their midst, the unstable atmosphere of the fearing people, and few resources. An evac plan is in place if only they can keep it from the spies who would see all the people destroyed. Meanwhile, a second chance is brewing for the pair if they can make it out alive.
As I said, I loved the earlier novella so I was glad to finally pick up this prequel novella to the series and get right back into the world. Last Ship dropped me right into the story with not a lot of explanation at first about the current situation, but as I read on slowly the details of the conflict, the Minder gifts the Central Galactic Concordance and the CPS group within the regular military. I was somewhat confused, but then stuff started making sense.
And, just like with the overall storyline, the two main characters had a history and it came out slowly. I like Anitra and Gavril, both. She’s strong and dedicated to help others. Gavril tends to stick to himself at first, but then being around Anitra gets him more open to training his empath gift so he can shield other’s emotions and be around people more. He’s stronger at that, but she has some empathy and a secret past that allow her to teach him and for them to work together with their minder gifts.
Things built slowly and then there was a hold your breath moment or two near the end. Most of the novella was from Anitra or Gavril’s point of view, but there was also a secondary storyline going on aboard one of the military ships in the blockade. I liked the hints of a greater conspiracy going on that sets the tone for the rest of the series.
All in all, this was a great intro and I can’t wait to pick up the next book in the series and dive back into conspiracies, action, psychic gifts, and love in the space of the future.
Every time I read a Carol Van Natta book I question myself as to why I leave so long between them. Her writing never fails to captivate nor to entertain me. I quickly find myself drawn into the story, rooting for the main characters and caught up by the exciting plot. The world building was good, with important information woven cleverly into the tale, rather than the reader being subjected to information dumps. Gavril and Anitra were two likeable characters who were nicely rounded, their personalities were very clearly defined, as well as being consistent, helping to build a layered and interesting story, without it being overly complicated.
The focus in these books is definitely more on the space opera aspects, with the romance element a very minor part of the plot. Whilst I loved all the sci-fi feels this gave me, I would have liked to see more on page interactions between Gavril and Anitra, or at least to have experienced their emotions a little more. This is a second chance romance and it felt as though all the falling in love had taken place off-page, two years prior.
Overall this book was very much a winner for me and, whilst I didn’t read it in one sitting, I did read it in one day. I do have the next book in the series, so I will be jumping straight into that one next.
Another great read in this series!
I love this series and the world that carol Van Natta created and after reading all the full length books and most of the novella’s I realized I still hadn’t gotten around to this one, which is technically the prequel. It really can easily be read anywhere in the series as it doesn’t have any strong ties with any other plot lines or characters, although it is set in the same universe and deals with the same themes. Namely the corrupt and dangerous CPS and minders who are just trying to survive.
I really liked Last Ship Off Polaris-G, even tough it’s shorter than the full length reads, the length feels right for the story it tells. The pacing is well done and I got quickly invested in these characters and their attempt to get off the planet. I also liked the plot, the planet Polaris-G is in a bit of a pickle. There is a blight and now there’s a blockade and people just want to get off the planet and there is this plan to do a massive exodus from the planet with everyone who wants to leave. The main characters are right in the middle of it all. And there are also some chapters from a captain aboard one of the CPS blockade ships who will have a role in what’s going down.
Gavril and Anita were easy to like and their chemistry was clear from the start. It’s a bit of a second chance romance, they walked away from each other years ago when their paths took them in different directions. But now they’re both stuck on this planet and Anitra asks him to help pilot and rebuild a ship she found and maybe they can also rebuild their romance. I enjoyed reading about these two. Anitra is hiding from the CPS and this frontier planet is the perfect place for it. Gavril is a trader who is now stuck behind the blockade. They both felt realistic and likable and they worked well together too.
I enjoyed seeing them work together and also meet the other side characters they interacted with. It also was great how the story had the same tone and feel than the rest of the series, but the story itself mostly stands alone. I was just happy to have had another story by Carol Van Natta to read. The plot kept my attention and got a bit suspenseful even later on. And there are some cute animals who make an appearance too.
I liked how this book had two empaths as main character as that’s a minder skill we haven’t seen as much about and I felt like this book definitely added to my understanding of this type of minder. And Anitra has another minder talent we hadn’t heard of yet in the rest of the series, which was interesting too.
I feel like each book in this series adds to the world and makes the whole universe come more alive. I enjoy how each book has likeable realistic characters that I enjoy reading about and fun stories with a bit of action and/ or suspense. I just love the series.
To summarize: I love this series and this was another great addition to the series. While listed as prequel it can be read anywhere in the series. I enjoyed the story of this planet with a blockade around it and the people stuck on the planet who wanted to leave. Gavril and Anitra were great main characters and I enjoyed reading about them. I also liked their second chance romance and seeing how well they worked together. Their feelings for each other were clear and came across really well even with most of their history being before the start of this story. I had a fun time with this story and now am all caught up with this series before book 5 releases. Can’t wait!