Sometimes spaceships disappear with everyone on board – the Lost Ships. But sometimes they come back, strangely altered, derelict, and rumoured to be full of horrors.Opal is on a mission. She’s been seeking something her whole life. Something she is willing to die for. And she thinks it might be on a Lost Ship.Opal has stolen Clarissa, an experimental AI-controlled spaceship, from the military. … AI-controlled spaceship, from the military. Together they have tracked down a Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised space.
The Lost Ship is falling into the gravity well of a neutron star, and will soon be truly lost … forever. Legends say the ships harbour death, but there’s no time for indecision.
Opal gears up to board it. She’s just one woman, entering an alien and lethal environment. But perhaps with the aid of Clarissa’s intelligence – and an armoured spacesuit – Opal may stand a chance.
“Think Event Horizon with a bit of ‘Mother’ from the Alien movies and that was the overall feel when I first started this book. […] Opal is a fantastic character, complex, a history we learn a bit more about as we read on, she is heroic, loyal, strong and long long overdue in fiction. I loved the AI too and the relationship that formed between the two, the ballsy choices and bravery through frightening encounters and life and death situations.”
—So Many Books, So Little Time
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Full disclosure, I know the author. But I also loved the book. If you love cerebral sci-fi including AI’s combined with the action of James Cameron’s “Aliens” and the terror of “Event Horizon” Lost Solace is most definitely for you.
I really like Sci-fi reads and Lost Solace was a great deal of fun, well paced, fast action, great characters and a solid story line. I found myself enjoying it as much as I did “Event Horizon” (movie), for how well the story was told, the pace and the characters (which in sci-fi I sadly find are all too often secondary to an “alien/monster/blood”).
A solid recommendation, well worth a read for sci-fi and/or action fans …
I ran across Lost Solace on sale and decided to take a chance on the book, since I hadn’t had any experience with the author in the past. I’m so glad I did because this story is just the kind of high energy, action-filled adventure that I love. Being lead by a strong female main character was definitely a plus. The protagonist is Opal, an ex-military grunt who has stolen an experimental spaceship and is now on the run from the military. The ship is controlled by an advanced AI that she has renamed Clarissa – who is a fantastic character in her own right. With Clarissa aiding her, Opal dons an armored spacesuit and boards a Lost Ship, hoping to find what she’s been seeking for so long. The ship contains lots of creepy, dangerous entities, and then the military comes along and drops off some marines which adds to the danger, but Opal manages to use every weapon at her disposal to stay one step ahead of all of them. I loved how Opal and Clarissa work together, with Opal attempting to find ways to limit the body count and Clarissa doing whatever it takes to protect Opal. I liked the humor, a lot of of it unintentional on the part of Clarissa as she takes comments literally. The story ended on a high note but left me wanting more of these amazing characters. As soon as I was finished I went looking for the next book and now I’m off to read Chasing Solace. I’ve got to find out what happens to Opal and her AI friend next.
To me this was a unique departure from the usual SciFi fiction, but retained enough of the elements to be intriguing. I thought enough of it to purchase the sequel.
Liked it. Great story!
I don’t often read Sci-fi, but as I’m a sucker for Drinkwater’s horror pieces, I felt comfortable picking up this book, and, well, the cover pulled me in. Though Opal, the protagonist, has her flaws, she is one compelling character (and she knows how to kick butt). The story had an intimate feel to me as there are limited characters. I loved the AI, Clarissa, and the body armor suit she created for Opal was awesome – great imagination on Drinkwater’s part. I read this book in about a day. It’s fast paced with a touch of horror and just the right amount of description such that I could visual most things but didn’t feel slowed down by any of it. My favorite part of the story, which actually made me laugh, was Clarissa asking Opal if she ‘should intervene if she sees an opportunity’ and Opal’s response upon said intervention. Good stuff there. The end of the book sets up a continuation to the story – I’m there in a heartbeat.