“Please do not be alarmed. This is for your own protection.”Working as the Chief Engineer onboard the ESAS Chariot out of Europe, Commander Camille Rey expected her position to be somewhat challenging on occasion.She did not expect to be fighting for her and her fellow crewmen’s lives immediately after take-off.Teaming up with the very proper, and very English Captain Noah Vaughan to combat a … proper, and very English Captain Noah Vaughan to combat a desperate saboteur onboard their vessel, Camille discovers that not all the malfunctions the Chariot is experiencing are human-related.
Secrets and desires are exposed amongst the stars and plasma fire, but can the captain and the chief overcome their cultural differences?
And can any of them hope to survive the treacherous voyage to New Earth unscathed?
When humanity reaches for the stars in a race for survival, only the most daring amongst them will succeed.
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4.5 Stars! Second in an all new Sci-Fi series by Nicola Claire, Apparent Brightness (AB) continues the last-ditch effort of humankind to survive a dying world only to be thrust into the unknown dangers of space.
Summary:
From the moment she’d learned of Earth’s imminent demise five years earlier, Commander Camille Rey knew that her rank of Chief Engineer on the ESAS vessel Chariot, would be a challenge. And dangerous. She’d trained endlessly with her fellow officers to ensure the last of mankind made it to New Earth, traveling across the universe. It just wasn’t expected that those challenges would start after barely leaving Earth’s atmosphere. Captain Noah Vaughan had no way of knowing an unscheduled solar flare would put the entire Sector One Fleet at risk. As it stands, the final evacuees of a dying Earth are dead in the water without their AI controlled lead vessel. Their only hope is to catch up with Sector two’s fleet in hopes of utilizing Pavo to calculate their jump points. When an excess of shipwide malfunctions are noticed, it quickly becomes apparent that a saboteur is aboard. Commander Rey must team up with her Captain to find the desperate soul willing to kill in order to keep them from reaching their destination. But an enemy isn’t all that’s hiding. Desires, long since buried under duty are revealed, as well as a treacherous plot throughout all the Sector fleets. Will Camille and Noah set their obvious cultural differences aside and take a chance on each other? Time is running out. Can their relationship flourish under the stress and fear? Especially when it’s realized that not all the ship’s mishaps are human related.
Except for a couple of movies and tv shows, Sci-Fi isn’t a genre I’m familiar with. I can just take it or leave it, really. Accelerating Universe and now Apparent Brightness make me want to take it all. I want all the Sci-Fi goodness that is The Sector Fleet. They are a family in more ways than one, and their arms are wide open for us to be included. This book took me a bit longer to fall into than book one, but it had everything to do with personally feeling a bit confused at what was going on in the beginning and feeling the need to read extra carefully so as not to miss anything or misinterpret. That changed quickly enough, and the story took me away. I liked Camille well enough. As we saw with Ana, she was a very strong heroine; intelligent, competent, loyal, brave and supportive. Captain Vaughan was a steadfast and competent leader. Despite setback after setback he was determined to complete his mission, even going so far as to reach out and ask plead for help. To me, this made him an even better leader. I loved the relationship between Noah and Camille. Their banter was funny and comfortable. They had known each other for five years, so it wasn’t insta-love. It was a romance built on the foundation of friendship, and that friendship just enhanced. While most of their relationship-building happened off-page, I never felt like I was missing anything. The steam factor was very much there, too. Vela, while like Pavo in a lot of ways, was also very much different. He’s still very childlike, but with an obsessive focus, to the exclusion of everything else. It made the Chariot’s situation even more precarious. The Saboteur was a complete mystery. Their identity wasn’t being revealed until Nicola wanted it to. Vela and the Saboteur together had my heart racing and my mind going in circles. It was digital and psychological warfare, and kept me glued to my eReader. Overall, this was a fantastic addition to the series. There’s a uniqueness in these stories in that the people we are reading about are survivors. They do not have Earth to go back to when there is a problem. Their only choice is to move forward, in whatever they have to do this. It’s an added element of conflict and tension. I have no idea where the series will go from here. There are vast possibilities, which is fitting since we are set in the vastness of space. I’m impatiently awaiting the next instalment and our next romance among the stars.
Apparent Brightness
Five star
Second book in the Sector Fleet series.
Outstanding story- just like book one in the series. Space ships have left a dying earth with a few survivors heading to a new home. Some ships are equipped with Artificial Intelligence that evolves. I was given a arc copy of this story in exchange for my honest
review. I was thrilled to be able to read books one and two quickly- now the bad news- I have to wait for book three. Each story is a stand alone with a conclusion, yet to see if they reach final destination, you have to read the series. Of course since imperfect man is involved- things do not go smoothly. I do not give out five star reviews unless a story has layers and depth that pull the reader into the world.