This needed a better editor. The narration is disjointed, the dialogue splintered, and the level of detail swings between too much and not enough. ( )

After reading this book, I had only one question. Was I entertained? Yes, I was. This book is more like a film that plays in your head as you read it. At least that's what was happening in my head. But, I have watched a lot of science fiction in my time. If you're looking for deep and meaningful, then this is not your book. However, if you're after an easy read to satisfy your 'inner space-opera nerd' then you could do a lot worse. ( )

Everyone who likes SF should read this.

You want a fairly classic space opera story, with a ruined and murderous station, the aftermath of a war, pirates, mercenaries, and a strong mystery? Good.

A story that takes those tropes and settings and makes them fresh and cool again? All right then.

Space opera that pays as much attention to air filters and interpersonal communication as it does to space walks and gun fights? That’s character driven? Great.

All of the above, but GAY? And DIVERSE? With FEMALE protagonists? *rubs hands*

Adda and Iridian are awesome and I loved their relationship—which isn’t “lesbians fall in love” by the way. It’s “lesbians have been in love for some time.” And all the other characters are great, even if we only see them briefly, and there’s a great spread of diversity—Chinese, Latino, and Black characters; queer characters including but not limited to the agender bi/pan pirate captain; Adda’s blind brother; and Iridian’s Middle Eastern heritage. Also nobody gives a damn about any of the above, though there are still a few moments that suggest acceptance isn’t totally perfect or universal.

And the plot? I seriously meant it about it about this being character driven. So much of the book is them talking to people, and how psychologically devastated everyone on the station is, and how terrified people do irrational things and refuse to share information. Also, Stearns has a great gasp of tension and when to up the stakes and how to slip information in that tells you next to nothing but also has you screaming “oh my god.” The second Adda and Iridian dock at the station, they are in shit and it just gets worse from there.

Also the hacking scenes are really cool. And I’ll never not be delighted that their motivation for all this is to pay off their student loans.

The one flaw for me is that I got lost a few times during the climax, but I’m not sure whether this is Stearns’ fault (rushed it, couldn’t balance everything perfectly, etc., though the balancing was really good considering how much was going on) or my fault for having to go to work partway through or for reading so quickly I missed stuff. We’ll class that as “whatever” and move on….

Okay, done blithering now, except I’m not. 🙂

Warnings: Violence, gore, hallucinations, drug use, murder, illness of the coughing, oozing variety, other moments of body horror, tense scenes.

9/10 ( )

I was hoping for an entertaining romp - space pirates and rogue AI - but it was an absolute muddle. Characters were flat, plot was implausible, and the action sequences were repetititve - people plodding through bit of debris getting shot at, like a very low-budget eighties game. I couldn't be bothered to finish. ( )

Interested in a novel where lesbian space pirates fight a rogue AI? Then Barbary Station is the book for you.

Adda and Iridian decided that the best hope for their future lies in piracy. How else could they pay off their student debt? So they concoct a plan to get in with a piracy crew on Barbary Station, stealing a colony ship’s worth of supplies to prove their value. But once they arrive on Barbary Station, nothing is what they expected. The pirates aren’t living in luxury but are hiding in a base rigged to the exterior of the station, traveling through the cracks and crannies of the station, always on the lookout. For the station might have been abandoned, but the security AI was never shut off. It’s decided that the pirates — and a group of refugees also on the station — are intruders, and it’s willing to use lethal force to get rid of them. Oh, and it shoots down any ship that attempts to leave. Adda, Iridian, and the rest of the pirates are doomed to a slow death, unless they can deal with the AI once and for all.

I enjoyed Barbary Station, but I also felt like it could have been better. Probably the biggest area for improvement is in the characters. All of the characters could be stronger, Adda and Iridian included. I’m glad the book chose to have them in an established romantic relationship (why don’t more books do this?), but I also would have liked to get more of a sense of what they saw in each other, why they’re together, that sort of thing. As is, I sort of felt like I was being told they loved each other without ever really feeling it.

However, it’s the supporting cast who really need more development. Probably the two most prominent are Adda’s younger brother, Pel, and the pirate captain, Sloane. Pel felt sort of like a character type — the cocky but lovable younger brother, but it worked all right. I would have liked to see more about Sloane, who’s this sort of mysterious figure hovering over the entire book. I got the impression there was some stuff going on with the Captain (important backstory?), but we never find out what. Maybe it’s being saved for the sequel? As for the rest of the cast, they never made much of an impression. And I think they need to, especially if Stearns wants those character deaths to have impact.

Plot-wise, Barbary Station could have been streamlined. I felt like there was some lulls in the pace, and I thought the story called for a consistently high pace and action that drives everything forward. There were a few spots where I could feel myself getting bored, especially in the beginning. Thankfully, the second half engaged my interest more.

I did like the overall set up with the killer AI. Pretty soon, Adda starts asking whether or not the AI’s awakened. In the language of the book, that means whether or not the AI’s become sentient. Supposedly, it’s not unknown, but awakened AI’s are always immediately destroyed. I liked the way Barbary Station dealt with the topic, and I’m interested to see where the sequel takes it.

And yes, I am planning on reading the sequel. For all its flaws, I found Barbary Station an enjoyable read. It’s not bad for a debut novel, and I’d love to see how R.E. Stearns grows as a writer with future books.

Review from The Illustrated Page. ( )