Encounter at Shalana (Adventures of Kristy Ryan 1) by Angelia Almos

Hello to all,

             for me it's already late in the day but  i saw that i had forgotten to post this earlier so a little night work to compensate.

I'm always surprised when i discover that an author i love writes under another name like Suzanne Johnson changes her writing name to Susannah Sandlin when she switch to the paranormal romance genre and she is far from the only one but my knowledge is still limited concerning author's pseudo so i know i'm missing a lot. This was also the case in this instance.... i absolutely loved Mafia secret by Angie Derek but when i was looking for more of her work i didn't know the author wrote also under Angelia Almos so it was an excellent surprise for me.

Angelia does write in several genres like fantasy, space opera (the author name changes for Angie Derek when it's paranormal romance, urban fantasy and romantic suspense ) and i will be glad to review a bit of each for for today i will stay with the space opera because it was a long time i read some and was really curious^^ ( sorry Amber but don't worry next one will be paranormal ;) ) now i just happy to know book 2 is under preparation because you will want it if you indulge in Encounter at Shalana, book 1 of the adventures of Kristy Ryan... if you love Star Trek you will be smiling reading this!

happy reading!

Publisher: Thoroughweb Press

Publication: 2011

ISBN:  0373277210

Genre: YA, space-opera
Violence: mild
Language: normal
sex: none
Public: 14+

Source: ecopy received in exchange for an honest review

Short description from goodreads :

 Space pirate Captain Kristy Ryan grew up the only daughter of a notorious privateer in the Border Planet Region. She learned her trade the hard way - there were no free rides on her father’s ship. Now, she has her own ship, the Unicorn, and successfully works in the shadows, the fringes of legitimate trade. Her life is just how she wants it even on those days when her pilot and lover, Andrew Bennet, drives her crazy. But an unexpected visit from the Military Space Alliance changes everything. Her father disappeared while working a dangerous mission for the MSA. Now, she’s being blackmailed into finishing his mission.

My opinion:

          Angelia has been a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek and I must admit, for having read quite a share of them, that she does make them honor! Really this story could have fit in the other universes without problem and the quality of her writing is really good.

I really liked this book and the plot was well developed to keep me interested and curious. The romance is there, sweet and not predominant which works in favour of the story. However I’m really glad this book seems to be the first of a series because there are things I thought missing and I can hope to get answer in future books.  From the beginning we learn than Kristy and her father are in a disagreement of sort to say the least…but we know nothing about it. The fact I couldn’t understand from where her resentment came made it a little more difficult for me to connect with the character.  We see she has been hurt, she is even crying in her sleep but we don’t know about why… in fact we only discover that some events took place on one planet and that’s linked to that…. That’s all. It’s something I regret but since more books are possible we could get the bottom of this. (yes I do have hope^^ even better it was confirmed that book 2 was under work YEAH!)

I particularly enjoyed to see the interaction between the crew, Wilhelmina is quite funny, acting like a mother for the rest of them, we know she is a kind of cat humanoid and that she worked with Kristy’s father before but I wouldn’t mind learning more about the linguist ^^ , what are the specific of her species, how she came to be with the Ryan etc .She is also really resourceful. Andrews is the best pilot and I’m glad he does have some alpha trait to keep up with grumpy Kristy… now when we discover his family we understand him even better ( little Ashley is more than likely wanting to join his brother on the side than her sister in the military, never underestimate little sister^^)Then you add Glenn, ex military, and Felicity, courageous engineer and you have the crew… small but effective

It’s a good read but if you are not used to space opera novel, the ending could surprise you. It’s not a cliffhanger, not at all, but often in space opera you get the bottom of the investigation, you see who was behind the plot or who was the villain….but you don’t see how it’s resolved . It’s left to your imagination or occasionally in series  you get a little more info in later books when the main characters talk about the past events. So here you understand, we see what they do about it but if you are the kind of reader who want to see the bad ones punished… you will be left  hanging ( now I do admit I love to see the bad ones punished but after reading a lot of star trek and Star wars novel I’m used not to get immediately still it’s a little regret) Angelia Almos really found how to end her story keeping us happy and wanting more at the same time so  I can only hope more books in the series are on schedule.

If you love space opera, classic one, without steamy scenes, this is the right book for you. If you want to discover the genre, it’s also a good approach thanks to the talent of the author who renders the story really accessible. Now to discover the author I would perhaps recommend to try some of other works first ( I loved some a lot more!)but keep this one on your list , it’s really worth it.

Score:  4/5

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review

             If you want this book you can buy it on  Smashwords in the digital format you prefer or for print copy on amazon or bookdepository

                      You can find more informations on the series and Angelia on her Website