Non stop action and conflict from the get go. Various developed worlds across the galaxy have been affected my the Pulse leading to some people developing strange powers. The mission is to find these people.

This seems to be a strong start to a new series. It's always hard to get the world building right, but this book does it in spades. There is a lot of action to this space fantasy and strong female characters.

Hay novelas que te atrapan con su ritmo y si eres capaz de dejarte llevar, las disfrutas como un paquete de palomitas en su punto de sal. The Stars Now Unclaimed es un buen ejemplo, un libro que quiere jugar a ser space opera y que tiene muchos toques de ciencia ficción militarista aderezado con misteriosos poderes que pueden cambiar el rumbo de la galaxia.
Con los mimbres mencionados anteriormente sería realmente difícil conseguir una novela original, pero Drew Williams tiene otra intención: busca la diversión pura para el lector. ¡Y vaya si la encuentra!
Lo más destacable del libro son las escenas de acción que se encadenan una tras otra. Somos testigos de batallas espaciales, asaltos armados con tecnología obsoleta que se va desmoronando en las manos, ataques a planetas enteros en los que entran en juego defensas orbitales y escaramuzas con pocos integrantes que tiene lugar en EVA. Y todo está narrado de forma divertida, siempre que apretemos el botón de suspensión de la incredulidad. Por que todo, absolutamente todo, lo hace la misma persona. Olvidaos de Lara Croft o Honor Harrington, porque Jane hace que sus hazañas parezcan méritos para conseguir medallas de boy scouts.
Las razas alienígenas que aparecen en el libro son excesivamente antropomórficas y la situación planetaria del último refugio es rocambolesca, pero como ya he mencionado con anterioridad, no tenemos que ponernos escrupulosos con la verosimilitud de la historia, si no simplemente dejarnos llevar y disfrutarla.
Me gustaría también mencionar el humor que destilan algunas de las escenas, simple pero efectivo. El libro tiene un marcado carácter cinematográfico y como tal hay que tomarlo. ¿Quieres algo que te recuerde a Star Wars con mucha acción? Este es tu libro.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review. I should have paid attention to the long page count as I can't do ebooks for long stretches of time. My failings aside, this was excellent SF and that's something coming from me who doesn't like to read a lot of fight scenes because this is one long fight scene. It also really commits to the three-act structure.

The first act is 'finding Esa.' I wasn't going to name of first person protagonist since we don't learn her name in the book until almost 75% of the way in but it's in the blurb so... Jane is a soldier for a sect known as the Justified and much like Oppenheimer they created a war-deterrent that got out of control. If there is a falling down in this book, it's the hand wavy nature of the Pulse. It was supposed to stop weapons of war in one locale. Instead it spread throughout the galaxy and some worlds are unaffected, some were thrown back to the Iron Age. Worse, the Pulse wave might be back for seconds and Jane is out to find kids like Esa, Pulse-Mutated with abilities. So the first third of the book is Jane fighting to get Esa and a robot species female named Preacher(Esa's self appointed guardian) off planet before the book's villains, the Pax (sort of a fascist sect) get her.


The second act is 'rescuing Marcus and getting Esa to the Sanctum'. Marcus is a spy and friend of Jane's. He was nearly killed gathering vital intel and Jane is out to save his life, bringing her across the path of another former friend, Javier (I loved both Marcus and Javi) all while trying to outrun the Pax in Scherazade, her AI starship (who is also great).


The third act is the fight to save the Sanctum. So yes, it's literally nearly 450 pages of fight scenes. But all the characters are well drawn, nuanced and down right fun. I loved this and I'm sure I'll be there for book two so what bigger recommendation can you give a book than that? It's worth the read if you like space operas. It won't disappoint.

Good entertaining book. Enjoyed it all the way to the end. This is the first book I read from this author, so I will look for more.

The Stars Now Unclaimed is the perfect example of why I read Science Fiction. Oh man! What a ride! There are so many good things about this novel that I can't believe it's a debut. The action sequences were thrilling and the characters are so amazing! I feel like Becky Chambers' blurb describes my experience with this book to a T:

"The only thing more fun than a bonkers space battle is a whole book packed with bonkers space battles. Come for the exploding spaceships, stay for the intriguing universe."—Becky Chambers, author of A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

This book got my attention right from the start because Holy Action-Packed Book, Batman! But I will admit that I was totally invested in the story once they lifted off into space. That was when the author finally started delving into the back stories of the people and their universe and I was totally here for it!

The world-building was actually more galaxy-building and it was done so well! The author deftly juggled the different races, introducing them to us at a pace that managed to inform me without being confusing or a massive info dump. Throughout the book, we learned more about the history of the galaxy, its planets and inhabitants, and its politics and I was intrigued from the get go. Especially with the Pulse and its affects on the universe. And as each new character was added I was hooked more and more until it was impossible to put this book down.

Overall, I loved this book! I loved that it was a fully contained story but it leaves enough open for more books. And I sincerely hope he does write a sequel. I'd love to go on another adventure with Jane, Esa, Preacher, Javier, Marus, and all the rest. I can't wait to see what Drew Williams writes next.

It’s been a while since I’ve read any science fiction, but the description of The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams had me intrigued. It felt like there were some elements of just about all of my favorite types of sci-fi stories in here: sentient spaceships, a galaxy-wide catastrophe that devours any technology, a fascist regime attempting to remake the galaxy in its own image, and children with powers who are being hunted and enslaved by that regime. So I dove in, and I was not disappointed…

The Story: Before our story begins, an event known as the Pulse spread throughout the galaxy and wiped out pretty much all technology. A group called the Justified has studied the Pulse, and believes that the children who have started developing gifts are vital to understanding what happened. Opposing the Justified is a group called the Pax, whose tech somehow survived the Pulse, and they are bent on converting everyone to their way of thinking, which includes enslaving the gifted children that they can capture, and putting them into the Pax army.

Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified; she travels to planets and rescues the gifted children so that they can be educated about the Pulse and trained in the use of their gifts. On one run, she finds an extraordinarily gifted girl (named Esa) who the Pax seem especially interested in. As Jane and Esa begin working together, they uncover some information that could mean the end of everything that the Justified is working for. What follows is a rousing adventure that brings the Justified and the Pax into a conflict that will affect everyone involved.

The Verdict: This is a really great read. I was initially upset that the book went in a different direction than it appeared to be heading based on the jacket description, but what actually took place was great, so I got over it. One of the main things that helped was the characters: Drew Williams has written some very strong characters, beginning with Jane, whose point of view we see the entire novel from. She’s been through some things, and she has a desire to make a contribution to the current state of the galaxy based on her past. I appreciated her expertise, her grit, and her care for the people (human and otherwise) that she comes into contact with as the story progresses. The supporting characters are also well developed, and to see them come together as a team in the last third of the book was very satisfying.

It’s a fantastic book, and it’s one that could be read with your teenagers, if you’re looking to get them interested in the genre. Check it out, and let me know what you think! As always, fill me in on what you’re currently reading in the comments. Happy reading!

I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this debut novel from Drew Williams - it had a hero, a lot of problems to solve and a quest. Simple with a lot more to look forward to in this Universe After series. 3.5 stars out of 5.

The Stars Now Unclaimed had promising characters, both in terms of dynamics between characters and the various types of life living in that universe. The problem was the action and threat in this novel was un-freaking-relenting. A byproduct of this was there was never much time to get to learn more about the characters or experience their interpersonal or intrapersonal dilemmas. Sure this was a scifi novel and the threat of technology misused and one group being bent on galactic domination is expected, but this book had the making of five stars for me if it could just have a bit more balance.

This is a very well written and mostly entertaining story with great characters. Having said that, the entire story is basically just a bunch of battle and fight scenes. I was pretty much just powering through it thinking there would be more story containing the characters’ histories and maybe some more info on the gifted kids. Nope, just more battle and fight scenes. If it hadn’t been well written I probably would’ve scrapped it halfway through.

"The Stars Now Unclaimed" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Drew Williams (http://drewwilliamsirl.com). This is Mr. Williams first novel and the first of his "The Universe After" series. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in the far future. the primary character is Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified who is sent out to find and recruit gifted children. 

It had been about a hundred years since 'The Pulse' swept across the Universe. Some planets were barely affected. Others, most others were pushed back down the industrial timeline. Many planets were forced back to pre-combustion engine tech. Some planets even further back. How planets were affected seems totally random. Residual radiation from the pulse quickly destroys any new tech once it is put into use on those worlds. Gifted children began to appear just after the pulse. 

There were still some with space travel tech. One of these groups is the Pax. Even before the pulse, the Pax was a Sect that was prone to violence. After the pulse, since they were unaffected, they see themselves as zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the Galaxy. 

The affected worlds can be visited if carefully done. Kamali arrives on a planet that has suffered heavily from the pulse. She finds the young girl she was sent to recruit, but the Pax choose that time to attack the planet. They are able to escape with the help of an android 'priest'. They begin a journey back to the Justified, but they run into one problem after another, often from the Pax. The Pax is not just a minor threat. They are coming for the Justified. With the Pax, the outcome will be either the destruction of the Pax or the absorption or death of the Justified. 

Not only must Kamali use her knowledge and fighting skills to survive and get back to the Justified. She must dodge questions about her past. She must avoid her link to the pulse itself. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 11+ hours I spent reading this 448-page science fiction tale. I liked the characters, particularly that of Kamali. The plot is unusual and offers plenty of opportunities for future books in the series. I am not a fan of the cover art. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

I know this book didnt get great hype, but i loved it...Lots of fun fighting action packed sequences! It was so tense! (but in a good way) Some of the descriptions about how open the world is was interesting! i would have liked to see more stuff described just because this galaxy is supposed to be so big and vast but what the author gave was plenty. i enjoyed the character development and the main plot. overall a one click read

I loved this book. It did take me a little while to get into it, but it really did remind me of Firefly.
The characters were flawed but did what the did for good reasons. Several well written fight scences. I hope that Drew plans on writing a sequel.

This is a fantastic scifi adventure book. As a typical reader of fantasy, I don't always enjoy their scifi sister, but this book was a major exception. The world building was fantastic which was just further colored by the cast of characters we get to meet throughout the adventure. While sometimes scifi can feel overly tech heavy, the tech in this book was introduced seamlessly with the world building, making it fun and exciting. If you're into an epic space adventure, with lots of action and a few funny moments mixed in, this is your book.

This is probably the best SciFi I’ve read in ages. And I’m a little surprised that this is the author’s debut.

I enjoyed the storytelling. The mystery of the MC’s identity just added to the thrills.

There was plenty of action to keep even the pickiest reader engaged.

I LOVED the world building. This is the hardest part of writing a book in this genre. And Williams nailed it.

Definitely plan to see what’s next!

I was a little unsure what to expect from this novel; the recent glut of new space operas has produced highly mixed results. Turns out, I loved this novel. The voice of the narrator is very clear, occasionally snarky, and compelling in a way that begs to be read aloud. I found myself reading passages aloud to my partner more than once.

Like many of the best new space operas, such as Leckie's Ancillary Justice, The Stars Now Unclaimed alludes only loosely to hard science but rigorously maintains its own internally consistent systems. The scope of the story is enormous, the universe epic and tinged with with hints of western and apocalypse genres. I don't want to say much about the details of the plot or the world-building because I found it all such a joy and wonder to discover and I want other readers to feel that as well. Bold themes of cultural, environmental, and existential responsibility swirl through the story and left me questioning my own assumptions.

I will think of this novel often and look forward to more. For me, that's one of the best endorsements I can give.

Very good characters- each one cares about the others, and because they do, we the readers care about them. Interesting world building, with good description of the locations. I could almost see the ruins of the buildings on the moon. And a “Wow!” of a plot- escape by rocket ship, teenage angst, child “stealing” as a rescue attempt, saving the society, leading to saving the world, leading to (almost) saving the universe! I expect that our heroes will finish that in later books. Altogether a good read!

<i>The Stars Now Unclaimed</i> is an almost non-stop adventure romp that utilizes the space opera setting to the fullest. Jane Kamali is one of the Justified, an agent who collects rare children born with abilities (think X-Men) and brings them back to a safe area where they can grow and be trained to become agents in their own right--a much nicer alternative than the fate offered by the Pax, who use Borg-esque methods to subjugate whole planets. Despite the benefits of space travel, many worlds use fairly primitive technology because of a horrific event a century before called the Pulse.

Kamali's effort to extract a teenage girl, Esa, goes awry when the Pax attack. They flee the planet to discover the Pax are attacking everywhere. They gather more clues and allies as they flee for their lives.

If you like battles of all sorts, well, you get battles of all sorts. The thing is, I found that tiresome after a while. I kept wanting more character development, more distinct characters, and instead had action scenes that blurred together after a while. That said, the spaceship AIs were one element that stood out that I really loved.

The Pulse: it was supposed to deliver the galaxy from an endless cycle of war and violence. Instead, it caused chaos. It wiped out technology indiscriminately, leaving millions of worlds vulnerable to those who would use the opportunity to conquer them.

But the Pulse didn’t just wipe out technology, it changed people, giving some of them strange powers. Esa is one of those gifted, and the mercenary Kamali’s latest charge. Kamali is a member of 'The Justified’, who for the past century have been trying to find a way to reverse the damage. They also believe that Esa and those like her may be the key. But there are others who would seek to use them for less noble aims. Naturally, Kamali’s mission to rescue Esa goes spectacularly wrong. She and a handful of allies find themselves having to navigate their way through an escalating conflict which she helped to start.

The novel has been listed as Tor.com's ‘Best of 2018’, and praised by authors such as Becky Chambers and Claire North. Drew Williams’s debut is a good old-fashioned epic space opera filled with aliens, sentient starships, dogfights in space and combat on the ground. Alongside this are exotic locales, and a dollop of rumination on the role violence and war have in human nature and the concept of paying for one’s sins.

The novel kicks off when Kamali arrives on Esa’s planet. It's a beautiful and picturesque place full of waves of pink and lilac wheat that the pulse has reduced, technologically and societally, to a kind of wild-west existence. We are introduced to our narrator, the world, and those who inhabit it—not just humanity, but also other races. The Tyll are reptilian in appearance but genetically closer to fauna, the canine-like Wulf. The Barious are a sentient machine race that are the legacy of a mysterious, long disappeared precursor race.

With the arrival of the Pax—an army of intergalactic conquerors, who were ironically unaffected by the Pulse. Determined to either capture Esa or make sure nobody else can causes the plot to hit the ground running. From then, it never really stops. The story becomes an extended chase culminating in a huge space battle as the ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ inevitably clash.

The novel is, therefore, very action heavy. There are pauses between the action but they can feel more like opportunities to introduce another character or plot development. Perhaps even to impart information to the reader, rather than providing a natural breathing space. Action sequences themselves are written in a way that they flow smoothly and still manage to convey the frenetic nature of combat, that the pages fly by. More importantly, they are always grounded in character—even if Kamali’s is the only viewpoint we see.

This brings us to the characters themselves. They are very well written—our band of main protagonists more so than secondary characters, obviously, but even they are memorable. The banter and growing relationships between them being particular highlights. By comparison our villains, the Pax, can feel flat, but this is somewhat deliberate. They literally see their members—dressing them head to toe in black with anonymising helmets—as a blank canvas to project their fascistic philosophy; a faceless conquering force. But if the black hats, for the moment, remain black hats, there’s some interesting moral flexibility amongst the good guys.

The Justified created the Pulse to end the violence and war throughout the universe, but recognised it as unrealistic. It was then to at least level the playing field by taking out the more apocalyptic technology capable of wiping out whole planets and systems. However, they didn’t fully understand what it was they were creating and so there were unintended ramifications. They recognise what they’ve done and intend to atone for it, either by finding a way to reverse the damage or to stop it from getting worse. However, doing so has caused them to become a little ruthless, a classic case ends justifying the means. This adds a welcome edge of moral complexity to what would otherwise be a standard (albeit very entertaining) story of good vs evil.

All in all, The Stars Now Unclaimed is a brilliant debut and a solid start to a new series. It definitely has the room to build upon and expand! If you like your sci-fi with a heavy dose of action or just love space opera in general, then this is a title definitely worth picking up.

Review by 2shay..........

Hold onto your hats Sci-Fi fans, this book is so full of wonderfully vivid descriptions of everything from emotions, motivations and battle scenes that even George Lucas would be impressed. Words so well formed in sentences and phrases that this reader felt the very trembles of the guns firing from space ships and land based canons. And the love and devotion developing between the remarkable cast of characters.

This story starts with a woman walking alone through a world unknown to her, looking for a gifted child. The story is told in first person, from her point of view, and if not for the blurb, we wouldn’t have known her name until deep in the book. I liked that. A lot. One of the first names we know is “Schaz”, who I first thought was a human companion talking to the lone woman by a communication device, and later learned was a nickname for Scheherazade, a space ship. Schaz is a special character in her own right. She’s an AI controller who was “raised” by her pilot and other teaching AIs from their home world of Sanctum, making her seem almost human. Schaz is kind of girly, and tends to fuss at Jane for getting her into situations that might scratch her beautiful paint. She made me laugh out loud! She’s also a warrior, like her pilot. She’s fast and deadly when called on, and that brings me to my next point.

Strong female characters. Women warriors. Smart, capable, well trained and deadly. Devoted, compassionate and lovable. The four main characters, Jane, Esa, Preacher and Schaz...all female, but not all human. Make way, Boys, these girls can kick butt. The guys ain’t bad either!

There is a good bit of social commentary underlying the story that makes it highly relevant today. Whether you’re a Sci-fi fan or not, this book is a rocking good time that will make it high on my favorite books list for the year. Pick up a copy and...

Enjoy! ARC graciously provided by Tor Books and NetGalley for an honest and voluntary review.