This was a pretty epic sci-fi book with breathtaking action scenes. It took me a bit to get into it, but ultimately I found it to be pretty amazing.

First off, the strengths: I thought the book was well-written with excellent world-building. I would have liked to meet a few more kids like Esa, but that's a small quibble. As I mentioned, the action scenes were sprinkled throughout the book and so well-written I often felt like I was watching a movie in my brain.

One of the book's strengths however, also sometimes served as its main weakness: that this is an EPIC tale. For much of the first part of the book that epic-ness messed with its pacing. It was basically ACTION SCENE, huge data dump of exposition, ACTION SCENCE, huge data dump...etc. It didn't help that this pattern had the same set up each time (e.g. get a break in the action, Esa asks "but how come [question], Preacher or Jane tells her a HUGE story to explain the history of X, the crew gets pulled into another pulse-pounding fight.)

At one point, I almost wondered if the Pulse going off (and the events leading up to that event should have been the plot of this story, because we were spending so much time rehashing that event it made it harder to sustain momentum on the current mission. So I was happier with the back half of the book where where there was more focus on the current mission and the cast of characters was more set.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Simply fantastic science fiction! Reminded me of the first time I read Star Wars - EPIC!!

I loved the world building, the characters, even the villains were super interesting. The majority of the story is action. But it never feels forced or hard to follow.

We don’t discover our main character’s most basic info, her name, until halfway through the story. It adds to her mystique. She is one of the most hard core soldiers I’ve read. Her job is to rescue “gifted” teenagers and bring them to a safe place. Through one girl, eventually we learn she does have feelings hidden under the layers of armor.

I highly recommend the book for all lovers of science fiction and sincerely hope to visit this world again!

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the free book in exchange for my honest review.

"The Stars Now Unclaimed" describes a grand battle between good and evil, with nothing less than the future of the galaxy at stake. While this is hardly new ground for storytelling, this novel is an inventive, lively work. The story is an engaging blend of post-apocalyptic space opera with a bit of military sci-fi, a dash of espionage and a just a hint of mutant superpowers. Each of the cast of characters are multi-dimensional and their quirks, secrets, abilities, and interrelationships greatly enhance the telling of the story. The finale is conclusive, yet leaves enough open for further storytelling. I'm looking forward to see where the next book in the series takes us

This rollicking space adventure has much to recommend it: pulse-pounding action scenes, a casually multicultural (and multi-species) cast, and a slightly sardonic narrative voice. The dialog is a tad uneven — characters use invented terms (like “rads” for radiation) as well as modern phraseology (“I know, right?” says Jane at one point) — but it doesn’t detract much from the enjoyment. Throw in a sentient spaceship that hates its programmed voice, a lovable rebel that Jane shares a romantic past with, and characters both scaly and furry, and you’ve got the kickoff to an adventure-filled space saga along the lines of TV’s Firefly.

Set in a galaxy with thousands of worlds colonized by the 17 sentient species, this sci-fi adventure novel has one heck of a tale to tell. Told from the first person point of view, the narrator is looking for a girl with a very special gift. She finds on one of the worlds heavily affected by the Pulse, a mysterious weapon that destroyed technology to varying degrees on every world it touched. And the residual radiation lasts there, locking each world into a certain level of technological advancement.

This world has guns, but no electricity or combustion engines. Stuck in an agrarian 18th century level of technology, it's tricky to land there, find the girl, and get her off planet. But that is what the narrator does. She's been doing it for most of 100 years. It's not an easy job, but it is one she is very good at.

The adventure is complicated by the Pax, an interstellar empire lightly affected by the Pulse. A fascist police state they are intent on finding the girl for their own nefarious purposes. Attacking her world with advanced technology (that quickly gets burned out by the rads in the atmosphere) scarfing untold numbers to capture her and to take over that world. The Pax believe in peace through conquest. When the strong rule over the weak galaxy-wide, there will be peace.

The story is told with a certain amount of sardonic humor that lightens the tone and kept me reading. I found the beginning of the book to be a little slow, but Williams picks up the pace and continues to accelerate all the way to the end. The characters are fun, mostly likable, and their interactions are believable. As the plot picks up, the narrator brings in more people from her past to help her, finding more than a little trouble on the way. Epic battles are fought. There was some profanity in the book, so take care if that offends. A last stand is made. It was, overall, a good read for me.

I received a free electronic ARC of this book through Netgalley.com in return for an honest review.

A space opera with battles. LOTS of battles.

A kernel of a good story is buried in here, but it is filled with the fluff of too many battles, too many unfleshed characters, and races and species that are thrown in as a background that is not fully developed.
Told in a chronologically storyline that could have unfolded better by chopping things up a bit to get to the meat of the tale, or the early development of a character.

Jane is an agent that is on a mission to find a chil with special gifts that may be able to help save the universe from an accident called the “Pulse.” When Jane finds this girl, Esa, the Pax are attacking the planet Esa is living on. Jane gets Esa and an alien called Preacher off the planet barely in time. Adventures abound as Jane flies Esa back to Sanctum where she will be safe and educated. On the way, their enemy, the Pax keeps reappearing on Jane’s flight. Jane’s ship has an artifical intelligence with a personality that can be snarky or/and kind. On the route home, they go to a planet composed of pirates for supplies. Will Jane be able to get supplies from the pirates?

The novel is the first of a series. It is an adventurous, action packed, exciting novel. Jane is a strong heroine. As I read this novel, I found myself enjoying this wisecracking thriller. There are ever increasing stakes that propel this novel. It hits every mark down to the last satifying twist!

The Stars Now Unclaimed starts off with a bang, dropping us and the protagonist straight into an epic mission, that leads us so much further than we could have imagined when first it began.

Jane is an agent for the Justified, a sect that have made it their mission to find and retrieve "special" children throughout the galaxy. Naturally, this mission doesn't go quite as planned, when it's interrupted by the overpowering invasion of those known as the "Pax". The peace of their name is the one they mean to establish by conquering the known galaxy, or at least wiping out all those who would oppose them. The ensuing chaos is only a signal of what is to come, as Jane finds out she just might have the key to preventing the destruction of her world.

It's a more serious story than I went in expecting - I'd heard tales of space raptors and Firefly comparisons, and expected this to be quite light-hearted. It's not grim, but this is definitely a serious novel - the stakes are never in doubt and they're immense. The scale of the universe was communicated much more effectively than is usually managed - though it did lead to some tantalising glimpses of other races and worlds that were never explored as much as they should have been.

Overall a very satisfying read and an impressive debut from Drew Williams. It'll be interesting to see where it's taken from here!
Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I greatly enjoyed The Stars Now Unclaimed. Author Williams took the familiar dystopian trope and raised it one level - instead of a the Earth's governments collapsing, we have a whole galaxy instantly regressed into various levels of pre-space technology. At the heart of the book is a very competent female protagonist; but care was taken to flesh out various other humans and aliens for a nice mix. This is non-stop action with very few breathers in between. But it makes for a very fun and thrilling read.

Story: The Sheherezade is an AI ship captained by a tough-as-nails but also driven captain. Their mission is to search the galaxy for special children on worlds devolved by an event called The Pulse. These children have powers that make them useful to the good and bad guys alike. When a girl with telekinetic powers is painfully extracted, it is only the beginning of a battle to get her to Sanctum - the stronghold of the Justified and the last chance to stop the pulse from returning.

I am glad I didn't read too much of the blurb since the author chose to give reveals slowly and throughout the book. Some of those reveals worked well and others fell very flat; e.g., it took 3/4 of the book before we got the main character's name but after that, everyone was using it. It didn't make a lot of sense that not one of her friends and colleagues hadn't used it until then. Nor that it is in the first sentence of the blurb.

As well, our main character is meant to be insular - she can't allow herself to care for the children she picks up or to grow attachments. So she is brusque and cold and I imagine that could put a lot of people off the story. I did enjoy her character development, however, as she starts on a solo mission and then slowly brings in old friends as well as developing new friends.

The story moves at a very brisk pace and it rarely lets up on the battle/action scenes. I didn't mind that at all because the characters were well developed enough that I wanted to follow them and cheer them on as they overcame obstacles. Several characters were very underused (the telekinetic girl, for example) but her spotlight will most undoubtedly come in future volumes in the series.

In all, a very enjoyable, high octane thrill ride. And I look forward to following these characters in the next volume. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

The Stars Now Unclaimed was a fun, crazy, and wild ride through space. There’s a lot of battle sequences and daring rescues, which were definitely entertaining. However, I was originally drawn to this book because of the comparison to Firefly, one of my favorite TV shows. Unfortunately, this one lacks the heart and the strong characters that I was hoping for after hearing that comparison. Although I’d have liked more depth in general, The Stars Now Unclaimed was one of those books that’s just fun to read.

I did like the characters. However, they sometimes felt very one dimensional. It was frustrating because I could see how amazing they could have been if the author had spent more time developing them. The battle sequences were brilliant though. Williams did an excellent job of describing everything in a clear, easily understandable manner. Sometimes things were a bit over explained but that didn’t happen too often.

The Stars Now Unclaimed was an overall entertaining read and I’m definitely intrigued to see what will happen next. I’m hopeful that the sequel will really build out both the world and the characters to their full potential. I’d recommend this one for readers who are looking for a fast-paced, action-oriented science fiction novel with plenty of adventure.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Something happened years ago and the galaxy changed. Before there were endless wars and the Pulse was supposed to story them. It did stop some but not all. Enter the Justified and Jane Kamali. They are trying to stop the Pulse from returning and doing more damage. The world building and back story are all excellent. There are also some interesting characters. While Jane is the main characters the group around her are well developed and diverse. The plot line follows an attack that is repelled but the ending leaves plenty of room for future stories set in The Universe After.

The Stars Now Unclaimed is the first installment in author Drew Williams' The Universe After series. The story predicates on the theory that 1,000 years ago, the Pulse knocked worlds, most of them, back a few thousand years before spaceflight and electricity. The Pulse, which was supposed to stop wars and aggressive planets from conquering peaceful planets, wasn't a one time event. Some actually believe that the Pulse is building up strength, and will roll back even stronger and possibility deadlier than before.

Jane Kamali & her combat rated AI spaceship Scheherazade are on a mission to recruit children who have been gifted with amazing abilities thanks to The Pulse. Jane is a former special ops soldier who believes in what she is doing. She kicks ass and takes names and does so with the ultimate super-weapon in Scheherazade. Jane and her ship have been together for a very long time. They are family. They are best friends. They've seen the best and worse of what happened after the Pulse tore through the galaxy.

Jane and her group are known as The Justified and the Repentant. They're trying to prevent the Pulse from returning and causing even more damage. By recruiting special children with amazing abilities to their cause, they hope they can be the first line of defense in case the Pulse returns and sends the known universe back to before Space Travel was discovered or even the Dark Ages. But, Jane and her group aren't the only ones searching for special children.


On a mission to find a human child with amazing powers on a back water planet, Jane runs across Esa, a 14-year old orphan who is probably the most powerful human that Jane has encounter. Esa is a by-product of the Pulse and she her specialty is telekinesis. She and others like her were given gifts that the Pax are eagerly searching for to turn them into unbeatable weapons of mass destruction. It's fair to say that Esa is a major prize in the Pax's plans which is why you will find Jane and her allies trying to stay one leap in front of them.

The Pax weren't affected by Pulse. They believe that indicates they are special and if they want to conquer the universe by any means necessary, they will do so and nobody can stop them. But, they've never been up against anyone so dedicated to her job as Jane. Just to make things interesting, Jane picks up a character called Preacher. Preacher is from a machine race called Barious that is dying thanks to the Pulse, and she's not very happy that Jane seems to have answers to what happened to her people. Don't overlook Preacher. There are things about her that will stun and amaze you.

But, before we, as the reader, can undercover what happened, Jane and her crew are chased across the galaxy by the Pax, who tend to capture, brainwash, & drug those they turn into soldiers. Even though Jane is clearly protecting Esa, it's not until much later in the story that Esa's worth really matters to the overall story line and holding off the Pax. There are others as well, like Marus who is part of Justified. He deals in information vital to the Justified and Sanctum. The last character I shall name is Javier, a former Justified, turned pirate, and Jane's former friend.

I am going to say something that will probably not surprise you. I actually liked this story a whole lot and will definitely be reading any sequel. The story is very entertaining and action packed. There are some similarities to Firefly, but there's a whole lot of originality as well. In this world, Reavers are called the Pax, and they're not the flesh-eating mongrels who live on the fringes of the universe. Nope. These Pax enslave people and force them into being soldiers after brainwashing. They aim to conquer the known universe but never met Jane Kamali and her ship and her allies. There are battles on planets, there are battles in space, there are battles on a Dreadnaught operated by the Pax. Maybe there were too many battles and not enough other things to concentrate on.

I had high hopes for this book when reading the description. I DNF'ed it at 55% though because it didn't live up to what I had expected. I initially liked the characters, but there wasn't a lot of character development or interesting relationships developing in the story. The plot had a lot of action and fight scenes, but it just lumbered along and didn't seem to move the story forward. So much potential that just didn't pan out.

If you love space operas, you will love this one!

I was impressed and entertained by this action-packed science fiction novel from a new author. It is more like Star Wars than Star Trek because there is a motley crew of people, including a psychic teenager, who are trying to help the galaxy. There are some amusingly sarcastic AIs and other characters. I did not laugh out loud, but I smiled a lot at the low level humor.

The novel has a lot of army-style violence, including blood spatter and bombs. There is occasional swearing, and every curse word except God's name is used at some point. It has as much cursing as a rated-R movie, but less cursing than a Quentin Tarantino movie. I think that the cursing frequency struck the right balance.

The entire novel is told from one person’s perspective, that of a human female warrior who does not like to tell anyone her name. In a far future version of our galaxy, she is an agent of an organization called the Justified. Her mission is to collect a psychic teenager girl and bring her home to help protect the galaxy from a huge danger.

I enjoyed the streamlined prose that got its point across quickly. The plot was excellent. I also enjoyed the warrior narrator's occasional introspection and the intriguing moral choices that she must make. The writing is nicely descriptive enough to give me a basic picture of the scene. I like a little more detail sometimes, but it was adequate for a space operas. My only minor complaint with the writing is that I can’t always immediately determine which character is saying which sentence in a conversation because there are too few “he said” or “she said” phrases.

I received a free advanced reading copy from the publisher via Netgalley, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

The Stars Now Unclaimed is a fun and fast-paced space opera perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Firefly, and The Expanse series.

As someone who loves a good book about the adventures of a spaceship and its crew through the galaxy and strong female characters I was so excited to pick up The Stars Now Unclaimed. The main character works for the Justified, recruiting children with miraculous gifts in the hope they can stop the Pulse from returning. As a group of zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy behind to hunt her, she’ll need all the help she can get as she fights her way through a galaxy full of conflict and danger for what she thinks is right.

I was immediately drawn in by the idea of the pulse and how it randomly wiped out technology throughout the Galaxy. The way the story of what actually happen when the pulse occurred slowly unfolds throughout the book and had me hooked as each new revolution happened. While there is action right from the start of the book the incredibly short chapters (like 3 pages short) make the start of the book a little slow. I keep reading a chapter and really loving it but putting it down to do something before picking it back up to read the next chapter. I quickly got sucked into the story and the short chapters stopped mattering but I do wish they had been a little longer at the beginning.

The main character (who doesn’t have a name until half way through the book so I don’t want to ruin it for you!) is incredibly tough but still level headed and able to admit when she’s wrong. She’s flawed and real and I loved how unlike some female characters who are just stubborn to create the conflict in the story Williams didn’t need to lean on that crutch to create a fantastic plot with plenty of action, danger, and growth from all the characters.

I enjoyed how the crew came together slowly over different parts of the adventure and each added something unique and valuable to the end game. Even the ships had personalities and they were all unique based on their pilot, I loved it!

The final third of the book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I didn’t want to put the book down, each problem was overcome in more and more dramatic solutions but they still felt possible and not to outlandish for the world or fierce crew.

Rating 4.5/5 – I can not wait for the next book in the series and if you enjoy sci-fi and space flight stories I highly recommend picking this one up! It reminded me a little of a darker version of the Wayfarers series (which I also love and highly recommend).

This book is full of action and adventure. I feel like it depended far too much on action scenes, sort of like those big blockbuster movies that are all special effects and not much plot. And while it was a fun read at times, there was so much action that I wanted the book to slow down for a little while so I could get to know the characters. That does eventually happen and we get back info on most of them, but it wasn't quite enough for me. I wanted to dig deeper into who they are. I wanted them to interact in more ways than just the battle scenes and confrontations. This is definitely an action based book and I tend to like more character driven stories, so at this point I'm not sure if I will continue on with the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with a free copy of this book.

This book had a lot going on. At first I really enjoyed it, then it was too much. It was too sci-fi and futuristic for me. It was well written, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Fun read

I enjoyed this book; it was fun to read. The story was interesting and there was good character development. The pacing was also good except for drawn out fight scenes. Although I liked the book, my mind kept coming back to one of the characters having telekinesis which in my opinion is not science fiction. The book is being promoted for fans of Firefly, but I am a fan of Firefly and I don’t see it. It lacked Firefly’s intelligence. Nonetheless, I can recommend it for fans of space opera.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

the stars now unclaimed (Drew Williams)

Title: the stars now unclaimed

Author: Drew Williams

Publisher: Macmillian-Tor/Forge

Publication Date: TODAY!! (hardback/ebook)

ISBN: 978-1250186119

Source: NetGalley

Well mateys.  I have to admit that this was just an okay read.  One of me crew, Sarah @ theillustratedpage's review, accurately described it as:

"The majority of The Stars Now Unclaimed is action scenes. I really can’t emphasize how much of this book is action. You mainly get a few paragraphs or pages between various huge action set pieces, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for anything other than action. It was a bit like a Hollywood blockbuster in book form."

Hollywood action film indeed.  The characters are fun.  Ye have the hardened snarky daredevil female fighter pilot, an analytical robot, the ship AI, and the rescued orphan girl with telekinetic powers who might one day save the world.  Later ye add in the traitor who happens to be the soldier's ex-lover and the spy.  But while I liked them, there is very little depth to any of them.  The dialogue is full of catchy one-liners but nothing of major substance.  The bad guys are all literally interchangeable faceless guys in suits with no names, no real intellectual reasoning, and no goals other than to take over the universe.

The science-fiction part is also Hollywood-lite.  There was a "pulse" which was a science experiment gone wrong.  It knocked out the technology in the universe with very little rhyme or reason.  Some places keep their technology and other places have gone back into the stone age.  The threat of the pulse is still out there and it's gonna come back.  There is no real explanation for how it works.  The main characters says things like "I can't walk you through it all that well, I'm not a - I don't do science - " and "do I look like I'm wearing a lab coat?  I know what the scientists tell me . . ."  The use of the technology doesn't really make sense either.  Things work or don't work depending on what the author needed to happen to forward the plot.  Logic doesn't really suffice.

Actually that was me major problem with this read - the sheer unbelievably of the plot in general.  There are the many, many lucky coincidences that happen throughout.  There is the last-ditch, one-chance effort against all costs.  There is the main character who is charmed and somehow evades death at every possibility - despite poison, bullets, overwhelming legions  of enemies, and everything but the kitchen sink.  The battle is saved through the actions of a single person.  Remove the main character and the universe is doomed.

Me most recent science fiction reads have had depth of character, plot, and world-building.  In comparison, this be a pleasant, if forgettable read.  I will not be reading any more of the series.  I might have enjoyed it more in movie format.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Goodreads' website has this to say about the novel:

Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.

Hot on her trail is the Pax--a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.

Now Jane, a handful of comrades from her past, and a telekinetic girl called Esa must fight their way through a galaxy full of dangerous conflicts, remnants of ancient technology, and other hidden dangers.

And that's just the beginning . . .

To visit the author’s twitter go to:

Drew Williams – Author

To buy the novel go to:

the stars now unclaimed - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

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