Shattermoon was action packed, filled with character development and brilliantly written! There were a few bits that dragged, but as a whole, I loved it.

Not really my cup of tea, I'm afraid. It just had so much going on I couldn't keep up with it all, and I sadly found I just wasn't invested in it enough to keep going. There were, however, many aspects I liked. The world building for example, was really well done.

For fans of long space opera science fiction books, this is definitely one you should try. Reviews are subjective and you may well find this to be your favourite book yet.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this kick-a** book in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly don't know why I didn't finish this book sooner. But I am so glad that I finally got around to it. This book is so action packed that it had my head spinning! So much awesomeness in one book is a little dizzying but I could not put it down. Orry is a great MC and I was invested from the beginning. Sassy robots, epic heist, great writing! I absolutely adored this book and will be on the lookout for more by this author! Great read throughout. Hooks you from the get-go.

This is an action story that takes your breath away and Doesnt give if back. It's a good story with characters I was invested in from the start.

Originally DNF but went back to give it another try. Unfortunately it was just a little bit too ‘busy’ there was so much going on all the time that it took action packed to a whole new level making it,
For me, unenjoyable.

Despite the star rating this was a good book, I just wasn't invested in the characters or story. This is very much a case of it's me, not you (the book). This was an enjoyable sci fi thriller with some good world building, but I thought that the pacing was a little off. In some ways I think this was too fast paced - there was just too many things happening at times. Other than that, I didn't really have any other issues with it. Something just didn't click for me. If you enjoy sci fi thrillers then I think you may enjoy this book.

I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. I'm not really into sci-fi that much but when I saw this one on Netgalley I was intrigued. I instantly thought that reading it would be an action-packed adventure.

And I was right...

Seriously from page 1 till the end, there is something happening that I forgot the word Boredom. LOL. Though the plot is a little complex, the author did a great job constructing every part of it, it ended up one entertaining story.But I must admit, though I like the pacing, it was TOO fast, I think this will be a problem to others.. (and when I check the other reviews, I learned that I'm not the only one who noticed it)... It was literally non-stop. But for me, it was an advantage, since my reading time is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so I need something as entertaining as this.

Needless to say, I love the characters. From the moment Orry, our MC, partnered with Mender, my life was made. I mean, who on earth thought that to have an elder loner MC company is awesome? Dominic Dulley, the author, did. There's even a sidekick robot, sadly, it's the antagonist's sidekick, but I love it all the same. By the way, Orry annoyed me at first and actually the reason why I couldn't give this book a perfect five stars.. I can't get past the fact that she started it all. But she proved to be one courageous, smart young girl through the whole book. I really saw her development.

Overall, I like this book a lot and highly recommend it.

I love a good heist novel, and while I’ve read a fair few fantasy heist books, I don’t think I’ve ever found a science fiction book that fits in this category. You can only imagine how excited I was to hear about Shattermoon.

I really liked the world of Shattermoon. I tend to prefer my sci-fi to be gritty and dark, with a clear indication that technology doesn’t make our lives shiny and perfect, and this is exactly what the world Dulley creates is like. The setting reminded me in many ways of Firefly, a show I absolutely love. We learn enough about the world to have a good understanding of what’s going on, but are left wanting to explore more. For me, this is the best strategy for world-building because the reader’s imagination can run wild. The setting that stands out most to me is, unsurprisingly, Shattermoon itself. What a cool concept! I really love the way Dulley creates his little area of occupied space. The colourful, inventinve planets, citites, and ports, along with the startling difference between the wealthy aristocratic class and, well, everyone else, really stood out. In fact, it is this class difference that really helped make sense of what fuels Orry’s actions and prejudices.

Shattermoon is very much a plot-driven novel rather than a character driven one, which tends to not be my preference. This book is incredibly fast paced -- it move at breakneck speed and doesn’t let up. The plot is essentially action sequence after action sequence, and all the in-between bits have been trimmed from the novel. I think this will work for some readers but not for others. The pace is truly relentless and there’s no breathing room. While this style took awhile to adjust to, I do appreciate the speed at which the plot moved. It makes it a very fast and compelling read, however it does sacrifice some of the character building and world building you get in those ‘cooling off’ moments.

While there is a reasonably sized cast, our two main characters truly stand out. We spend most of our time with Orry, the protagonist of the story, and I really enjoyed her character. She’s smart and sassy, but also incredibly clever and good at what she does -- she’s not just a one-note heroine that we can sometimes get in these kinds of stories. She proves again and again that she’s not only good at what she does, she’s an incredibly capable woman. She has depth and she is flawed, and you really can’t help but love her. I particularly enjoyed her relationship with Mender and her brother.

Mender is the other character who really stands out in this book. I love characters like him -- the gruff, grumpy, often older hermit-types who just want to be left alone but are dragged into other people’s messes. It took me a little while to warm to Mender, which I think is the point, but I really ended up enjoying his story arc in the book.

The characterization for the more secondary characters like Dyas, Harry, and Ethan felt a little flat. I’d love to have seen more backstory and personality from them, particularly Harry, but again that’s because I tend to prefer character driven books. I think that they function well enough within the story, and I’m hoping to learn more about each of them as the series progresses.

Overall, I really enjoyed Shattermoon. Although I wish we had stronger character arcs and more fleshed out secondary characters, this was balanced out by good world-building and main characters that you can’t help but root for. Shattermoon is a fun and fast-paced heist novel with shades of Firefly that would be a perfect summer read. I’ll definitely be continuing on with this series.

CW: some graphic violence and attempted/threatened sexual assault

3.75/5 stars

This is an edge-of-your-seat, exciting science fiction adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed. It mixed two of my favourite genres - thrillers and scifi.

I was drawn in almost immediately when I started due to the clever, complex plot, and wonderful characters.
Orry is an admirable heroine and is clever and resourceful, I found myself rooting for her throughout the novel.

We readers tend to complain a lot about slow paced books but the one issue I had with this was it was very fast paced. This pacing may have worked well for SHATTERMOON had there not been an awful lot of things going on, it was rather relentless, in that respect. The author sure knows how to write and this is impressive for a debut novel, all Dulley needs to do to cater for more readers is to not make them as frantic in the future. It is also worth considering that others may find the pace perfect, that's the subjectivity of books!

All in all, a great space opera debut from Dulley. He is definitely worth looking out for in the future, I will be doing so. I feel he has a long career ahead of him, a competent composer of science fiction, I look forward to entering this world once again when book two of THE LONG GAME series, MORHELION, is published in April 2019.

I would like to thank Dominic Dulley, Quercus Books UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is an exciting sci-fi thriller in which the author does some great world building and provides some memorable characters that endeavour to fight some extremely dangerous forces. Aurelia 'Orry' Kent is a young and naive grifter, helping her father, Eion, and `14 year old brother, Ethan, pull off heists that targeting the privileged and over entitled aristocratic families of the Ascendancy. Only to have it all go to hell in a handcart when a con aimed at the heir apparent, Konstantin, who reluctantly hands over a green pendant to Orry that is more important than he knows in his febrile efforts to feed his folio fever. Konstantin is tortured and brutally murdered and unfortunately Orry is the prime suspect.

The killer and his robotic sidekick, Jericho, find their way to the Kent space ship, the Bonaventure, in search of the much desired pendant, leading to family tragedy and Orry endangered in space. Luckily, a grizzled older loner, Jurgen Mender, is in just the right place to rescue her on his ancient rickety old ship, the Dainty Jane, but only because he was after the killer. Orry proves to be a wily, resourceful and courageous young woman, who with her coterie of friends, finds herself involved in intergalactic conflict, facing Kadirons, basically aliens up to no good on a grand scale and confronted by a planet facing destruction. This is a entertaining space opera which was enjoyable to read, the only thing that really bothered me was Dominic Dulley's pacing of the narrative, it was too fast, with too much happening, with crisis followed by crisis. For me, it was too relentless for a story that otherwise was fabulous, other readers might not find this to be any issue whatsoever. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up but it’s safe to say I enjoyed Shattermoon. It’s quite a pacy book, with interesting characters and a fun story. I found it a bit tough to follow in places but overall I enjoyed it!

By the end of this book, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read more of the characters introduced in Shattermoon. It's Space Opera but doesn't feel too spread out or expansive, the plot is set over a small number of locations but leaves plenty of scope for much more exploration in future novels, and much more political plotlines as well. Instead of focusing on the locations or the wider political concerns, Shattermoon very much concentrates on the characters, and this is a brilliant strategy to open what could become a wide range of stories.

After a great start, I will admit that my attention wandered a little in the middle, as I was not sure where the story was going, and some of the characters seemed a little cliched and two dimensional. But the last 3rd of the book completely changed my opinion. It was almost as if the author was lulling readers into a false sense of familiarity and safety, but then turns everything on it's head. The story pulls no punches and gets pretty brutal with some it's events. No one makes it through the book unscathed physically, or more importantly, mentally. Every character who I thought was a cliche has their story completely rewritten by the end, and the author has been very brave to make some of the decisions they did character wise. There is emotional punch after emotional punch, and it all works extremely effectively. It also never seems forced, the actions of all characters fit with their personalities and feel 'right'.

When I have read a book like this, it's always a good sign when you genuinely feel for the characters. From loving the 'good guys' to absolutely detesting the 'bad guys', this book pulled me into the world it created and I can't wait to read more.

What a delightful rip-roaring space opera! This book has it all for science fiction fans - a brave and resourceful heroine, a sentient space ship, evil aliens, and a long-dead powerful and mysterious race. Presiding over it all by means of military might, a decadent ruling class with a vice-like stranglehold over a vast human empire.

I was drawn in from the start by the rich, complex plot, the interesting characters, hair-raising situations and astonishingly inventive technology. The Shattermoon of the title was fascinating, although it did not feature in the story for very long. I would have liked to find out more about the original inhabitants and am hoping we will in future adventures of Orry and her companions.

The action was non-stop - perhaps a bit too much so! It would have been nice to get some indication of time passing between the incessant disasters and relentless crises facing our little group. However, the quick-thinking and resourceful Orry specialised in getting out of sticky situations in a way which was clever, inventive and fun for the reader. All in all, a great read and I was surprised to hear that this is the author's debut novel as it is so sophisticated and polished.

There's a lot to like in this debut novel. It captures some of the caper style of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, as well as the deep space gothic of Alastair Reynolds' Revenger, which are all Good Things round here. It starts with a simple con job, and soon escalates to inter species space conflict and the threat of planetary annihilation. It's a fun space romp to begin with, with gradually increasing amounts of grimdark fantasy style violence before ending with a genuinely exciting atmospheric climax. The characterisation is serviceable, and I did find myself rooting for the super-resourceful Orry, while the worldbuilding is interesting, with plenty of tantalising background details dropped in.
Somehow though, it just didn't quite click for me. Ultimately, it's the fast pace which is the book's undoing. It's a big book, and it is so relentlessly slam-bang that it just left me feeling exhausted. Orry spins from one crisis to the next with barely a moment to draw breath. At half the length I would have loved it, or maybe even longer if the author had taken advantage of the extra space to build in some downtime, but as it stands it's a bit too wearing. I'll read the next one, but I'll probably have to have a nice sit down afterwards.

The entire book is missing from the download and there is no mobi file. It only contains the blurb and a picture. Im unable therfore to read said book. Kindle is not compatible with protected pdf, please update to include mobi file and i will be able to read the book.