Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Morhelion is an action packed space adventure. 

Dominic Dulley has create a great cast of characters who you end up rooting for even if they are Con man and women. The banter between Orry, Ethan and Mender is one of my favourite element, even in dangerous situation you can’t help smile at it. I am still very much in love with the Dainty Jane, and whole heartedly believe she is the best space ship out there. 

The writing style is detailed, fast paced and easy to read. ( It did take me a couple of pages to get use to some of the name.) Let’s talk about the plot, it kept me hooked as Orry it basically on a more dangerous version of a scavenger hunt, where the prize at the end is either life or death. 

In Morhelion we find out more about the universe and how the human came to live in the stars. I hope we find out more about that in the next books. 

Another aspect I enjoyed was the way Orry uses the skills she gain from conning for a different reason. Especially love the way her mind works, it’s fascinating.

If you like science fiction, con artist and unlikely hero’s than I would suggest picking up Morhelion.

My rating for Morhelion is 4.5 out of 5.

I'm grateful to Jo Fletcher Books for a free advance copy of Morhelion.

Morhelion returns to the universe Dulley created in Shattermoon. Aurelia "Orry" Kent is one of a team of grifters, comprising her, the enigmatic Mender and her teenage brother, Ethan. Oh, and Mender's sentient starship, Dainty Jane. In Shattermoon, Orr and Ethan survived the death of their father and the loss of their previous ship, Bonaventure, and took up with Mender. They a,so earned the gratitude of the Emperor of the galactic Ascendancy and witnessed a war begin with the alien Kadiran.

In Morhelion we first see Orry and the gang doing what they do best - running a scam (these books really are like Hustle in space). Inevitably, things go wrong, and the story soon spins off into a series of fast-paced escapades involving spies, aliens, space Leviathans and some truly seamy characters. There's a slight Wild West atmosphere to the planet of Morhelion where isolated, bubble-enclosed communities floating above the gas giant mostly seem to host junkyards, dodgy lawmen and even dodgier saloons.But also a serious theme as the planet's main trade is in slaughtering those endangered - and sentient - Leviathans, rather proving Orry's point that the Ascendancy is rotten and uncaring.

It's an intensely enjoyable book, pretty much action filled and always very readable - Dulley has a genius for getting Orry & Co into a tight spot and then providing an audacious way out. Audacious, but never downright unbelievable, given the care with which he's portrayed Orry as resourceful, brave and quick-witted. She is a well-rounded protagonist, a couple of the villains here perhaps a bit cartoonish in comparison (unlike the magnificent Roag in Shattermoon). And there are some great one-liners in this book besides.

Morhelion is very much not hard SF - if you want a universe of buccaneering, laser battles and sculduggery without troubling too much over the speed of light, energy or distances, then Morhelion will be for you - that's not to say it's hand waving, Dulley accounts for everything that needs to be, but the book is focussed on the characters, not making the tech plausible. Which is fine by me - I'd rather he made, say, the scamming of a rich banker plausible that worry about hyperspace.

So, a good read, and I hope there are more adventures coming along for Orry and her mates.

After reading Shattermoon, the first book in this series, I was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. It's sci-fi on a grand scale but concentrating on events on a smaller scale, which works really well to keep the reader engaged.

It's the characters that really stand out though. It's so easy to see them as slotting into an obvious stereotype early one, but they all have good and bad sides and as a result are well fleshed out and unpredictable. Orry in particular is a great central character. She (mostly) always wants to do what she sees as being the right thing, but often this just highlights her naivety as things don't turn out the way she expects as the people around her do not react in the same way. I'm hoping the author starts to build this into her character going forward, I can see her developing as a result of the things that happen to her in this book.

The world building is imaginative as well, Morhelion particularly is a well thought out, unique and fascinating place.

Can't wait for the next one, and would recommend this wholeheartedly,

I had some reservations when I read Shattermoon, the first part of Dominic Dulley's SF adventure series The Long Game. The first book was by no means lacking action and incident, but it became a little repetitive in its chase sequences, racing from one battle, trap and escape to the next one. Despite its off-world setting, it was more like a Bond espionage thriller and rather short on science-fiction background detail. There were however indications that the relatively small-scale personal adventure of Aurelia 'Orry' Kent and her colleagues might open up as the prelude to a huge interplanetary war. We perhaps aren't quite at that stage yet, but Dominic Dully has fleshed out the series considerably with Morhelion, and the future looks even more promising.

I still had some reservations going into Morhelion however and the opening wasn't particularly promising, seeming to open with nothing more than a reprise of the first book. Having narrowly averted a major war, Orry and the small crew of the Dainty Jane are back to their old ways, preparing another elaborate scam to hook a rather gullible banker. Like Shattermoon, it all blows up in their faces and they inadvertently find themselves - again - captured and caught up in the greater political turmoil of the Fountainhead and the on-going war with the Kadiran in the Ascendancy.

It all seems very familiar. Orry has been given a secret important message that she must go to Morhelion to deliver to the Imperator, a message that could mark a turning point in the war. First however they have to get themselves out of the clutches of their nemesis Cordelia Roag, the most wanted criminal in the Ascendancy. Cue lots of flash-bang explosions, shoot-outs and close escapes from out-of-the-frying-pan situations. If the rest of book followed a similar path we'd be in for a rerun of Shattermoon, but fortunately Dulley has considerably more twists and incidents to bring to Morhelion.

What is unexpected and different is that some of Orry's team of adventurers have gone their own way as they might well realistically do and they play no further part in Morhelion, and are not even mentioned (which isn't to say that we might not encounter them again in the future). In their place, Orry picks up a few new characters whose fates become tied to hers, characters who just happen to have the necessary qualities they need to get them through the troubles ahead. They aren't always reliable and you can't be entirely sure of their motives and personal motivations, but that just keeps things fresh and exciting.

As for expansion of information on the nature of the worlds of the Ascendancy and its inhabitants, well, it's a mixed bag. There is certainly a colourful selection of characters, but often it's a case of it being similar to the Bond-in-space character of Shattermoon, with one world consisting of whalers-in-space, backward people-torturing rednecks-in-space (complete with corrupt law-enforcement officers) and space-cowboys getting involved in bar-room brawls. On the other hand, we finally get introduced to the Karidan for real and my goodness are they for-real! As the Kadiran plot develops with worlds being destroyed, we are dropped into the midst of a ferocious battle where Orry's information might be the only chance to save the Ascendancy from alien annihilation.

You might hope for something more original with a little more ambition, but even on the terms of it being just a great space-adventure entertainment, Morhelion has much more variety and imagination on show than Shattermoon. There's genuinely not a slow patch in the book and plenty to keep you reading it right through. I may have had some reservations after the first book in the Long Game series, but I'm very much on-board now for book three!