Honestly I am kicking myself in the butt for not taking more notes when I read the first book, Velocity Weapon which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately that enjoyment backpedaled off this sequel. It's still a great book! It's a non stop action thrill ride. It is a planet hopping science fiction filled with futuristic goodies as well as the scarier than hell decision making our characters are met with.. It is a perfect summer read that fans of science fiction and action filled adventure would also enjoy series. I confess that this is a book tailored to my likes...
Full review to come on my YouTube channel

"Chaos Vector"—the sequel to "Velocity Weapon"—picks up immediately after the revelations in the first book. And, that includes both the plot and the pace. Fans of "Velocity Weapon" will be pleased to know that the author presents a strong and fast-paced sequel to this familial space opera. Science fiction fans and anyone who is interested in an intriguing space opera should read this series, especially with the third and final book in the trilogy—"Catalyst Gate"—releasing this summer (2021)!

"Chaos Vector" is a strong and an entertaining sequel to this under-appreciated space opera. Both the characters and the plot develop as answers lead to more questions. Everything Megan E. O’Keefe has written in her story guarantees a promising conclusion to this trilogy!

A very good follow-up to Velocity Weapon. More engaging space adventure, populated by excellent characters. O'Keefe's writing is excellent, and it's a blast to spend time with these people again. If you loved the first book, then you should absolutely get this one. Recommended.

Chaos Vector was an excellent follow up to Velocity Weapon! O’Keefe has dramatically improved as a writer; the pacing was much, much better in this sequel. The twists are just as punchy as you could hope, though I’m not sure ANYTHING can top the one in Velocity Weapon. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through. Plotlines connect, merge, and shift when you least expect.

My biggest complaint about the first book was that I had trouble caring about any of the characters other than Sanda. Her storyline was by far the most interesting to me, and I found myself skimming through Biron’s chapters in an effort to get back to my beloved Sanda, Bero, and Grippy. In Chaos Vector, this has been fully resolved. O’Keefe fleshed out the rest of the cast in ways I didn’t expect, but was delighted to see. The characters from the initial heist sections, who were least interesting to me before, became some of my favorites. Biron’s story shifted from second tier to being engaging and driven.

That said, the expanded focus on characters doesn’t mean that Chaos Vector was lacking in action. Far from it! At times, it almost felt like I was watching a high-stakes space action film; in fact, I’d be lining up at the theater to watch it.* The reveals were beautifully timed at highly emotional moments, leading me to be very upset with O’Keefe for the wringer she was putting my feelings through. Yes, this was a good thing and is what made the book excellent, but also wow, how dare she.

*after vaccinations are finished, of course.

I am waiting with bated breath for the conclusion of The Protectorate Trilogy. Naturally, O’Keefe gave us some truly twisty reveals right at the end of Chaos Vector just to be a little extra cruel. I simply can’t wait to find out what she does with them!

The first book in this series was thrilling with so many amazing twists that I never saw coming. It was like being repeatedly and unexpectedly slapped. This book carries on with the non-stop greatness, but it didn’t have quite as many incredible twists. That’s not to say that there were none at all… there were a few!

In retrospect, I don’t have much to say about Chaos Vector. It was a great story and the majority of the characters are quite likable. I did like that the two storylines from Velocity Weapon come together and make the story feel more cohesive. Jules and Sanda in the same place/timeline was pretty exciting.

This installment went stronger on characterization than plot which was good in a way, but I missed those jaw dropping surprises! I think that’s partially why this book didn’t rank quite as highly as the first. I thought the plot advancements were fab – Casimir gates, potential war, rogue Nazca – it had all the stuff I liked, but without as much pizzaz.

Overall I think it is a solidly written series and I am definitely looking forward to getting my hands on the next installment. For me, this had the “sophomore slump”. Yeah, there were big events, big changes, but GOSH it just didn’t wow me like Velocity Weapon.

After the events of book one (Velocity Weapon), Sanda wants to find the location that was left on a chip inside her head, but doesn't know who she can trust. She decides to gather a group of people not connected to the military or the Keepers to help her get there in exchange for finding their missing friend. Tomas meanwhile is Called back into service by the Nazca and Sanda's brother Biran is trying to ease political tensions and prevent a war by building a new Casmir gate.

Chaos Vector took an already phenomenal cast of characters and story and dug deeper. A lot of the unconnected characters from Velocity Weapon are now allies or foes, the politics are more pronounced, and the stakes are higher. While I enjoyed the first book in the series a bit more, I was still blown away by the sheer scope of world building, intense action, and incredible cast of diverse characters. This series has it all for sci-fi buffs: AI characters, space battles, interstellar politics , conspiracies spanning millennia and more.

Overall, I have loved both books in this series, and the next book will definitely be one of my most anticipated books of the year. The only reason I did not give this one five stars was because of the giant string left hanging in one of the story arcs. I assume O'Keefe will get to it in book three, but I was hungry for the knot in that string.

Sanda Greeve didn't ask to be the sole owner of a set of coordinates leading to a mysterious point beyond a sealed dead gate, but it's what she was left with after events left her stranded on a ship with an AI named Bero. With Bero fleeing to the far fringes of space to prevent himself from being weaponized, Sanda will have to rely on herself and her very few allies to find a way to the coordinates. Because whatever is waiting there is something multiple people want to either hide or obtain, and they're all willing to kill for it.

That was a rather brief and vague summary for the second book in THE PROTECTORATE Trilogy, but like its predecessor VELOCITY WEAPON, CHAOS VECTOR is a book of steady reveals.  While not quite as gasp-inducing as book one (and really, how would you have topped THAT reveal), CHAOS VECTOR nevertheless manages to zip along at a good clip, unpacking mysteries while introducing new ones. CHAOS VECTOR is much more of an intergalactic trek this time out, as Sanda tries to collect the people, resources, and political clout she needs to activate a gate, something only the Keepers (protectors of gate technology and all its related secrets) can authorize. Those of you who like escapes from exploding space stations, firefights, and traveling to backwater planets will have the perfect book to snuggle up with.

Sanda continues to be the stand out character of the series, the epitome of a reluctant hero who takes the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders because she quite literally can't trust anyone else to do it. With the planets on the brink of war and multiple shadow factions trying to shape events to their liking, Sanda has to forge a path forward, sometimes getting it right and sometimes getting it wrong. It's a burden that definitely takes an emotional toll as the story goes on and fatigue sets in, but Sanda will keep trudging forward, one step at a time.

Sanda has a good supporting cast in the background as she adds new people to her crew, and her lover Tomas even gets a few POV chapters to flesh out other sides of the story, adding a new angle I appreciated. Jules continues to be a bit of an enigma, but is absolutely never to be discounted as a key influencer of events.  Once again, though, Biran failed to be a character I really connected to. As a Keeper trying to manage peace negotiations with the rebellious planet Icarion, he adds key context to the galactic level stakes, but I just didn't care on an emotional level about what he was going through. His chapters are relatively few, however, so it didn't stall me on the book overall.

True to form, CHAOS VECTOR ends with some reveals that quite dramatically shift the direction of events. There are still plenty of unanswered questions and dangling threads, but thankfully this series is a trilogy, so readers can expect for everything to come together in the next installment. If you like your space adventure with a healthy dose of intergalactic conspiracy, the time is now to catch-up with THE PROTECTORATE!

Rating: 10/10

I have been dreading writing this review, mostly because I enjoyed reading Chaos Vector so much that I really wanted to do that book justice and also partly because I was having trouble finding the right words to describe the experience. So, before I get too rambly and possibly lose you, if you take nothing else out of this review it should be this: Chaos Vector is a great fucking book, and if you are a fan of Velocity Weapon (the first in the Protectorate Series) you will love the follow-up, too.

I mention that it is a follow-up, because that is really important to note. The first thing that appealed to me about Chaos Vector is that author Megan O’Keefe played the second book in the series perfectly. Sanda, the female lead everyone fell in love with in Book 1, is back and badder than ever in Book 2. She does not let anything slow her down, and nothing stops her from fighting for what she thinks is right – not even a prosthetic leg that never seems to act like it should – which I think is a completely underrated part of this book. Sanda’s story continues in earnest, searching for the reason behind the chip installed in her head. She takes a friends along the ride for the adventure, some old and some new, but Sanda continues to lead on the main stage. Kicking ass, no name-taking required.

Biran resumes his role in this story as Sanda’s ground-support, as well. As in Velocity Weapon, Biran is just as stubborn and headstrong as his sister, fighting the good fight as a Keeper. I really love watching his character uncover secrets and trying to keep corruption out of the Protectorate. I have often praised series that contain two main protagonists for a yin-yang dynamic, but that is not the case, here: both Sanda and Biran represent the Yang side of the philosophy – both going hard after what they want and never stopping. Biran is a supplement to Sanda, rather than a compliment, and that contributes to the constant action the reader gets from this series. Instead of adding cream to our coffee to balance it out, O’Keefe gave us an espresso double-shot and turned up the volume. And I am so here for it.

Let’s not forget Bero, who continues a role as a different-but-still-big-and-important character. One of the biggest draws of Velocity Weapon was the growth of Sanda and Bero’s relationship throughout the book; and, while you can never recreate that, O’Keefe does the next best thing: separates the two for a while. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and not only is that relevant to Sanda’s story, but I found as a reader that applied to me, as well.

Speaking of O’Keefe’s writing, I was really impressed at the tone of Chaos Vector. The author explains nothing. There is no information dump. Every piece of information about this world and its people and processes is gained through the context of experience and dialogue of the characters. Also, there is no summary of the events in Book 1. You have to read it before reading Book 2. And there were also a lot of little things that showed up in the writing: dialects and slang and other nuances of language for which an explanation is never really provided. All of this to say that, in my opinion, the author is telling you she has high expectations for you as a reader. Trying to make sense of the complicated world that O’Keefe has built? Focus on the details. Confused by events that continue into Book 2? Read the first book! Not sure what that abbreviated slang term means? Pay attention to the context surrounding it. O’Keefe offers no easy outs in this series, makes no apologies, and I applaud her for it.

With Velocity Weapon and now Chaos Vector, the Protectorate Series continues to blow my mind. Megan O’Keefe has written 2 parts of a fabulous space adventure that I cannot wait to continue. Very highly recommended for fans of fantasy and sci-fi, and in particular those who love Space Operas. The only downside is now the wait for Book 3 begins…

Where I was literally swept off my feet by Velocity Weapon, the first volume of this saga, the sequel took my breath away with the expanding complexity of the universe it describes and the excellent balance between action and characterization that takes the story to a new, higher level and lays the foundations for quite an explosive ending climax.

At the end of the previous book, the situation in the Ada Prime system was of tightly controlled strain, the conflict between Ada and Icarion still brewing under the surface as the rebellion and disappearance of Bero - the evolved AI running the ship Light of Berossus - further upset the precarious balance between the two powers. Now Sanda Greeve, the pivotal figure in that series of momentous events, understands that she must find the answers to her questions alone, not being able to really trust anyone after the string of half-truths and deceptions she was subjected to: as she tries to do her best to make sense of the often conflicting information she gathers, she struggles to stay alive against what look like insurmountable odds and a chain of plots-within-plots that threatens to bring the very fragile status quo to and end…

Once again, I find myself unable to supply a decent synopsis of this high-octane story, not so much out of a lack of proper terms, but because to do so would spoil your enjoyment of it: in my review of Velocity Weapon I used the term ‘jaw dropping’ to define the surprises that were in store for us readers, and this is even more true here, where we uncover a few of the pieces of this very complicated puzzle and we understand that there must be more, much more that still needs to be brought to light. But where I feel compelled not to reveal anything about the plot of Chaos Vector, I am free to talk at length about its amazing characters, both old and new, and the way their emotional and psychological growth enhances this story and gifts it with a deep layer of humanity that grounds and complements the elements of drama and adventure.

Sanda is the kind of character that’s easy to root for, because she’s both strong and compassionate, determined and gifted with a quirky sense of humor: if before we saw her deal with courage and toughness to adversities, here she evolves from someone who reacted to circumstances to an individual who takes matters in her own hands and makes difficult decisions that might cost her, both in the short and long run, but does so out of a strong moral foundation that knows no compromises. The Sanda we meet here in Chaos Vector is a person who seems to run constantly on the last fumes of her energy, dodging short-sighted superiors, impossible odds and deadly dangers, and yet she keeps going, driven by the need to forestall what appears as an inescapable catastrophe.

What makes Sanda different here is the fact she’s not acting on her own anymore: she requires allies to do what she desperately needs to do, and the people she slowly gathers around her - like a spinning celestial body that attracts drifting matter through gravitational forces - greatly help in defining her personality’s traits and show her ability in bringing their skills to the surface as she builds them into a cohesive team. If there is one narrative theme I enjoy it’s that of ‘found families’, a mixed bag of individuals brought together by circumstances and who are able to pool their strengths for the common good: this theme is strongly celebrated here thanks to the crew Sanda assembles out of the most disparate characters one could imagine. On the surface, these people might look like stereotypes: Nox the former military turned rogue; Arden the tech wizard and skilled hacker; Liao the driven scientist; or again Conway and Knuth, regulations-bound junior officers - but it’s through their skillful characterization that they are revealed as individuals with their own voice and personalities, and their slow but constant growth into (to use that previous metaphor) an accretion disk around Planet Sanda. Or rather, into a family.

Sanda’s brother Biran undergoes his own transformation - maybe not as quick or outwardly evident as his sister’s, but he’s progressively leaving behind the bright-eyed ideals that fueled his career among the Keepers as he discovers that the real-politik requirements of his position are quite far from those earlier dreams, and that he needs to adapt if he still wants to do what’s right for his people. There is this core of sadness and disillusionment in Biran that lays a grey pall on him, and I’ve wondered more than once wether he will be able to remain faithful to the essence of those ideals or if the compromises he’s forced to accept will change him, and in what way.

As far as the story itself is concerned, Chaos Vector is a veritable emotional rollercoaster, spinning plot points and revelations with a relentless pace made even more implacable by the alternating POVs: most of them end with a cliffhanger-like situation, but unlike what happens in other novels these segue into equally intriguing chapters that keep your attention riveted just as much as the previous ones, resulting in a compelling page-turner where shady research labs coexist with an equally crooked guild of fixers and/or killers for hire; where some of the military show corruption through the chinks in their armor and the members of the underworld appear to possess a certain code of honor. And of course, this being a space opera novel, there are many instances of intriguing technology: wearable access to a galaxy-wide net; healing-gel baths capable of bringing wounded back from the brink of death; gates that bridge enormous distances, and so on - but these are just… background decoration because The Protectorate, as a series, chooses to focus more on the human element of the story rather than on technological wonders, and that’s one of its winning details, the will to focus on people and the ties that bind them, on the concept of family and loyalty, on what being human means.

More than once I found myself thinking that The Protectorate possesses the perfect requirements to be turned into a space opera TV series as engaging as The Expanse, just to name one: it is my hope that enlightened executives from streaming services like Netflix or Amazon will see this story’s potential and show the foresight their Hollywood counterparts - mired in a self-defeating circle of reboots and prequels - seem to have long since lost.

In the meantime, I will look forward to the next book in line…

Chaos Vector is the second in Megan E O'Keefe's "The Protectorate" series, which began with last year's "Velocity Weapon" (which I reviewed here). I enjoyed Velocity Weapon, the first in an Epic Space Opera, although I didn't quite love it: the book was very long and concluded on not just a big cliffhanger, but also had a major side plotline that repeatedly interrupted the main plot at annoying times and then ended with an utter dud, to diminish my enjoyment of it all. The story was excellent at introducing a number of really interesting mysteries and had a very solid lead character, so I was interested in continuing it further however.....but I didn't love it enough that I didn't have to do a quick skim of the first book before I could continue to the sequel.

NOTE: This book's summary on booksellers online is completely misleading, referring to cooperation and conflict between parties who basically never come into contact with one another in this entire book as if it's a main focus. So yeah, ignore that if you're trying to decide whether to take a spin on this book after reading its predecessor.

And well, Chaos Vector is very similar to its predecessor: it features a strong main plot with a strong lead character, some very interesting mysteries - some new and some old - and some clearly weaker side plots that the narrative keeps shifting to an inappropriate moments. It's again a rather long novel, and it makes solid use of all of that page length - a lot of stuff happens here, to the point where events you might expect to happen at the climax actually occur at the 1/3-through mark, and again it intrigued me enough that I'm probably in for another novel in this series. At the same time, I just can't shake the feeling that I should like this one more than I actually did, which is hard to explain.

NOTE2: It's impossible to avoid spoiling the main twist from Velocity Weapon. So SPOILERS FOR VELOCITY WEAPON BELOW THE JUMP - I'm not going to try to avoid them here and you really can't read this book without reading Velocity Weapon first.

------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------

Sanda Greeve has survived an assault from a mysteriously inhuman Keeper Lavaux and her time on the most dangerous weapon seemingly ever invented: The Light of Berossus - known to her as her former "friend" Bero. Now, thanks to doctored footage, she's on the run with one of her fathers and the Nazca spy Tomas, without any hint of what to do next except to investigate the mystery that caused all of these troubles: the mysterious coordinates in space wanted by the dead Keeper.

But in the process of trying to find a way to get to those coordinates, Sanda finds herself allying with the remnants of a gang of thieves, including a super-skilled hacker and a former soldier, who are on the lookout for their friend: Jules, the young woman who accidentally killed a Keeper two years ago. Their search leads Sanda back to the mysterious Rainier Lavaux, the supposed wife of Keeper Lavaux and who is clearly far more than that - a being with means and an agenda that threatens the entire galaxy. And as Sanda discovers more about Rainier's plans and the mysterious coordinates, she begins to discover that the foundation of humanity's expansion into the galaxy may not be as true as she once thought.....

Meanwhile, Jules has spent the last two years working for Rainier for the purpose of finding a way to restore to life her comatose friend, and has been helping Rainier obtain a number of scientists to work on a program for Rainier's mysterious goals. But Jules, now changed by the ascension agent, isn't worried about Rainier's true goals and is willing to do whatever it takes, no matter the cost, to save her sleeping friend.......

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Velocity Weapon featured an Epic Space Opera with essentially three narratives, with each narrative featuring one of three point of view characters: Sanda, Biran, and Jules. Sanda is essentially the main protagonist of the series, with her activities inside Bero and the revelations that ensued driving the main focus of the plot both in the last book and in this one. Biran in the last book had his own plot that intersected with Sanda (he's her brother and a Keeper, the type of government leader entrusted with a chip in his head that detailed the technology that spread humanity to the stars), and so while his arc was a secondary one, it dovetailed directly with Sanda's so it never felt out of place. Jules' arc on the other hand was totally separate, with no connection to the main arc until the very end, where a character from the main arc (Rainier Levaux) forced Jules into working for her. As such, Jules' arc - as well as the occasional flashbacks the series would have to the creator of Prime, the government that spread space travel to humanity - really never paid off in that last book, and it left a reader really hoping it would in this book.

The good news is that it takes practically no time at all for Jules to intersect with the other main characters this time around, and everything comes together quickly. And while that definitely happens, it happens at the same time as the book separating out one of the other narratives from the main one and leaving it on the side. Chaos Vector adds a fourth narrative - Tomas, the Nazca spy who fell in love with Sanda (and vice versa) which does intersect with Jules and Sanda (duh) - but splits Biran out to the side, where he's more or less trying to deal with the local system fallout from last book's actions while the rest of the cast is dealing with seemingly wider concerns.

And well, Sanda's plot works really well, which is key because she's again essentially the main character. The book wastes no time building her a support cast this time around, and they get a little more development than any support cast did last book (some are returning characters), but the key focus is Sanda and she's great. Now in better command of what's going on around her, Sanda is resourceful and highly intelligent in a world where seemingly everyone she could trust has turned out to be false, and full of the determination needed to try and both figure things out and put things right. The book hints early that she might have a conflict with her new crew over their divergent agendas - they want to rescue Jules, she wants to investigate the coordinates - but it smartly avoids that conflict ever really coming into play, with Sanda being sure to get her team on the same page: and the one time she can't, she ensures that won't be a factor.

And her plot, which again is the main one for this book, takes some really interesting turns as she discovers more about Rainier and the coordinates, and what they mean about humanity's true journey into space three thousand years ago. The first book did a great job building a bunch of tantalizing mysteries into the plot, and this book goes into overdrive doing the same thing, even as it answers a few of the old ones. What is Rainier and what is her goal? What really happened at the creation of Prime and humanity's expansion into the stars, and what was behind the sphere that gave Alexandra the knowledge needed to pull it off? And how much do the keepers know about it all, and what is the connection between them and Rainier? And where do the Nazca fit in all this? These are all incredibly tantalizing questions, and the book does a great job making them all interesting and making me want to read further to get answers.

Unfortunately, as I hinted above, the other narratives don't quite measure up, and where they separate from the main narrative they become significantly less interesting.....and like the last book, the story seems to jump between the narratives often at random moments, so a cliffhanger for Sanda will be interrupted by a jump to Biran for seemingly no reason, which is just annoying. Biran's attempts to prevent war in his home system and to build a new Gate just can't help but feel minor in comparison to Sanda's galaxy-spanning quest, and while they do obviously connect in the end, the connection is one sided and kind of frustrating (Spoiler in ROT13: Onfvpnyyl abguvat Ovena qbrf punatrf gur bhgpbzr bapr ur frgf vg va zbgvba gb unir gur frpbaq tngr ohvyg, juvpu vf whfg vaperqvoyl sehfgengvat gb ernyvmr ng gur raq. Vg whfg ohvyqf grafvba gung ur pna arire erfbyir va guvf obbx sbe ab ernfba frrzvatyl.). And while Jules and Tomas' narratives are far more connected, and are definitely more interesting as a result, where they go is often frustrating in and of themselves, with Jules' final actions seemingly like a massively out of character decision.

The result is a space opera novel that is still epic in scope and still leaves me wanting answers....but also is incredibly frustrating at the same time. If this book was a movie, I'd likely wikipedia the next book's page to see what happens first before I decide to read it to try and get those answers and see if the frustration might abate. Alas, it's not, and I will probably continue on to the third book to see how things resolve. I just hope O'Keefe will tie everything together more firmly in the future - there's some really great setup here (much of which I haven't really talked about in this review!), but just enough problems to prevent me from being as happy with it all as I should be.