Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I'm not sure where this book is going - from start to finish ... but the cool thing is, I really didn't care as I enjoyed the progress regardless. The mystery and intrigue and a character who's learning as well.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Four stars.
I think that I can't possibly give this book the review that it deserves, because for me, it was a revelation that I simply cannot read this kind of sci-fi/fantasy anymore, even though there was a time when I read nothing but this kind of thing. It was too reminiscent of those teen fictions for me, which affected how well I could dive into it. There was a lot of worldbuilding that I couldn't summon the energy to keep track of, which again, was probably not of the book's fault at all. I just wasn't suited for this. Was there anything inherently faulty with the plot? I don't think so, and there were some parts that were engaging. There were just too many parts that went by really slowly.

In my opinion, the book's base and theme was very interesting, however, it could be a little bit boring at some parts. The main character's personality was well-written and I enjoyed the events which contained her.
All in all, I rate it at 3 stars and I'm waiting to the next book to be released because at the end I wanted to continue reading.

Thank you for NetGalley and NineStar Press for the Advanced Reader Copy.

An intriguing sci-fi read with emotional depth and an unexpected cliffhanger — give me the next book now!
As I loved Beckley's writing in "Evie and the Pack-Horse Librarians" I jumped at the chance to read this book. The premise is super interesting: a retired war hero who looks young but she really isn't wants to start over... but her past (and probably her family legacy) catches up with her on the occupied planet of Satura.
The MC, Melin, is a character with amazing depth, whose struggle with PTSD feels visceral and real. There's a lot of social commentary about what is really heroic, the long-lasting traumas of colonialism and the way technology shapes us.
Do I wish that, at times, the overall pacing was a bit faster and that the book didn't end in a cliffhanger? I do. But this is only book 1 of a series so it was very excited to be immersed into this world. Can't wait for Book 2!

P.S. Thank you to NetGalley and NineStarPress for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great first book! I'm excited to see where this trilogy will go! I'm invested in Melin and the people of Satura. The cliff-hanger was okay, especially given that I have two more books to look forward to. I'm a reader that would be happy with all three books condensed into one but I know everyone isn't like that. If this continues along the same trajectory, I could see the Satura trilogy being very highly rated from me.

My favorite parts of this were the casual references to queer identities that are built into Beckley's worlds and cultures. Same-sex relationships seem to be a normal occurrence. When Melin is describing the people around her, if she is not 100% sure of how they identify, she says she does not know if they are male, female, or gender nonconforming. They/them pronouns are used without any fuss or discussion.

I'm really excited to see where this goes!

This was a really satisfying genre-mash with flavors of military sf, high fantasy, and highly capable but also relatable hero.

I enjoyed the use of the long-last hero trope as well, and thought it was carried out in a more engaging way than I've seen elsewhere, with more challenges than victories for the main character. Id I have one complaint it would be that there was SO MUCH to be set up in this first book that it felt like it crowded out some of the plot.

But I still enjoyed the journey, and am really looking forward to the next book! I want dragons!

I was so surprised by that book! I was expecting your general Si-Fi-Romance-Novel, but this book? There was not one kiss or even hint at romance, and givent what the main character went through, I was so happy they did not put a romance on top of that. This book was dealing with so much other stuff, PTSD, war, the concequences of war - I hate it when romance it put into that part of a story.
I am looking forward to the next book, hopefully there are going to be the dragons who have been mentioned...
Also, since the book ended on one of the most horrible cliff hangers in history, I hope the next part will be available soon.
Honestly I am hoping that Melin will be portrayed an asexual or maybe even an aromantic character. It would fit the image this first book has given me of her and I'd be happy to have more aro/ace representation in literature.
I am also eager to find out more about the dreams Melin had and what exactly they will mean for the further narrative.
It was an almost perfect read and I am so happy and excited for the following books to be released!

I received a free ARC by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Minor spoiler: this book ends with a massive cliffhanger. Not much of a surprise since it's the first in a trilogy but the end came a bit as a surprise for me. And disappointment which is good thing cause I wanted to keep reading. So even if you normally avoid cliffhangers I would urge you to accept it so you can read this book. It has a strong female lead in Melin, a war hero who doesn't want to be one and is actually not treated with a lot of respect since she woke up from cryo 17 years after the fact. This book is military sci fi but just as much mystery since as the reader you are trying to find stuff out alongside Melin. Maybe the pace is a little slow at times but it's an intruiging plot with lots of secrets and unknowns still to discover in the next books I am eagerly awaiting. And I get the feeling we'll be in for a whirlwind ride with (hopefully, oh I hope so) dragons.

*** An ARC was provided to me by Netgalley ***

I stopped and started so many times, I didn't realize it was a sci-fi/fantasy which I never read or enjoy I really tried to push thru and finish and god it was boring! I rate it a 2 when really I wanted to rate it a 1. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book to read.

Okay, I gave this a long time to think about how I felt about this book. I do find it interesting, and though this is much more of a military science fiction than anything, it feels more like a mystery to me. The lead character has dreams that she believes are nightmares, but some of those dreams have people in them that show up in other parts of the novel. So, with that, it is very slow, with relatively little happening over all, but there's a lot of actual story set up. So for me, there's a lot of mystery build up, but very little action moving the plot of this first book forward. Because of that, it took me a lot longer time to actually read through the book despite its shorter, 200 page length.

That said, I appreciated the attempt to keep me in the dark regarding the situation, and Melin is a captivating lead. Literally a person out of time, she has to relearn how to function in a society that has moved on. On top of that, she also has re occurring dreams that hint at a past life on the planet of her ancestors. Melin is just trying to function, but she's thrown into a swirling political situation on her home planet that keeps her from recovering from her PTSD of being tortured, then cryogenically frozen, and the nightmares she experienced while she was a sleep.

Melin's mystery is the thing that made me keep moving the pages, even as the pacing slowed to a crawl at times. It's tough to have a novel that focuses on dreams almost as much as the action out of them, and it doesn't quite work for me, but there's a lot there to get me to come back to the book.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5 stars. This was such a surprise I loved it and can’t wait for the second book to come! I like sci-fi and this series has plenty of that (military sci-fi to be specific) and some added fantasy elements as well. This is the second book by Beckley I read this year, the first being the novella “Evie and the pack-horse librarians”. In the novella I enjoyed the imaginative world Beckley created, but one of my thoughts was that the story deserved/needed a longer format, so I’m stoked with this book being a full-length novel and even more, as it is the first part of a trilogy.

From the first page I was hooked to the story of Melin. It starts at a point where she is trying to make a new start in her life. After 17 years of cryosleep she was awoken and crowned a war hero (something she loathes). She wakes in a world she doesn’t understand and where she doesn’t really know anybody. On top of that she has a disability that impacts her way of life and the way people see and treat her and she struggles with PTSD and anxiety. Basically, she became disillusioned with the military and the world she lives in. The only thing she wants to do is find a nice quite place where everybody will leave her alone. Melin hopes to find this place on Satura, a planet where her great grandmother grew up and which seems to draw her in for no specific reason.

During the nights Melin experiences these extremely vivid dreams, dreams of a fantasy world with royalty, knights and magic and she starts doubting her sanity as these dreams seem to have a strange connection with life at Satura. This fantasy world in parallel with the sci-fi world Melin lives in, is so nicely done and kept me wondering the entire time what would happen and how everything is connected. A note of warning though, do not expect to get all the answers in this book, in fact it ends with a cliffhanger. As I enjoyed the book so much, the cliffhanger is forgiven, but my only minor criticism would be the fact that it felt as if the book finished somewhere in the middle of the storyline. I’m a big fan of series, but I like it best when each book has its own separate storyline that sort of finishes with the book, while there are also one or more overarching storylines.

The book is written in the third person from the POV of Melin. There is plenty of action in this book, sucking you in, but there are also more quiet moments where you really get to know Melin, which are equally interesting. The book can be a bit dark and gloomy at times, as Melin is an incredibly strong woman, but she’s clearly emotionally not in the best place. Therefore, she’s not the warmest character, but she has a good heart and I’m looking forward to how her character will develop further.

There is no romance in this book, which I think fits with Melin’s current mental state, but I’m hoping she’ll find some romance later in the series. Furthermore, the book hints at more fantasy to come (with dragons? oh yes please dragons!). I was super happy reading this and recommend it to those looking for a good military sci-fi, fantasy book!

4.25 Stars. This was really good! This is the first book in The Satura Trilogy and what I believe is Beckley’s full-length debut. Earlier this year, I did read a novella by Beckley that I thought was a cute read. I’m not sure if it is due to the full-length, the story subject, or just that Beckley is improving, but I thought this book was a big step forward in both quality and enjoyment. One of my disappointments was not getting to read a lot of sci-fi this year, but out of the sci-fi I have read this is easily one of my favorites.

This is a military sci-fi with a hint of fantasy series. I’m hoping that hint of fantasy will grow much stronger in future books since I love a good fantasy/sci-fi mix. The premise of this book is about a war hero named Melin, who is trying to reinvent herself. After being tortured (this happened before the book starts) and left for dead, Melin is not the same solider she once was. Besides learning to live with a new disability, she also doesn’t understand these vivid dreams she keeps having. Dreams of Queens, swords, and dragons! Is this left over from the violence and torture she went through or do these dreams mean something more? Newly assigned to the planet of her Great Grandmother, which is where the dreams seem to resemble, Melin is hoping to find out.

I was really happy with the good mix of a character driven and plot driven story. Even when something more mundane was happening, like every day work for Melin, I was still completely sucked into the book. I knew this story was for me from the first few pages and I was perfectly content even during the slower parts. And in contrast when the exciting parts happened the book just flew by. This does end on a cliffhanger, which I’m never crazy about, but my disappointment was just that I wanted to keep reading. I was really enjoying this story and I didn’t want it to end. I also love where the story is going. It really ended in the perfect place and it makes me excited for book 2. Book 2 will be going on my most anticipated list of 2021.

I loved the character of Melin. She’s very strong but she’s really human too. She’s smart and doesn’t suffer fools, but she’s lost her true confidence from the war. She’s not always the nicest person, but you would want her to have your back. She’s dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and a new disability that people either take pity on or think less of her. But she’s stronger than she thinks and stronger than what others think of her. I can’t wait to see her blossom into the complete badass she really is. I believe Melin is a lesbian, but there is no romance in this book at all. I don’t think she is at that place emotionally yet to let someone in, but I can’t help but hope she might find someone in future books.

As you can tell I really enjoyed this one. I love reading about strong women especially when they prove others wrong. Melin has a long hill to climb in her personal journey and I’m looking forward to reading all about it. I would easily recommend this to military sci-fi fans. One thing is that Beckley keeps teasing us with the word ‘dragons’. There are no dragons yet, but I hope she’s actually preparing us for them and not really teasing. I can only imagine how great this sci-fi series could be if we find dragons in the next book.

An escape pod floating through space for almost 20 years is found, and contains Melin, the hero of the Redelki Wars. She has been left battered both in body & mind, and just wants to retire & be left in peace. She goes to a planet she’s never seen, Satura, based on her great-grandma’s stories. But peace is in short supply here, and Melin has to form a different plan.

The author is ex-military, and that shows in the detail of this book. The story shows the stupid bureaucracy in place even in the future. Melin has very vivid dreams about her great-grandma’s home world, and these continue even when she’s on Satura. The dreams definitely seem to be prophetic, and tell a story of the past of her ancestors. The colonial government keeps dragging her into the current struggle with the natives, and tensions are constantly boiling over.
The story is well told, but I had issues with all the ambiguity and unanswered questions. The book ends in a cliffhanger since it’s book 1 in a trilogy. But I felt like there were cliffhangers throughout the book. In the way the natives react to Melin, the messages of her dreams, the assorted problems of the colonial embassy—none of these issues are answered. I’m ok with a cliffhanger at the end of the book, but not all through the book. If you’re someone who doesn’t mind unanswered questions and ambiguity, then I think you would enjoy this book more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.