FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
Listeners, buckle in for a breakneck treasure hunt across the stars as two women race to find a legendary ship with a malicious entity named Mother hot on their heels. Charlotte Blacklock imbues every scene with youthful vivacity and captures the overall tone of the story with special emphasis on its snark, humor, and heart. Character voices are adequate but lack accents and key traits that are described in the narrative. While the dialogue is serviceable, Blacklock remains excels in narrating action scenes. Steady and consistent, she finds a compelling groove that offsets the weaker elements of her narration, enhancing the blend of sci-fi and magic in this first entry in a new series. J.M.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
06/11/2018
White’s assured debut is an entertaining throwback with some fun worldbuilding and two great lead characters. In the distant future, well after space has been colonized, almost all humans have magic powers, conveniently divided into RPG-like classes (machinists are great with tech, fatalists are perfect shots, etc.). One of the few who doesn’t is Boots, a former space rebel and reality TV star who makes a living producing fake salvage maps for desperate space captains, including her former captain, Cordell. While trying to avoid his retribution for her fraud, she runs across star race car driver Nilah, who has just survived an attack by a mysterious mage and a group of murderous mercenaries. Cordell captures them and brings them onto his ship, where they immediately meet the crew and help fight off an attack. As the adventure continues, plenty of White’s action doesn’t hold up to serious scrutiny, and some expository dialogue is painful (“Malik has sleep magic. Keeps them young,” one person explains to Boots, who presumably already knows how sleep magic works). But this space adventure is calling back to an era when such flaws were woven into the genre, and readers looking for a modern take on it, complete with many female and nonwhite characters, will be pleased. Agent: Connor Goldsmith, Fuse Literary. (July)
From the Publisher
"A clever fusion of magic and sci-fi makes this book a total blast. I was hooked from page one."—V. E. Schwab, author of the Shades of Magic series
"A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is perfectly paced, full of intense, inventive action and refreshingly honest characters. It's the seamless hybrid of fantasy and sci-fi that you didn't know you always needed. Do you miss Firefly? Do you want it back? Well, sorry, not gonna happen. But this book is damn close."—Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld
"[T]his ambitious start...combines magic and space opera to create a fast-paced adventure with charismatic characters and formidable enemies in a realized universe of greed and power."—Booklist
"To call this book fast-paced or action-packed is underselling it. Buckle up, readers: this is a ride you won't want to get off until the end."—B&N Sci-fi & Fantasy Blog
"Racing! Treasure and smuggling! A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a gripping quest for justice among salvage and magic—I really loved it."
—Mur Lafferty, author of Six Wakes
"White's assured debut is an entertaining throwback with some fun worldbuilding and two great lead characters."—Publishers Weekly
"A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a raucous genre-buster that careens through a series of hear-stopping curves and roars to a podium finish. Bratty, brilliant racer Nilah and hard-boiled cynic Boots are as winning a pair of strong female characters as I've met in years. A pacy plot, a diverse supporting cast, and a vivid set of worlds round out this highly entertaining series opener. Alex White is going to be leading the pack for years to come."
—Claire Humphrey, author of Spells of Blood and Kin
"A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a rollicking fun ride. I enjoyed it a lot, and I'm looking forward to the sequel, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy."—Locus
"A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe starts in high gear and never lets up. Boasting action, intrigue and deadly fusions of technology and magic, you have to remember to put the book down now and then to take a breath!"
—Mike Brooks, author of Dark Run
"An exciting, fast-paced, magic-fueled treasure hunt across the galaxy."
—Corey J. White, author of the Voidwitch series
"A crazy blend of SF and fantasy concepts, with exciting characters and a brilliant universe - highly recommend!"—Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus Wars series
"This universe's thrilling combination of technology and magic traps two tough women in a fight for their lives, and although Nilah has a better life to fight for, Boots is marvelously stubborn. Guaranteed to make you wonder what kind of sigil you'd draw in their world."—R. E. Stearns, author of Barbary Station
FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
Listeners, buckle in for a breakneck treasure hunt across the stars as two women race to find a legendary ship with a malicious entity named Mother hot on their heels. Charlotte Blacklock imbues every scene with youthful vivacity and captures the overall tone of the story with special emphasis on its snark, humor, and heart. Character voices are adequate but lack accents and key traits that are described in the narrative. While the dialogue is serviceable, Blacklock remains excels in narrating action scenes. Steady and consistent, she finds a compelling groove that offsets the weaker elements of her narration, enhancing the blend of sci-fi and magic in this first entry in a new series. J.M.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
