Defending Elysium

This is a prequel novella from the Cytoverse aka the Skyward series. This apparently started as its own thing, but was eventually reworked into what we see today. 

The novella follows Jason Write of the Phone Company. The PC was the first earthly company to discover FTL communications (which are kind of like brain powered (Cytonic) long-distance radio calls into space).  They then used this accidental first contact to become completely autonomous from governments and to virtually become to most powerful company in the world.

Jason, a blind Cytonic, and agent of the PC is sent on a mission to recover a kidnapped scientist. I enjoyed this character and the fact that the author created him for the purpose of introducing Cytonic powers. Because he is blind, he uses these powers to sense everything around him (a thing that was described in a way that had me closely picturing Daredevil honestly). 

What fell short for me, at least as a huge fan of Skyward and the following releases, is that this isn't the prequel I would have expected or looked for. This tells an incredibly closed off story, which I won't go into more of. I would have looked for more background information on Cytonics, or FTL, or the state of earth/space travel while humans were still attached to earth. That's not to say that it was bad of course, I'm just surprised. 

I would definitely say the in between novellas with Janci Patterson are way more necessary reads than this, but it is quick and worth a read. (Sadly no audio, so my dear Suzy Jackson wasn't heard on this one).