Velocity Weapon

The full review is available at The Gray Planet.

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe is an interesting and fun space opera with a little bit of everything, including some irritating style quirks.

Sanda Greeve is a gunship pilot in the Ada Prime military. After being on defensive patrol near Icarion space, she suddenly finds herself awakened after being preserved in an evacuation pod, apparently after a space battle she doesn't remember. She has lost part of one leg. She finds herself aboard an Icarion (the enemy) AI Class Cruiser, The Light of Berossus The ship AI introduces himself as Bero. Bero tells Sanda that 230 years have passed after the Battle of Dralee in which Sanda's gunship was destroyed. As part of the battle, Ada Prime, Sanda's home planet was destroyed by a special weapon deployed by the Icarions.

230 years before, at the time of the Battle of Dralee, Sanda's younger brother, Biran, is a newly graduated Keeper. The Keepers are specially trained leaders of Ada Prime and have computer chips implanted in their skulls. The chips don't give them any special abilities, but rather contain encrypted data on the construction of Casimir Gates, the interstellar jump points that tie together the Prime Universe. This secret data allows the Primes to maintain control of interstellar space.

The remainder of the novel is written in chapters that alternate between Sanda's point of view and Biran's point of view, 230 years apart. We are also introduced to another group of characters, led by Jules, a young woman from the lower cast in the Prime Universe who works with a criminal gang living in lower class neighborhoods.

There are also interludes that give us two other points of view. The first is that of Alexandra Halston, an historical character who was the businesswoman who led Prime Corporation, which developed space commercially and built the first Casimir Gate. The history of the Prime Universe is dated from the development of the first Gate.

The second Interlude point of view is that of Callie Mera, Ada Prime's favorite newscaster. Callie does have an important role to play, but unless that role is significantly increased in sequels, Callie seems superfluous.

The velocity weapon of the title is Bero, who is an interstellar capable ramscoop ship. As a weapon, Bero can accelerate masses to relativistic velocities, thereby increasing their mass and making them dangerous projectiles. This is the edge Icarion uses in their opposition to the Gate monopoly the Primes hold.

The story hinges on Sanda's struggle for survival after being awakened on Bero, and on Biran's struggle to find his sister and save her, if she is still alive.

Sanda's struggle is the stuff of science fiction adventure–she is faced with lots of problems and has to be clever to solve them. But O'Keefe also provides a lot of twists and turns for Sanda, most of them interesting at least, and many of them pretty surprising. After being alone for some time, she is joined in her struggle for survival by another rescued soldier, Tomas. Tomas is an enigma and Sanda is not sure if she should trust him. Their relationship is well-developed and interesting.

Biran's story is a political one where he must work within the existing power structure of Ada Prime's ruling Protectorate of Keepers to be sure the possibility of Sanda's survival and her rescue is a high priority. Biran also fights against what he thinks is the Protectorate's mismanaged approach to the war with Icarion. As he seeks information about Sanda, Biran uncovers a variety of deep and significant secrets within the political power structure of the Protectorate.

Velocity Weapon is an enjoyable ride, although at times I found myself aware of the writer's manipulative ways. There are 80 chapters and six interludes in the book, and maybe they don't all end with cliffhangers, but most of them do, particularly in the last half. This is a bit overdone, but it is effective. O'Keefe keeps giving us more and more as the story goes on, but she effectively handles the complications (albeit with a few deus ex machinas thrown in) and uses most of her surprises to complicate and deepen the story.

O'Keefe adds interesting and well thought out plot twists and science fiction elements that kept me interested. She has constructed a universe where the science fiction elements (her space travel technology and where it came from, the Keepers and their secrets, what Jules and her fellow criminals discover and are caught up in) are an integral part of the plot. This gives the book a depth that most space opera no longer has for me. As a space opera, this book is a big success.

O'Keefe is good enough with her characters that I care about Sanda and Tomas and Biran. The motivations of their antagonists are subtle and complex and serve to expand the action and provide interest.

I want to follow the adventures of Sanda and Brian and others as they figure out what's really going on in their world and how to control it.

Much of this novel contains major surprises which I won't reveal as they would ruin the story. There are also myriad minor surprises and cliffhanger moments along the way, sometimes too many. But O'Keefe manages make it all hang together and and keeps the story coherent.

I really liked the book and am ready for volume two.