A Galaxy Unknown - Thomas DePrima

This book is about a young woman from a military family who, shortly after being posted to her first ship, is lost in an escape pod (for a very long time) and awakes to a galaxy that has changed. Space shipping lanes are no longer safe and she is soon caught in a fight for her survival. She rises to the occasion and becomes a larger-than-life hero despite her diminutive size and mediocre performance in the Northern Hemisphere Space Academy.

What I liked about the book: Jenetta Carver has her doubts and fears, but always takes the hero’s path. There is plenty of action. The plot moves along in a nice, orderly manner, with some complications that are reasonable and within the scope of the universe DePrima has created.

What I didn’t like about the book: Carver is forced into some physical changes to make her more of a “bomb shell”, when she had already been portrayed as being very attractive. She is going to grow to a tall, show stopping model of feminine beauty. This grated on me a little, because I had already developed a picture of her in my head that I liked and seemed to imply that women need to make themselves “hotter.” And while I enjoyed the plot, and it was satisfying, I felt as though I had read the book before. Please don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad. Most people agree there are no new plots and I am equally annoyed by books that try too hard to be original and disappoint.

I will probably read the rest of this series. It is fun , fast paced, and has potential for volumes of adventure, but it is not at the top of my reading list (because I have a lot of books I want to read).