Review: Sovran's Pawn

I recently had the chance to read and review this first book from J.C. Cassels. Regular readers might remember J.C. from her previous interview on this site.

Overview: J.C. Cassels delivers an enjoyable sci-fi romp. She has created a vast universe of (some-what) cooperative peoples, but avoids the common pitfall of describing every single aspect of these worlds. The reader gets enough description to feel engaged without feeling the need to skip ahead to the action.

Characters: 4 stars:
If you love your heroes in the mold of Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds, you'll be left idolizing Blade Devon. I was not as enamored with the heroine, Bo Barron, but my feelings on her were mainly subjective. I like my heroines a little more self-assured. Bo could be a bit more assertive, but Cassels gives her room to grow in future books. None of the characters are flat and unimaginative, even the supporting cast keeps you engaged.

Plot (no spoilers): 4 stars
If I had one complaint with "Sovran's Pawn" it was that I didn't feel there was enough resolution to the storyline. I understand that J.C. intends to write more books in this series, but I would have been happier with the conclusion of at least one plot aspect. That is, however, my only complaint with the plot. The action is fast paced and does not bog down at any point. As an author, I can appreciate how hard it is to create new worlds without boring readers. As a reader, I greatly appreciated the pacing of "Sovran's Pawn".

Formatting: 3 stars
I want to qualify this by saying that:
1. I am an e-book snob. I recently wrote a scathing review of an atrociously formatted e-book by Clive Cussler.
2. I purchased an advance edition of "Sovran's Pawn", so some of the technical details I will mention could have already been corrected.
This book was missing chapter navigation hyperlinks for the Kindle. That is a relatively minor item and does not detract from the reading experience. Paragraphs and chapters were well formatted without any egregious errors. I did notice a few blank pages at the end of chapters, but, again, these did not interrupt my reading.

Summation: For under $5 you can pick-up an easy read that will make you laugh, wince, and wonder what insane situations the characters will get into on the next page. I gave this book 4 stars.