Review - Deep Sky

This second book in the “Hellgate” series picks up right where the first book, The Rabelais Alliance, left off. Neil Travers and Curtis Marin are again center stage as they try to head off smugglers supplying arms to the colonies rebelling against Earth’s domination, while at the same time trying to find a peaceful solution to get those worlds out from under the central government’s thumb. As if that’s not enough, there’s still the threat from an unknown race that randomly strikes out from the other side of Hellgate, wiping out whole worlds.

Neil and Curtis have lots of help, of course. There’s the captain and crew of the Wastrel, Mark Sheratt, Harrison Shapiro, and many others. It often seems like, in the words of old movie posters, there is a “cast of thousands” in this story. Hopefully you have a good memory and are reading this installment soon after the first one, because it can be hard to keep track of all those characters, and in this book they’re joined by new ones that seem destined to play a role in this saga, which goes on for four more volumes.

However, it must be said that the author does take pity on the reader and provides gentle reminders here and there of character’s back stories and previous events, in case you’ve forgotten. Which is a very good thing, because without the need to introduce all the characters and build the worlds of Hellgate established in the first book, “Deep Sky” moves along at a rapid pace.

In typical Keegan style, the story takes you on a roller coaster ride from one hair-raising episode to the next. While Neil and Curtis are at the center of most of the action, there are still story lines that take place on the Wastrel involving just its crew, while the boys are gone. All of the characters are engaging, and as the saga continues we’ll probably get to know them even more. I definitely won’t be leaving it so long before reading the next book.

“Deep Sky” is available from Smashwords and Amazon.