Customer Reviews

Darkship Thieves

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like Science Fiction.

I'm not picky, I like all kinds: Space Opera, Hard Science, Science Fantasy, Alternate History, Action, Thriller.

OK, I AM picky. It has to be GOOD Science Fiction. I want likeable characters, an interesting plot, and believable science (with allowances for the classic dictum that any sufficiently advanced science could well be indistinguishable from magic).

Sarah Hoyt is an experienced writer of historical fiction, romance, fantasy, urban fantasy and yes, science fiction. Darkship Thieves is Sarah's first venture into space opera for Baen Books. However, DST is more than just Space Opera. It is part thriller and part adventure with just a touch of quirky romance, all set in a future that may not be all that different from our own present. Why would I call it a thriller and adventure novel? Well, in addition to Science Fiction, I also like to read thrillers and adventure. Spy novels by Ludlum and Le Carré, adventure by Cussler and Clancy and psychological thrillers by Koontz and Sandford. There is one feature of all of these novels styles that stands out - investment in a character, and an overwhelming urge to pick the protagonist up, shake them by the neck, and shout: "I figured this out, why can't you!" Instead, we keep reading until late at night (or early in the morning), just one more page - surely they'll figure it out on the next page.

You know what I'm talking about - the same urge that drives people to watch those slasher movies where you want to tell the clueless college student "DON'T go in the attic! That's where the bad guy is hiding, can't you SEE it?"

It's called psychological investment, or identification, with a character. In the writing craft, that's what keeps you turning page after page long after your spouse has gone to bed. You HAVE to read that next page because you want to see the hero get the reward, although much more frequently, you want to see the villain get their just desserts.

In Darkship Thieves, Athena Hera Sinistra is the daughter of one of Earth's most rich and powerful men. She accompanies him on a routine trip, playing the dutiful social accessory despite her naturally rebellious nature. However a mutiny on her father's spaceship forces her into an escape pod headed directly for the ancient and deadly Powertree Ring that "grows" power pods for Earth's energy needs. Despite the risk of crashing into an explosive pod, she instead crashes into a dark and furtive ship that is stealing power pods for a colony that Earth doesn't know exists. These "darkship thieves" are the descendents of Earth's aborted attempt to genetically engineered a race of superior humans many hundreds of years ago.

'Thena is rescued by Kit, the pilot and lone occupant of the darkship. Despite Thena's wish to return to Earth, Kit rescues her from her own folly and takes her back to the Eden colony. To say that Thena is displeased with her rescuer and status as an unwilling exile is an understatement. Athena Hera Sinistra is a deeply flawed character, raised nearly in isolation from mainstream society. She rebels against nearly every authority figure in her life and is the despair of many schools, tutor, doctors and hospital. Her contempt for the same is revealed on many occasions, but despite all this, Thena is a likable character. There is a REASON she is this way, and when Thena discovers it, as well as the truth about "Daddy Dearest" the reader is right there cheering her on.

In Darkship Thieves, Sarah Hoyt has created characters we can believe - flawed, but worthwhile, and on this voyage of self-discovery, including the most humorous romance I'VE ever read in Science Fiction, the reader is right there along with Thena and Kit, cheering them on, and sometimes wanting to pick Thena up by the scruff of her neck, shake her, and shout: "*I* figured out what 'Daddy Dearest' is up to, why can't YOU?"

Sarah Hoyt has created an enjoyable read that should please fans of urban fantasy, science fiction, and even diehard adventure/thriller fans, too. And when you think about it, there's just enough suggestion that maybe there's more to this story than can fit in one novel. Here's hoping for more great characters from Sarah Hoyt.

"Space Opera" is an interesting term. It kind of means "science fiction as a setting but not as science", and kind of means "larger than life". This is all that and more. The world is much more developed than I typically associate with "Space Opera", but is still painted (to use a metaphor) in rather bright colors and is referred to more environmentally than analytically (all this is really just attempting to say "sf is used as a setting").

The story is fantastic, in all senses of the word. This book two rather widely separted parts -- other authors might even have released this as two books. The exile society of the "mules" is quite well thought out and interesting, as is the future earth. An interesting touch was the evolution of biker gangs. The future equivilant of motorcycles is an open personal flyer called a "broom". Given the world that had been built up this felt entirely natural.

I don't want to get too much into the details of the main characters except to say that I look forward to the Masquerades at the next few cons after this book gets read a bit (actually they may not let the Athenas enter for fear of being shut down on morals charges ...)

Elsewhere the author has characterized this as an urban fantasy set in space. That may be as good a description of it as anything. A mystery. A romance. A romp. Whatever you want to call it, it is _good_. A very enjoyable read.

I really do not have much to add to the three previous reviewers, except to say I loved the book. I'm older (assuming here, with all that entails...) than they are and I've always loved my Old World Wrecker Edmond Hamilton, the Three Planeteers by Williamson, my early to middle Heinleins (the so called Juvies like Citizen of the Galaxy, Space Cadet etc) and, of course, Asimov's Foundation series.

Darkship Thieves revives that feeling. While planets are not destroyed (do corrupt regimes count as destroying a planet?), stars do not go novae and vast fleets are not laying waste to entire civilizations, this book has the feeling that it could happen. If things went just a tad wronger (wronger?) then total planetary destruction could happen.

If I close my eyes while reading this book (okaaay, good trick!), it could very easily be a book written by Heinlein. She has his voice, his pacing, same tight writing.

I really hope this book does well, I really want a sequel. More in this universe. So many well thought out throw-aways, casual items, broomsticks (take a skateboard from Back to the Future, ram it together with a Harry Potter broomstick and you have the high tech broomstick with its attendant culture) and power trees for example. Power tree? Yes, power tree. In orbit, vast "plantations" of bio-engneered power trees sucking solar radiation directly into their power pod production.

Ms Hoyt's world is extremely well thought out. EVERYTHING fits together, a giant jigsaw puzzle. Fantastic! Order this book now, you will not be disappointed.

Athena Hera Sinistra might not have wanted to go to space, but it's a good thing she did. Her unwanted journey resulted in one of the most fun reads I've come across in quite awhile. It is also an unexpected one. Darkship Thieves is no standard space opera. Of course, I'm not sure Sarah A. Hoyt can write "standard" anything and that's one of the things that makes her such a wonderful author. She gives the readers the unexpected, often blending genres in ways we don't expect. That is exactly what she's done here. She's given us a romping space opera, one that reminds me of those I read in my misspent youth. But she has also given us urban fantasy. Yes, that's right, urban fantasy. Not the UF of shape-shifters and vampires, but that of genetically altered humans who now have feline-like characteristics, clones who are raised not to take over for the originals but for even more sinister reasons, a spunky, smart-mouthed female lead who would rather go through you than around you if you get in her way. This is an excellent read with a fast paced plot, well-defined characters, heroes you cheer for and villains you boo. Run, don't walk, to get it.

I never thought I'd write this about a space opera, but Darkship Thieves is already on my favorite books list.

The Ignobel prizes are awarded to science and mathematics papers that "make you laugh, and then make you think."
Darkship Thieves is packaged like a popcorn read, and is as fun as a popcorn-only read, but underneath is serious steak. I like my fiction fun, with plenty of food for thought. But underneath the non-stop action of old-fashioned space opera are both solid world-building with plenty of solid science, and solid questions. Biotech is addressed, and the morals of biotech, and the questions of whether morals should be laws.

It's hard to describe how fun this book is - the scenery shifts (not necessarily in order) from circum-terra, a space station established for power-harvesting purposes, to four different types of spaceships (if you count an escape pod as a spaceship) to a description of a possible emergency escape for aircraft passengers in, to floating seacities on Earth, to a hair-raising broom chase.

Wow. Just wow. Parts of it were laugh-out-loud. Parts of it were just cool and filled with non-stop action. And a couple scenes made me rethink a couple ideas I've had.

In the end, Darkship Thieves is about Athena. And Kit. And growth. And the really big questions. Read it. You won't be sorry you spent a couple hours of precious time on it.

A kick-ass heroine, an utterly believable future, and more action and adrenaline than you can shake a stick at! And that's just the opening. If you're tired of wilting females in your Sci-Fi, but want more science than you can find in the average Urban Fantasy, then this book is for you!

I heard about this book through the blog of Ilona Andrews [...], and as a huge fan of hers, and avid reader of a very entertaining blog, I decided to pick up Darkship Thieves. I was drawn to it, when the author said in the blog that she had set out to create a space opera, and it turned out to be a delightful mishmash of genres. I love scifi, I love urban fantasy, I love fantasy, I didn't think I could go wrong with this book, and I was more than pleased to be right.

The book starts out with Athena Sera, heir to the Sera fortune and her father's place in government, woken up in the middle of the night by some of the goons her father keeps on hand as muscle. Believing they are attempting some kind of coup, she fights them, and escapes her father's ship in a lifepod. Her only real means of escaping them is flying into the dangerous space trees that grow the energy pods earth uses for all it's energy needs.

If she bumps any overripe pod on the tree, she's as good as dead. However, instead of hitting a pod, she runs smack into a mythical "dark ship." The pirates of modern day, they steal pods from the trees. The darkship thieves are a part of human history that people would rather forget, when genetic engineering ran wild, until it ended in a horrible genecide of all genetically enhanced people on Earth. Except the rumors that some got away in a ship and began their own colony.


The book keeps a quick pace, as Athena runs from one disaster to the next. Her place in the world is altered, her views and beliefs shaken to the core, and love she never thought to truly experienced sneaks up on her. No matter what genre you want to place Darkship Thieves into, this book is a great read. I'll definately be purchasing more Sarah Hoyt novels in the future.

Darkship Thieves (2010) is a standalone SF novel. It is set more than a century from the present in a world ruled by a Council of Good Men. They had destroyed a prior dictatorship of bioengineered Mules.

The Mules had fled into space, but their bioed minions left behind on Earth were destroyed. Apparently the Mules had fled into deep space. Yet some minions returned occasionally to steal power pods from the orbital powertree forest.

In this novel, Athena Hera Sinistra is the daughter of Good Man Milton Alexander Sinistra, one of the rulers of Earth. Thena is his heir. She has also been a hellion for many years, leading a pack of broomers into many assaults against proper society.

Christopher Bartolomeu Kaasvil is an ELFer -- an Enhanced Life Form -- of the cat type. He has been bioed with a geneset giving faster reflexes, low level vision, and telepathic contact with a navigator form. Kit is a darkship pilot raiding pods from the powertrees.

In this story, Thena has traveled with her father to Circum Terra. She is not sure why they are visiting the orbital station. The trip is not much like her father's normal excursions.

After leaving the station, Thena wakes to find someone in her bedroom. The intruder is Andrija Baldo -- her father's chief goon -- with an injector of Morpheus in his hand. For some reason, he must be trying to render her unconscious for a few hours.

After knocking out Andrija with her boot, she hears someone else at her door. This time it is Friso Sikke, second in command of the goons. She whacks him with her boot and leaves him unconscious in the bedroom.

Obviously something is definitely wrong on the ship. She leaves her bedroom wearing only a nightgown and heads for the lifepods. On the way, she sees her father lying unconscious on an operating table in the medical section. Then she reaches the lifepods and ejects from the ship.

She transmits a call for help, but receives no reply. Then she hears a transmission in her father's voice declaring that she has escaped from the ship while delusional from drugs. The voice says that she is armed and dangerous and asks the station to detain her until his employees arrive.

So Thena decides to hide in the powertree forest. She has made friends with several harvesters and they might help her to hide while she works out a way to escape back to Earth. But her lifepod runs into a darkship within the forest.

Kit is piloting the darkship. He takes her lifepod onboard and lets her exit the little craft. Yet he treats her as a threat to his life and ship. He takes her at gunpoint to his bedroom and ties her to a chair, then leaves her there as he returns to the control room.

Naturally, Thena releases herself from the chair and stalks the ship to find Kit. She wraps a belt around his neck and starts strangling him. But he cuts the gravity and subdues her in null gee.

This tale has Thena and Kit at each other's throats for the first part of the novel. She wants to return to Earth and he wants to protect his society from Earth. Eventually, Kit takes Thena to his home on Eden, an asteroid habitat.

Of course, Thena gets into trouble within the asteroid and Kit pays the price. She is also exposed to a different view of history. And she does meet some interesting people.

The author dedicates this novel to Robert Anson Heinlein. It reads much like Between Planets. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Heinlein or Hoyt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space adventures, cultural conflicts, and true romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I'm a fan of character-driven novels, and that's why I like Sarah Hoyt's novels; that's why I recommend DarkShip Thieves. For me, the sci-fi and technology in Darkship Thieves are the side dishes; the entree is the characters and their interaction. I love the main characters Kit and Athena and their stories. I also care about several of secondary characters like Dr. Bartolomeu and even Nat, Thena's broomer pal.

I prefer writers that bring me into a new world via the characters. Sure technology and action can move the story along, but when I keep reading to see what happens to the characters - that, for me, elevates the author to favored status. I've seen that in many of Sarah Hoyt's novels, whether it's Will Shakespeare and friends in All Night Awake or Red Jade and Nigel Oldhall in Heart and Soul or Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan in Death of a Musketeer (A Musketeer's Mystery). She evokes feelings similar to those when I read Anne MacCaffrey's Dragonriders series, where I loved the story and suspense but read book after book because I cared more about the characters and what happened to them.

[I also love the fact that I can let my young teenage daughter pick up Darkship Thieves and not rush to grab it out of her hands because I don't want her seeing any of the content (you know that doesn't happen with some contemporary sci fi and fantasy novels).]

Ladies (and gentlemen, but particularly ladies) don't pass up the opportunity to discover this voice of science fiction and fantasy. Ursula K LeGuin, Andre Norton, Lois McMasters Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey ... they are all on my bookshelves and Sarah Hoyt's novels are up there too.

DarkShip Thieves
What a *romp*! This is one of the most *fun* books I've read in years!

Ever get the feeling that publishers have quit printing the stories you like to read? That all the women are damsels in distress, and the future is all black and gray and *depressing*?

Well, Darkship Thieves does *not* fit into that category!

Athena Hera Sinistra is awakened by a male figure looming over her bed. And her first thought is... "A blanket is the worst garrotte possible." !!! And it goes on from there!

I got the distinct impression that if Thena were dropped into the "Star Wars" universe, we'd see R2D2 projecting a hologram of Darth Vader saying, "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi!"

And, let's just say that Darkship Theives' *male* protagonist is *not* a cardboard character :-)

Do yourself a favor, buy *two* copies -- because you won't be more than a few pages into Darkship Thieves before you'll be saying to yourself, "I have *got* to share this with somebody! And I will *not* wait until I'm finished reading this -- besides, I want to *keep* *my* copy!"

Yes. It's that good.