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A review by slc333
Pets in Space 5 by S.E. Smith
4.0
I received an ARC. Naturally as with any anthology there are a mix of stories – in this case I would say mostly 3 to 4 star. As an overall comment while I enjoyed individual stories that I read, for an anthology titled Pets in Space I found that in some cases the pets themselves had very little role to play in the narrative. I mean technically they may have had a pet in them (except for the one story with zero pets – but I’ll get to that later) the pet was not central to the story. I didn't read them all but ones I did read were fun and it is excellent value - with 11 adventures to read.
My personal favourite was Galatic Search and Rescue by Carol van Natta which featured an animal empath who was a rescue worker and had a whole team of animals assisting in his rescue. There was also, a dodgy boss, some trapped criminals, hidden explosives and a hostage situation before he and his team mate/partner can deal with some unexpressed romantic feelings and sinister gvt plans.
I also loved Dark Ambitions by Michelle Diener. This cute little story checks in on Rose, Sarzo and Dav from Dark Horse. Pet – adorable little baby flying squirrel like creature that Rose saves when she finds it with its dead mother. Best read after the class 5 series so you can appreciate the characters more.
Now to the story that in my opinion did not feature any pets at all. Reaper by Regine. Janelle’s parents were scientist forced to experiment on Creckels before the evil general in charge of the experiements blew up the lab killing Janelle’s parents and leaving her trapped with the Creckels for 20 years before they are rescued. Now the Creckels are a species which looks somewhat like a pangolin, however they are sentient have their own planet, society, language etc and are part of the Galatic Federation or whatever the coalition of different species are. This does not make them pets.
The others ( i didn't read them all but of the ones I did)
- The King’s Quest S.E.Smith– 3 star. Not bad but I have not read any of this author’s other work and I felt like I was missing chunks of back story that would have helped me understand who the character were how they fit together. Pet – I am guessing it was Batty the bat that the King rode around as it was the only thing that could be classified as a pet but honestly that is like saying the horse a king rode in a standard fantasy (that had no other role that as a mount) was a character.
- Return Voyage Veronica Scott – 4 Nice SF romance. I enjoyed this one, and bonus I had read the original story so I knew the background story behind the PTSD the heroine suffered. Pet – a service animal so yay for that.
- General’s Holiday Pauline – 3 stars liked the general. Was difficult to really get a sense of Naxe in such a short story given she wasn’t who she thought she was. Pet - another one that seemed to equate sentient species with pet.
- Pastfinders Alexis Glynn Latner – 3.5 it was cute. I like the archeological theme, the Chancer/luck elements. I would actually like to read more adventures about the Pastfinders team. Pet – Rusty the telepathic, robo therapy griffin was adorable and gets a double thumbs up.
- Juggernaut 4 stars - I loved how competent the heroine was. Pet - very cute bio-engineered weasel/cat.
My personal favourite was Galatic Search and Rescue by Carol van Natta which featured an animal empath who was a rescue worker and had a whole team of animals assisting in his rescue. There was also, a dodgy boss, some trapped criminals, hidden explosives and a hostage situation before he and his team mate/partner can deal with some unexpressed romantic feelings and sinister gvt plans.
I also loved Dark Ambitions by Michelle Diener. This cute little story checks in on Rose, Sarzo and Dav from Dark Horse. Pet – adorable little baby flying squirrel like creature that Rose saves when she finds it with its dead mother. Best read after the class 5 series so you can appreciate the characters more.
Now to the story that in my opinion did not feature any pets at all. Reaper by Regine. Janelle’s parents were scientist forced to experiment on Creckels before the evil general in charge of the experiements blew up the lab killing Janelle’s parents and leaving her trapped with the Creckels for 20 years before they are rescued. Now the Creckels are a species which looks somewhat like a pangolin, however they are sentient have their own planet, society, language etc and are part of the Galatic Federation or whatever the coalition of different species are. This does not make them pets.
The others ( i didn't read them all but of the ones I did)
- The King’s Quest S.E.Smith– 3 star. Not bad but I have not read any of this author’s other work and I felt like I was missing chunks of back story that would have helped me understand who the character were how they fit together. Pet – I am guessing it was Batty the bat that the King rode around as it was the only thing that could be classified as a pet but honestly that is like saying the horse a king rode in a standard fantasy (that had no other role that as a mount) was a character.
- Return Voyage Veronica Scott – 4 Nice SF romance. I enjoyed this one, and bonus I had read the original story so I knew the background story behind the PTSD the heroine suffered. Pet – a service animal so yay for that.
- General’s Holiday Pauline – 3 stars liked the general. Was difficult to really get a sense of Naxe in such a short story given she wasn’t who she thought she was. Pet - another one that seemed to equate sentient species with pet.
- Pastfinders Alexis Glynn Latner – 3.5 it was cute. I like the archeological theme, the Chancer/luck elements. I would actually like to read more adventures about the Pastfinders team. Pet – Rusty the telepathic, robo therapy griffin was adorable and gets a double thumbs up.
- Juggernaut 4 stars - I loved how competent the heroine was. Pet - very cute bio-engineered weasel/cat.