Book Review: Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

Today I have a review for Zenith, a YA Sci-Fi featuring an all-girl spaceship crew taking control and showing the boy’s how it’s done, with romance, tragedy and ray-guns.

Title: Zenith (The Androma Saga #1)

Authors: Sasha Alsberg, Lindsay Cummings

Published: January 11th 2017 by HQ Young Adult

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.

Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

Review: there has been a lot of hype surrounding this book, especially as one of the authors (Sasha Alsberg) is a popular youtuber. But to tell you the truth I just picked this book because I really liked the sound of it. I haven't read many Sci-fy stories in the last few years, and this is something I wanted to change this year so I thought Zenith would be perfect for the challenge.

I really enjoyed the world created in this story, with its several planets, all united after a devastating war. And I was really curious to find out more about each place and its inhabitants. 

I also found the main plot quite interesting: Adroma, Andi for her friends, is a space pirate and with her fearless crew she takes up the most dangerous missions. Also known as the Bloody Baroness, she is a bloodthirsty killer. She's been escaping from her past but she now finally has a chance to redeem herself and get a clear slate, if she rescues the son of the ruler of her old planet. Slight catch? Her ex-boyfriend, who betrayed her, needs to accompany her. 

As the story unfolds, we get to know the main characters and their pasts a lot. Adroma was a difficult character to like, at least for me. Her chapters dragged a bit too much and her troubled thoughts sounded a bit repetitive. Her ex-boyfriend, Dex, in the other hand, was quite fun to read. The story though had a lot more POVs than these two, which was a bit confusing at the beginning, but it all made sense after a few chapters. I also felt like we didn't get to know some of the secondary characters enough, like Andi's gunners. I do hope we get their full stories in the next installment. 

As I said, I enjoyed this new universe we discovered and the story is fun and entertaining, but I think that it was a bit too slow in general, especially in the beginning. Luckily, the last part picked up the pace and brought quite a lot of surprises. I'm now definitely curious to find out what happens next!

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.