Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe

“Sanda slapped her palm against the screen, leaving a goopy handprint. Two hundred thirty years. It wasn’t possible. She’d heard rumblings that the Icarions were working on something big, but not big enough to wipe out two whole planets. Nothing in the universe man-made could produce that kind of power. She should know. Bero was fucking with her. Some sort of sick smartship joke. They couldn’t be all gone. Dead. Dust between the stars.”

-Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe

It has been awhile since I’ve read a science fiction novel that blew me away as much as Velocity Weapon did. There are a lot of really great space opera series out there, but I’ve found myself to be insanely picky about them. Some popular, well-loved titles don’t always hit home for me. But Velocity Weapon does. There’s an epic-ness to the story that I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on in book one. I have a thousand questions rumbling around in my head after reading this, and so I’m excitedly awaiting the holds for books two and three to come in at my library.

Velocity Weapon starts off following the point of view of Sanda Greeves. A Sargeant who had just fought at the Battle of Dralee, Sanda wakes up 230 years in the future, alone on an enemy ship with only the ships AI, Bero, for company. Sanda attempts to wrap her head around what is happening. How could the world, her family, be destroyed? As Sanda begins to get used to the idea of her new timeline and her lost leg, she attempts to piece together what happened in the last 230 years. It’s not long before she realizes there is more to Bero and his story than meets the eye.

Alternating from Sanda’s storyline is that of her brother, Biran Greeves. Biran is living on Ada Prime after they have just been attacked by the Icarions. He is desperate to find out what happened to his sister, and he takes a lot of risks to do so, hiring a Nazca spy to help him find her. There is a third point of view in this book as well, Jules, a thief who works with a small crew stealing drugs, etc to make a profit. Jules is stumbling across something big, putting her life and the life of her crew in danger.

This story was fast paced and enthralling. You get a lot of time with Sanda and Biran. Jules felt like a minor character in this book, but I feel like the author is setting her up for a big storyline in the next two books, and I’m really curious to see how that unfolds as I don’t quite understand her part in the story yet. Every time I felt like I had a handle on where this story was going, a twist and turn sent me hurtling into a different direction, keeping me riveted to the page. I think this book is wildly clever and imaginative. Having only read Megan E. O’Keefe’s The Blighted Stars before this, I am enormously impressed with her writing style, character development and world building.

I love when a space opera novel feels very big, and this one does. I know there is so much more to come, and I’m excited to dive back in. This is not a book you want to miss!