Torchship
Karl K. Gallagher
print $9.99
ebook $4.99

I’d like to thank Karl Gallagher for sending me review copies of his Torchship trilogy, of which Torchship is the first volume.  I’ll definitely be reviewing the rest of the trilogy.

I had posted something about wanting to read more old fashioned science fiction, and he emailed me to ask if I would be interested in reviewing his trilogy. At first I declined due to other commitments, but then I thought it over and decided to accept his offer. I’m glad I did. This was a fun book.

Gallagher has imagined a future in which artificial intelligence becomes a reality, but it’s not a utopia. The AI’s try to wipe out humanity. They are partially successful. Earth and a number of colony worlds fall. The others take different paths to protect themselves. Some have computers along with extremely harsh laws against anything that even resembles AI, as in automatic death penalty harsh. Some forbid computers altogether. How would you like to pilot a starship using tables and a slide rule?

That’s what Michigan Long does. She signs on the Fives Full as pilot. The captain of the ship is deeply in debt and will take any job he can get as long as it pays. Michigan is hiding some secrets of her own.

The story unfolds slowly at first but picks up speed. Gallagher shows more than he tells, so much of the background you have to pick up as you go along. This is a good thing, because you become more immersed in the universe he has created with each new episode. The story is broken up into episodes that at first don’t seem to have a lot of relation, but as things move along, you begin to see the connections. Things that happen early in the novel begin to have consequences later.

Torchship is an awesome blend of space opera and hard science. It reminded me in some ways of the Heinlein juveniles I read in middle school. That’s a compliment in case anyone was wondering. The characters are authentic, the worlds believable, the action well choreographed. It was a lot of fun. The future presented isn’t a utopia, but it’s not a dystopia, either. It’s not grimdark. There’s a sense of optimism running through it that I found refreshing.

If you like fun, adventure oriented space opera blended with hard science, you should check this one out. I’m going to be reading the rest of the series over the next few months.