A few thoughts on Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings (a quick little review)

So during my holiday I read the short ebook Zenith; Part 1 of The Androma Saga, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would despite it being so very, very short. Sasha (abookutopia) has been one of my favourite booktubers for a very long time, and I was so excited to finally read some of her work, and for her first writing piece I don't feel like it's half bad - especially with everything else she does on the side. Lindsay Cummings on the other hand I don't know very well, but I've heard about The Murder Complex and the premise always intrigued me, so I'm excited I was able to get a chance to read some of her stuff.

'Most know her as the Bloody Baroness, the captain of a fearsome glass starship called The Marauder. Androma and her crew strike terror in the hearts of those who cross them amongst the many corners of the Mirabel Galaxy. When a routine mission goes rogue, the all-female crew is captured by a bounty hunter from Andi’s past and forced into a job that could, quite literally, start a war that will devour worlds. Meanwhile, on the far side of the galaxy, the ruthless ruler Nor waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time. The final pieces are about to fall into place, liberating a plan that will tear Mirabel in two. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, there is one lesson that proves to be true: No one can be trusted in a galaxy that runs on lies and illusion. From internet sensation Sasha Alsberg and multi-genre author Lindsay Cummings comes a new serialized space opera, full of action, intrigue, and steamy star-crossed romance.'

First of, I really loved how this started,the first part was really intriguing and captured my attention straight away, it was a shame we didn't get have a chance to see from this narrative perspective again - it was such a tease. But I wasn't kept disappointed for too long because I was straight away introduced to some kickass female pirates - by the way how great is it that the whole pirate crew are female? I love the fact we were given the descriptions of ruthless, bloodthirsty pirates and none of them were male - we do not see that enough; plus you got to love some pirates no matter what their gender is, especially if their space pirates.

The action sequences/fights in this were great because I just love a good fight scene, and we had all the different types of fight scenes. We had space guns exploding other spaceships, we had the typical pirate cutting off heads with knives, guns, good old fashion beating... the list goes on.

The thing that personally brings this down for me is a few tropes that are just becoming a bit too common for me today: the archenemy reunion and then forced to work together (there also seems to be a possibility of romance - I bloody hope I'm wrong), a death that plagues the protagonist, etc. They don't at all make the story bad in anyway, it's just that you become aware that the authors need to be careful with how they address these topics to keep our attention.

There have been a lot of critics for this, and a lot of lovers for this. At the moment I'm a cautious lover, this was an easy read for me and it has the potential to be great - but only if it's executed in the right way from now on. I found most of those who have criticised it have mentioned how they don't like the length of this ebook, or how it ended when it's meant to be part of a saga; I am also concerned about the authors being able to execute this well with further installments since it ended with an epilogue feel - they can end every part with an epilogue it won't flow right when you put it together, but I won't let that ruin the first installment for me - if it becomes a problem later I probably won't enjoy further installments as much. However, I understand many have different reasons for not liking it and that's fine.

Overall, I found this to be an easy read and I've enjoyed it enough to know I'll buy the next installment, however I will see how they deal with adding further installments and keep a flowing narrative with this story before I fully commit.