Book Review: Lost Cargo by Noah Chinn
LOST CARGO is the sequel to LOST SOULS, a book by Noah Chinn. I was a really big fan of the previous volume and interested in the sequel. The first book was full of humor with its ex-commercial pilot hero, an AI, and a former slave who couldn't remember the generation ship she came from. While they managed to avoid said generation ship getting taken by pirates and slavers, they ended up making no end of enemies among those individuals they would have rather stayed off the radars of.
The premise of the second installment is that our heroes are attempting to "rescue" a second group of slaves as an attempt to make a bunch of money. Maurice "Moss" Foote doesn't actually think there's any slaves and is just planning to rob a ship when he finds, instead, that there is a bunch of slaves onboard. There's even more complications that I am not going to get into because that would spoil a delightful series of twists.
The primary trio of Moss, AI Violet, and Hel are extremely entertaining and they get joined by a fourth member that fans of the previous book will remember well;. They play off one another well and have a good TV show cast dynamic that reminds me of Firefly (probably deliberately). They have a lot of fascinating personal dynamics and while I didn't always agree with the shipping choices, I still really liked them just sniping at one another and sharing support through their internal crises.
Ironically, the best part of the book is probably the villain's perspective. Roy Hezrog is a space pirate who deserted from the Silver Legion to be his own man. He's a slaver and scum but also extremely intelligent. Events arrange themselves so that Roy ends up back in the hands of the Silver Legion who want to kill him for his desertion. The fact they don't is something that gives him pause.
There's some pretty good sci-fi exploration as well with the concept of brain uploading being examined. Basically, how do you react to the concept of someone who is identical to you in mind or the idea you are no longer unique as a consciousness? These are handled surprisingly well and focus more on the human element than the sci-fi.
If you're looking for a decent space opera story with some Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds-esque protagonists then this is a pretty good book to check out. There's a lot going on and I really look forward to reading the third book.
