Book Review: Lost Lives by Noah Chinn
LOST LIVES by Noah Chinn is the third and final book of the GET LOST SAGA. We've already read the first book in LOST SOULS (link: https://www.epicindie.net/bookreviews/book-review-lost-souls-by-noah-chinn) and the second book in LOST CARGO (link: https://www.epicindie.net/bookreviews/book-review-lost-cargo-by-noah-chinn). I liked both and was pleased to pick up a copy of this as soon as it came out.
The premise of the series is that the Earth has been destroyed and humanity's cyborg soldiers have taken over. The regular ranks of humanity ("Freeborn") have been more or less enslaved, forced to be a secondary class that serves as a work force. Those free humans who remain must either live in the borderlands with alien powers or become criminals like space pirates.
The protagonists of this series are Moss Foote, Hel, and Violet who form a unique found family of spacers trying to stay ahead of the Protectorate. They're also joined by Sister Tameria of the Order, which is an organization that attempts to preserve humanity's history as well as try to advance technology from behind the scenes. It's very similar to Firefly in a lot of ways but a lot goofier as Moss' selfishness struggles against his altruistic inclinations but usually succumbs to his better nature. Usually.
The book's plot centers around the fact there's a refugee ship with something akin to five thousand Freeborn moving to settle an Order planet. Unfortunately, for these refugees, they are among the only humans who have DNA untampered with. The Protectorate very much would like to slice them up and buy their cyborg reproduction systems a couple of extra hundred years. Violet the AI has been copied onto the Protectorate's flagship and shenanigans are afoot (no pun intended).
I also enjoyed the fact the book gets into the nature of storytelling as a part of culture. Moss wrote an incredibly detailed and fantastic television premise drawn from his adventures as an explorer that got turned into a crappy 500 episode cartoon. However, that cartoon went on to inspire millions of people because it was based on true ideas. We also get Star Trek having continued to be shared even a thousand years in the future.
It's a solid storyline and one that wraps up most of the existing plotlines. There's a very touching epilogue that also tells us where most of this story is going to go in the long run too. I won't spoil anything, but I have to say that it's nice that Noah Chinn didn't attempt to unnecessarily stretch out the world and storyline. You could do more stories in this universe, but it doesn't need them.
Overall, I strongly recommend this book. It is a comedic but still action-filled story about larger issues without distracting from the fundamental point of telling a good story. The characters are likable, the worldbuilding excellent, and the story easy enough to follow. If you’re looking for a fun afternoon read then I think you could do a lot worse than this series.
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