Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review contains some spoilers, so beware!

A copy of this book was received from the author in exchange for review. Thanks, Ash Gray!

So, I’ve just finished reading this, just now, minutes before writing this, so the story’s super fresh in my mind. However, it is a very short story (due to be in five to six parts, according to the author), so the review somewhat mirrors this. I decided to use a bullet-point method to better convey my review, which I think works out nicely.

Project Mothership by Ash Gray
Genres: Science Fiction
Release Date: March 18th 2017 by Amazon Digital Services LLC
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Amazon

Rose, a sweet and kind librarian, is on her honeymoon with her goofy gym teacher husband when the trip takes a turn for the worst and she is abducted by aliens. When the spacecraft is attacked by the enemies of Empress Nashal, Rose makes it back to Earth freshly impregnated by alien royalty with said enemies on her heels. Now faced with running for her life, she is joined by Zita, a cheerful alien marine, and must make the choice between her unborn alien child and her baffled husband, who believes the child is his.

As you may know, I’m a bit of a sucker for science fiction, so going into this one wasn’t much of a “do I really want to?” for me. The idea was interesting and the content was pretty short, so I thought, yeah, let’s give it a go. At the time, I didn’t know what the rest of the books were going to be about, exactly, but that would have actually only interested me more if I had known.

This first book, though, was kind of meh for me. It was a good set up for what the later books are going to be about (IE, the princess Quinn), but now that I know what the later ones will be, I want to read them more than I really wanted to read this first one. I would still read it, because I don’t believe in skipping around in a series.

But, as for this first book, here’s what I liked:

• Zita
• The dialogue. The dialogue was really good, and the banter bits were probably my favorite part of the entire story. It had moments where it was clunky, but overall I enjoyed it a lot.
• The concept. Alien princess born to a human mother? (And then later raised and will probably grow into a badass?) Yes, please.
• The pace. Though it dragged here and there, once it picked up, it picked up. The action scenes and the parts were everyone was on the move were just as they should be–fast-paced and going strong.
• The overall idea of the alien species Quinn belongs to. Their culture fascinates me, and I want to know more. Now. The way Zita explained it was very good, too, and I liked the way she related it to Rose’s culture to better help her understand.

What I was meh about:

• The beginning. I know it was probably necessary, but it was kind of boring for me.
• The time-frame. It’s set in the future (which took me a hot minute to figure out), but, while I really wanted to know more about what had changed in this future we’re being given, I wasn’t all that interested in the characters talking about it. If Rose had explained some parts in her head, I would have liked it more, but that’s just me.
  • However, that might break the fourth wall too much. Who knows. I’d have to see it being done to give a proper opinion on which would be the better execution.

What I didn’t like:

• The sex scene while we’re in Quinn’s head. Threw me off completely from the story for a minute and soured the scene as a whole. This might go differently for others who read it, but for me? Nope. I did not like it at all. I feel, if we’re going to be given something like that, it should not be given in the kid’s POV. It just mades me uncomfortable.
  • This was the big spoiler part. Sorry.

Favorite part:

Chapter 7, I think it was, where you’re put in Quinn’s POV and Quinn is counting to ten. That chapter was done so well. So well. Especially considering the fact we’re in the head of a four-year-old and we’re giving a mechanism, counting to a number, that is understandable and achievable for a child, is just very nicely done. I’d read that chapter again.

All in all, it was an okay start to what sounds like a great series, and I might just have to go and pick up the next book in the series once some more parts are out. (Because, if I read and then have to wait, I might lose interest.)

Thanks for reading!