Lost Souls:Sci-Fi Adventure with a sense of humor! (Get Lost Saga Book 1) by Noah Chinn

4/5 Stars, A light read and a fun space adventure.

I fancied a sci-fi story that was not too cerebral, so as much as I love Alastair Reynolds I wanted something lighter and more, dare I say it, yes I dare, something more Disney-like by which I mean soft on the science and full-on the adventure, even if it made no sense at times. I picked this up because the premise of it had a hint of Elizabeth Moon’s Serrano Legacy. Big billing and as it turns out nothing like those books. Ah well, as Meat Loaf would say, two out of three ain’t bad.

Lost Souls as it turns out was a pretty good read. The story was fast-paced and flowed quite naturally between the perspectives of Maurice ‘Moss’ Foot, our space captain and Hel, our stowaway. Both characters were likeable and fun. The meat and bones of it are that Moss has hit rock bottom, he has scraped back together his old ship before it got turned into junk and sets out to rebuild his name and fortune. Hel, well she is not sure what she is. She thinks she is an escaped slave but her head isn’t wired right and things don’t add up. A junk-yard rat, she escapes on Moss’ beat-up old freighter and so starts our adventure.

One of the book’s selling points was that it is Sci-Fi with a sense of humour and it is true that it is light-hearted with witty banter thrown in, but there were no laugh-out-loud moments for me, the odd wry grin at best, which is no bad thing. I mean it is not trying to be an episode of ‘Red Dwarf’ nor pay homage to ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. In fact, Moss comes across as a Han Solo’esc grumbler, with a dry wit and a pessimistic slant to life in general but who always manages to pull something out of the bag when the going gets tough.

The bad guys unfortunately did not hold my interest. I never felt any real threat from them until the closing finale when things did lift and get pretty hairy. But Roy ‘Hellno’ Herzog our evil villain was fairly beige on the scale of villainy.

So yes, I enjoyed the book. The adventure was linear and simple to follow, easy to put down and quick to pick up without getting mired into remembering what it was all about. It held my interest and I read through it in only a few sittings which speaks for itself. So, if this sounds like the type of book you are looking for, read the sample and give it a try.