Free Station

Flight of the Javelin, Book 2

By: Rachel Aukes

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

The Galactic Peacekeepers are being hunted.

The tables have turned. Marshals are going missing.

Marshal Throttle Reyne and her Black Sheep are sent on a mission to investigate the recent surge in pirate attacks. But when the pirates unite and take over Free Station, the headquarters of the Galactic Peacekeepers, the Black Sheep must make a suicide run against the pirates and save the lives of their friends. If they fail, the system will belong to the pirates.

The fight for Free Station is on in this explosive second book in the Flight of the Javelin space opera series. Buy your copy today!

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2020 Aethon Audio

Action Packed Space Opera

Rachel Aukes excels at character development and world building. Her characters are engaging and believable. It is easy to become captivated by her characters and to care about what happens to them. There is plenty of action, adventure and suspense to the story. It was a pleasure to listen to Emily Woo Zeller. I was provided a free review copy of this audio book and am voluntarily leaving this review.

The Black Sheep crew on the right side of the law

The story takes place a couple of years after the first book in the series. Throttle and her crew are now part of the marshalls in Free Station, and one of their first missions makes them face an old enemy.

After how things ended in the previous book, I was eager to read more about the Black Sheep crew. Things are very different for them now, as they are now on the “right” side of the law, even though their motivations and their essence are still the same.

I am especially enjoying Rusty’s part in the story. It was certainly what most intrigued me in the previous book and wanted to know more about it. Since book one, it is clear that there is much more to the Javelin than what the crew believes. We get some more glimpses about the truth behind this abandoned spaceship in this book, but we will have to wait for book three to uncover it.

The dynamics among characters are one of the best parts of this series. I found the characters a bit underdeveloped in the previous book, but I have to say that they are growing on me. I have to say that I terribly missed Birk.

The previous book was about justice and doing the right thing, while this one is more about revenge. I had more difficulties this time in relating to the characters and their motivations. Justice is a subject that works a lot better for me, while revenge does not. It says a lot that Rusty’s part was my favorite in the book.

Emily Woo Zeller’s narration was very enjoyable. She does not only have a very pleasant voice but her characters’ interpretations were spot-on, and the subtle variations in tone and style made dialogs easy to follow almost all the time. There were a couple of times where voices were not consistent. Breathing noises were slightly audible sometimes. It was barely noticeable and I am sure I was able to perceive them because I was using headphones. These were just minor details, and I can honestly say that I loved her narration.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fabulous!

There is a lot at stake for the quick-witted Marshall Reyne and her Black Sheep crew in this second book of the Flight of the Javelin series. The team has been through a nightmare of suffering and loss but fate isn’t quite finished with them yet. This is an exceptional sci-fi adventure with a healthy dose of action, suspense and courage. The narrator's performance was the icing on the cake.

Rachel Aukes is good.

I liked Black Sheep enough to try the second book. Rachel Auckes is talented. I enjoyed this enough to keep reading. I think the series gets better as it goes.

Started slow but......

The book started slow to identify bad vs. good and develop the characters but once it got the wind, it was a book that deprived sleep and coined “just 15 more minutes”. I really enjoyed Ms. Zeller’s performance. She salvaged the book in the beginning slow parts enough to keep me. If not for her, I probably would have consigned Free Station to the return pile. I will be getting the next book in the series!

And the plot thicken!!!

Justice is served, but not how you would think!!! New unseen enemy lurking in the black. Can't wait till the next book.

Free But Not

This takes some time after the first book. Throttle and most of her crew are now marshals, well, except for Eddie, the mechanic/engineer. He keeps failing his marksman test. Marshals’ chips have been going out and they have been disappearing.

In the meantime, pirates have attacked one of the Sol’s system government’s ships. Throttle and team have been sent to recover what is left of the ship and tow it to the Peacekeeper Station (Free Station) so the government can get their ship. They don’t want anyone getting their advanced technology. They also expect the Peacekeeper to find the pirates so they can be punished in a few days.

Afterwards, Throttle and team are sent to investigate some of the disappearances. While they are investigating, pirates attack the Peacekeeper Station. Hundreds of peacekeepers are stuck on the station, Throttle and team have to figure out how to save them while also getting Annie East.

Must be a new book about Ponch

Is this a story about a captain and her crew? It went on such a tangent and then made to come together. its just to hard for me. A captain of her own ship would never put up with having someone put on her crew. The ship is hers not the polices. Bunch of BS. Then on top of that why would a member of the crew not tell on Ponch after he used her to get illegal stuff over everyone else's safety? Then the Captain knows there is something going on but does not put her foot down to stop the BS. He would be out of an airlock and the hacker girl better fess up to her husband about it too. Like what marriage could put up with that crap. Dang I'm really flabbergasted at how this turning out. I was becoming a little invested in the sub characters, the mc is now totally a wimp captain, the Ponch is a jerk of the highest level and the rest of the crew are just unbelievable especially Fen. Who should have kicked the Ponches tail and told the Chief I quit and his wife too. Really messed up story that goes along like nothing is wrong. I think you have lost me author. I don't think I could understand any of this even if you were sitting here next to me explaining it. I would probably kick you out of my house. Good bye

Exceptional Sequel, Outstanding Characters

The crew, Throttle, Eadie, Sylvain, Finn and of course, Rusty, are back in the second adventure in the ‘Flight of the Javelin series, and this one picks up almost a year after the events of Book 1.
Throttle and her crew have been busy in that time, training, studying and learning the ways of the GP, the Galactic Peacekeepers, the law in the Ross System. Throttle decided that this was the easiest way to be able to capture, and serve justice on Anna East, the woman who killed several of her crew, as well as her love, Brik.
As the book opens, Throttle and the crew, all but Eadie are getting their Peacekeeper Badges, having passed. Eadie still hasn’t passed his shooting exam, and Chief won’t pass him without it.
At this time, they get a mission to go and look for a ‘seed’ ship, an automated giant of a ship that was attacked by pirates as it was travelling to its next location.
This is only the start of the story though, as a Peacekeeper has already been tasked, but has gone dark, the 3rd one in less than 2 weeks. The Chief is not sure what is happening, and tasks Throttle and her crew to go and investigate this, as well as sending another peacekeeper to go and investigate the disappearance of the other peacekeeper.
Right off, this is a mystery, thriller starting to form, and you are totally hooked, wanting to know what is going on. Aukes has this beautiful and compelling writing style that is so easy to read, the words flow so easily making it a pleasure to read. We have all read books that feel like you are slogging through mud when you try to read it, even if you like the book, the style can be hard. Aukes is, without doubt, a true master at writing. And she has created a stunning thriller, with a Sci-fi theme, and enough mystery to keep anyone interested.
What starts out as lost Peacekeepers, and a mystery, (without trying to give too much away), quickly explodes into a massive life or death situation, not just for her, the crew and Rusty, but the entire system and possibly everyone in it. Whilst everyone else was recovering and getting over the events of Book 1, Anna East has been busy, and things become pretty full-on in this book.
It is a really powerful story, with some very emotive and gritty scenes, as characters, both good and bad, fight for their lives. Aukes has created some amazing Character work in this book, we have the core crew we are used to, but are introduced to some new people on both sides. We get a deeper feel for the Galactic Peacekeepers, and it is fascinating getting to peel back the layers of this organisation, and see what is below. At the top of it, is ‘The Chief’, the man who runs the show, and he is an old war Veteran, grizzled, powerful, in that he is very attentive, and he can shoot well, but he is also very fair, willing to give people a fair chance, bend the rules when needed to get things done. His Character is exactly the type of person you would see in this role, he is just so real, so realistic, Aukes is so gifted at creating her characters, and the level of detailing around each of them, it makes her story so much better, with such intricacy.
It is not just the Good Guys that get new characters, there are a range of new bad guys (I am not going into detail as I don’t want to ruin anything), but needless to say, Aukes has provided meticulous detail in each of these as well.
This is just a great story, with exceptional character work, against an outstanding backdrop – the world building is just exquisite in the detail, from Characters, to ships, to space stations, to weapons, everything is outstanding, making this such an inspired read.
The main characters are all back, Throttle, Sylvain, Finn and Eadie, and they all get various bits of time in the book. There has been some effort in developing each of them, which is always great to see in this type of series. The other ‘crew’ member is of course the ship ‘Rusty’, who is just hilarious with his interpretations of things.
This is a brilliant sequel, easily the equal of the original, and only bodes well for book 3 – and hopefully we will see books 4, 5, 6… etc down the track.
If you love a great Sci-Fi story, thriller, mystery, action-adventure, good character story, (there is even a bit of romance), it really covers all sub-genres in the Sci-fi genre and will make anyone happy who reads it, it is just a fantastic read, and an exceptional series – get into it now!!
Emily Woo Zeller is easily one of the best Female Narrators out there today. She has a stunningly beautiful voice that is just so easy to listen to, you can listen to it for hours. I suffer from a chronic pain injury, and I have found that listening to books by Emily actually really help relax me, as she has such a soothing voice, and she reads so well, so clear.
She is a master at creating different voices, both male and female, and she creates a wonderful range of individual voices as well, so that each character has their own distinctive voice. She is incredibly gifted at being able to provide a variety of voices, allowing you to tell who is talking, without having to be told. When you listen to an audiobook, you want someone who can just tell the story, clearly, concisely, so you can understand it, with good clear character voices. Emily excels at this, and is completely mesmerising with her ability to tell a story.
This is one in which you want to listen to it, as Emily Woo Zeller’s performance is so good, it is so much better than reading it. Outstanding Job.

Excellent Continuation of an Excellent Series!

Rachel Aukes does it again. Another great entry in the series. When the bad guys want revenge, it's the Javelin to the rescue!