The Blighted Stars

By: Megan E. O'Keefe

Narrated by: Ciaran Saward

Stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, a spy must survive and uncover a conspiracy in the first book of an epic space opera trilogy by an award-winning author.

She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.

He's the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin's father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.

Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she's sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that's bigger than both of them.

For more from Megan E. O'Keefe, check out:

The Protectorate

Velocity Weapon

Chaos Vector

Catalyst Gate

©2023 Megan E. O'Keefe (P)2023 Orbit

Critic reviews

"O’Keefe delivers a captivating exploration of identity in this smart, addictive space adventure full of intrigue, visceral danger, and deeply personal stakes. Come for the epic sci-fi action, stay for the charmingly broken characters just doing their best."—J. S. Dewes, author of The Last Watch

"The story’s environmental themes are handled very well (O’Keefe gives the reader much to think about without sounding didactic); the characters are lively; and the writing is full of energy. A very promising series launch."—Booklist

"The Blighted Stars is everything I want in a book: lots of action, lots of character, and lots of heart. Megan E. O’Keefe delights with every page, from her stunning action sequences set on alien planets to her exploration of the twisted pathways taken by the human heart. This is space opera for the ages, wrapped in complicated and delicious layers of family and loyalty and science and love and duty. I couldn’t put it down!"—Karen Osborne, author of Architects of Memory

Excellent

A great sci-fi, opera love story. It is light on the love story part, which is one of the reasons I like it. The story itself is thought-provoking and keeps the listener interested.

Couldn’t stop listening

Great storyline sequence, pace, and well developed, unique characters. What is particularly interesting is the “living forever” system - described well, used as both security and insecurity in the characters’ minds-The narrator is perfect for this. I can’t explain it well but he does different character voices without modulating his voice too much-then the storyline itself isn’t interrupted.

Loved it!!

A great SYFY with depth and an intriguing concept. The narration was absolutely perfect. I will read more of
Megan O'keefe for sure and hope there is a book 2!!

Interesting Premise

A little slow at the beginning but very enjoyable. I’d like to hear more from the ship’s AI as it achieved sentience. Narrator was very good for all but Naira’s character. She sounded like a 1930s Chicago gangster, which often took me out of the story.

A good book elevated by a great voice actor

I don't usually prefer audio books to reading on my own, but with this book I couldn't wait to have time to listen to it even though I had the physical copy, because the voice acting was so compelling. I was glad to see that the same actor reads the next book in the series, too.

A good mystery-thriller set on a dead world!

This was a cool book with many nice twists and turns and some creative universe-building. I will admit that the world of Sixth Cradle is very threadbare, previously destroyed by the Shroud, and it's no more than a wasteland for our characters to get to know each other. But the lore shines in the society humanity exists within, run by various family dynasties competing with each other on everything except the need and hunt for Relkatite (I listened to the audiobook, so I apologize if I misspelled anything).

The characters are all loveable, and I will admit this book is heavily a romance when you break it down, but in a way, I enjoyed it. The only reason I dock a star is because there were some weird logic jumps that didn't make any sense to me. Small things, though, like when Nira and Tarq see "an animal" in the woods, they decide not to tell anyone at camp because they will "riot" was a weird stretch. I'm sure you want your perimeter guard to be aware of threats. Stuff like that, but it doesn't happen too much, but just enough to notice.

Overall, I recommend this book. I love me some shifting trust issues on an abandoned and dead world filled with mysteries and threats. I wonder how the rest of this trilogy pans out and I intend to get to more of it sometime in the future.

A Stellar Blend of Sci-Fi Favorites

The story feels like a cross between The Expanse, Red Rising, and Children of Ruin. It has the rich world-building of The Expanse, a biological threat reminiscent of Children of Ruin (and The Expanse), and the class-driven society, resistance, and forbidden love that echo Red Rising. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book.

Simply Amazing

An excellent book by Megan E. O’keef, she has done it again. I believe the audiobook version should be experienced by anyone who read the book, it gives new perspectives and tones and life to the characters, and its worth listening to.

The Expanse meets Altered Carbon

“My spies have handed me pieces, the edges of a puzzle… and I recognize the shape within.”
Holy cosmic horrors, Batman, this was a spectacular ride! It has the same mind-tripping concept of Altered Carbon’s re-sleeved bodies, where humans die and live again in reprinted shells. It also has Altered Carbon’s ethos of a feudal-like class system with worlds ruled by a small group of wealthy elites and where one of the best occupations for the poor is to become a soldier.

“See what you are!”
“Survival depends on not destroying your world.”
“We can never leave.”
There’s also a slow burning mystery with the same horror tones as The Expanse, along with a resistance against the new world’s order. Yet, for all the complexity and pacing, I was riveted from start to finish.

“You … licked it?!”
The romance supports, but doesn’t take over the story. The characters are layered and engaging.

“Hello?”
“Hello.”
“Hello!”
The narration, however, is sublime. Mr. Saward’s range ensured the huge cast was easy to distinguish. His voices for the A.I. and the cracked were inspired. I’d give him six stars if I could.

It was so phenomenal, I immediately moved on to books 2 and 3 ... and absolutely hated the end.
Book 2 was oaky, but I could feel the shark preparing to jump. I wish I'd have stopped at book 1.

Thought provoking story

The plot was interesting and enjoyable. The mechanics of this universe provided for some interesting complications.