The Road to the Stars

The Cassidy Chronicles, Volume 2

By: Adam Gaffen

Narrated by: Jane Weatherstone

Cass and Ken are back!

Five years after the events in Volume One, life is good for the Cassidys.

Aiyana is perfecting her teleporters while running the Heavy Lift Corporation. Kendra is overseeing her ambitious starship project in her own, inimitable way.

They want nothing more than to live their lives and raise their girls.

It seems, though, that the universe has other plans for them.

First there's a mysterious request to meet with a pair of leaders from the world government; they have a problem and it seems the Cassidy's are the only ones who can solve it. But they've never met a challenge they could walk away from, and this one's no different.

Meanwhile, Kendra has to find a captain and a crew to make her starship come to life. Then there's the little matter of the science officer....

Juggling demands from every direction, will Cass and Ken be able to rise to the occasion again?

©2020 Adam Gaffen (P)2021 Adam Gaffen

Still some originality but creeping into fanfic

Note: Even though this is book 2 in the series it would work just fine as a stand alone.

Set some years after the events of Book 1, Cass and Ken have made good use of their unexpected wealth. In fact, they have done such a good job, there are those that are envious. They have created a large platform in orbit around Earth and from there created the first starship capable of exploration beyond our solar system. In fact, while Kendra holds down the fort, Cass ventures out with an excellent crew as one of the chief science officers. The whole story has that sense of discovery and endeavoring for the greater good.

The first third of the book continues the originality I saw in Book 1, but then it veers into Star Trek fanfiction hardcore and stays that way for the rest of the book. In fact, the newly formed starfaring organization is named The Federation and there’s a Star Fleet and then there’s that universally recognized Star Trek symbol for everyone to wear. Really, it feels like the story owes royalties to Star Trek.

That aside, the big foe for this book is the Artemis conglomerate. Several families have ruled over it for generations and they do a lot of space mining and looking smug. There’s the president but he doesn’t have much power; instead there’s this shadow leader who is pretty brutal and is just all about the win. They go to some pretty radical lengths to get that win. This brings some great action moments but also a kinda boring space battle. I think part of it because I never worried about our main characters. And our main characters are a big part of this fake-Star Trek. And Star Trek rarely loses.

Despite the predictability of the book I still really enjoyed it. I love Cass and Ken, how their different skills really compliment each other. I love this Star Trek redux where the Federation and Star Fleet are founded by a lesbian couple, allowing for far more inclusivity. And, just because I have always struggled to find something I like about Hitchhiker’s Guide, I like that one of the main bad guys is named Arthur Dent. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Jane Weatherstone is still doing a good job with this series. Her male characters could still use some masculinity but she has a good variety of voices so all the characters are unique. She nails the humor and the emotions. I like her Australian accent on Stone as well as Stone’s sense of humor. The pacing is good and there are no tech issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.