Finder
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Fergus Ferguson is a Finder. His special skill is his ability to find items that people have lost. En route to a job, Fergus stumbles into an older lady who has upset the local Mob boss. She saves him from death by cable car and, in return, asks him to find her family and help them. The two jobs do intersect as the person Fergus is looking for and the person the family has a problem with are the same, Arum Gilger. Gilger stole a ship that another group of Fergus' friends wants back. Particularly cruelly, to steal the semi-sentient ship, Gilger had to torture it to get it to follow his commands. Gilger and Fergus are compelling characters for different reasons, and readers will enjoy watching them face off. The retrieval of the ship by Fergus is also highly entertaining. But ultimately, it is the lovable Fergus that will push readers to just keep reading.--Emily Whitmore Copyright 2019 Booklist

Fergus Ferguson, a professional repo man in a spacefaring future, chases a stolen spaceship to a backwater colony, incidentally becomes the catalyst for a civil war, and draws the attention of dangerous alien neighbors in Palmer's riotous sci-fi debut. A chance meeting with an old woman in a cable car puts Fergus at odds with Gilger, the man whose ship he's pursuing, but also allows him the opportunity to make helpful contacts in a family of lichen farmers and the arms dealer they share a habitat with. Humor deployed in the service of the plot, good dialogue, and evocative descriptions make up for a slight lack of depth in the characters as Fergus's newfound allies evolve into friends and he gets an unexpected opportunity to save the colony and complete his mission. Palmer makes short-distance space travel feel as comfortable as riding a bicycle, and concludes this entertaining caper with a clever resolution and a hint of intrigue. Fans of space adventure will find this a fine example of the form. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

DEBUT Fergus Ferguson likes his job finding things that have gone missing in space. Called a glorified repo man, he's located and returned some unusual and dangerous cargo in his day, but this assignment is particularly tricky. He must find a stolen, armed spaceship, and wrest it away from a local gangster on the brink of warfare with a well-known arms dealer. Those caught in the middle include the families of miners and merchants, and an all-female community of lichen farmers. Cracking esoteric codes, improvising transportation and weapons, and being involved in knife fights in zero gravity is all part of a day's work. Palmer, a Hugo Award winner for her short fiction, has created a pulp-style space opera debut complete with aliens, stinging space roaches, and lethal spores that ramp up the dread and increase the hurdles for the heroes. VERDICT Salted with a bit of humor here and there, a clear cadence, and conventional ending, this will please anyone who embraces outer-space yarns.-Russell Miller, formerly with Prescott P.L., AZ © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fergus Ferguson is a Finder. His special skill is his ability to find items that people have lost. En route to a job, Fergus stumbles into an older lady who has upset the local Mob boss. She saves him from death by cable car and, in return, asks him to find her family and help them. The two jobs do intersect as the person Fergus is looking for and the person the family has a problem with are the same, Arum Gilger. Gilger stole a ship that another group of Fergus' friends wants back. Particularly cruelly, to steal the semi-sentient ship, Gilger had to torture it to get it to follow his commands. Gilger and Fergus are compelling characters for different reasons, and readers will enjoy watching them face off. The retrieval of the ship by Fergus is also highly entertaining. But ultimately, it is the lovable Fergus that will push readers to just keep reading. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

DEBUT Fergus Ferguson likes his job finding things that have gone missing in space. Called a glorified repo man, he's located and returned some unusual and dangerous cargo in his day, but this assignment is particularly tricky. He must find a stolen, armed spaceship, and wrest it away from a local gangster on the brink of warfare with a well-known arms dealer. Those caught in the middle include the families of miners and merchants, and an all-female community of lichen farmers. Cracking esoteric codes, improvising transportation and weapons, and being involved in knife fights in zero gravity is all part of a day's work. Palmer, a Hugo Award winner for her short fiction, has created a pulp-style space opera debut complete with aliens, stinging space roaches, and lethal spores that ramp up the dread and increase the hurdles for the heroes. VERDICT Salted with a bit of humor here and there, a clear cadence, and conventional ending, this will please anyone who embraces outer-space yarns.—Russell Miller, formerly with Prescott P.L., AZ

Fergus Ferguson, a professional repo man in a spacefaring future, chases a stolen spaceship to a backwater colony, incidentally becomes the catalyst for a civil war, and draws the attention of dangerous alien neighbors in Palmer's riotous sci-fi debut. A chance meeting with an old woman in a cable car puts Fergus at odds with Gilger, the man whose ship he's pursuing, but also allows him the opportunity to make helpful contacts in a family of lichen farmers and the arms dealer they share a habitat with. Humor deployed in the service of the plot, good dialogue, and evocative descriptions make up for a slight lack of depth in the characters as Fergus's newfound allies evolve into friends and he gets an unexpected opportunity to save the colony and complete his mission. Palmer makes short-distance space travel feel as comfortable as riding a bicycle, and concludes this entertaining caper with a clever resolution and a hint of intrigue. Fans of space adventure will find this a fine example of the form. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary. (Apr.)