Artifact Space

Well written 'hard' sci fi page turner. A terrific main character in a well realised galaxy: thrilling adventures, believable politics and fascinating aliens.

While i am not sure I find the propulsion mechanism for traveling through interstellar space believable, the rest of the book is right up to date in terms of modern sci-fi. In addition the characters are well-rounded and complex, the settings, interesting and novel, and the premise, new. It's a fun read and I look forward to the second volume that gets into the history of the conflict between the two alien species and how that is going to play out for our major characters. Sad that the Bubbles with millions of years to develop are such a mean bunch, though! That the universe has developed as a mercantile one is believable, unfortunately, with capitalist-patriarchs running big ships... Elon's progeny multiplied and spread into the galaxy!

The start of 'Artefact Space' takes you straight into the action - with orphan Marca Nbaro on the run after leaving the orphanage where she lived and joining, using fake ID, the 'greatship' Athens, one of 9 huge and very old spacefaring vessels that exist to travel across space trading as she goes. What particularly impressed me about this start is the complex worldbuilding that is going on, but without spending lots of time explaining every little detail. As the story progresses you learn more, but you always know enough to understand the events taking place. What this story does so well is build up a picture of the life of a junior crew member on the great ship which is believable demanding. There are lots of details that build up a picture of life on the ship. What I also really liked about the story was that the role of the great ships was so vividly portrayed that when they hear that one of their fellow great ships has been destroyed you can understand the reactions of shock and distress amongst the crew. The story tells of the efforts of the ship identify who is attacking the great ships and how they battle to avoid suffering the same fate. There is lots of intrigue and action and I was gripped until the end. A minor disappointment for me was that i did not realise that there is a second book being written. Although some issues do get resolved in this one, the ending is a bit sudden and it is clear that there is more to come. I don't read a lot of sci fi but I really enjoyed this one.

Flabbergasted by how good this is. I had to ration my reading as I wanted to squeeze every moment of pleasure out of it and I had to stop myself reading it in bed (my favourite reading place) because I would be so overstimulated I couldn't fall asleep. I challenge anyone not to be captivated by the heroine and the non-stop action. Thank God there is a sequel. Absolutely the best space opera/military scifi I have read in ages and ages. AWESOME

Very enjoyable read, spirited driven orphan escapes abuse to join spaceship and grow. Meanwhile galactic politics and tricky aliens make for an exciting backdrop. Plenty of details that ring true of a future in space. Look forward to part 2 although not sure I have enough pennies as the publisher really gauging on you being hooked.

This novel is a bit like Horatio Hornblower in space. It's reasonably well.written and the main protagonist has an interesting back story. The space flight ideas are decent. Got it for a song on a kindle deal and it was worth it :-)

Everything, brilliant, awesome the characters are 3d plot complex. I loved it traifice si-fi.

The world building was good. Ditto the interstellar society. If you like Nathan Lowell and his merchant spacer books, then there are similar aspects to this work. Day to day running of a vast ship. Economics of slow interstellar trade.However. Once again there is a young novice spacer who is driven and super competent. OK there is a dark back story. But the second time she saves the day in a month I started to get suspicious. Seems to be whizzing through the positions of a junior grade officer and 7 making friends with everyone and thing on board. Very Chalet School

I really enjoyed this book.The character development was fantastic.The overall story was well thought out.The pace was generally well received, other than some slowdowns due to overexplaining military duties for the main character.Supporting characters were entertaining.The conflict was excellent.They're definitely were tones in this book that reminded me of Leviathan wakes. Which is an excellent positive in my opinion.Looking forward to reading the second one, deep black.

Wonderful descriptions of Life in a ginormous Space ship with plenty of Action , Military manoevering and Lots of hard Work . Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Artifact Space (Book 1 of 2 in the Arcana Imperii duology) is an engaging, accessible foray into “realistic” science fiction by Miles Cameron. My only other experience with Cameron’s work was The Red Knight which I found to be an exciting, yet exhausting, experience. In contrast, Artifact Space had me enthralled and energized to keep reading late into the night.The book tells the tale of Marca Nbaro, an orphan who finagles her way aboard a merchant greatship to escape her past and present. As the world grows more threatening through the byplay of conspiratorial factions, Marca must grow out of her negative self-perception and distrust of others in order to ensure the survival of her ship and new friends.Classic sci-fi tropes like alien races, relativistic space travel, and ships controlled by artificial intelligence are prominent. However, the exact proportions of each element are blended together into an amazing worldbuilding smoothie that offers a fresh taste of its many influences. This is an enjoyable mashup of Corey’s Expanse series, Card’s Ender’s Game series, and Whedon’s Firefly TV show. The economic undertones and merchant subplots sometimes felt like the cast of Critical Role playing a game of Jaipur.The author effectively captures the intensity, instability, and uncertainty of the setting while still grounding the plot in a warm bubble of friendship, human perseverance, and positive relationships. The protagonists are worth rooting for and often behave in ways that surprised me, as a reader more used to modern sci-fi books with dark or cynical themes. Some of the supporting characters are not as fleshed out, but “proper name overload” is not nearly as bad as in The Red Knight. The ending is dramatically self-contained enough to satisfy, but big questions remain unresolved that are clearly reserved for the final volume.This is a book that I would recommend to anyone with a passing interest in sci-fi, especially someone with toes in the water who wants to get into the more meaty stuff. While there may seem to be a lot of technobabble and unexplained terminology up front, the author reinforces the language through repetition and narrative clues that don’t interfere with the story’s momentum. I was in the right mind space to understand the world and its acronyms just a couple chapters in.

Lettura piacevole, personaggi ben definiti. La prima parte è un po' lenta ma l'autore deve presentare la scena è lo confesso pensavo di trovarmi davanti un altro romanzo sui cadetti militari, un po' lo è ma l'azione e i protagonisti rendono valida la lettura, spero che ci sia un seguito.

The writing style is good,the main character is interesting,the tech is believable.But i am 1/3 into the book and already cringing to death .Please writers of the world,stop splattering wokey cliches on your artwork, it is pathethic.