You Sexy Thing

Rambo (the Tabat Quartet series) mixes far-future space opera with the trials and tribulations of running a restaurant in this clever mishmash of aliens, pirates, and humans with near-impossible dreams. Nicolette “Niko” Larson, military genius and former Admiral of the Holy Hive Mind, has retired with her motley, mixed-species unit to operate the Last Chance gourmet restaurant on TwiceFar Station at the very edge of the universe. Just as they are set to win the coveted Nikkelin Orb food award, an explosion hurls Niko, her faithful crew, and a mysterious crate they’re transporting into a chaotic scramble for survival aboard the sentient bioship You Sexy Thing. The ship takes them into the clutches of a pirate king who’s been planning his revenge on Niko ever since an encounter decades earlier and has a series of grisly tortures in mind. Running parallel to this plot is a coming-of-age tale starring Atlanta, an heir to the Paxian galactic empire, who was shipped to Niko to learn how to govern herself and others. Rambo crafts her characters with relish, creating credibly motivated alien beings, a plucky heroine, and a ship learning to experience emotion for the first time. The result is a thoroughly entertaining sci-fi romp.[em] (Nov.) [/em]