I am reading too many first books for series and am getting behind. Decisions, Decisions! When July 1 rolls around, I can continue with the Frontlines series I started, continue with the Beyond the Wall series by Lucas Bale, continue with the Union Station series, and book six of Richard Fox's Ember Wars series is just out a little over a week ago. I am going to double check, but I don't think any of these are on Overdrive or the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Report on Lucas Bale's Beyond the Wall series. This is a space opera which follows, so far, three different sets of characters: there is the freighter trader/pilot (and occasional smuggler) who gets suckered into helping a small group of believers and their preacher who are hunted, then there is the Core detective who is hunting down a killer and who begins to question his role in keeping citizens of the Core in line, and finally, there is the messenger/spy who begins to suspect his master is up to something nefarious he is not privy to but is being used to further the master's goals and therefore in danger of his life - he wants to know why. The Core is the central part of the empire and its citizens are tightly controlled and in danger of losing its grip. The outlaying areas are semi-controlled, but closely watched, and the Wall is not literally a wall, but a designated spot in space beyond which no one is to go, and if they do, they come back telling tales of madness, strange happenings, and such which scare the willies out of most anyone who has been there. The first book is about the space trader and the preacher, the second bounces back and forth between the detective and the spy. These three different groups will, according to the author, will coalesce at some point. Very well written and worth a read.
