Many of us have found it hard to maintain a sane work-life balance during the pandemic of the 21st century. How much harder is it in the 31st century living and working aboard a starship? In Felicia Watson's The Risks of Dead Reckoning (Lovelace Series #3), Lieutenant Naiche Decker finds it to be a near-impossibility. Not surprising since her captain is also her father, her CO is her best friend, and fellow pilot Talako Jacoway is her newly christened fiancé!
During the hard-fought war with the Eternals and the tumultuous aftermath, Decker was obsessed with her job, but her recent life as a peace-time space-explorer has her thinking about a more tranquil future. Decker’s idyllic musings are cut short when the Lovelace’s mission to collect a rare and highly-prized mineral is interrupted by a haunting distress call. Asking for help are strangely childlike humans claiming to be the survivors of a starship lost hundreds of years before, whose crew has long been counted among the dead.
The ancient mystery leads the Lovelace to a planet called Tolu, where enigmatic inhabitants and dangerous creatures abound. As if keeping the fool-hardy survivors alive while fighting off acid-spewing dragons isn’t enough, the Lovelace crew attempts to broker peace between the peculiar planet's warring factions. In the end, to untangle the murky history of the stranded humans, the Lovelace crew must confront their professed benefactors: a xenophobic race of highly advanced aliens who may prove to be a powerful ally – or formidable foe.
Many readers and reviewers have mentioned the Lovelace Series’ strong Trek vibe, with a likable crew (including a canine corpsman), breezy humor, and philosophical quandaries in the mix. The characters wrestle with the morality of colonization, vengeance gone too far, and whether a misguided attempt to help can end up being an ethical rights violation. Though the third in a series, this book, like its predecessors, can easily stand-alone.