Book Review: The Amaranth Chronicles

Title: The Amaranth Chronicles
Author: Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman
Genre: Sci-fi; Space Opera

Year Published: November 14, 2017
Date Started: July 25, 2023

Date finished: August 1, 2023

I’m a huge fan of space opera and this one was well done. The main character, Lithia, finds herself helping a cyborg named, Cade. They didn’t know each other, but they knew the third person who happened to bring them together. Cade is in a bind and Lithia just so happens to have a vessel that could help him find his comrades. Her little brother, Bobby, wants to go with her, so he hides himself on the ship. He doesn’t want to be left behind because he, and Lithia, don’t get along with their aunt who had taken them in when they lost their parents.

There is a maelstrom of events in outer space. The big guys—the antagonists, want to take down some very important leaders so they can have power, but the people they come in contact with are not as easy to defeat as they had thought. This is where the action really gets moving, and this was my favorite parts of the story. There’s action inside the ships as well as outside. Lithia is forced to trust people she doesn’t know because her brother was left behind when all the fighting broke out and she needed to get him back. The ending was excellent. I love a good ending and this one did it.

This is a fun read for all age groups. It was easy to read and the action scenes were well thought-out and well written. The only thing that I felt could have been done better was the beginning. There were too many characters introduced, but Lithia was the main character. I wanted her story not only at the beginning, but throughout. I wanted to really feel her anger and sadness as to why she chose to do the things she did. It was only briefly mentioned when she was planning to leave and because of that, her character development felt weak. Other than that, I found the friendship between the soldiers excellently done as well as Cyborg Cade. He was pretty cool.

Who should read this book: Anyone into a fun space opera story.