'Nightchaser (Endeavor #1)' by Amanda Bouchet

'Nightchaser' Goodreads Synopsis -

Tess Bailey: the galaxy's Most Wanted.

Captain Tess Bailey is in deep trouble. She and her crew are on the run, pursued by a tyrant who'll take them dead or alive. Tess's best hope is a tall, dark, and much-too-appealing stranger, Shade Ganavan, who says he can help her. But his motivations are far from clear... Shade Ganavan: arrogance, charm...and that special something that makes you want to kick him.

With the dreaded Dark Watch closing in, what Tess and Shade don't know about each other might get them killed...unless they can set aside their differences and learn to trust each other before it's too late.

Novel Review -

There are no spoilers in my review mainly because I don’t want to ruin the story and experience for others.

Okay, so I've been a MASSIVE fan of Bouchet's writing since I've read her 'King's Maker Chronicles' (which I thought was amazing and eye-opening), which lead me to this new novel of hers. I knew it was going to be something that I enjoyed because it featured all the themes that I am obsessed with: fantasy, romance, science fiction, that real Star Wars vibe.

The first thing that I fell in love with was the fact that the novel was based around a group of ex-con misfits that recently escaped from space jail and dabble in the interesting career of theft. Another interesting part to the novel was that the ship the ‘Endeavor’, had been under the control of a group of women – this made Tess and her fellow female comrades more mature and instant badasses.

Bouchet instantly engaged me by her world building and character development. She was able to make the planet environments instantly understandable and easily brought each character to life. I was able to understand the past and perspective of each character which also allowed me to take a break from living in the perspective of the main character, Tess.

What cost me that last star though was because I thought that the novel was a bit slow in the beginning, I started reading and felt completely lost and only gained interest in the story until around the 3 chapter. I would have loved in the beginning of the novel to have a map of of the solar system in which the ships were travelling to, because sometimes I say there thinking they were travelling “aimlessly” in space. I wish there was more to the story, only 400 pages of content that I was able to read in a day! I think it would have been interesting to understand how Tess and her crew were able to escape the prison and what kind of troubles she faced while being a guinea pig for the Dark Watch.

I hope that any reader of the Young Adult genre takes the leap and reads this novel, I would definitely recommend the ‘Kingsmaker Chronicles’ first and then read this noel. I thought I better understood Bouchet’s writing style, how she built her fantasy world and developed her characters in this novel because I had previously read her first series.

4/5 Stars