416 pages
English language
Published May 6, 2024 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
Cascade Failure is an action-packed scifi novel about a ragtag spaceship crew of misfits that gets involved in Significant Events. It's snappy and engaging, but it's not heavy on horizon-expanding content - it feels a bit like a space-opera version of a Tales of the Ketty Jay novel
LM Sagas's Cascade Failure is a debut sf novel about found family on a scrappy spaceship working against the evils of capitalism. You love to see it. I don't know why this trope is such catnip for me, but I could really read so much of this.
It's full of snappy dialogue, fun relationships, and action-filled set pieces. Honestly, so much of the book felt visual that I could easily imagine a comic or film adaptation. The relationships between the characters, especially Jal and Saint, had a lot of depth.
I wish there was a little bit more heft to the worldbuilding. It's a space corporations vs unions situation (although it gets at some good nuance about how these can work too closely together), with a guild that sits sort of outside that. I didn't really get much sense of what guild hierarchy Captain Eoan existed in, as it seemed …
LM Sagas's Cascade Failure is a debut sf novel about found family on a scrappy spaceship working against the evils of capitalism. You love to see it. I don't know why this trope is such catnip for me, but I could really read so much of this.
It's full of snappy dialogue, fun relationships, and action-filled set pieces. Honestly, so much of the book felt visual that I could easily imagine a comic or film adaptation. The relationships between the characters, especially Jal and Saint, had a lot of depth.
I wish there was a little bit more heft to the worldbuilding. It's a space corporations vs unions situation (although it gets at some good nuance about how these can work too closely together), with a guild that sits sort of outside that. I didn't really get much sense of what guild hierarchy Captain Eoan existed in, as it seemed like they and the crew largely went off and did whatever they pleased.
Overall, my take is that this was fun but not amazing, and I'd read more by this author or in this universe for sure.
Content warning Here are the problems:
At first, I thought this would be a beach read, not anything heavy or anything, just a good ol' space adventure. I made it about 90% through but gave up. Everyone from the characters to the narrators loves their 20th century idioms. It seems unlikely that either hundreds of years in the future that those idioms will survive. And there is a lot of telling instead of showing. You could probably chop fifty pages of exposition and it wouldn't affect the story line.
The blurb on the book cover mentioned that this is like a Becky Chambers' novel. Well, if you mean there are spaceships, then yes. Is it anything else like a Chambers' novel? no.
On the plus side, the characters are interesting, and the plot is ok. Two stars, it might work for you, but it didn't do anything for me.
It kind of feels like a couple of authors in recent years have taken up the challenge of John Steakley’s amazing book Armor, and L M Sagas definitely joins them. A fierce, tight-knit crew comprised of an AI spaceship, a retired soldier and a fixit girl (both ships and humans) accidentally (or maybe not so) take on a new passenger and promptly stumble into a whole bunch of crazy intertwined mysteries while dealing with old wounds.
A great read with fun characters. Well worth the time if you like a good action story with fun heroes.
