I’ve made a quick detour from fantasy books, taking up a fast-paced Sci-Fi book that promised lighthearted but serious story. And it worked for me.

Now, this book has been in my TBR for a bit over a year. How it got there? In a discussion on Goodreads, there was a talk about not-so-traditional awards, and this book was mentioned. Why? Goodreads lists there “2017 SFR Galaxy Award for Best Misleading Title”. The misleading part being that the “Warrior wench” isn’t the MC’s nickname (though it may very well be) but a ship’s name.

The plot starts pretty much with what’s written on the tin – Captain Vaslisha (mostly only called Vas) returns from a two-week break to pick up her ship and crew so she can go fight a battle she was contracted for…

… only to find out that her ship, The victorious dead, was dismantled and scattered across the universe. With her temperament, she forces the “harbormaster” to give up the only other ready ship – the Warrior wench. A former brothel cruiser – but she soon finds is loaded with more weapons and better tech than she could’ve hoped for.

Believing things to be sorted, she picks up her crew on a casino planet and heads for the battle, only to arrive a bit late and see the planet – with all the other combatants on it – destroyed. And that’s just the start of her worries – the report she sends to the leaders of the Commonwealth is ignored. Meanwhile, she is helped to the realization that something was way off as she came back, and starts investigating, only to fall into a chian of events spiralling out of control.

She returns to the space port where the story started to search for answers only to witness a part of it being blown up and get involved in a bar brawl. The story picks up pace fast – her second attempt to contact the leaders of the Commonwelath gives her a suspicious response that reminded me of copy-paste replies from Tech Support.

Vas then faces poisons, rumors of a “definitely dead” race, space fanatics, and all kinds of trouble hurtling her way that’ll keep her and her crew at the best of their abilities to survive, let alone to at least get a hint of what’s going on and how to stop it.

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Read date: 6.-11.4.2021
Published: 24.5.2016
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,19/4,6
My rating: 90%
Length: 306 pages (Kindle edition)
My highlights

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The book may be heavy on Sci-Fi clichés. However, it has all the good stuff – action, fun passages, moments of bravery, selfless sacrifice, and subtle romance subplot for the MC. If you want some space action with a simple but working story and a book that may not take itself way too seriously, this may be a good piece to pick up. I’ll be reading the sequel soon.