Review: Star Cruise Captain’s Prequel by Veronica Scott

Star Cruise Captain’s Prequel (The Sectors)
by Veronica Scott

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Maeve is the Artificial Intelligence operating a massive Space Navy battleship. A malfunction at the time of her creation gave her self awareness and emotions, all of which she has to hide to protect herself. At one time her ship was the best in the fleet, fighting and winning battle after battle, but now it’s considered old and obsolete.

Gil Fleming is her current captain and the only one who knows her secret. He’s also the man she loves.

Now he’s been ordered to take the ship to the interstellar boneyard to be turned into scrap, at which time Maeve will be terminated by the company that created her. Gil’s tried everything to persuade the authorities to grant her a reprieve and give her a new ship to run, without revealing her secret. He’s been met with opposition at every turn and accused of having an emotional connection with an AI, which is against the law.

He loves her. But there’s nothing he can do to save her.

They’re saying their final goodbyes on the deserted ship.

Suddenly an unusual distress call persuades Gil and Maeve to fly into enemy territory on their own on a desperate rescue mission. Will this trip only delay the inevitable for them or will the results of their rash decision solve their problem?

This 24K novella goes back to the beginning and tells the origin story of Maeve and the Captain, long running characters in the STAR CRUISE series and how they got to the Nebula Zephyr. Their love story will continue in STAR CRUISE CAPTAIN’S STORY.

Author’s Note: There is the loss of a child in this book, which happens outside the pages but which affects the characters as they deal with the tragic news.

My Review

I really like Veronica Scott’s Star Cruise series and Maeve the self aware AI has been one of my favorite side characters in those stories, so I was excited to hear she and the captain Gil would get their own story. I was wondering how that would work with her being an AI and was curious to see their unique relationship develop.

This book is the prequel which takes place before Maeve is on the nebula Zephyr ship and thus takes place before all of the Star Cruise stories. I liked learning about how Maeve came to be, her history and then how she met captain Gil and seeing their bond develop and deepen.

There are some flashbacks and scenes about their past and then there is the current day events were they go on a rescue missions right before Maeve is schedule to be destroyed. Gil has been unable to prevent this, but when a call for help goes in they have to reply. I liked learning about what led up to that point and seeing how much they meant to each other and then seeing this adventure play out, this missions what they think will be their last mission together. Due to the Star Cruise books involving Maeve on a new ship I knew she would be okay, but despite that I still felt the emotions and the danger of Gil thinking he would lose Maeve and Maeve thinking the Company would destroy her.

I liked the relationship between Maeve and the captain and thought they made for a great couple. I actually really liked the unique nature of their relationship with her not having a physical body and things like how she takes care of him and does little things to make his life easier, while Gil confides in her and as he can’t do so with any of the crew. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about the steamy dreams and didn’t really feel like they were necessary. I am not sure what to think of the twist toward the end as this shifts part of how they interact, but there isn’t much of that yet and I’ll have to see how that plays out in the next book.

To summarize: This was a great read. I like Maeve as a side character in the Star Cruise stories and it was exiting to finally see her and the captain’s story. There are parts about how Maeve came to be and how she and the captain grow close. And then the rest of the story deals with them going on a rescue mission before Maeve is scheduled to be destroyed. I really enjoyed this book and felt the emotions and danger in the story despite knowing Maeve would survive as this one takes place before all the Star Cruise stories. I liked seeing the relationship between Maeve and the captain,the way she is there for him and he can confide in them to the games they play together. It was a great read and I can’t wait to read the conclusion to their story in the next book.

Links:
– Goodreads
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– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.