I'd give it a 3.5 but Goodreads doesn't do halfsies.

Satan’s Reach was one of the first few books I’ve read in what my science fiction friend told me is considered “hard sci-fi.” It is also the second book written in what is planned to be a shared universe by any number of authors. I did not happen to read the first book because I was told that it wasn’t absolutely necessary to still be able to enjoy Satan’s Reach. Which was thankfully true. So you can’t go into this book expecting it to be a sequel to the first book, The Devil’s Nebula because it is not.

The only other shared universe type books I’ve read have been a lot of Dragonlance universe and a few short stories from the superheros Wild Cards universe. I love the idea of a world where different authors can bring something to the plate and explore different story lines. Usually I’ve seen that one author will explore a storyline of one character/group and complete that. These first two books written by Eric Brown didn’t seem to follow that and were more like their own stories. Though I didn’t read the first book I took a look at the description and didn’t feel lost at all. There is probably some bigger picture items that I might not be on the up and up about but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of Satan’s Reach.

I do like Eric Brown’s writing style and as a newbie to the hard sci-fi genre I didn’t think it was too over my head or overly techie. It would definitely be a definite change for any reader that is used to reading fantasy and little to no actual science fiction. When I say science fiction I’m talking space opera, everything is in outer space, mostly on planets that are not earth, with advanced technology and alien races. while, I’ve read quite a lot of books that have science fiction elements, I haven’t read many that are “hard sci-fi” or “space operas.” Essentially, like reading Star Trek instead of watching it. For some people it would be a genre much harder to read than to watch. I think I might fall into that category but I still enjoyed Satan’s Reach and think I will continue to try out these types of sci-fi books as I really do love the kind of stories you can get exploring the universe.

The main character Den Harper is a telepath on the run. Since he’s on the run he’s pretty much on his own and all he has is what he does, his skills as a telepath and his ship’s AI, Judi. Which is pretty neat if I might add. I always love when an AI is involved in a book where you can see them as a character/person and not just extra fluff. So I enjoyed that interaction between them. Things move along at a great pace and Den isn’t alone for long because he rescues a girl named Zeela. Then of course throw into the mix that Den has bounty hunters on his trail and we’ve got ourselves a very entertaining story. ( )

A new lot of characters in the same universe. The sub-plots were a bit corny, but otherwise it was fun. ( )