I received a free copy of this book to review. I enjoyed it; it was a fun read. I suppose it would be considered space opera. It isn’t heavy on science.

Can you imagine how exciting it would be to learn you have inherited a small spaceship that has been hidden in the barn? My first introduction to science fiction was Eleanor Cameron’s The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. I like the idea of a personal-sized spaceship in which you can go explore the universe. Our protagonist gets to do just that. He has inherited the starship from his grandfather who has given him the opportunity to become a Peacekeeper, which Van does after some consideration. Peacekeepers are somewhat like knights, stopping the bad guys and helping those in need. I loved reading about the knights of the Round Table when I was a child. So it strikes two sentimental points for me.

At this point in time, I don’t have a large amount of money to spend on books, and this series is not one that I would choose to buy with the amount I do have, but I will probably read more since they are available in Kindle Unlimited. ( )

Strictly space cowboy stuff. I had this on my Kindle Unlimited tbr list but dropped the subscription before I got to it. So when I saw it listed as a Goodreads Giveaway I entered - and won. It was entertaining enough but I won’t be going on with the series. ( )

Backyard Spaceship is your basic SF novel made up of every SF trope you've ever heard of. Boy goes home to Iowa for his Grandfather's funeral and discovers he's the sole heir. And then he presses a button on a remote and finds out that he has been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada. I mean inherit his Grandfather's job as a "Peacemaker". Which is presented as a sort of independent intergalactic policeman. But really means "Privateer", since all of the Peacemakers get along by waving their authority/gang membership around, capturing ships, scavenging them for upgrades and selling the rest off for scrap. So they can buy more upgrades.

Frankly, that part of the book plays out like most SF games. Van (the entirely unremarkable and barely described POV character) has to upgrade his personal weapon to add more capabilities in ritual sequence. He has to upgrade his star-ship, choosing among armor, weapons, sensors. Just like the "crafting" section of any game where you get bits or money and make your stuff better so you can take on the next quest.

And move from quest to quest he does. He starts out with two companions, the Ship/AI Netty, and the Combat AI in the shape of a bird called Perry. He quickly picks up the traditional 3rd companion a rescued woman who is better than he is at everything, but somehow is only his assistant (she has a name, I don't remember it because it's *that* important to the story). Oh, and even though humanity on Earth doesn't know about the intergalactic society, a few thousand humans have been recruited as Peacemakers, criminals, servants, etc. And somehow they are EVERYWHERE now. Including holding several of the most of the important positions in the Peacemaker hierarchy. And also Van is prodigy-level good at being a Peacemaker, shooting up through the ranks, grabbing attention, cracking the cases, taking down the bad guys that literally no one else in the entire organization could. All while turning a hefty profit on the pirated, I mean forfeited, goods and bounties.

The story itself is full of references, direct and indirect, to all sorts of SF properties including Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Babylon 5, Star Trek, and more. It reads like a series a sequence of short stories/adventures that were stitched together into a longer format, even including directly repeating some exposition a few stories apart.

If you really like Heinlein's juveniles, or just want some cheesy SF adventure story that doesn't bother with characters, consistent morals, or explanations you'll be perfectly happy reading this for a few hours and then moving on. ( )

Chaney, J. N., and Terry Maggert. Backyard Starship. Backyard Starship No. 1. Valiant, 2021.
In Backyard Starship, Van Tudor, a white-hat hacker, inherits his grandfather’s farm. In the barn he finds a spacecraft and combat AI that looks like a large bird and wants to be called Perry. It seems he has been drafted into an organization of interstellar peacekeepers, a job he has also inherited from his grandfather. He soon finds himself on a large space station being tutored in martial arts, interstellar law, weaponry, and spaceship operations. The galaxy, it turns out, is as wild a frontier as you could wish. The snarky AI and the woman who acts as his training officer keep his ego in check. This is a popcorn read and is entertaining if you can put your critical faculties on the shelf for a while. 3.5 stars. ( )