A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White, 473 pages

Nilah Brio is the best racer in the universe, the pride of Lang Autosports, drawing adoring fans and big bucks sponsorships on every planet she drives on. But during one of her races, she and another racer become trapped in a time-locked spell cast by a spooky old lady that leaves the other racer dead and Nilah teleported to the bad part of town with nobody to trust. Before long, however, she meets up with Boots, a former fighter pilot-turned-celebrity who now sells not-always-correct maps to treasure hunters. Boots is on the run from the many treasure hunters she's duped when she and Nilah meet, and unfortunately, that's when Boots' former captain and crew catch up with her, taking Boots and Nilah aboard the Capricious as they search for the Harrow, a legendary warship that may not even exist. But the spooky old lady is hot on their heels, and way more dangerous than any of them suspected.

OK, that's probably a bit confusing, and it's not even close to the full plot of the book. But holy cow, is this a fun book! One of the blurbs on the back of the book compares it to the gone-too-soon western-in-space TV show Firefly (which is one of my favorites), and it's definitely an apt comparison. I had a bit of trouble making the characters magical capabilities mesh with the galaxy-jumping setting, but once I got that sorted in my head, this was a fantastic adventure. I'll definitely be reading the rest of this trilogy! Recommended for fans of Becky Chambers, Firefly, and not-always-legal capers.