A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy

A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy by Alex White, 532 pages

The ragtag crew of the Capricious is back at it, fighting evil and doing it in not-so-legal ways. In this followup to A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the crew is hunting down the gods of the Harrow, the uber-powerful cartel that is destroying life galaxy-wide for their own magical benefit. This quest finds them attempting to infiltrate a cult, hunt down a turncoat treasure hunter, and take out another god, creating a quite the adventure. This series is definitely not going to win any awards, but boy howdy, is it fun!

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.

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, 346 pages.
Shetterly focuses on four African-American women who were hired by the NACA, and the organization that followed it, NASA. Approximately 1,000 women with math and engineering skills were hired as computers during World War II, the Cold War, and during the space program. Of those, some were African American and Shetterly focuses on telling the stories of four of those women.