Cover Image: Finder

Finder

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I'm not really a science fiction reader, but this book had me from the very beginning. Fergus Ferguson is a 'finder'. He recovers stolen goods and returns them to their rightful owners. He is currently on the trail of a stolen space ship that, literally, can think for itself if you know the answers to the questions it will ask. Fergus knows the answers, or at least he believes that he does, but first he has to get close enough to the ship to 'talk' to it. This task is made more difficult when he ends up in the middle of a war...a war in which this stolen ship plays an important part. This story was a roller coaster of a ride and I enjoyed the trip very much. Was the ending designed so that there could be more books set in this universe? I hope so!

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Fergus Ferguson is an interstellar repo man working for the shipmakers of Pluto to repossess Venetia's Sword, a state of the art intelligent ship from Arum Gilger, the criminal who ran off with it. His destination is Cernee, a higgledy-piggledy series of habs in space around a gas giant. They are connected by transport lines, but Fergus's first ride proves almost fatal. When his cable car is targeted by Gilger, he gets away but his fellow passenger, Mother Vahn, matriarch of a clan of (he assumes) clones, is killed. Quite rightly the clones don't trust him, even though they save his life.

The plot thickens as Fergus becomes invested in some of the locals, including Mari, one of the clones, spiky as hell, and Harcourt, arms dealer, one of Cernee's powers, and Bale his surprisingly likeable henchman. Pretty soon Fergus is in the middle of a war between factions that he unwittingly helped to start. He lurches from one desperately improbable situation to another, managing to end up (several times) not-dead by the skin of his teeth. Fergus is a quick-thinking schemer with a conscience. He's a likeable character with a backstory which eventually returns to bite him.

There are aliens, and then there are Aliens, in particular the ineffable Asiig who sometimes take humans and 'alter' them. Some come back, some don't. They take an unnatural interest in him, so Fergus is wary, but when they intervene things get very strange.

Ms Palmer makes her characters work hard. Finder is a breathless ride. The pacing is good and the characters nicely complex. (I particularly liked Mari with her sandpapery attitude towards everything.) Though this is a complete story there's a neat little opening at the end which offers the possibility for Fergus to have more adventures. I'm looking forward to that.

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Finder by Suzanne Palmer. Fergus Ferguson is a Finder, sort of a Bounty Hunter that locates objects for you and brings them back. Upon arriving in Cernee, his day turns bad and doesn't get better. Almost blown up, killed for finding out secrets he shouldn't know and trying to find the object he has been hired to find, it just isn't his day.

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Fergus Ferguson fled Earth at 15 and never looked back. Since then he has worn many hats but the one he likes the most is that of a "Finder" or you know a Repo Man. His current task is to find and retrieve a cutting edge spacecraft the Venetia's Sword, simple enough right? What should be an easy task gets complicated real quick when Fergus arrives at Cernee a free-floating colony at the far reaches of the galaxy and he finds himself tossed into the middle of a civil war. This funny, scary and thrilling space opera is a blast, great for readers of the Expanse, Dark Run by Mike Brooks, or Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Woodring.

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In this futuristic space odyssey, Palmer has created worlds and people to care about. Action is centered around the daring and reckless Fergus Ferguson, originally from Scotland, then Mars, and then homeless as he travels the universe reclaiming stolen property. His mission this time is to return a spaceship to its rightful owner, but along the way he encounters an insular community of women and one of its members who turns out to be just as daring and reckless as he is. He is caught up in a cosmic deadly power struggle among competing factions, and his creative problem-solving is tested to the hilt. The pace is fast, the characters interesting, and this reader hopes for sequels (although I was thankful that this did not end in a cliff-hanger).

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Absolutely loved it. Perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Andy Weir and Ann Leckie. I hope that this isn't going to be a stand alone novel. Finder is a perfect mash-up a caper mystery and sci/fi.

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This book was a ton of fun to read. It's filled with nonstop action that makes you start to feel sorry for the protagonist and wondering if he is ever going to get a break.

Fergus Ferguson (learn to love the name because he riffs off it with his pseudonyms) was hired to do a simple job - recover a stolen starship and return it to its manufacturer. The only time this job is going right is in the first paragraphs of the book. Everything goes off kilter pretty quickly.

Among all the action, Palmer builds a fascinating look at humanity's expansion into the stars with a wide range of technology, societies, and mixture of alien races. The characters we spend the most time with a likeable and often very funny, especially Fergus who has a fantastic outlook on his life. The characters are grounded (ironically since they spend half the book floating around in space) and built with great depth. A couple of characters could have used some more development, but I get the sense that this will not be the only book set in this universe, so we'll get more time to explore them.

In all, I highly recommend this book for someone looking for a fast-paced space opera that introduces a universe ripe for the launch of a new series.

Additionally, this book would make a fantastic movie.

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Fergus Ferguson is a galactic repo man. He left his past in a flooded Scotland back on Earth and headed out to the stars to seek his way. His newest job has taken him to the far reaches of the galaxy to reclaim a stolen ship from the Shipmakers on Pluto. What he thinks will be a simple job turns in to a harrowing adventure that helps him understand some things about himself.
After about the first 4 paragraphs the action starts and just doesn't stop. Wall to wall adventure and tight situations, crazy criminal characters and schemes, improbable alien interactions all combine to make this a whirlwind that doesn't show any sign of slowing down. It made it a fast read because just when you think its coming to an entr'acte it's like nope, lets keep going. This is why I dropped it to 4 stars because it could have done with a little less action. A good read nonetheless and I can will recommend this to sci-fi fans.

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