This was pretty quick to read! It really only focuses on this refueling situation, so it felt almost like an episode of a TV show. I did like that there was an AI (Odysseus) in the story. However, I feel like this snapshot of the world was just not quite enough for me. I generally don't have the best sense of any of the characters, aside from (maybe) the captain.

I did feel a bit confused while reading this, as we're just thrown right in to the world. I do wonder if it would be better to read all of this series at once. On its own, I'm not sure the story was enough to be particularly memorable for me.

All this being said, if you're interested in a more episodic sci-fi, this might work for you.

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 3:55-5:41 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIAVTt2RnQc&t=1420s

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Wine Dark Deep! This novella is a light read for fans of space opera who could also go for some hard sci-fi. I had some trouble staying engaged; just as the story would get going something would interrupt the groove: an awkward change of perspective or a sudden resolution to the dramatic arc. But I did find myself melting into some well-executed bits, such as: "Technically, all paths in space were orbits, this new one the taxi was falling along just happened to intersect with the ground. Now, Cal thought, it was all about mitigating the fall" or "But you must realize that you close minds when you put lives at risk. You look small when you try to look big."

I was also left scratching my head when characters referenced their "space phone" or a "Hot Wheel set." The action is taking place on a mining colony on an asteroid, presumably well into the future? The references to modern artifacts was jolting. Another nitpick, this story is told from a third person omniscient perspective, and in a couple of chapters the focus shifted rapidly between characters, which I didn't care for at all.

Overall, I would have appreciated more time being spent on the backstory between Cal and Donovan. What is this tension between them? Is it romantic? It's never explained. And let me read about more Cal and less everyone else - he was by far my favorite character. He reminded me a lot of Mark Watney from The Martian, who knew his science but wasn't afraid of a dirty joke now and then.

After a slow start, the novel turns into a race against the odds for the crew of the Ulysses as they orbit Ceres.

Captain Cal Scott is a man with a mission, and nothing will stop him from getting to Jupiter.

I liked the fast pace and short chapters giving us a sense of urgency. The science seems totally plausible and falls in the hard sci-fi category, with lots of descriptions and details.

I really enjoyed my ride and am looking forward the next part of the series!

Being a space-freak and a nerd who often gets his kicks by exploring and learning all that he can about the universe and its elements, reading a hard space science action can be a very overwhelming experience for him. Being that nerd, I never miss any opportunity to read such science fiction. The last space science fiction I read was Andy Weir's 'Artemis' where I explored and experienced the premise that was set on the moon. And now, in R. Peter Keith's 'Wine Dark Deep', I got to read a very intriguing story which was set on Ceres—the largest asteroid in the asteroid bet, millions of miles away from our mother Earth.

The story revolves around Calvin Scott and his crew who were on the scientific exploration voyage on their interplanetary spacecraft, Ulysses. In the middle of the voyage, they needed to refuel their spacecraft and Ceres was their only hope if they didn't want to return Earth. But the people on Ceres have other plans and their rebellion acts simply conveyed that they didn't want to help Earth anymore and wanted to develop independently from the earth. In the middle of such political conflicts and conspiracies, Cal couldn't risk his mission to go in vain and puts himself among the rebellions and that leads the story to take the most exciting and thrilling turns.

There's no second opinion if either I enjoyed it or not, I certainly found it very exhilarating. The start was a bit slow for me, but as soon as Cal gets down on Ceres, things started moving at a great pace. The author successfully managed to create that constant rush where I could not help but wonder about what would happen next. My favorite part was the chase between rovers and Cal's escape plan—which was quite insane. It was a very intense reading experience which gave me many thrills and goosebumps through its plot development, the narration and premise building was at it's best as well, even I like the scientific description of the places and processes, but that can also be its down point for the readers who may not have enough idea about space and technologies related to it. Ordinary readers may probably find it overly descriptive, but yes, people who are completely into space and exploration would certainly enjoy this read.

If there were ten elements in the book then I loved and enjoyed nine of them, but the one that I think the author should consider is its characterization. There were many characters like Helen, Paul Arthur, Henry and Sarah, and as a reader, I could not find them enough engaging in the matter of their background. Sometimes we read characters and we know who they are, where they come from, and what's makes them exceptional as an Individual character and that was missing in this book. This was just the first book of the series, and characterization is not the matter if the author has worked on it in the following two books of the series.

Overall, it has all the elements that a science-fiction reader will love to read and it's also quite challenging when certain descriptions and animation in the scenes demand some extra imagination muscles to picture it in the reader's mind. If one can obtain that imagination state than this will be no less than an insane science-fiction movie. I will highly recommend it to people who prefer intense and hard space science-fiction.

The book series is going to release on 12th of October and I wish the author good luck for this journey and the success of the book series.

This short SciFi novella was a lot of fun! A revolutionary force on the mining colony of Cerce decides to take a stand, refusing Cal Scott the refuel his ship needs to complete their scientific mission. In such a short page count, the author creates such an engaging storyline. I was sucked in and finished this novella in one sitting! If you like classic SciFi, you'll likely be a fan of this! If you are interested in dipping your toes into this genre, here's a good, nonintimidating place to start! 4/5 stars

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this fun book

if you are a big fan of star trek then this is the book for you....
space travel and exploration are abound in this short story and i for one cant wait for the second book in this exciting new series...

VERY thrilling Sci-Fi. It didn’t require a lot of thinking which is fine for me personally which made it a little more enjoyable.

Good story. I think this tale could be successfully told in a comic book....easy to read, not much thinking required to be entertained but action totally believable.

Wine Dark Deep is a thrilling science fiction adventure. R. Peter Keith writes with knowledge of the genre and excellent story craft. Ideal for readers looking for their next venture into space.