Daisy's Run

The Clockwork Chimera Book 1

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Pub Date Nov 15 2018 | Archive Date Mar 08 2022

Description

Life in deep space could be a drag sometimes, but Daisy supposed things could have been worse. They were still alive, after all, which was always a plus in her book. Now if only she could figure out who, or what, was endangering her return home, things would be just peachy.
 
It had been one hell of a way to start the day––being rudely snapped from a deep cryo-sleep, and in the middle of a ship-wide crisis to boot––but Daisy was pleased to note that the ship had not decompressed, the crew hadn’t been blasted into space, and, most importantly, they hadn’t simply blown up. At least not yet. So, they had that going for them, but being stuck on a damaged ship in the inky depths of space as it limped toward Earth was not exactly the relaxing trip home she’d imagined.
 
With the powerful AI supercomputer guiding the craft beginning to show some disconcerting quirks of its own, and its unsettling cyborg assistant nosing into her affairs, Daisy’s unease was rapidly growing. Add to the mix a crew of mechanically-enhanced humans, any one of whom she suspected might not be what they seemed, and Daisy found herself with a sense of pending dread tickling the periphery of her mind.

Something was very much not right––she could feel it in her bones. The tricky part now was going to be figuring out what the threat was, before it could manifest from a mere sinking feeling in her gut into a potentially deadly reality.


Life in deep space could be a drag sometimes, but Daisy supposed things could have been worse. They were still alive, after all, which was always a plus in her book. Now...


Advance Praise

"Baron fleshes out his story with plenty of sturdy science and technological details, but it's his strong characterization that really stands out... Exciting action sequences, good dialogue, nifty science, and well-drawn relationships make for an entertaining read." - Kirkus Reviews

"Scott Baron offers a brilliant storyline rife with plenty of dry humor, impromptu romps and plot twists as twisted as the cyborgs, and shines in his sci-fi suspense DAISY'S RUN." - ★★★★ - Indie Reader

"It's an enjoyable read steeped in just enough mystery to keep readers wondering how the journey will progress, and who'll live through it!" - Publishers Weekly - The BookLife Prize

"Baron fleshes out his story with plenty of sturdy science and technological details, but it's his strong characterization that really stands out... Exciting action sequences, good dialogue...


Available Editions

ISBN 9781945996184
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Average rating from 45 members


Featured Reviews

This! Was! Amazing!
Old school Sci fi adventures! Crew to love! Mystery and mayhem! I ADORED this. And I will be buying every book in the series when it comes out.
Daisy is a regular human, woken up from cryo too early to fix a damaged spaceship. She soon feels like something is not quite right with the AI systems on board, and harbours racist thoughts to anyone that's not wholly human.
During her adventure on board the Vali, you are left wondering if her actions are due to paranoia from some bad choices she made, or if she's actually right and something horrible is happening right next to her...
Or is there a third option?!

What I loved was that the protag is set up to be possibly unreliable. Is she paranoid? Is she right? What the actual heck is going on?!
It's addictive reading and I didn't stop until I read the very last page... Just when the answers start coming and you think you know what's happening... It ends! Ugh! I need the next installment. It doesn't feel serialised though, this book was a nice size, and feels decently novel sized.
The author should be commended. I love sci-fi, but the genre has been weakened lately with a flood of self published first attempts and its amazing to find a true great, unless you read real old school sci-fi (which is fine, but is very male oriented, male protagonists, male audience). I'd compare this to the Expanse series, something else that is voraciously read by me.
Its so nice to read a female protag too. Cannot stop gushing about this book.
If you enjoy sci-fi, go for it, read it!
Highly highly recommended.

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I loved this book! It was so exciting from start to finish.
Daisy and the rest of the crew of the Váli space vessel have been awakened early from cryo-sleep in the midst of some drama on their ship. There's fire, there's damage, there's a really peculiar AI supercomputer running things, and even after things seem to have settled, Daisy slowly starts to become uneasy.
I enjoyed this story immensely and could easily picture it as a movie. Sure, there have been other stories or films involving AI beings that have minds of their own, but there is so much more to the story here: things are definitely not how they appear.
My only snag is that I felt too much information was left to be revealed toward the end. So while it was still incredibly interesting, I simply felt it was quite a lot to take in, in such a short section. But I don't wish to deduct a star for that.
It was really good writing, and a really good story. The characters were well developed and you were able to sympathise with them. I'd love to read the follow-up parts to see where it all goes.

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I will admit this is my first adventure with this genre of book - and the reason I chose it - I am shallow and my daughters name is Daisy, but I am absolutely hooked. Forgive me if this is off base, and I am by no means big on sci-fi usually but it put me in mind of a cross between Lost in Space and Star Trek (the tv one with Captain Jane, admittedly the only one I've seen!). You can absolutely tell that Scott Baron works in the movie industry - this book has "big screen adaptation" written all over it - I could literally see it playing out in front of me page my page! Unexpected, and keeping you guessing right until the last page this book will keep you up well into the night. I can't wait for the second instalment. If you've never been drawn to this genre before get yourself out of your comfort zone and jump right in. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

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Professional, polished, and aggressively kickass, this book is engaging science fiction. I will definitely explore more work by Scott Baron when I can. He brought many speculative ideas together in a seamless and creative way.

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An author's skill is sometimes to start a 'simple' book along the lines of an existing, well developed literary formula, such as a science fiction soap opera, then deliver something else entirely by the end of the book, when all the characters are flipped around, some of the dead are dead, some of the dead are less dead, and some of the living may be less living than they think. Well formed characters appear that you won't find outside of a major science fiction author's work; in other words, this isn't your typical dime a dozen boilerplate Amazon ground out sci-fi series; this is a good stand alone effort that is contained in one book and is sufficient to the reader in one volume. Enjoyed this as a long read as an ebook; thanks #Netgalley

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