Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper took me a little off guard, if I’m being honest. I was unsure about whether this was the right book for me but I’m happy to say that I’m excited to continue this series in the future. The author was also kind enough to write a guest post for my SPSFC Finalist series so make sure to check that out if you haven’t seen it yet!
Hammer and Crucible
Author: Cameron Cooper
Pub day: March 18, 2020
Length: 322 Pages
Available for purchase here.
Blurb
The interstellar array which links worlds together wakes to find it has enemies…
The Fourth Carinad Empire stretches across hundreds of settled worlds and stellar cities, and thousands of light years. The Empire’s people and data are linked by a space-folding gates array controlled by the Emperor and his cohorts. When the array evolves into a sentient entity, it recognizes the Emperor as its foe.
Danny Andela, once known as The Imperial Hammer, withdrew from the Imperial Rangers decades ago, her reputation in tatters. She lives on her family’s star barge, waiting to die of a rare disease: old age. She would be the array’s perfect weapon against the Emperor, except she no longer gives a damn–about anything.
Then Danny learns that the military disaster which essentially ended her life might possibly have been arranged by the Emperor himself…
Review
Hammer and Crucible was a book that I wasn’t entirely sure about the first time I saw it. There wasn’t a specific reason for it but I was hesitant at first. I’m glad to say that I read this more quickly than anticipated and am eager to continue the series eventually. While it had a few things that didn’t quite work for me, overall I had a good time with it and am really glad SPSFC put this author on my radar.
The writing was really easy to read. This stood out to me from the start. There was a certain smoothness to it that felt really nice and thanks to not having a ton of complicated words and concepts, it was a book I could read even on some of my more tiring days. This was really nice to have because it can be really difficult for me to find the right books when I’m not feeling well.
While it did feel a little bit info dumpy in a couple of spots and some information seemed awkwardly placed, overall I liked the layout of the story and when and how different layers of intrigue were added. I liked how quickly the main problem was introduced and why it was so personal to the MC. Don’t be fooled though. There was still plenty of scheming to unravel despite what seemed to be a straightforward quest at first.
There were a couple of small details that felt discordant and the story felt like it was moving too slowly just a bit here and there. I also wished that some concepts had been explained just a little more. Overall though, the story had a really nice flow to it that allowed me to read it much more quickly than anticipated. There was a good amount of surprises that were revealed along the way as well as at the end that I hadn’t anticipated at all. This enabled the story to expand in unexpected ways that I am really excited to read about more in the future.
The Shaggy Shepherd 