Soldier of Fortune (Fortune Chronicles, #1)

by Kathleen McClure

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Soldier of Fortune is the 1st book in the Fortune Chronicles by Kathleen McClure. Originally released in 2015, this reformat and re-release in 2018 is 318 pages and available in ebook, audio, and paperback formats.

I was captivated by this book. This is runaway fun on a -huge- space western scale. Gideon Quinn is a paladin... a soldier with a conscience who was unfairly imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit. When he gets the chance to investigate what -really- happened, he manages to get involved in saving street urchins and damsels in distress along with routing the rotten and corrupt government officials who allowed him to be railroaded. He also has a travel-sized dragon. A -dragon- named Elvis. Honestly, the author had me at mini-dragon. This is also, however, a really well written book. The characterizations are solid. The worldbuilding is impressive, including a self contained, contextually accessible slang and dialogue. It's nonstop action, of course, with lots of explosions, and bar fights, and plasma guns, and shoot outs, and evil powerful antagonists whom I was really really looking forward to watching get smacked down spectacularly.

For Kindle Unlimited subscribers; this title, as well as the much of the author's oeuvre is available in the KU subscription to borrow and download.I binge read the series during a long weekend.

These characters would be wonderfully appropriate for film media as well. It's been a while since I've been totally captivated by an SF/fantasy series. The author writes so visually, it's easy to see the action whilst reading. Please cast this series soon, Netflix or Amazon!

I heartily recommend this book to lovers of space westerns, good-guy action series, and such. It's very fun escapist reading. There's a fair bit of light banter (even the bad guys - maybe especially the bad guys). There were only a few places in the story which felt to me to be a little over the top (almost always scenes with the Ohmdahl triplets...their dialogue made me wince), but they were fleeting.

Well written, humorous, action packed, rollicking, lots of explosions, Elvis (!) the draco. Bliss.

Five stars. I enjoyed this one immensely.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.