Space Opera Fans discussion

The March 2020 Limited Pick is Bad Luck Charlie by Scott Baron. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
Charlie Gault had all the luck. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the good kind.

It was looking like Lady Luck had quite a grudge against him. In fact, at this point merely crashing the multi-billion-dollar ship he had helped design would have felt like winning the lottery compared to his current dilemma. If only he were so lucky.

Things had started off all right––that is, until a freak wormhole unexpectedly swallowed his ship, leaving him stranded on an unknown planet far, far from home. With the crew’s lives at stake, Charlie had no choice but to stop his whining, put on his big boy pants, and step up to save them all, and much to his surprise, it actually looked like he might succeed. Of course, that was when things really went sideways in ways that made merely crashing on an uncharted planet seem like a walk in the park.

Suddenly faced with alien space pirates, talking dragons, and something that seemed very much like magic, Charlie found himself adrift, feeling like a space age Robinson Crusoe––only his man Friday was a blue-skinned alien, and this wasn't just a desert island. It was a whole new galaxy.

I am startingBad Luck Charlie. His ship just crashed on an unknown planet after being unexpectedly sucked into a wormhole.

At about the halfway point, I have decided that Charlie actually has rather good luck. Also, despite being an engineer, he is rather impulse driven and has a tendency to make some poor choices. He has survived a series of events and made some friends. The first part of the book was mostly trying to survive after the crash, find food/water, and keep his surviving shipmates alive; kind of boring. Things got more interesting after that.

Audrey wrote: "At about the halfway point, I have decided that Charlie actually has rather good luck. Also, despite being an engineer, he is rather impulse driven and has a tendency to make some poor choices. He ..."
That's good to know! I did start it but put it down because I was bored!

Once I got past the slow beginning, I found it fun! The universe has magic users, slaves, pirates, talking dragons and gladiators! I don't think Charlie had bad luck or good luck, he just had dumb luck!

Charlie is a medic, engineer, veterinarian, slave, pirate and gladiator. Plus the Karate Kid and dragon rider. Busy guy.

I am really happy that I had checked this thread yesterday and comments by Debrac2014 kind of drew my interest enough that I looked and saw it was on KU (my freebies end later this month).

Not wanting to drag myself into reading all night I got as far as chapter 10 feeling like I was reading old time sci-fi with the level of technology and happenstances involved in setting up the story of Charlie ending up in another universe. At chapter 25, the planet landing and survival wasn't pulling me in that much and I easily put it down to sleep last night.

Then today all the alien worlds and Charlie trying to interpret what he was being dragged through and frame it all based on being a human from Earth, while providing only glimpses into places and characters, actually felt real. I imagine being a slave, corralled in the bowls of a ship, brought out only to act as a beast of burden, with no understanding of the culture, civilization, and languages around you, the experience would be similar to what was presented. Then there were pirates and dragons, ....

And I finished it at midnight. For me it was highly entertaining, funny, some very serious truths about life, and completely understandable in how Charlie's world view had to change completely to accept software and word commands were not the essence of magic. It appears there are 9 books in the series, and I did borrow book 2 wanting to see if I like it as much before adding the series to my list of want to read when I have the opportunity for more free KU.

I recognize this kind of story is not for everyone. It is not heavy reading. There are no long descriptions of space battles, complex plots, or presentation of scientific explanations of how it could all be real. My brain actually appreciates the respite from all of that in science fiction, as it could just sit back and enjoy the adventure.

I love reading these posts and then every once in a while getting a lead on a good book to read. Thanks guys and keep reading and posting. M. Garnet - Author

I read the 2nd book today. More adventure. Doesn't have the slow beginning that was in the1st book as it didn't require the set up of who Charlie is and how he ended up in a magic-using universe. He wakes up thinking his gladiator win has freed him. Instead, he has a new master with a nicer cage. Villains and friends, battles and rescues. Planet hopping takes a whole new turn. And I now wonder about Samson's hair. I will keep reading the series as long as it is on KU.

I gave it 3 stars. Nobody is an ex-military / engineer / astronaut / slave / pirate / gladiator in training with a zen master ... come on!
Plus the character lacks depth. I mean all the others members of his crew are dead and later he is "depressed" because he is the only human in the universe. Not because they are dead. Very selfish.

I liked this book a lot more than I expected to. I really liked the adventure of the whole thing. The fantasy elements actually worked and I liked the internal dialogue of the main character.

I agree with Ally that the characters lacked depth, but I don't always look for depth in my books. Sometimes I just want a good time. And I had that with this one.