Navvy Dreams: A Space Opera by HMH Murray - A Story Full Of Great Tangled Up Situations And Characters

Navvy Dreams: A Space Opera by HMH Murray

I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily

This is a well-written and engaging story told from the point of view of principal character Polla Ottrava, and navigator and smuggler from a far-away part of the galaxy, where the lifestyle is mostly agrarian. The setting for Navvy Dreams feels like it could be part of the Star Wars universe but is far grittier. For me, the strongest part of the book was in the world-building. It is a complicated place where the rules seem to change often and at the whim of those who appear to be in charge. This tale is full of twists and turns and there wasn't anything that was predictable. There are loads of surprises throughout to keep a reader engaged.

I found the story to be quite cerebral - my recommendation is to read carefully, or you may miss something.

Polla Ottrava awakens from a coma to find herself emaciated and in a weakened state. She is being attended to by a strange woman and an artificially intelligent nurse with a bit of an attitude. As she recovers, she is offered a job that promises her great wealth and a ship of her own. All she has to do is help her benefactor defeat an opponent who is said to be a threat to the galaxy. Her function is to fly the ship to the confrontation with the antagonist. Polla soon learns she will not be allowed to refuse the job and wonders about the wealth she has been promised. My impression was that her benefactors felt she owed them her services.

Polla is also faced with a problem of her own.

Her navvy, an implanted symbiote who helps her in many ways, including navigating the ship to faraway places, is talking to her, but cannot, hear her.

Polla, who is slated by her benefactors to get them where they need to be is, in effect, crippled, unless she can get her navvy, or perhaps herself, back in working order.

The characters in this tale are all flawed in some way or other, including Polla. There are a few I really admired, and a couple I seriously loathed for their deceptive, and self-centered manner. Everyone in this story has an agenda of some kind and will use anyone they think can further their agendas. I found this one of the most interesting parts of the story, trying to figure out just what everyone was about. It led to a number of swerves that kept me in the story.

Of course, the most developed character in Navvy Dreams was Polla.

After an accident on a planet far across the galaxy, Polla wakes from a coma to find herself in a life-support system, healing from injuries she sustained in an accident. She is glad to be alive and learns that Sam, her husband, escaped injury, but she is still in pretty rough shape. She receives an offer, actually a demand, to navigate a bioship to a place where there is to be a final reckoning with a being causing a lot of death and destruction. Her payment is to be wealth beyond what she has ever imagined. But they tell her a lot of things. So, she gets along as best she can, taking promises made to her with a grain of salt, and doing her level best to keep her own problems a secret.

My favorite point of plot in this tale is how it was told. It unfolds in a noirish style where Polla is recounting her adventures to her husband, Sam, in a letter, a very long letter. There are snippets of the letter followed by flashbacks to the events she experienced from her personal point of view. Her recollections are detailed, and the author went to great lengths to give the reader a complete picture of everything. Those recollections are vivid, engaging every sense. The emotional content of this tale is also compelling, and the reader will find a complete spectrum of feelings.

My takeaway from Navvy Dreams is to remember to question everything and take nothing for granted, especially when one is caught up in someone else's affairs.

I enjoyed Navvy Dreams for the world-building, and for the principal character. I do wish, however, there was a more palpable conclusion to the story. I didn't have a sense of completion at the end. But to be fair, the author promises a sequel that will be a reckoning, including the answers to questions, and consequences.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

HMH Murray lives in Maryland with her family. She writes speculative fiction that explores questions of identity, consequence, and trouble. NAVVY DREAMS is her first novel, not hiding in a trunk someplace. Only one of the dogs in the photo is hers.

For updates, Murray's website is http://hmhmurray.com

Well, there it is...

Qapla!