Full disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Space Pirate Charlie is a decent book, but just adds more unresolved plots and provides more plot holes; which I’m not a fan of. First the title. With the title of this book, you would expect Charlie to be a Space Pirate and do some pirating. I mean, that is the name of the book. But that is NOT the case. Charlie is more of a pirate and does more pirating in the first book than this one. Seems like the titles should have been switched?
Next, the magic system. Its explained previously, that specific words have to be uttered in the exact intonation for the magic to work, but that the exact phrases for performing specific acts have been lost. However, some magic words are known by those in power and are kept secret but not everything; like the magic language is lost, but some of the words still remain. You also have to have magic power in order to use magic. Charlie can use magic because of his link to his dragon. She has also been around a long time and knows unique magic. Charlie also makes friends with a Space Vampire Assassin; who also knows very specific magic to help him do his job of assassinating people and several other useful spells. The dragon and assassin know the exact spells to resolve the problems in the plot, but Charlie is not taught these spells. The dragon is bonded with Charlie and it seems their lives have an impact on each other, so it would be mutually beneficial if Charlie was stronger with magic, but he is taught very little magic. When could they have done this? In transit or when the dragon was just resting and conserving energy. The vampire assassin is also reverent of the dragon and following common sense, would want to help the dragon and ensure her safety by helping teach Charlie the non-assassin type spells and just teach him useful spells for life. Magic just appears as a convenient crutch to move the plot along. I was hoping for more explanation into the magic system, but that isn’t the case with this book.
Next, is a point that builds off the previous point. Not everyone can use magic. Some have magical properties contained within their body parts, but they can’t access the magic themselves. Some have magic for very specific purposes, such as space travel. Some store magic power for later use. Those with magic use a common spell for a hover craft to move things. Some of the hover crafts are already ensorcelled so they hover and can be used for a time. Its apparently common sense that people in the universe Charlie is in to use this hover craft for transporting goods. So how then do people that can’t use this spell or have access to the hover craft move things? Apparently they don’t, because no one has heard of the wheel or sleds. Charlie just invents the wheel and uses it and is very proud of himself for doing so. This is just ridiculous to me. He creates a form of cart and takes it to town and shops around. Even when he is on the run and knows not to draw attention to himself. So, you make something that no one has ever seen before? And that something leaves a trail back to their base? Just seems like the author really wanted Charlie to invent (or re-invent in this case) the wheel. Which would have been fine…. if it was done better.
Charlie does meet some pirates from his venture as a pirate in the first book. They celebrate after clearing a misunderstanding and go their way. But before they leave, the leader of the pirates inform Charlie that because of him, slaves elsewhere are revolting. This doesn’t make a lot of sense as it just seems like this point was dropped in and there was no build up or hints. During the final confrontation, the pirates return for a pivotal role in the battle against the evil forces. This seems odd as their is no apparent reward for them to do so. Even Han Solo could pass off helping Luke in his Death Star run in a New Hope as being able to get a huge reward. That wasn’t clear in this case if their was a financial reward for the pirates.
The other point that sticks out is Charlie refusing to kill. He discovers that his patron was planning to start a war and grab more power. The patron had been treating him as his favorite slave. He also knows that the daughter of the patron is rotten. But later finds out she is really, really bad, worse than he had first assumed. He has the chance to kill her, but still refuses stating she is bad due to circumstance and she could be better. This makes no logical sense. At no point does she show a good side, only a manipulative side. Its unclear how Charlie came to this conclusion, especially after discovering that she was truly bad.
Also, still not resolved what caused the wormhole that brought Charlie and his mostly dead crew from Earth in the first book.
The narrator did a decent job giving another dimension to the book. I still would like more variety to the different character voices.
Overall, if you can forgive the plot holes, the book is decent. I was hoping the author would improve even more after the first book, but that didn’t appear to be the case with this book.