Raven (The Carriena Oracles) [Kindle Edition]

Raven by Laura Eno is a sci-fi book. (I'm reading more and more science fiction lately - and liking it.) Raven is the captain of her own spaceship. She even has an implant that hooks her up to the ship's navigational system. Other than her co-pilot, Ben, she's pretty much a loner. That's about to change though. She's picking up a client, Mikael, for transport. She thinks it'll be an easy job. But Mikael comes with a bit of baggage, and I don't mean suitcases. `Course, Raven has her own past - at 19 she was sold at auction to be a breeder.

The three of them join forces to find the Oracles. They're not the only ones looking, though.

Eno keeps the action going with enough pauses to let you catch your breath and for Raven and Mikael to develop their relationship.

All three of these main characters are interesting. I liked Raven because she's something of a loner who realizes she needs to connect with someone. And she's a strong person. Mikael is the person through whose eyes you get to see the ship and the empty space they travel through. Ben is interesting because he's not human and may be the key to finding the Oracles.

The story moves quickly with action and questions. Raven and Mikael are attracted to each other, so there's a bit of a love story included.

This is not the first book I've read by Laura Eno - and she hasn't let me down yet.
I give Raven a rating of Hel-of-a-Story.

Raven ‒ Book One of the Carriena Oracles

Raven plies her trade, ferrying cargo, people, whatever between the stars. She captains her own ship, and there are snatches of how she came to own it skillfully woven throughout the story.

Her partner is an android, Ben, to whom we (and Raven) discover there is far more than meets the eye.

On what should have been a simple fetch and carry job, Raven finds herself on the run, transported across space without benefit of a ship and acquires the makings of a family as this part of the story plays out.

And along the way Raven and Mikael develop a deep attraction to one another and enough mysteries to fill several books in this series.

Laura Eno deftly paints in the world behind these characters. One I expect to continue exploring in the second book, Wraith.

I enjoy reading and commenting upon Laura Eno's blog. So when she announced that on June 27, 2012, she'd launch Wraith, the second book in her series "The Carriena Oracles," I decided I'd read the first book, Raven.

Because it's billed as a "romantic space opera," I'd ordinarily reject it out of hand. Still, why be so narrow? And if Laura wrote it, why shouldn't I give it a chance?

So I did--and I'm damned glad I did.

Three thousand years in the future, Raven owns and pilots a spaceship, with the able assistance of her co-pilot Ben, an android she's bought. How she came to own a spaceship and an expensive android is part of a heart-breaking back-story I won't reveal in this review. In any event, she and Ben, perhaps the most intriguing character in this series, are mostly alone in space.

Then she picks up a paying customer, Mikael, from an archaic world, Algora. This is his first time in space. He's looking for stone Oracles like the one on Algora. Many Algorans consider their Oracle a god. But if, as it seems, there are other Oracles on other worlds, what then? Mikael's quest is to discover what Oracles are. That would be mine, as well.

Mikael is also physically attractive. Ah, perfection--brains and brawn in the same man. What's Raven, the smart and commanding loner guiding her spaceship with Ben, to do? Hah, what would I do?

I fell in love with Raven, Mikael, Ben, and the other three quirky passengers they pick up along the way. This is a story with sympathetic characters willing to fight to death to know the truth in their universe.

Laura, you took me in. You seduced me.

I anticipate Wraith with open arms and mind.