Retired pilot Kerzanna crashes on the planet Jess has retired to. It’s no simple accident—someone wants her dead. Jess finds and rescues her, to both their confusion, as they were each convinced the other died several years ago. The two try to lay low and make their escape, but somebody has a tempting offer for them that could give them a chance of a future together. All they need to do is deliver some information. Easier said than done when the baddies are still after Kerzanna.

Kerzanna is one of the most interesting cyborgs I’ve read about in SFR. Cybernetics aren’t all sunshine and roses while we still have flesh. Like prosthetics now, they cause stress on other systems and need constant tweaking. I like how the CPS deactivated some of her capabilities and there was a side market for restoring them, it felt very punk. Kerzanna and Jess are mature adults who use their experience wisely during the course of the story. Though he’s retired, he has problems due to some mismanagement by his workplace. There’s a bit of upside to that oversight, but of course there is also a price for taking advantage of that. It makes me think hard about how organizations treat their employees.
The villainous troupe is entertaining. Davidro is an easy fellow to understand, and watching the way he tries to handle his underlings keeps making me snicker. I felt sympathy for Vahan, who may be cold-blooded and callous, but has to deal with a difficult job. Renner the electric talent has gotten more interesting through the series, and Georgie the forecaster and the others are memorable. Those who slip Davidro’s leash still have parts to play, even if they pay vividly terrible prices.
There’s a battle in space, and it’s exciting. Keeping track of the minor characters involved there is easy. Van Natta is good at making them distinctive and choosing interesting names.

I had a lot of trouble visualizing the layout of the passenger-freighter ship. That could just be my own spatial reasoning problems. What’s a nav pod, and why can it do what it does in the story?
There are several time jumps near the end of the book. Sometimes it felt like events were skipped over a bit abruptly, which made keeping track of them a little difficult for me.

Don’t read this book on its own. Earlier books introduced these villains and their motives, and that makes the experience much richer. The leads get their happy ending, but there’s a twist for some characters which makes me very excited to read the next book. The way the characters have been built over time makes me curious about where some of them will end up. ( )

Light romance, strong SF

The universe is well designed and complex. Strong characters, strong locations, good plot movement.

Only difficulty is that there are some concepts that are not well defined. Maybe a glossary of terms at the end would help to fill in some details.

Definitely buying the next novel as soon as it is available. ( )

Light romance, strong SF

The universe is well designed and complex. Strong characters, strong locations, good plot movement.

Only difficulty is that there are some concepts that are not well defined. Maybe a glossary of terms at the end would help to fill in some details.

Definitely buying the next novel as soon as it is available. ( )

**I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.**

Jumper's Hope is the 4th book in the Central Galactic Concordance series, which starts with a spaceship crash landing. This fateful (or is it?) event leads to the reunion of Jess and Kerzanna, the hero and heroine, who each thought the other had died four years ago. It was impossible not to like these two, and I was with them all the way.

The fast-paced, kickass action then leads them away from Jess's quiet farm life on Planet Branimir into their epic battle for survival from an attack on the Faraon Azul intersellar ship, along with other goodies and baddies crew members (not to mention a couple of other delightful passengers).

Continuing from Book 3, Pico's Crush, we again get caught up in Dixon Davidro's complex web of pure evil and gruesome cruelty, along with his right-hand man, the enigmatic and surprising Mr Renner and some of Davidro's other talented "pets". Along the way, Jess and Kerzanna meet some fascinating and endearing secondary characters who prove to be powerful allies. I would have loved to learn more about Neira Varemba and Tuzan, but what is revealed is an enticing and integral part of the story.

As the overall story arc progresses and reveals itself, the author has very skillfully provided such detailed and descriptive world building that, for example, I can actually imagine myself living in the at once nasty and appealing city of Ridderth where some of the story takes place.

Each time I finished reading the latest book in the CGC series, I've always thought it was my favourite so far, and Jumper's Hope is joyously no exception. I just love the imaginative technology in the CGC world and the dizzying power and diversity of amazing skills the series' "minders" and "jumpers" possess.

I can't wait to see where this series takes me. I can clearly imagine the awe-inspiring potential and scope, even though I have no idea what will happen next. That's exciting. I thoroughly recommend this series to science fiction fans. The romantic element is necessarily minimal to make way for the unrelenting action, but it is there. And it's warm and fuzzy, despite some uncertainty, so I really hope we'll see more of Jess and Kerzanna.

Five supernova stars. ( )