Review: A pulp homage to Heinlein and super heros roars onto your Kindle faster than the speed of light
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 18, 2014
The Cagliostro Chronicles is an unabashed hybrid space opera:  part Heinleinesque romp; part pulp fiction; part classic comic tall tale, with a bit of E.E. Smith thrown in:  rich-super-hero-inventor makes his own faster-than-light magnetic drive ship, thumbs his nose at dumb government and saves our bacon.  The story reads more like a movie than a book, once it gets going, having told us what special powers and strengths are present in the crew of this spaceship. The action is very fast.  The characters are larger-than-life, the style experimental.  The author knows his strong suit, and plays to it:  this maverick, intrepid crew gladdens his heart, and this shows in every line.  Our hero seems to be the sole owner, or at least driving force, of a engineering firm bearing his name.  This company can afford to do whatever he may decide, and do it better and cheaper that the vast military-industrial complex. Simple story, yes.  But you find yourself caring that the protagonists succeed, at least in the book's terms.  And they do.  This is an unpretentious space adventure, bristling with the sort of weaponry and prototypes and stereotypes that many sci-fi fans have come to love.