Review: A Great Start For A Really Fun Series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
"Greenmail", the title for Episode 1 of Overdraft: The Orion Offensive, is a great start to a series that promises to be fun, humorous and entertaining. John Jackson Miller takes readers on a journey across the stars with a colorful cast of characters. The galaxy he explores is closer to The Hitcherhiker's Guide to the Galaxy than Star Wars or Star Trek, one filled with strange aliens, offbeat humor, off-the-cuff wit and genuine laughs. It's fun in a galaxy not so far away."There was life in outer space, but you didn't want to get it on you."The story picks up four days after the events of "Human Error" (Armored anthology by Baen Books), John's first foray into this universe (though you won't have to read that story to understand this one). Chief Bridget Young, leading her Surgical Strike Team, battles the relentless threat of Spore in close quarters combat with lasers and power-armor. But the Spore is just the opening salvo of the story. Elsewhere in the galaxy is Kalvox, the Black Priest of The Severed. Kalvox is a spiritual leader whose power is fading and his converts are now turning on him with lethal force. Meanwhile on Venus, investment broker Jamie Sturm is doing some insider trading with interstellar commodities in a lucrative plan to get rich quick. Like most get rich quick schemes, it fails, and the impetus of that failure leads to all three character threads crashing together.Fans of John Jackson Miller's Knights of the Old Republic comics will certainly enjoy this story. They both have the same kind of tone. Even when there's more serious things going on, humor isn't too far away. It makes for great storytelling that's equally fun and entertaining. One of my favorite characters in the story is Kalvox. The alien is a bit of a con man and a source of some dark humor. He's set himself up as a prophet for a religion of his own making. He's schemed others into a movement obsessed with purity and cleanliness, gathering together some of the less attractive members of his species with the allure of hiding behind fully helmeted armored suits. It's all a power grab, but it backfires when the Dominium sends Kalvox and his followers into exile. Now, with people losing faith and patience, all eyes are turning against him.Of course that just scratches the surface of what Episode 1 of Overdraft covers. It's a good sized chunk of story well worth a $1.99 all on it's own. Yet the $1.99 covers all eight episodes. It's a steal, especially if the rest are as good as Episode 1. If you like reading fun stories, you can't go wrong with "Greenmail." There's a great mix of action, humor and character development with a nice hook at the end for the next episode. I highly recommend it to anyone whose enjoyed John Jackson Miller's other work. It's well worth the money. I give it a five out of five.