Young readers who love epic adventures, wily foes and heroic legends will love this tale. Adventures and struggles follow as Tristan meets persons and creatures from African-American and West African myth and folklore. While tussling with a strange creature he punches a tree, opening up a passage between his world and MidPass. Tristan Strong is grieving the loss of his best friend and reluctantly headed for Alabama to stay with his grandparents. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY (series) by Kwame Mbalia Three out of five stars! Great series of space stories!

Overall, I enjoyed it! Since I'm typically not a fan of the space opera genre, this was a real treat! Some of them I even wanted the story to continue and have more information on these intriguing characters and adventures. None of the stories seemed to long, or too short. If anything, I would have liked all of the stories to connect somehow, but that is just a personal opinion. All of the stories did not connect, but that wasn't a problem! Bryan Young did a great job in making each story separate, and fully intriguing. This collection of stories was truly a delight! Each story was quite short, but brought the reader into a magnificent universe far away. But, Bryan Young changed my view on Sci-Fi! I hadn't been impressed by past books relating to space, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm not the hugest space opera fan, but I've always loved Star Trek and Star Wars, so picking up this book was quite the treat. Space battles, a ghost story, origin stories, bounty hunters, and narrow escapes, Young is able to add something important to the standards of speculative fiction while taking his reader on a thrilling joy ride.Įscape Vector by Bryan Young was an excellent series of sci-fi, space opera stories. As both protagonist and antagonist, wearing hats of white, black and grey, he explores the idea of the female character as human, not woman, which is refreshing, not only for this specific subgenre of science fiction, but especially for a male author.

My favorite aspect of the anthology, however, is the author brings to life female characters in ways not often seen within the genre. The worlds built are as stunning and intricate as space itself and the author brings them to life without bogging down the text with description. The Gunslinger of Glycon gives me another peak at one my favorite of Young’s protagonists from his novel The Serpent’s Head. Three of the stories contain a delightful bounty hunter named Blackheart who Young only gives us enough of a glimpse of to make me want more. Escape Vector is full of delightful fun science fiction stories.

The Serpent's Head by Bryan Young