David Lee Summers Shares His Sci-Fi Review with The New Book Review

Title: Taboo Tech

Author: Joy V. Smith

Genre: Science Fiction

ISBN: 9780359516575

Purchase on Amazon: https://amzn.to/30eJcd9

Reviewed by David Lee Summers originally for Amazon

This past week, I had the opportunity to read Joy V. Smith’s latest novel, Taboo Tech. It tells the story of a young woman named Lacie Leigh Collier. Her parents seek out and try to understand old, dangerous, and forbidden technologies. As the novel opens, Lacie is graduating from primary school and preparing to move on to secondary school. Meanwhile, her parents have just found a lead on such a cache of taboo tech and leave her in the care of her uncle. If anything her uncle has an even greater interest in taboo tech and is soon tempted to explore yet another cache. He takes Lacie along with him, but they soon find the Interstellar Guard on their tail. Lacie’s uncle devises an intricate escape for his niece, but she soon finds herself alone in the galaxy with only the companionship of a fledgling AI called Embers.

At this point, Lacie’s adventures really begin. She completes school, then meets and befriends a group of professors who worked with her parents and they take her to a cache of taboo tech where she’s given command of a spaceship left to her by her parents. The professors and Lacie then hatch a plot to build a school on the site of the cache to allow the professors to investigate the cache while not arousing suspicion. To further allay suspicion, Lacie moves on to the resort world of Rainbow’s End where she befriends two members of the security staff and a diplomat’s daughter. All together, they help to thwart a plot against a princess. Lacie then must rescue her friends, the professors, from a plot to take over the school she helped to create. All the while, Lacie hopes to find clues to her parents’ and uncle’s whereabouts.
Taboo Tech is a rollicking fast story that propels Lacie from one adventure to another as she meets new friends, new adversaries, AIs and aliens. We’re never really told why old tech is taboo in this world other than it’s “dangerous.” However, I did wonder if the author gave us some sly clues. Her characters are often as carefully analytical as computers and the deepest emotions are sometimes expressed by the AIs in this world. It makes me wonder if the powers that be in this universe don’t want the humans to know something about their connection to the AIs. If Joy V. Smith ever writes a sequel, maybe this is something that can be explored.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joy V. Smith has been writing stories since she was a kid and made her own little books.  Her stories and articles have been published in print magazines, ezines, and anthologies; and her SF has been published in two audiobooks, includingSugar Time. Her books include Detour Trail; Strike Three; Sugar Time; a collection of her published short stories; and five e-books.  She lives in Florida with Blizzard the Snow Princess, Pemberley the tortoiseshell cat, and Samwise the Chihuahua cross puppy in a remodeled house. (She's been practicing building and remodeling.) Learn more about her:

Website: http://www.joyvsmith.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyVSmith

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/joyvsmith/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007389700154

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!