Ancient as the Stars (Broken Union #1), by Maya Darjani

19 Jul 2024

The Book

Ancient as the Stars
Series: Broken Union
Pages: 399
Age Group: Adult
Published on 20 Jun 2024
Publisher: Self-published
Genres:
Space Opera
Available on:

Synopsis:

For fans of Lower Decks, the Expanse, and a found family time travel adventure with humor, snark, and lots of heart.

One kickass immortal sailship captain.

Captain Karenna Yilmaz of the Earth Union Fleet has it all. Adoring husband? Check. The enduring loyalty of her crew? Check. Transformation into a beautiful ageless immortal? Check. Check. Check. But when a dimensional rift brings her low-down, dust-sniffing, no-good younger self hurtling into the present, Karenna's carefully-constructed life wavers.

One snarky dust-addicted loser.

Flight Officer Ren Yilmaz is pretty sick of the hand she's been dealt. Her supervisor is an idiot. Her ex-husband is vindictive and has ruined her career. And now, here's her perfect future self, who everyone fawns over, while Ren is still ignored and alone.

They're the same person, 60 years apart

Both their ships are one in space, one in time. Karenna needs to get her crew home safe and sound. And Ren has to get back to her reality and out of Karenna's shadow. Working together would mean literally facing their past–including old traumas and transgressions best kept hidden. But if they don't, they'll be stuck with each other until the end of time.  

My Review

Ancient as the Stars is the first book in the Broken Union series, a space opera proposal written by Maya Darjani (and her debut novel). An adventure with great and lovable characters, a gripping plot which is interwoven with more personal narratives, doses of found family, humour and also the best chapter titles you can ask for.

Ren is a recently demoted officer in the Hawking, stuck in a job she hates, sabotaged by an abusive ex husband, self-destroying herself in pity as she doesn't seem to fit in any place; the last thing she needed is a space-time weirdness that ends with her meeting Captain Karenna Yilmaz, a version of her in the future that is basically immortal, a captain beloved by her crew and married to a lovely husband. But soon, they will find together that inside them there are more problems and traumas that they need to help, while trying to deal with the complicate power structures of this universe.

Interwoven with this character-driven narrative, we have an excellent investigative plot, fast-paced and that introduces us to the rigid structures behind the Earth Union; not only that, but Darjani takes the opportunity to reflect the sad reality of how the field in those jobs tends to be male-dominated, effectively dismissing their female colleagues, who have to work harder than everybody to hopefully reach a similar position. On many occasions, we will see the frustration Ren experiences due to this situation; a system that is breaking and showing some cracks.

But outside of this plot, I think my favourite part of this book are the two female main characters, Ren and Karenna; they might be opposite versions of the same person, but Darjani gives them an incredible amount of deepness. We can see how both are grieving their different traumas, but healing them is not an easy task. It also happens that both are the same kind of snarky and strong person, that won't doubt to confront whoever is needed, leading us to really fun situations.
The supporting cast plays a perfect role, helping the plot to advance, while you end liking some of them, the little family that becomes because of the subsequent accidents.

The pacing is relatively fast, accelerating with the plot, with the book becoming unputdownable as we get closer to the end. Darjani's prose flows, making the reading experience an absolute pleasure, and I can assure you will laugh out loud with her humour.

If at this point is not clear, I absolutely loved Ancient as the Stars: is the kind of sci-fi with thriller touches that works so well with me, and the character focus helped me to connect so well with it. This might be one of the best presentation letters a writer can have, and I can only ask Maya to continue writing and publishing, because I need more space operas like this one.

The Author/s

Maya Darjani

Maya Darjani

Maya Darjani is a writer and photographer from the heartland of America who writes genre-bending fiction about badass women, dual loyalty, and the false promise of patriotism.