Stars Uncharted has two primary Point-of-View characters. One is Josune Arriola, an engineer on a well known exploration ship that has been tasked by her captain to infiltrate another vessel and, for reasons she doesn't exactly know, keep tabs on its captain. The other POV character is renowned body modder, Nika Rik Terri. This artist extraordinaire can reshape and rework the human body into some stunning and distinct pieces of art, but when she runs afoul of one of the major corporations that run the galaxy, she has to leave her studio and find a way to hide fast.
Josune's mission takes her aboard The Road to the Goberlings, captained by Hammond Roystan, and while she doesn't know why Captain Feydor sent her to keep an eye on this man, she finds her world turned upside down when Josune's own ship, the Hassim appears out of nullspace near The Road. The crew of The Road immediately recognize the infamous exploration vehicle and board it, hoping to find the Hassim's crew gone and able to claim it as salvage. While Josune helps The Road clear the ship, she struggles with trying to figure out exactly what happened to her crew and if she should reveal to Roystan how she is connected to the vessel. Meanwhile, tension over the potential treasure that could be in the Hassim's hold and it's travel logs causes a rift in the crew of The Road and Josune could find herself in even more trouble.
Josune and Rika's paths come together when Rika, along with a young modder named Snow, end up on The Road as the two modders run from their pursuers. While Rika and Snow can help The Road escape from a tough situation, Roystan, Josune, Carlos, an engineer, and Jacques, the ship's cook, provide a way for the modders to get off world and hopefully into the wind before Rika's enemies get a chance to track her down. As the six characters help each other out of various situations, it becomes clear that they all complement each other's skills in a way that should make for a solid and true team. They just have to survive long enough to make that happen.
The writing duo of Sherylyn and Karen Dunstall that make up "S.K. Dunstall" sounds like a single cohesive voice in much the same way James S. A. Corey does in The Expanse and I don't always find that to be the case when two authors join up to write. Dunstall not only weaves an intriguing page turner, but they do so with solid character and world development that has me wanting more. I don't know if they plan on releasing more stories in the Stars Uncharted universe, but I hope to see more from this particular crew. In the meantime, I might just have to pick up their other books, the Linesman series.
