So when you’re feeling glum and you need a lift, what do you do? You
look through your library looking for something that’s familiar and fun,
and re-read it. Or, in this case, them.

These are the first three books in the author’s Mageworlds series, which
I’ve reviewed twice before (clicking on the author’s names, above, will take
you to a page that has links to those reviews). They are great fun, if
you like space opera.

Here’s the setup. Beka Rosselin-Metadi is a star-pilot; that’s all she’s
ever wanted to be. She’s also the daughter of Jos Metadi, privateer and
war hero, and of Perada Rosselin, the Domina of Lost Entibor–Entibor
being a planet whose entire surface was turned to slag during said war.
As the Domina-in-waiting, Beka’s life was dominated by politics and court
manners until she ran away from home at age 15 to follow her dream.

Now the Domina has been assassinated, and her father makes her an offer
she can’t refuse: he’ll give her her own ship–and not just any ship, but
his own ship, the armed freighter Warhammer, the ship in which he
did his privateering, the ship in which he led the resistance against the
invasion from the Mageworlds, and (not coincidentally) the ship in which
Beka learned to be a pilot. In return, she has to use her new mobility
to determine who was behind Perada Rosselin’s assassination.
Over the course of the these three books, which form the heart of the
series, Beka does just that, with the help of a large and varied cast
of thoroughly delightful characters. Of course, it’s not as easy as
all that; along the way, she has to cope with a new invasion by the
Mageworlders, who have been languishing in resentment and trade sanctions
since the last war.

The sixth book in the series came out six months or so ago, and has been
sitting on my shelf ever since; I expect that I’ll be getting to it soon.