Book Review: Warped on a Moon Trek by Diane Vallere (Sylvia Stryker #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great scenes for Sylvia, lots of fun

Cons: Plot warps the brain a bit too much

The Bottom Line:

Back on the space case

Sylvia jumping through time

Loved seeing her here

Sylvia Races Through Time to Save the Day

I always enjoy reading cozies with slightly different settings.  Or, in the case of the Sylvia Stryker series, a majorly different setting.  You see, Sylvia is part alien, and her adventures take place on cruise ships that are cruising between the planets.  And she’s back for a fifth adventure with Warped on a Moon Trek.

Sylvia and her mentor, Neptune, are on the latest Moon Trek ship, which is on a test cruise just going between the Earth and Moon.  The company wants to make sure everything is working right before having passengers.  It’s a good thing they are doing this test since some of the systems aren’t working quite right, and Neptune is quick to figure out that the problem is a fault with the chip.  The best way to fix it?  Go talk to the engineer that designed it originally and get her to fix it.

So Neptune sets out to do just that, leaving Sylvia with a couple of bombshells.  The scientist?  Someone in her family.  How does Neptune plan to contact the scientist?  Go back in time through a worm hole that has opened up near the ship.  When Sylvia figures out what he is up to, she goes after him to try to prevent him from altering history.  Will she be able to?  Or will she make things worse?

You’ll notice so far, I’ve teased a familiar science fiction plot line and not much about a mystery.  That’s because, to be honest, the mystery was probably the least important part of the book.  Yes, there is a murder that Sylvia gets involved in.  But it’s not the main focus.

And I was perfectly okay with that.  I was caught up in the story from the beginning, and, as things spin more and more out of control, I was even more concern with how Sylvia would be able to fix things.  Yes, the book does leave us with a plot hole or two, and if you are familiar with the type of stories being told here, you can probably guess what they are.  Or maybe my brain got too warped to see how things worked out.  But I was enjoying the story enough that I really didn’t mind.

Part of that was because this is the fifth book with Sylvia.  It may have been a few years, but I was quickly back in her world, reconnecting with her and her friends.  As this book unfolds, she really gets some opportunities for growth.  Those scenes are very touching, and I enjoyed them.

And we had some fun along the way as well.  The situations and Sylvia’s reactions to them lead to some great laughs.

If you’ve read Sylvia’s previous adventures, you’ll definitely be glad to see her back in action.  Just go wherever Warped on a Moon Trek takes you, and you’ll have fun.

Blast off with the rest of the Sylvia Stryker Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.