Book Reviews | Big Sigma books 1 and 2

The Big Sigma series by Joseph R Lallo looked interesting, and indeed it is. You’ll remember my recent reviews of the Free-Wrench series, which is more steampunk in style. (Why does anything with airships get slotted into steampunk?). As with Free-Wrench, I enjoyed the first of the Big Sigmas, and promptly got the next one…since I needed a U for my Alphabet Soup! Actually, that was why I picked this sci-fi series from the author; he has others!

Bypass Gemini (Big Sigma #1)

by Joseph R Lallo

In a distant future, Trevor “Lex” Alexander was shaping up to be the next great race pilot until a fixed race got him banned from the sport. Reduced to making freelance deliveries, he thinks his life can’t get any worse. That’s when a package manages to get him mixed up with mobsters, a megacorp, and a mad scientist. Now his life depends on learning what their plans are, and how he can stop them. (Goodreads)

My Review

First we have a chase, on a planet, and we learn something about his past, and his girlfriend, and possibly the past with his girlfriend. Delivering packages that people don’t want to send through normal channels is what Lex specialises in. His spacecraft is perfect for keeping him unnoticed when he’s somewhere he hasn’t got a permit for. And when he makes it unnoticed to the delivery point, all the bells start ringing, and he decides to get out the most obscure way possible. Except that leaping off buildings and running over rush hour cars is pretty well guaranteed to get him on network news. And guess who the girlfriend works for?

Then we have chase to get out of the system. For reasons I can’t remember, he ends up (possibly crashing) on the planet Big Sigma, which is basically the junk heap of the universe. And inside the only habitable facility, things are run by a psychotic scientist/ inventor with the help of some very I AI. And she takes to Lex because he treats her like a person.

I won’t spoil the rest of this plot, except to say it’s ingenious, the tech is seriously advanced and weird, and if you want something to blow up the entire universe, this scientist’s your man. Fortunately Lex devises a plan to stop him…which also involves getting media attention at the home of all those people who were chasing him.

I loved it so much, I went pretty much straight on to the next one.

Unstable Prototypes (Big Sigma #2)

Following his last adventure, Trevor “Lex” Alexander’s life has managed to return to normal. He’s back to splitting his time between delivering packages and transporting passengers, along with the occasional foray into testing highly experimental equipment. He’s even gotten back together with his girlfriend Michella Modane, who has been launched to stardom by her coverage of the Bypass Gemini incident. Yes, things are going quite well for Lex. But in his life, luck like this never lasts long.

Sure enough, while he is preparing for a rare visit from Michella, he receives word that the reclusive inventor Karter Dee has been kidnapped. The eccentric and slightly deranged inventor’s checkered past has made getting the authorities involved out of the question. That has left “Ma”, the AI in charge of cooking his meals and reining in his insanity, with few options. She has reached out to Lex as one of the few people she can trust, and needs him to help assemble a team of Karter’s former allies to take him back before his latest contraptions can be put to work terrorizing the populace at the hands of his captors. (Goodreads)

My Review

Despite everything, I would recommend a short break between books 1 and 2. Unlike some authors, Mr Lallo leaves you with no doubt as to who was who from the first book. We do in fact meet several new people, all hidden in isolated places to punish them for their crimes. They are mostly even weirder than the psychopath inventor, but he needs their help for his latest scheme.

Quite frankly, this story is absolutely awesome in its plotting, twisting, unravelling, and approaching everything once more from an angle hitherto unimaginable. There’s a lot of space, weaponry, and inventions that need a huge bang to make them work. The AI is having existential problems of her own. Lex’s girlfriend is a complete wimp until she realises he’s got her into the only front line spot to report on global/galactic news. If you ever wanted to know what it takes to report on a disaster, read this. (I don’t like the cover, though!)

When I’ve recovered enough from this traumatic experience, I’ll go and hunt down book 3!