TL;DR: Apprehension was a huge win, Red Star Hustle not so much.
Source: NetGalley & Physical Arc – Thank you to the publisher!!
Plot: Both of these are sci-fi thrillers with a focus on family.
Characters: I adored Apprehensions smaller cast, while Red Star Hustle packed far too many together to get attached.
Setting: Both had a solid setting with a good variety of places to explore.
Science Fiction: Apprehension had a harder, traditional edge of military sci-fi that worked great while Red Star Hustle edged into the science fantasy corner of the genre.
Summary:
Red Star Hustle
Aran, a happy-go-lucky high-class escort, is on the run after he’s framed for the assassination of his famous filmmaker client. The last thing he needs is to fall for the studly and noble clone of a murderous puppet monarch while he’s trying to stay one step ahead of an ace bounty hunter, who is trying to keep a fatal secret from her toxic boss/mom, which means she can’t stop to worry about a little thing like whether her target might actually be innocent. Set within a universe of epic mech battles, and billions of human-made wormholes that make traveling to a distant star as easy as walking through a door or scheduling car service. This science fiction thriller by Nebula Award–winning author Sam J. Miller is a crisscross of heartbreak, addiction struggles, queer messiness, and resisting evil empires, coming together in a space-hopping fight with the whole damn galaxy.
Apprehension
A family vacation arranged by Bonnyjean, a grieving mother, her son-in-law Jax, and her six-year-old grandson Tristan, quickly becomes disastrous as Tristan is kidnapped by a terrorist operation that is hoping to affect the planet’s upcoming elections between rival parties. They believe Bonnyjean was given a secret by the double agent who died in her arms. However, not only is this a deadly misunderstanding, but it’s also a dangerous one as Bonnyjean was last on Nahatanau when she was a special forces operative. Unfortunately, that was over thirty years ago, but she won’t let the years nor her bad hip get in the way of rescuing her grandson. Beloved Hugo Award–winning author Mary Robinette Kowal has crafted an intricate mystery of mistaken identity on an alien planet.
Thoughts:
I think perhaps if this had been just Mary Robinette Kowal’s story I would have given this close to a five star. As it is this is going to be sitting somwhere between a 3 and 3.5 for me. Both stories focus on family in some way. In Apprehension we see a grandmother and her son in law saving their son after stumbling into a political assassination plot. In Red Star Hustle we see a sex worker (very quickly) build a found family of overpowered individuals after being framed for murder.
Apprehension was fantastic. I found it well paced and plotted. Mary Robinette Kowal writes amazingly lovely female characters that I cheer for and love. She gives them depth, in this one Bonnyjean is a grandmother but also a former soldier visting the planet she former served on. Bonnyjean has PTSD, an elderly body, and grief to grapple with and it’s done so well. I had no complaints.
Red Star Hustle on the other hand follows a young man, Aran as he’s framed for murdering his client. The story spirals somewhat out of control as he finds a rogue clone of an Emperor with nearly limitless powers, a fighter mech pilot who was meant to capture him and instead helps him, and more as they become caught up in a plot that doesn’t really get solved? But enough stuff blows up that it does? There was so much constantly being added to this story that we didn’t have a solid grasp on everything we had. At the same time our time skips and jumps made it obvious nothing was truly going to hurt our main characters. I was somewhat bored by the end.
All and all, Apprehension is 100% worth the read here. I don’t know about Red Star Hustle but give it a shot. If nothing else I can say you’ll love at least half this double feature.
Sarah Evermotion's Book Thoughts 
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