Book Review: Bounty, Inc. by Adam Holcombe

Genre(s): Science Fiction / Space Opera

Book Synopsis:

A dream lives on while a will is strong, but a significant inheritance from a recently-deceased father sure helps too.

When Wyn throws away his easy life to open the galaxy’s first bounty hunter organization and become a bounty hunter himself, he soon learns that a strong support system will be needed. A support system like an unwise mentor, her giant lizard ex-girlfriend, a woman trapped within her armor, a suspicious cyborg, a possible war criminal, several thousand beetles, and a ten-year-old insectoid with a pet.

Money is never endless, however, and Wyn will need to lead his new friends down a dangerous path to prove Bounty Inc’s worth and keep his dream alive.

Review:

Bounty, Inc was an action-packed, fun read with a bit of banter, found family, and some scary villains. I had a good time with this book.

While there are multiple POVs, Wyn Kelda is the primary for most of the book. He’s young, has more money than he has sense at times, and is chasing his dream of not only becoming a bounty hunter, but establishing a corporation that focuses on bounty hunting. I think one of my favorite descriptions of Wyn is said late in the book by Besari, who calls him her “favorite little idiot.” It’s perfect because Wyn is naïve and he means well, but he makes a lot of mistakes (thankfully, there are other, more experienced bounty hunters around to save him most of the time.)

The main cast is made up of a bunch of non-human characters, which I really enjoyed. One is a hive/swarm of sentient beetles, there’s a super-strong lizard-type, nearly indestructible shape-shifters, an unshackled AI, and quite a few humanoids that are just different enough to feel alien. Since Wyn grew up in a human isolationist colony, he has as much to learn about them as he does about bounty hunting.

There are some really interesting powers featured too. In the context of the Bounty, Inc universe, they’re referred to as “Thresha talents,” and differ based on the person who acquires them (acquiring them isn’t a sure thing, either!) Sage can create a hard, carapace-like substance to act as armor or weapons, depending on the situation. Besari can turn herself invisible. Wyn tries to acquire a talent, but things don’t quite go as he hopes. He still does his best to keep up with the others.

I enjoyed my time with this book. And while it’s listed as book 1 in a series, it works very well as a standalone.

Author website: bountyink.com