Chasing Daisy - Scott Baron

   2018; 384 pages.  Book 4 (out of 5) in the series “The Clockwork Chimera”.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Space Opera; Alien Invasion Sci-Fi.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    It’s time to finish the task. 

 

    With Daisy’s crucial help, the ragtag crew of humans, Chithiids, cyborgs, and Artificial Intelligences have sent the alien Ra’az baddies, who were in the process of stripping Earth of all its natural resources, fleeing in their spaceships to somewhere on the other side of the galaxy.

 

    Next up is the liberation of the Chithiids’ home planet, Taangaar.  Then it’s on to Ra’azengar, the home planet of the baddies.

 

    There are a couple things holding up progress.  First, no one is exactly sure of where the Ra’az home planet is, and the universe is a hugely big place to go searching blindly.  Even more importantly, Daisy and her friends don’t possess warp-drive technology.  Without that, trying to fly somewhere thousands of lightyears away will take . . . erm . . . thousands upon thousands of years.

 

    Maybe we should have some of the AI beings work on that.  Unless someone can think of a quicker way of gaining that technology.

 

What’s To Like...

    Chasing Daisy is the fourth book in Scott Baron’s (completed) “Clockwork Chimera” series.  The first half of the book dovetails with the neat plot twist at the end of Book 3, wherein Daisy learns that Quantum Physics predicts that, theoretically, not only can you instantly jump from one place in the universe to any other site, but you can also travel from one time to another just as easily.

 

    The first half of Chasing Daisy consists of her, Freya, and Sarah learning to function on a different timeline.  Like all conscientious time-travelers, they do their best to avoid creating temporal paradoxes, but their track record in this regard is less than perfect.  Indeed, they get quite adept at “correcting” earlier plotline anomalies, such as the “mysterious sniper” that Finn and his group encountered, a while back in the past, while doing a recon mission in Rome.

 

    Every reader of time-travel novels knows that such timeline alterations mean that Daisy’s triad risks being blipped out of existence at any moment.  Fortunately, History apparently is quite able to adjust to such things, albeit occasionally having to create anomalies like two “yous”.  See first excerpt, below.

 

    The multiple-timeline issues are eventually resolved, and the second half of the book focuses on the efforts by Daisy and the Dark Side personnel (at a surviving space base on the far side of the moon) to organize, and rally the disparate factions of inhabitants, both organic and inorganic, to unite in what, sadly, may well be a suicide mission.

 

    The ending is adequate, given that this is an “in-between” book, and should not be read as a standalone tale.  The good guys are poised to attempt to liberate the Chithiid homeworld, and I liked that the bad guys have some tricks up their sleeve as well.  Things once again close with a deft little plot twist that I didn’t see coming and which I’m sure will impact our heroes’ chances of success against the Ra’az.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 388 ratings and 30 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.39/5 based on 333 ratings and 32 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “I still don’t think she believes you about me, though.”

    “I know, but she will.”

    “You talking to the invisible me again?” Sarah asked, her doubting eyebrow held in a high arch.

    “Told ya so.”

    “But she’s real,” Freya interjected.  “She’s you, Sarah.  Well, not you, you, but you who has experienced what the other you hasn’t.”

    She stared at Daisy disbelievingly.

    “Do you guys really expect me to believe you have a little piece of me living in your head?”  (loc. 15939)

 

    “Hi, Finn,” Sarah said, stepping out from behind a large equipment mover.

    The jovial chef nearly choked on his cookie in shock.  The other Vali crew were likewise floored by her sudden appearance.

    “But…” Doctor McClain managed to blurt while the rest of the crew remained stunned and speechless.

    “But I’m dead.  Yeah, I know,” Sarah said with a little laugh.  “And let me tell you, being dead sucks.”  (loc. 17648)

 

Kindle Details…

    Chasing Daisy costs $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The other four books in the series are each in the $0.99-$3.99 range, and there is also a bundle of all five books for only $7.99, which is the format I’m reading.

 

“Fire it up, Freya.  Let’s do the time warp again.”  (loc. 15234)

    There’s a moderate amount of profanity.  I noted 15 instances in the first 10% (first 4 chapters, actually) of the book, which is fairly normal for this series.

 

    Once again, the ”Planning-versus-Doing Ratio” is heavily weighted towards the former.  But I suspect this is inevitable for any “in-between” book in a series.   And kudos to whoever did the editing on Chasing Daisy.  I noted only two typos, both of the effect/affect ilk, which is always a tough call.

 

    These are quibbles.  I’m enjoying The Clockwork Chimera series, but I’ve yet to figure out what that series' title references.  And yes, this is your typical “save the post-apocalyptic world” storyline, but somehow Scott Baron is managing to put a unique spin on that trope.

 

    Everything is now set for the ultimate showdown with the Ra’az.  I’m eager to see what the Planning-versus-Doing Ratio will be for the final installment in this series, Daisy’s War.  And to repeat, I strongly recommend investing in the 5-book bundle detailed above.  This is one series that's definitely better when read in order.

 

    7½ Stars.  Oh yeah, one last thing.  One of the plot threads in Chasing Daisy is left unresolved.  A fascinating character named Arlo makes a grand entrance around the halfway point of the book, bearing an urgent message for Daisy.  But who is he, how did he know where to find Daisy, who sent him, and is he a White Hat or a Black Hat?  I am looking forward to finding out in the next book.