A space opera about a ragtag band of big damn heroes, brought together by fate, personal goals, past mistakes and a general wish to be one step ahead of those who follow them. Also, there might be some treasure-hunting adventure into unknown regions of space involved.

What's not to love?

This is character-driven space opera at its best and if you enjoy those stories, I highly recommend you read this book. Or listen to the audiobook, because that is great as well.

The two POV characters quickly grew on me, as did the others. I liked how everyone had something to hide, how everyone mistrusted everyone and how the trust and friendships between all of the characters developed, it felt very natural and not forced. Thoughts and motivations of each character were believable, which is something I appreciate. The story is fast-paced and there was a lot of really good action, it never reverted to the classic (read: overused) space-opera/sci-fi action tropes you find in every other story.
I enjoyed the worldbuilding and especially the pseudoscience of body modification, it's perfect space opera science. Fans of hard sci-fi will probably have a few things to complain about, so be warned.

The writing is great, the authors nail character voice and development as well as subtle interactions and great action scenes. They let you experience this world in all its details, which I appreciate a lot, without simply telling about it. This is why I have to compare this book to 'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet': I loved the worldbuilding in the latter, but couldn't finish it because it was all tell, don't show. 'Stars Uncharted' shows you its world, and it's equally fascinating.

Also, how beautiful is this cover?

This is the best book I read in 2019.
Unmistakenly of my favourite genre and at the same time presents ideas and worldbuilding I haven't read before.

I took one half star off for:
- I did not need the

developing romance between Josune and Roystan, to me, them being friends felt much more natural and a fast, deep friendship would have served their motivations in the story in the same way. This way, it seems like an editor told the authors there was too little romance in the story. But since it's not the focus of their relationship and it develops slowly, it's not that distracting. And, who knows, maybe it is building up to something more which we will read about in a later book.

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I hope the companies and their employees will be painted in a more grey light in the future. In this book, they are pure evil. That's okay, because we got to know our main characters in this book. In future books I hope to see more morally diverse characters working for the companies.