CURSE OF THE IRIS

In this episode, teenage hotshot Tycho Hashoone and his privateering clan are swept up in both interplanetary politics and a scramble for hidden treasure.

In pursuing clues leading to possibly cursed riches carried by the long-lost Iris, Tycho uncovers disturbing hints of evil deeds committed by his piratical ancestors. Meanwhile, he continues to compete with his hotheaded twin sister, Yana, and stodgy but brilliant older brother, Carlo, to succeed their mother as captain of the Hashoone family ship. Opportunities for derring-do arise when the Shadow Comet is ordered to join a poorly led Jovian Union fleet setting out to quash a rebellion around Saturn. Mixing futuristic elements like cyborgs and artificial intelligence with grog, bilge, and a cast of “vaguely reformed pirates” armed with blaster cannon and chrome musketoons, Fry concocts a whirl of space battles, sleuthing, spycraft, domestic spats, and ventures into dangerous locales from seedy Port Town slums to Callisto’s deep, unexplored oceans. Fans of series opener Hunt for the Hydra (2013) will rejoice at the return (and thorough comeuppance) of blustering, wonderfully named archnemesis pirate Thoadbone Mox.

Good, old-fashioned, outer-space pirate fun.