Superlative characters fuel this swiftly paced futuristic tale.
Mercenaries embark on a series of missions and misadventures while pursuing a heinous alien species in this SF sequel.
Shirakaya was once a captain of the Order, a religious military faction on the planet Pravura. Now, she’s a freelancer for guilds, tackling such missions as investigating unexplained deaths at a nursing home and rescuing a trancepunk rock star from a cult. She slowly forms a team ultimately called Shadow Mercs, starting with the military crew of a spacecraft she once commanded. While the mercenaries complete missions that Shirakaya’s contact continues to assign, they also earn money in other ways. Two Mercs become tag-team champs in an underground arena while Shirakaya’s team tries joining a competition show to win a brand-new interstellar starship. But their most important goal is stopping Ashkaratoth, who leads koth’vurians in terrorist attacks on Pravura. Most don’t believe that these aliens, exiled eons ago, have even returned. Shirakaya further enhances the Mercs with surprising recruits; she hopes to align with a powerful wraith and embraces a soldier who’s gradually mutating from an alien bite. The team may prove a formidable adversary to Ashkaratoth, especially if Shirakaya can get back the magic she’s lost. Centeno’s second installment, like the first, is a collection of subplots. Each chapter focuses on and often resolves an intriguing story; as one character aptly puts it, “One mission at a time, please.” Still, there’s definite cohesion, particularly with the Mercs’ persistent alien enemy, who, like numerous characters, appeared in the preceding novel. The vibrant cast includes Shirakaya; cynical soldier Dojin; and pilot Narja, who pushes the hardest for the starship grand prize. Sadly, not everyone in this appealing bunch makes it to the end. Meanwhile, brisk action ignites the pages with enchanted swords, plasma guns, and tentacled creatures, though it’s apparent that Centeno is setting the stage for more books to follow.
Superlative characters fuel this swiftly paced futuristic tale. (dedication, maps, glossary, author bio)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-09-227722-8
Page Count: 321
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.
Having survived a disastrous deep space mission in 2038, three asteroid miners plan a return to their abandoned ship to save two colleagues who were left behind.
Though bankrolled through a crooked money laundering scheme, their original project promised to put in place a program to reduce the CO2 levels on Earth, ease global warming, and pave the way for the future. The rescue mission, itself unsanctioned, doesn't have a much better chance of succeeding. All manner of technical mishaps, unplanned-for dangers, and cutthroat competition for the precious resources from the asteroid await the three miners. One of them has cancer. The international community opposes the mission, with China, Russia, and the United States sending questionable "observers" to the new space station that gets built north of the moon for the expedition. And then there is Space Titan Jack Macy, a rogue billionaire threatening to grab the riches. (As one character says, "It's a free universe.") Suarez's basic story is a good one, with tense moments, cool robot surrogates, and virtual reality visions. But too much of the novel consists of long, sometimes bloated stretches of technical description, discussions of newfangled financing for "off-world" projects, and at least one unneeded backstory. So little actually happens that fixing the station's faulty plumbing becomes a significant plot point. For those who want to know everything about "silicon photovoltaics" and "orthostatic intolerance," Suarez's latest SF saga will be right up their alley. But for those itching for less talk and more action, the book's many pages of setup become wearing.
An ambitious but plodding space odyssey.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-18363-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.
This debut novel, the first of a projected trilogy, blends science fiction, fantasy, gothic chiller, and classic house-party mystery.
Gideon Nav, a foundling of mysterious antecedents, was not so much adopted as indentured by the Ninth House, a nearly extinct noble necromantic house. Trained to fight, she wants nothing more than to leave the place where everyone despises her and join the Cohort, the imperial military. But after her most recent escape attempt fails, she finally gets the opportunity to depart the planet. The heir and secret ruler of the Ninth House, the ruthless and prodigiously talented bone adept Harrowhark Nonagesimus, chooses Gideon to serve her as cavalier primary, a sworn bodyguard and aide de camp, when the undying Emperor summons Harrow to compete for a position as a Lyctor, an elite, near-immortal adviser. The decaying Canaan House on the planet of the absent Emperor holds dark secrets and deadly puzzles as well as a cheerfully enigmatic priest who provides only scant details about the nature of the competition...and at least one person dedicated to brutally slaughtering the competitors. Unsure of how to mix with the necromancers and cavaliers from the other Houses, Gideon must decide whom among them she can trust—and her doubts include her own necromancer, Harrow, whom she’s loathed since childhood. This intriguing genre stew works surprisingly well. The limited locations and narrow focus mean that the author doesn’t really have to explain how people not directly attached to a necromantic House or the military actually conduct daily life in the Empire; hopefully future installments will open up the author’s creative universe a bit more. The most interesting aspect of the novel turns out to be the prickly but intimate relationship between Gideon and Harrow, bound together by what appears at first to be simple hatred. But the challenges of Canaan House expose other layers, beginning with a peculiar but compelling mutual loyalty and continuing on to other, more complex feelings, ties, and shared fraught experiences.
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31319-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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