KEEPER OF THE UNIVERSE

Galactic Overseer Ben-Harran brings together restless earthling Christopher and warrior queen Mahri from worlds in his galaxy; and, from a realm controlled by his enemies, Kysha, who is at first appalled by the vicious Mahri but is soon convinced that freedom is better than the passive obedience she's always known. Christopher, whose planet is on the edge of nuclear immolation, is less sure. Ben-Harran, fallen angel of the High Council, believes in nonintervention and even allows one of his worlds to self-destruct. In the end, he is exiled, followed by his three converts and two like-minded robots. This talky, didactic book is obsessed with the evils of authority; it's more polemic than science fiction. Despotic politicians taking advantage of human frailty to impose control do merit censure, while reminders that imagination must not be fettered are always in order, but this heavy-handed, unimaginative book works against itself—an example of what it cautions against. Thin ideas, thick prose. (Fiction. 12+)