Leckie’s novel cast of characters serves her well-plotted story nicely. This is an altogether promising debut.
In which a zombie imperialist space cop gets caught up in a complex plot to—well, this enjoyable sci-fi outing gets even more complicated than all that.
Those who have seen the film Event Horizon will remember that a starship that got caught up in a time-space-continuum eddy got all, well, weird—or, as its creator puts it, “[w]hen she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back—she was alive!” Debut novelist Leckie’s premise dips into the same well, only her spaceship has become, over thousands of years, a sort-of human that is also a sort-of borg made up of interchangeable-parts-bearing dead people. Breq, aka One Esk, aka Justice of Toren, has his/her/its work cut out for him/her/it: There’s a strange plot afoot in the far-flung Radch, and it’s about to make Breq violate the prime directive, or whatever the Radchaai call the rule that says that multisegmented, ancillary humanoids are not supposed to shoot their masters, no matter how bad their masters might be. Leckie does a very good job of setting this complex equation up in not many pages, letting detail build on detail, as when Breq finds—well, let’s say “herself” for the moment—in an increasingly tangled conspiracy that involves the baddest guy of all, the even more multifaceted head honcho of the Radch. As the action picks up, one just knows there’s going to be some battering and bruising out on the shoulder of Orion.
Leckie’s novel cast of characters serves her well-plotted story nicely. This is an altogether promising debut.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-24662-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
PERSPECTIVES
Second installment in a new series (Delta Search, not reviewed). Here, the Terran Confederation is locked in a deadly struggle with two alien races, the saurian Hunzza and the doglike Alba. On the human colony planet Wolfbane, 16-year-old Jim Endicott bids farewell to his Earth-bound girlfriend, Cat, only to find he's wanted by a pair of rival aliens: Thargos the implacable Hunzzan hunter and Korkal Emut Denai, an Alban spy with connections to Earth government bigwigs. Earth's top-secret computer systems, or mind arrays, are the best in the galaxy, you see, and somehow the key to them has been encoded in Jim's DNA. So when Thargos tries to grab Jim, Korkal intervenes, only for Jim to save Korkal's life; the two become allies. To evade Thargos, Korkal drops Jim off on planet Brostach, where he becomes a mercenary. Personable, intelligent, and capable, Jim advances rapidly and soon saves an Alban battle fleet. As war flares between Hunzza and Alba, Korkal admits that, without Earth's help, the Albans are doomed. So as the Hunzzan space navy closes in on Earth, can Korkal, Cat, and Jim construct a huge mind array in time to save humanity? Agreeably inventive, well plotted, interestingly peopled, deftly paced and controlled: a quantum leap ahead for Shatner, following the abysmal Man O'War (1996).
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-105275-2
Page Count: 282
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1997
This is an addition to Dickson's fantasy series (The Dragon Knight, 1990, etc.) featuring a former college professor, Jim Eckert, and his wife, Angie, who have been transported to an alternate 14th-century England where magic works. Jim is apprentice to the powerful wizard Carolinus and he is also the Dragon Knight—since he can transform himself into a dragon. This time, Jim and Angie are requested to spend the 12 days of Christmas at the Earl of Somerset's castle. Unfortunately, problems—for which Carolinus expects Jim to provide solutions—rapidly pile up. Angie announces her intention to adopt an orphan baby, thus frustrating Jim's desire to return to the 20th century. The troll that has lived under the castle for 1,800 years complains that a rival troll has infiltrated the castle's human guests, while a troll army has mysteriously assembled beyond the castle walls. The local dragons demand to attend the Christmas celebrations. And Jim's magical competence is disputed by a wizard one grade higher than he. Agreeably 14th-century in ambience, whimsical in tone yet devoid of real humor, this overlong installment should please series fans, but won't tempt many newcomers.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-441-00098-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
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