THE RELATIVES

Fleeing an unfriendly Earth, the supporters of a space-travel genius colonize a faraway planet, but centuries later, the inhabitants suffer the consequences of the man’s choices and the cult surrounding his ruling-class descendants.

White’s debut is a partly satirical SF novel with roots in 2155. That is when Nugent Graham, an entrepreneur and inventor of a revolutionary, faster-than-light propulsion engine, bolted from a future Earth under a one-world-government “Single Sovereign.” The backstory details (admittedly fuzzy) include that Graham did not want to yield his engineering secrets to the autocratic Sovereign and led a semisuccessful attempt to abscond with his followers in three great starships to a distant, hot, but habitable planet. The new world was grandiosely dubbed Graham’s Planet, and 253 years later, the settlement is functional but faintly ridiculous in its social structure. Only one ship arrived; another became lost in space; and a third remained a grounded Earth captive. Graham died mysteriously en route, and his son and heir was assassinated. Readers learn that Graham was no champion of freedom but a would-be monarch who intended a world where his family would reign as hereditary, absolute rulers. Minus a full-blooded Graham on Graham’s Planet, political power now falls to any relative by marriage or association. An “Opposition” party gives the appearance of a democracy, but the highest office is held, typically, by the latest relation—now, the petty, spoiled Jordan Graham. When local scientists belatedly activate the old ship-to-ship communication system, they find that the missing spacecraft and its wretched, surviving colonists remain in recoverable orbit while something on Earth seems to have gone horribly wrong. Jordan worries that hitherto undiscovered Grahams will arrive and rival his power, but a larger menace soon looms. Though low on action—and its sketchy science only exists enough to satisfy the plot—White’s sardonic series opener delivers a quick-footed tale whose twists will catch many readers by surprise. With the story’s strong emphasis on characterization, even Jordan ends up more a pitiable figure than an outright villain. The vivid sense of a dysfunctional government regime built on nepotism and entitlement during an era of chronic scarcity and epidemics may hit closer to home than this saga’s fictitious star system.

This tragicomic SF tale offers a wry view of narcissistic leaders and their unquestioning followers.