CITY OF SHATTERED LIGHT

An heiress on the run joins a ragtag crew of smugglers in this high-stakes debut.

In the city of Requiem, a human colony on one of Alpha Centauri’s moons, Riven Hawthorne’s crew runs against the clock to pay a debt to a powerful underworld faction. Their last-ditch idea is to rob an infamous bounty hunter, but Riven doesn’t know who the bounty they stole really is until too late: Asa Almeida, the daughter of a tech magnate, on the run herself from her own father and trying to save her sister, Kaya, from a terrible fate. When she is taken by Riven, Asa offers a deal: they help her rescue Kaya in exchange for getting the money they need to pay off their debt. Before long, Riven realizes the danger they face, because Asa carries with her the key to Project Winterdark, an advanced human-computer interface using alien tech. Now multiple factions are after them all, including a powerful AI who threatens the very survival of Requiem. This fast-paced title mixes nonstop hijinks, a lovable group of rogues who have a found-family dynamic, and a side of refreshingly drama-free triangle-shaped romance. Asa and Riven are fleshed-out protagonists sharing alternating third-person viewpoint chapters, and the story teases interesting complications that go beyond the immediate danger they face. Asa is brown-skinned, and Riven reads as White; both girls are bisexual.

Fantastically entertaining, with great character development to boot.