GANWOLD'S CHILD

In the far future, a power struggle between the unified Worlds and the Dominion has resulted in a stalemate. Some years ago, a ship captured by alien masuki slavers was intercepted by a Dominion warship; Darcie Dartmuth and her young son, Tristan, fled in a lifeboat, only to crash on planet Ganwold and live undetected among its natives. Later, when Darcie falls ill, Tristan and his alien blood-brother Pulou are forced to seek help at a Dominion base. But the pair are captured and taken to planet Issel, where Tristan is identified by Governor Mordan Renier, the bitter enemy of Unified Worlds leader Lujan Serege—Tristan's father. Renier makes certain that Lujan becomes aware of Tristan's reappearance, and orders Tristan to be trained as a space fighter pilot in order to raise his profile and increase his usefulness as a potential hostage- -meanwhile plotting treacherously with the masuki to launch a surprise attack against the Unified Worlds. Tristan survives torture and battle, while neither Lujan nor the also-captured Darcie yields to blackmail. After various battles and heroics, Renier is defeated. A solid scenario, fleshed out with often telling detail. But with a plot that's little more than a string of science-fiction clichÇs, Thornley's debut lacks ambition and originality. Promising? Maybe.