THE URSINE AGENDA

In Whitman’s hard SF sequel, the fragile Union scrambles to put out political fires across the galaxy.

Expeditionary Fleet officer Matt Ryder has been relegated to “chase down pirates” in the Mali system after burning his professional relationship with Adm. Kowal, Commander of the Home Fleet. After a dangerous mission lands him back in Kowal’s path, he’s drawn into a fraught political situation in which his ability to use a mental “experimental link with open frequency” could help the Union, which the Fleet serves, discover who’s behind recent increasingly violent attacks against Union ships. When mysterious human forces invade a new planet and capture a bearlike Ursine alien, the Ursine leaders withdraw their support from the Union, taking their desirable laser technology with them. Meanwhile, Amanda Chester is gently managing fraying relationships between the Union and the Mali system with her superior, Chief of Staff Keith Merker at the United Nations. As representatives of the Union, they attempt to broker immigration quotas at a “Colonial Conference [organized] in the aftermath of the Battle of Kumagai.” With Earth overpopulated and the majority-white Acadia refusing new applications, tensions run high between the savvy Mali president Djeneba Dembele and the paternalist Merker. When the topic of piracy is raised and the Mantiz are implicated, a bargain is struck, but Amanda has to use her mother’s underworld connections and her father’s relationship with the Ursine to make it happen. Matt and Amanda use all the tools in their shared arsenal to try to keep any more lives from being lost as they make plans to recover the captured Ursine and discover the shady forces behind the aforementioned attacks.

Whitman conjures a compelling and creative world that oscillates between hard SF action sequences and a complex political landscape that acknowledges colonial legacies. Despite his technological abilities, outcast hero Matt is almost overshadowed by Dembele’s political adviser, Britt, a former pirate who had “a couple careers” before Mali. Britt’s big personality, stature, and assured abilities in combat make him an affable counterpart. The plot is brisk as it moves between Matt’s and Amanda’s situations, which are thick with intrigue as political double-crosses unfold and alliances are tested. The author sketches the Ursine with skill and humor, with their “braided beard[s]” and voices that sound “like gravel sliding under combat boots” when speaking Earth languages. When Amanda’s father, the slippery Joel Chester, negotiates with Gerent Grzynka, readers learn more about the Ursines’ worldview and customs. They find factory farming “cruel…and unhealthy,” for example, and they place a heavy emphasis on friendship and nature. Whitman supplies only a brief glimpse into their planet, but they are intriguing allies turned potential antagonists who underpin much of the human chaos. Other compelling creatures include the Mantiz and Sarai the Templar, the latter of whom can experience the present and “the coalescing Probable” at once, which proves to be indispensable when she later comes to Matt’s aid. Even Matt’s ship, the Hardlight, has its own distinct personality—another element that helps to make this novel a cinematic experience for the reader.

An action-packed page-turner packed with political maneuvering, unusual creatures, and well-drawn characters.