BALANCE OF FORTUNE

A 26th-century human diplomat working among earthlings and extraterrestrials tries to keep the peace.

Fantasy/SF author Newmin, whose last book was Nomans Land(2021), sets her epic saga of space diplomacy and double-dealings in the year 2521. Nicodemus “Nick” Severin holds what he considers a mere bureaucratic gig on the planet Rhadamanthus, a trading post for three antagonistic spacegoing cultures: the loathsome, saurian Gunera; the haughty, isolationist bird-humanoid Amaurau; and earthlings (who harbor virulently anti-alien nationalists). Nick’s backstory is unique. He was enslaved by the cruel Gunera during a prolonged war, one that only ended when humanity bluffed the appearance of an alliance with the Gunera-hating Amaurau. Nick miraculously escaped to the human side but with profound inner wounds and baggage. The ensuing peace is very shaky indeed, and Nick, with his rare Gunera/Amaurau language and social skills, is caught in the middle when a Gunera ship is destroyed (apparently by Amaurau weapons) and a human assassin targets a Gunera delegate. Forced into a virtually suicidal negotiating mission, Nick struggles to navigate conspiracy, intimate betrayals, hidden agendas, hideous torture, and false accusations. The hero’s sufferings are practically Job-like, though one is reminded that he was brought up with entirely different gods. Such happenings make readers turn the pages at faster-than–light-speed, and at some point, the plot does rely on its outsized characters behaving untypically or suddenly switching their sympathies. More than once, one suspects that backtracking with fresh insights may reveal a nebula-sized plot hole or two. But the fact that one even wants to backtrack through this maze of action and intrigue proves the author’s storytelling virtuosity (Newmin credits Robert Heinlein and C.J. Cherryh as inspirations, which is not bad SF company at all).

A busy but engrossing thriller about interplanetary war and a complicated detente.