PHOENIX

An Earth expedition to colonize distant worlds finds a placid, seemingly medieval alien culture that is actually part of an advanced civilization.

Alexander’s SF debut opens in the mid-22nd century. Earth officials send a long-distance starship with a group of scientists and military experts on a first-ever jump to a planet orbiting the star Kepler 452. The humans do not necessarily expect intelligent life standing in the way of their commercial colonization mission. But on a habitable planet dominated by a single continent, they meet the Haillar, a diminutive, almost fairylike race living in what looks like a feudal series of settlements. The aliens seem to take the Earth visitors politely in stride. But readers already know what the arrogant and ethnocentric humans do not: The Haillar are an ancient, sophisticated space-spanning race, some 250,000 years old. When required, they can wield immense power and technology—indistinguishable from magic. (It may actually be magic, centering on the manipulation of a mystical, all-pervading force called eka.) But for 20,000 years, the Haillar have been at war with a diabolical, all-consuming enemy called the Scourge. Now, the surprise appearance of Homo sapiens at what is actually a Haillar outpost facing an imminent Scourge attack tips the balance for all the species. The author starts this series opener deliberately, with dizzying mouthfuls of first-person alien jargon (“They share the same house name but come from two different sides of the Sen Diessa Dichotomy. Remelda is a Healer and the leader of the local Academy, while Dioran’s affinity is Oblivion, the same as the Suzerain Queen’s”). But the narrative culminates with exciting cosmic battleground action worthy of E.E. “Doc” Smith. In between, Alexander manages to insinuate both a tragic romance and a compact critique of the typical capitalist/Western imperialist (aka earthling) mindset, unable to perceive the natives—in this case, a charming little ET queen and her peers—for the mighty, virtual demigods they really are. It’s a fine blastoff for the series and, smoothly wrapping up as it does, can be enjoyed just as much as a stand-alone.

The Force is strong in this intelligent launch of a mystic-tinged, space war saga.