This was a very, very nice book.
That’s certainly not a normal statement for me to affix to a sci-fi novel, but in this case it fits perfectly. Normally, when two cultures meet in a sci-fi story, it’s a story of conquest and domination for one side, while the other side dies or become slaves. All that drama is played out with advance weapons blazing, soldiers marching, and the unfortunate citizens cowering in their homes.
This book starts out with a daring rescue buy a young man who has yet to reach his full potential. Alex Racine is a solitary astride miner. He has his own space tug with which he captures and then flings astride rich in minerals to waiting orbital depots. He is created with the invention of this astroid flinging method and it will eventually make him a rich man.
That is until a strange foreign ship comes blazing through his home planets solar system. The ship appears dead, but since it is so unique, Alex believes he must risk much to try and capture it. This guy is really a brilliant hermit that knows how to fly a spaceship. He also doesn’t take kindly to anyone telling him what to do. So, when he captures the ship and tells his homeworld government about it, they want him to do exactly as told and bring it in to port.
Alex isn’t going to do that. He finds that the ship is not necessarily empty. A “SADE” is still keeping the surviving Con-Fed Humans alive, although almost all of them have been killed via a mysterious silver ship. Their current situation was directly caused by the silver ship’s unprovoked attack.
You’ll soon be cheering for Alex, a.k.a. Captain Racine, to do what’s right and awake the survivors and then begin working to get them back to their home world. It’s not going to be easy, but he and this ship appear to be just the right tools to get the job done.
The character development in this book is probably it’s best point. We get to really know the people involved and get to even like them a lot. When I was finished with this book, I definitely wanted to read more. I wanted to stay in touch with Capt Racine and his new found friends. They are all worth knowing a lot better and they have a lot of work ahead of them.
I think you’ll like this book very much. It’s not a blood and guts sci-fi war book, so put your lightsaber away. Just read the book to enjoy the art of writing.