Simon Kewin

This imaginative anthology offers such a wide variety of stories, themes, and ideas that it's practically impossible to choose favourites. While the chimera is a unifying thread throughout the stories, the authors deal with the theme in stunningly different ways and interpretations. Although the flavour overall was a little darker than I might normally choose, I still enjoyed the stories and found them thought-provoking, and there is a broad mix of tone in the volume. If you like short speculative fiction you will not come away from this anthology disappointed.… (mais)

When Conciliator Magdi accepted the task of mediating a possession disagreement between the planets Gogon, Sejurne, and Arianas over the uninhabited planet Forge, she knew it would be as tough an interplanetary task as diplomacy offered. Little, however, did she know she would wind up investigating the death of a diplomat, nor would she be aware that a tactic she would use would foretell the destruction of Coronade and the empire she had always known.

Three main characters compete for power. One demands Forge as a planet to hold a growing population. Another demands Forge as a source of uranium to construct a life-saving power-grid. The third sees Forge as a spiritual “heaven” portion of their religious beliefs. Magdi must consolidate and address their interests while independently investigating their claims of legal rights to Forge. The murder of one of the delegates puts her at odds with everyone and distracts all of them from the elephant in the room, the disappearance of the vessel Magellanic Cloud.

Home World is the first book in the Triple Stars Trilogy as does a fine job of enticing readers to buy the rest of the series. After all, who wouldn’t want to know what looms to destroy the empire as they know it. The disaster is looming throughout Home World but is ignored in the story so little is actually known about the rest of the series. Home World is a fine entertaining standalone tale worthy of four stars, but as I personally dislike these types of marketing techniques, I have discounted it to three stars.… (mais)

I was provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of the book was quite enjoyable, and you couldn’t help but want to know more about where the first book was leading to. The dialog was engaging, and well presented.

Selene is a believable character who you want to care about and Ondo brings his experience and wisdom to play which brings good contrast to the story.

There were a few errors not caught by the editor, but it did not detract from the overall experience.

You are left with a cliffhanger at the end of the first book which will leave you chomping at the bit in anticipation of book two.
… (mais)