Genre: Sci-Fi
Reviewer: SI
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About The Book
Lieutenant Michael Collins’s week just went to hell. The suspicious actions of his captain escalates as he orders Michael to investigate a dead ship’s heart—the cephalopods that pilot the star drive system. The mission forces Michael from the safety of his ship and his lover, Commander Eizen Sartris, while straining the bond with his own ship’s heart, Padua.
Attacked by Siwu pirates, Michael finds refuge on a damaged alien vessel, where he waits for Eizen to rescue him. But in the dark cold wreckage, he discovers a thriving garden tended by a strange young boy on behalf of his enigmatic “Mama.”
Fear dominates Michael’s thoughts as he struggles not to succumb to the darkness and terror of abandonment. To survive he must rely on his wits and hold fast to his faith that Eizen will find him before the pirates—or before the mysterious entity on board decides to destroy him.
The Review
This short novel runs the gamut from stark and lonely to warm and reassuring by way of tense and frantic.
Mick’s week goes from bad to worse when the captain orders him off the ship to sit in a shuttlecraft in the middle of nowhere, guarding the body of a deceased ship’s heart.
The thing I so often dislike about romance is the endless longing and gazing and all the pointless will-they-won’t-they. Oh, and the fact so many writers seem to use romance as a half-arsed stand-in for character development. By giving us an established couple (Mick and Eizen), Drake bypasses that and shows us a loving, healthy relationship instead.
Readers who enjoy the sci-fi of Patrick Tomlinson and Matthew J Metzger will love this one. While the story is refreshingly original, it’s the characters that will keep you turning the pages.
The Reviewer
SI CLARKE is a misanthrope who lives in Deptford, sarf ees London. She shares her home with her partner and an assortment of waifs and strays. As someone who’s neurodivergent, an immigrant, and the proud owner of an invisible disability, she strives to present a diverse array of characters in her stories. And she loves reading about diverse characters too.
