The Dreaming Stars

I don't read a lot of hard sci-fi. It's just not where my interests lie. But every once in a while, I do enjoy a good space opera. Firefly/Serenity (before I learned about the Confederate connection, dammit), Dark Matter, even the occasional episode of The Expanse. Tim Pratt has written a fantastic space opera in his Axiom series. (The Forbidden Stars should be coming out sometime in 2019.) The story started with The Wrong Stars and continues here.

First, the diversity is fantastic. The crew runs the gamut of genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and religions. Our two main characters, Captain Machedo and Elena, are both bisexual women, and the Captain is also demisexual. (One of the first things she does in this book is crash her own funeral being held by her ex-husband!) I enjoyed seeing Elena and Callie's relationship continue to grow.

Second, the dialog is hilarious. The Captain and her ship's AI are both smart alecks, and sarcasm and snappy comebacks abound.

The action is also very well-done; the physics of traveling through space aside, most of the science is feasible. All of the Axiom-tech is pretty far out, and some of the other science is....well it's such a long shot that it only worked because it's in a book, but it IS conceivable it could work.

This is one sci-fi series I will continue to watch for. (And I wonder how long before it gets optioned for TV?)

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

I was a bit concerned when the first part of the book appeared to be dedicated to exploring certain relationships and got a bit too personal/emotional for my tastes, but then the action and the danger ratcheted upward (as did the neat-o extrapolations into just what an alien virtual reality might be like) and everything reached the excellent level I'd been hoping for since the first book in the series. The resolution was very satisfying, and delivered with clarity and inventiveness.

This review is based on an ARC given to me for free by the publisher, Angry Robot Books. This does not in any way affect my review.This book is slated for release on September 4, 2018.

... The Wrong Stars dealt with a rather weighty set of themes involving history and identity via the alien race called the Liars. The Dreaming Stars, however, is not as weighty, since it focuses less on thematic underpinnings and more on the plot. While it does touch upon questions connected to the neuroscientific nature of morality and ethics, as well as briefly looks into questions of revolution and uprising (???storming the Bastille??? indeed), it does not really get into them very much. They are there for readers to find and think upon, but the story does not really get into them very much.

That does not, however, make the story less entertaining, nor does it mean that other aspects of the story are not explored. For instance, in The Wrong Stars many of the secondary characters like Stephen got a bit shortchanged in the development, with most of the focus put on Callie, Elena, and Lantern. In The Dreaming Stars, though, that changes a bit, with more emphasis placed on growing the characters based on their interactions with each other. Given the events of the previous novel it???s a given that a portion of the story would be devoted to Callie and Elena???s relationship (which is refreshingly healthy, incidentally), there is also a lot of space devoted to the other characters ??? to Stephen, in particular. Sebastien???s character is also explored, though the reader is likely to view him in a more ambivalent light, all things considered.