Fortune's Pawn

August 12, 2013
Ambitious career mercenary Devi Morris, believing her advancement stalled in the prestigious Blackbird company, accepts a security position on the notorious trade ship Glorious Fool, a ship so prone to interesting times that one year served there counts as five years served anywhere else. Devi discovers a diverse crew of aliens and humans under a demanding master, and a ship full of secrets worth killing to protect. Swarms of alien slavers and predator-infested derelict ships lost in the depths of space are dangerous enough, but can Devi survive the Glorious Fool herself? All of space opera’s conventions make appearances, including violent aliens, mysterious powers, high-tech weaponry, powered armor, sympathetic mercenaries, and feudal societies. What Bach fails to demonstrate is much ability to blend her stock set pieces into a coherent whole or put a new spin on familiar clichés.

September 1, 2013
Rollicking space opera starring a tough, sexy, armor-clad space chick who smells like rotten meat. So, anyway, thinks the massive, claw-endowed dude who ought to be Deviana Morris' mortal enemy. Devi, as she's known, returns the compliment. "There are four space-faring races in the known galaxy: humans, aeons, lelgis, and xith'cal," she mutters--adding that the last are "always dangerous." So what's an 8-foot-tall xith'cal doing aboard their ship? Well, therein hangs a tale. Devi is an accomplished sleep-arounder, tough and cynical, though capable of melting a bit in the arms of the right space guy; when she's not, she is most definitely kicking butt and, thanks to her ability to speak Universal, taking names out in space. She's also got a secret weapon, namely, "Custom Verdemont master craft knight's armor," which is a bigger deal than it might seem. Bach, aka Rachel Aaron, a much-published fantasy/science fiction author best known for her Legend of Eli Monpress series, does a nice job of painting a scenario that, if familiar--think the space marines of the Alien franchise or the motley crew of Firefly--allows her plenty of room for action. And action aplenty is what she delivers, with lots of variegated blood and memorable characters, major and minor. Devi is the most complete of them, but New Agers, for instance, will thrill at Novascape Starchild, a groover who utters oracular sayings such as "[t]here is no top or bottom in space. We are all exactly where we are meant to be." And where we're meant to be is tucked inside our armored long johns blasting xith'cal. Lots of fun.

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September 15, 2013

Already a member of one of the most prestigious mercenary groups, Devi Morris has higher ambitions. She aspires to become one of the Devastators, the King's own mercenary guards and the most elite army of the Paradoxian Empire. To qualify, she enlists with the crew of the Glorious Fool, a trade ship with a reputation for especially dangerous encounters. Once aboard, Devi proves her worth almost from the beginning--but her mysterious attraction to Rupert Charkov, ostensibly the ship's "cook" but one with preternaturally fast reflexes and phenomenal weapons knowledge, could threaten all her carefully mapped out plans. VERDICT Bach, who writes fantasy as Rachel Aaron (Eli Monpress series) makes her sf debut with this series launch that introduces a strong female heroine whose mind is mostly on her career--and her high-tech suit of armor--yet who finds herself inexplicably drawn into a relationship that could damage her life and her honor. Fans of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series and David Weber's Honor Harrington novels should enjoy starting another potentially long-running sf military saga. [Previewed in Kristi Chadwick's Genre Spotlight feature, "New Worlds To Explore," LJ 8/13 (ow.ly/odoSr).--Ed.]

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