FIREFLY meets WAGON TRAIN. Space pioneers, frontier worlds, alien societies, war refugees rebuilding their lives, heroes with heart, loving relationships of many flavors, and a scarily clever ruthless enemy.Tom is a man of color in a social system where the respectable classes are exclusively white. An interstellar freighter captain who flew refugee ships for the resistance during the galactic … during the galactic war, he is tormented by the memory of a terrible tragedy. Never again will he lose a ship or allow anyone to hurt passengers he’s promised to keep safe. Not ever!
Nene is a telepathic blue-skinned alien spy embedded in a tyrannical regime that looks likely to reignite the galactic war, and she is dangerously attracted to the haunted human who flies refugee families to start new lives far away.
Saxe, an elite security executive whose career was damaged when Tom escaped from his custody during the war, is driven by cold hatred and revenge. If the only way to destroy Tom is by destroying the galaxy, then that’s what he’ll do.
Space is vast, but with a hunter so ruthless and the prospect of war so close, can people of peace ever find a safe place to live?
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I would rate this 4.75 stars.
The blurb says this is like Firefly meets Wagon Train and that is accurate. This is the best world-building I have read in a long time that wasn’t contained in a bubble: meaning the reader isn’t just given enough to advance the plot at that moment, and that not just one location was looked at in detail. Almost everywhere they went was looked at in enough detail, showing urban and rural areas, to get a sense of place except planet Main. The only thing shown about Main is the murder and betrayal games the elite play. As they are the bad guys in this scenario it may seem strange, but don’t we already know what they look like? They have a ruling Primary class that is white, homogeneous, and hereditary. Their economy is about to collaspe and they are running out of resources in the planet system they control.
There are so many different types of ships and flying described, as is landing and docking, ship engineering and design, and navigational systems too. Then there are all the planets, cities and aliens–although all humanoid. This is an author who delights in giving the reader different cultures and landscapes. These planet systems are linked by travel through wormholes for trade and exploration. In fact, it’s almost as if the story is just a reason to go on a journey from one place to another. That’s alright, because it’s vastly entertaining and fun to picture it all. The plot is the age old tale of greed, corruption, racism, control of labour, the mismanagement of resources and imperialism. So, the plot is nothing that shocking, just very complex.
This has a huge cast that the reader learns about through their actions, words, and thoughts gleaned by the Clear, a blue skinned race of telepathic beings, some of which are monks. I couldn’t help but think of the Delvian of Farscape. At first, I was excited because everyone is represented here: different colors, different sexualities, different classes, different abilities, even accents and other languages are explained. There m/f, m/m, and f/f pairings, even a trans character. However, the main relationships where intimacy is shown are all m/f. If the author can explore the tentative start of two relationships, and the reestablishment of romance in a marriage, he can certainly describe the reunion of the only m/m couple after they have been separated eight years. (This book is non-explicit, with no on page sex.) All of these situations are cleverly used to get the reader emotionally attached to the human element, which I appreciated. It would be easy to get lost in the politics and scenery otherwise.
The main characters tying everything together are the Russell family. Being people of color, they have no love of the racist elite of planet Main. They are all still mourning the loss of loved ones in the previous war due to the rulers of Main, who made them a target of the Binaries. They own the Wagon Train and each of them (Tom, Rain, Ellen, and Mark) has a hand in everything that happens. Tom, Captain of the Mary Mackin, a huge ship that carries families and their smaller ships, and supplies to a new homeworld, has the largest role in this book. The best thing about Tom is his lack of hyper-macsulinity. He isn’t embarrassed about feeling fear, or that people know it. He still does what he needs to in spite of it. He takes his responsibilities seriously, and cares for his people. Tom is still traumatized by Saxe’s torture of him during the war, and the death of everyone on his ship. Saxe is relentless like The Operative from Firefly, and could easily become Kylo Ren from Star Wars in future books, killing his father and taking over everything. For now though, The Ten of Main send Saxe to find out where Tom takes his passengers–he also wants his own revenge for Tom’s previous escape. The reader won’t learn too much about Mark in this book, and his husband Richard is also underutilized. Yet, the strong female characters of Ellen and Rain are a pleasure to read. I hope they get their own books. There are a plethora of strong women characters here, whether businesswomen, settlers, mothers, crew, monks, or spies. I also enjoyed that the most intelligent beings, with the best technology are not human, are not even mammalian.
I loved reading about the planets: Red, Willerby, Clear, and Anza. I liked the religions versus spirituality explorations of all the different people and places. I liked how even tiny details are throw in, like the concern of black hair care with such dry spacecraft air. I liked them building houses and the sense of community. I felt a sense of joy, a celebration of science, art, love, and life…all being overshadowed by the war that is coming, the war that is already here. This has an end, and yet there is still a yhe threat coming from planet Main and Saxe isn’t going away. This was so good. Could a follow up novel be as good? I don’t know, but want to find out, soon.
Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over: https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/category/reviews/
In a novel where family, found and birth, is a strong theme, the Russell family is on a rescue mission. They enable resettlement away from the oppressive, nepotistic, race-divided regime that dominates the planet Main. What makes theirs a rescue is how they keep the new location a secret Main will kill to uncover. Their passengers may not be the refugees Captain Tom rescued during the last galactic war, but they are still in danger.
The large cast is peopled with distinct characters, so while I had some trouble tracking them at first, each character soon became an individual with their own stories. The Russell family is small after an attack on their home planet of Willerby during the war. Their piece is split between Tom and his crew on route to the new colony called Red, and his sister Rain and cousin Ellen, back on Willerby. Several Clears, the first alien species we meet, earn a narrative role, starting with Nene who develops a personal connection with Tom. Saxe is the ghost who haunts Tom with his cruel acts during the war–only he isn’t dead and buried. Then there’s the religious leader who doesn’t lead with a troubled past and a growing affection for Ellen that she wants to ignore; Richard, the husband of Ellen’s brother; and Zac and Kym, two of the passengers.
It may seem like a big list, and I haven’t mentioned them all, but this is a big book. Having so many points of view offers a well-rounded perspective of a complex, multi-layered story. The characters become real because they are full of history and intensity. My comments, which I use to write my review, are spare simply because I kept getting caught up in the story and forgetting to make any.
Nor are the characters clear-cut. The best example of this is Zac, a disabled veteran of the galactic war who lost both legs and his will to live. He’s coasting through life until he secures the future of his wife and son while shutting both out. That is both noble and horrible. Characters like Zac drew me into their struggles, so I rooted for different answers even when none seemed forthcoming.
The beginning is stronger than the later chapters, which is not to say I didn’t enjoy the book to the last page. Still, there are some scenes that happen off screen I’d prefer to have been present for and some layers don’t merge as smoothly with the main plot. It’s hard to explain without spoiling, but there’s enough meat in this book to fill more than one. Some later scenes felt a little like the author wanting to share aspects of the world that wouldn’t otherwise get a mention. That said, overall, the disparate plot threads worked together and strengthened the whole, especially in the first half of the novel, but even in the later parts.
The novel gives the consequences of war a close look, not only during action but in the survivors. A built-up military finds it easy to see itself as the solution to every problem along with the way that mentality enables leaders to ignore the problematic nature of attacking civilian targets, for example. We also learn firsthand how accounts of events may be swayed to support one side at the detriment of the other, setting good people unknowingly against their personal morality.
Another example of how the large cast builds and strengthens is in personalizing the events. The war is not a matter of the past or history. What Saxe did to a ship of refugees Tom had been flying still haunts Tom. Zac’s life is worthless (in his mind) due to his injuries. Ellen lost her family and sees finding love again as a betrayal.
We experience these consequences with the characters. It’s not a roll call of endless strangers, but rather connected to people we have bonded with. The treaty might be signed, but the war wages on in its impact.
I found Tom’s crew a little naive, possibly because I had more information than they did thanks to the opposing viewpoints working to undermine their operation. The way the situation is set up made me suspicious of everything, though, and there are many vulnerabilities the crew takes on faith. That said, I also found myself too hopeful at times, buying into their optimism.
Don’t think this is a grim war novel full of bad choices, disaster, and desperation, though. There are moments of lightness, love, and connection tied in. Losses from the war bring the mourners together as much as dwelling on the past traps them in it. Actions have consequences, sometimes deadly and other times amusing, and several characters have stunning insights that are delightful on many levels. Teasing between various family members and coworkers also deepens our understanding of the characters.
The novel comes to life in a universe with more depth than even the characters are aware of. Glimpses of how the diverse cultures work were fascinating while the tech often sprang from what we now know is possible though we haven’t yet succeeded in harnessing those elements. Nor is the tech always helpful as the characters struggle to adapt to some innovations the Dowl have made.
Ultimately, this is a strong novel with a lot to share. It is peopled with a broad, interesting cast, and tells something new while throwing a reflection on modern times. I was engaged with the characters, bought into their struggles, and wanted better futures for them. The universe fascinated me, especially with the similarities and differences between species, both in culture and ability. The hints of technology like ours, along with different possible paths to develop them, intrigued me.
This is science fiction as it should be: a commentary on where things are going wrong and offering possibilities to change that direction. The cast represents people of many races, abilities, and backgrounds, nor is it a simple split between alien species and human. Space Train offers an intense, deep read. Be prepared to engage…far more than just the engines.