Thursday, December 13, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt



The Wrong Stars is the first in Tim Pratt's "The Axiom" space opera series, which began in 2017 with this book and continued this year with the sequel, "The Dreaming Stars."  However, unlike a lot of space opera, The Wrong Stars isn't a novel of extreme seriousness - instead the book is almost a comedy, with funny dialogue, settings, and characters resulting in some pretty big laughs.  The story is still serious at times with some real stakes, but the light tone and humor never subsides.

The result is a book that's a lot of fun and a real blast overall which has made me feel kind of silly for not getting to this book sooner.  The characters are excellently done, the story takes some unpredictable turns after a fairly predictable start, and again the light tone and humor had me cracking up repeatedly.  I'll definitely be back for the sequel, which I've already reserved on Intra-Library Loan.

Note:  This was read as an audiobook and the reader is very good.  So if you want a book in that format, it is recommended.
---------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Hundreds of years in the future, the crew of the White Raven, discovers a derelict ship, one that should have been far far away from the solar system, around the orbit of Neptune.  Inside the ship they find one survivor still in cryo-sleep, a Doctor Elena Oh, whose first reaction upon being woken up is to shout about making first contact.

But Humanity made first contact centuries ago, with a squid like race they call the "Liars," for their almost pathological refusal to tell the truth about things large and small.  Still humanity has learned a lot from the liars and has expanded into 28 planets in the meantime, and the Liars show no sign of being anything other than harmless.  So the crew of the White Raven - Intrepid Captain Callie, Self-Modifying Engineer Ashok, Religious Doctor and XO Stephen, Pilot and Navigator Drake and Janice - figure Elena's warning is just a few centuries too late.

Except that the ship Elena was on seems to have traveled light years in only a few seconds, an impossible journey, and that the technology attached to the ship's exterior is unlike any they've seen before.  And when they investigate, they'll find out that everything they know about the state of the universe may not be as it seems....and the discovery could cost them their lives.
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The above plot summary is completely inadequate but I didn't want to go into too much specifics so I left it at that.  What's missing from it is how much of this book is based upon the relationships between the crew, as well as Elena as she gets to know them - in a way that will remind people of the work of Becky Chambers (A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet).  Each character onboard the White Raven has their own idiosyncrasy and personalities and the family relationship they all share is particularly well done and enjoyable.

The book is told alternatively from Elena and Callie's points of view, and both characters are great, although Callie is particularly amazing as the intrepid captain of the White Raven with a heart of gold, a sense of justice (despite being an independent contractor), and just a little obvious crush on Elena.  She's the perfect mix of intrepid fearless action hero, hilarious wise-alleck, and woman insecure in her own worth for a relationship, particularly with someone like Elena.  Elena's not quite as fun a character, due to her being out of place and time, but as our viewpoint character she also works rather well.  And the relationship between Elena and Callie is far from subtle, but it works rather well, especially as helped along by the rest of the crew.

And that rest of the crew is a lot of fun - from the ship's AI "Shall," to the engineer Ashok - who wants to make himself more and more improved by mechanical parts - to the doctor Stephen - who is a religious observer of a religion that involves the taking of psychedelic drugs -  to Drake and Janice who have been "improved" by Liar technology, they make a fun and hilarious but perfectly fit together family.  And that family only improves when a spoiler character joins the fun about 2/3 of the way through.

And man the worldbuilding and dialogue is just so great.  The idea behind the Liars naturally sounds like something out of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and it is hilarious like that at times, but it actually works in the serious-ish plot points here.  The Hitchhiker's comparison definitely works here, but the plot is a little more serious in tone through all the humor (and again there's a lot of humor) and not merely a template for the jokes.  And it works rather well.  And again I can't emphasize enough that the humor is great.

Things wrap up rather quickly, with the real climax ending with a few chapters left in the book and the epilogue wrapping up the rest of this first book in the trilogy really abruptly and easily.  But it's a satisfying ending honestly and I can't complain too much.  I will be there for book 2 in this series, and can't really wait.


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