Monday, October 21, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams




The Stars Now Unclaimed is very much in the mold of classic Space Opera.  It features a galaxy of different species, including one sentient AIs in both ships and humanoid forms, planets with varying degrees of technologies and climates, battles with high tech guns on the feet and in the air, etc.  The main cast and enemy will give a reader pretty easy Star Wars vibes as well.  In short, it's not trying to do anything particularly unusual in any way in its plot.

That's not a bad thing mind you, and The Stars Now Unclaimed is executed very well, with a very likable cast of characters and a plot that, while never wholly surprising, still manages to take some interesting twists and turns along the way to keep the reader hooked.  The battles and set pieces - not usually something I care too much about - are written pretty excellently as well.  The result is a space opera that may not be original in form or setting, but is definitely fun and enjoyable.  A pretty strong effort from what seems to be author Drew Williams' first novel, too.

Note:  I read this as an audiobook.  The reader is excellent, and made me very much want to keep listening as the story played out, to the point where I finished this book in a week, which is pretty impressive given it's not short (it's not long either, around 14 hours).  So yeah, I'd recommend this book in this format.


----------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
A hundred years since the Pulse emerged, seeding seemingly random worlds throughout the galaxy with radiation that prevented advanced technology from working, the galaxy remains in disarray.  Jane Kamali works to try and make something good from that chaos, operating as an agent of the "Justified" to rescue children with special gifts from worlds affected by the Pulse and bringing them back to the Justified stronghold - Sanctum - where they can be trained to use their gifts for the good of the galaxy.  It's a tough job that requires all of Jane's skills as a warrior to pull off, for others want to get their hands on these children - most notably the Pax, a sect of fascist conquerors who survived the Pulse and have taken it as their mandate to conquer the galaxy.

But when Jane's mission takes her to a backwater planet and a young teenage girl named Esa, gifted with powerful telekinesis, she finds the Pax far more committed to hunting her down than ever before.  And as Jane and Esa run into more and more Pax forces, it becomes clear that the Pax has a new plan for their domination of the galaxy, one that they may even be able to pull off through their overwhelming firepower.  It will take Jane, Esa, Jane's Starship AI and a band of others from Jane's present and past to have even a chance at stopping the Pax from spreading their evil dominance throughout the galaxy....and from preventing the galaxy from any chance of returning to a state of order worth living in.
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The Stars Now Unclaimed, as I mentioned above, has a setup that feels very much like classic space opera: you have a galaxy filled with worlds of different levels of tech and climate (although we avoid any dessert or snow worlds, we begin on a planet which could be straight out of a western), you have various species of different forms and capabilities, you have autonomous mechanical men with independent AIs, you have AI spaceships, etc.  The final crew of the protagonists, including one of the robots, three humans - one with telekinesis - and one alien as well as a spaceship AI - will remind you very much of Star Wars for example.*

*Yes I know Star Wars is almost more Space Fantasy than Space Opera, you get my point.

 Our guide throughout this story is Jane, who tells the whole tale in first person narration.  It's maybe a bit overwritten in the narration, with Jane monologuing in her thoughts QUITE a bit, but overall it works really well, and Jane is a really fun lead: sardonic but grim in her attitude towards events as they unfold, and yet a highly capable and energetic warrior/pilot, Jane carries the story, especially in the action scenes.  She's a pretty strong heroine who's easy to root for to take names and kick ass, which she does a lot of.  To go along with her we have a strong cast that includes a robot Preacher with her own penchant for kicking ass to go along with her own goals of figuring out what was behind the Pulse, the young teenage girl Esa who Jane has to show off the galaxy as they go on the run - and who feels very much like a lovable if whiny teenager - and of course Jane's ship's hilarious AI Scheherazade.  This group, plus the others we meet, combine to form a pretty nice cast of characters to follow as events come to a head in this space opera setting.  Oh and they also add a layer of humor to it all, as they all have a bit of wit to them to help deal with the often grim setting.

Still, if there's anything about this setup that is not classic space opera necessarily, it's how crapsack the setting essentially is, with the galaxy's default state being one not of cooperation or peace, but of constant war.  It's a grim dystopian look at the future which definitely does not remind one of the hopes of Star Wars, and Jane exemplifies this to the fullest, with all of her background being one of war and conflict.  And this background works really well as the story travels from a world that could fit a movie Western, to a Pirates hangout, to a world overrun by species that might as well be zombies, etc.

It also allows for Williams to provide for a number of really fun set pieces, with terrific action and gunfights both in person and in space.  The last few acts of this story are basically nothing but action set pieces honestly - this is not a book that favors time spent allowing the plot to breathe, or for events to be taking place through dialogue instead of action.  But these action pieces are all really nicely done, so anyone looking for a book filled with fun action, will definitely find it here.

That said, the antagonists of the book are pretty generic - they're a fascist cult that preaches reducing ones identity to nothingness and brainwashing all those they can get their hands on - which makes them more kind of fodder for our heroes to kill than anything else.  The book also at times teases ethical conflicts only to then force situations that prevent anyone from having to actually make any hard ethical choices, so don't expect much of that here.  And one action set piece in the 3rd act of the book seems to go on forever against enemies who might as well be zombie hordes with no personality whatsoever.

Still, overall this is a lot of fun, and I'll admit I already have the audiobook edition of the sequel on reserve from the library.  It's not profound or anything that I would highly recommend that someone else read, but you can hardly do wrong with this one if fun space opera with great action is what you're looking for.
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