This is a tight military procedural for fans looking for something like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan transported to space, with rockets flying, ruthless Russians scheming, and unvarnished trust in the American way.
There is a lot to enjoy here, with a fantastic setting, a feisty heroine, and hints of a deeper mystery that calls to mind the depths of Frank Herbert’s Dune and its intertwined cultural and religious issues.
Those daunted by the 800+ pages of the first in this series, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, will find this a comparably brief read, and it works well as an excellent starting point for the series as a whole.
Van Stry’s nuts-and-bolts approach to spaceships, mixed with a fascinating and complex portrait of future-Earth politics and society, will appeal to fans of James Corey’s “Expanse” series.