It’s sometime WAY in the future, and the human race has spread so far and so deep into the galaxy for so long, that many of their descendants are barely recognizable as members of the same species. Of these disparate children of Earth, few are more remarkable than the Sadiri, a noble and studious race with telepathic abilities. Things are going great for the Sadiri until, well, they’re not going great anymore and somebody destroys their planet. The few survivors (who, due to a number of circumstances, are mostly men) emigrate to the world of Cygnus Beta, already settled by a wide variety of folks. The refugees are helped by one Grace Delarua, a noted scientist, who quickly finds herself drawing close to one of the enigmatic Sadiri…
I confess, when a book opens with planet-wide genocide I do not expect it to shift so quickly to…well, to a Sci-Fi “meet-cute”, in effect. Is that a bad thing. No…not necessarily. The characters are well drawn (if not so deep) and, while episodic, the book visits some very fascinating places. The great issue here is that the stakes, despite all that comes before, are so terribly low. Our two would-be lovers are both compassionate, reasonable adults and they are surrounded by compassionate, reasonable adults, and they are hardly ever in any real danger (a few unsettling encounters with sketchy civilizations are about as bad as it gets) and even the possibility of an overarching threat from the planet-destroying dudes never materializes (somebody who has nothing to do with the plot deals with them before the second chapter) and…and…
You know what this suddenly reminds me of? Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of the sorta ok episodes. Imagine a Troi having a relationship with a visiting Vulcan and you’re basically there. Do you like Star Trek: TNG? Do you like stress-free stories about decent people working out their problems in exotic settings? I can understand that: it’s an insane world full of awful people, and it can be a sincere balm to have a break in a fictional place where everyone is more or less good. Myself, I need a bit more tension and drama and surprise, but if this sounds like it’s up your alley, then I can give you directions there. It’s, um…the directions are “you can find this book in the library”. Man, did I blow that metaphor. Me like books.
Me Like Books 