"This book forms the first novel in a series: an ongoing saga of futuristic action, adventure, and romance.
After fighting for ten Earth years against the Columbian invaders who conquered and pillaged the thirty-nine inhabited planetoids known as Gaea, Signe, a charismatic warrior of legendary prowess, drives Norman, Commander of Columbia's Third Military Corps, off Main World. Lacking ships of any class, the female military leader of a peace-loving, patriotic, cooperative, clannish citizenry launches a strike on a nearby enemy base by employing a cleverly modified robotized cargo-carrier.
Having sprayed the drone with a microlayer of a rare mineral found only on the planetoids of the Gaean Group, thereby making the craft invisible on the scanning screens of the enemy, the intrepid strategist captures one of the small number of Earth-built military ships still in existence among the warring descendants of Earth-born spacefaring pioneers. Employing that captured vessel, which she likewise renders undetectable, she leads a series of lightning strikes. Boldly, Signe targets ships docked on military bases in the heart of Columbia itself, and gains a fleet. Regarding freedom in perpetuity for her Gaean countrymen as worth the sacrifice of any comrade, however dear—of any life, including her own—she pursues that goal with determination bordering on the fanatical.
Arlen, warrior, statesman, and brilliant intellectual, values his honor above his life. A daring Columbian military commander who two Earthyears earlier seized dictatorial power over his militaristic, fiercely competitive, male-dominated society, he now finds himself besieged on two fronts. Even as he deploys his most trusted spacer-captains to fight Signe in space, four high-ranking rivals intrigue against him from within his world's military organization.
Adept at ruthless political infighting, Arlen enmeshes one traitor in the trap that wily plotter hoped would eliminate the dictator, and so encompasses that enemy's demise. The coolly daring head of state next wrests the majority of Columbia's Earth-built military ships from his rivals, thereby rendering his grip on power unassailable. Unwilling to initiate a system-wide bloodbath even after losing eight irreplaceable ships to his militant Gaean archenemy, Arlen fights a defensive war while striving to achieve a scientific breakthrough that will render Columbia impregnable. Despite his suffering a tragic personal loss, he attains his goal.
Because Signe and Arlen never meet face to face during this initial phase of their relationship, their perception of each other's motives grows ever more dangerously flawed. Arlen's scientific triumph nullifies Signe's strategic advantage. Just as a breakthrough in the war waged by two gallant archfoes seems imminent, a heart-wrenching, climactic development irrevocably changes the course of the conflict.
"
Mary Ann Steele, Resident Mary Ann Steele Scholar
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Overall Review
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 20% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Romance
Yes
Political power play
Yes
Political plotlets
- preventing/managing clash/war between govts/kingdoms
War or Invasion
Yes
Major kinds of combat:
- lasers
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- warrior/knight
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- dictator
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
Terrain
- Planet surface, need spacesuit
- Space, need spacesuit
- Asteroid
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body:
- humans in a futuristic society
Planet outside solar system?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- none/very little science jargon needed
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
Is this an e-book?
Yes
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
