1998 military SF, first of an ongoing series. Lt Daniel Leary of the
Republic of Cinnabar (space) Navy is the impoverished fifth wheel on a
diplomatic mission to the new government of Kostroma. Adele Mundy's
family on Cinnabar was disgraced and put to death, largely by Leary's
father, and now she's working as librarian to the new Kostroman ruler.
Neither of them is expecting a revolution fomented by the Alliance of
Free Stars.
So this is, by Drake's own admission, Aubrey and Maturin in
space. The starships even have sails! But while I have read Master
and Commander and found it had nothing to say to me, I enjoyed this a
great deal.
This is Drake, so there's lots of bloody fighting. But the bloody
fighting isn't the point the way it is in, say, the Hammer's
Slammers books; while it's still military SF by most standards, as in
SF about people who are in the military doing military things, Drake
himself considers it space opera. There's room for humour and
silliness, if not much.
Character is key here. Leary and Mundy, after the obligatory initial
misunderstanding, rapidly become if not friends at least people who
can rely on each other… but there's not a hint of romance between
them, and it's very clear that if they tried it it wouldn't work.
Adventures happen, but always working towards a goal, of rescuing the
other Cinnabar citizens who haven't already been shot and getting them
to safety.
All right, there's no ambiguity about good guys and bad guys, but
sometimes that's acceptable. (There's even some distinction between
the evil competence of the Alliance and the evil laziness of their
Kostroman collaborators.) And the run-up to the revolution can get a
bit sluggish. But this is still light enough not to be unremittingly
grim, while still being deadly serious at times.
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