2025 romantic SF, ifth of an ongoing series. Vesper Quill and Kyrion
Caldaren are about to go into an automated arena to test and
strengthen their psychic bond…
It's a side story, in effect, though at 60K words it's well into
novel length. There will be lasting consequences from what happens
here, but they certainly aren't immediately apparent. And the whole of
this book, admittedly a touch on the short side, is about the one
incident and its immediate outcome.
So while this was enjoyable I found myself impatient for progress in
the overall plot of the series. There are still both an evil emperor
and a distressingly well-funded terrorist/revolutionary group out
there, and while we may learn a little more about the latter there's
essentially no progress in resolving matters with either of them. I
don't mind this having slid from a trilogy into an ongoing series,
as I still enjoy reading about these people, but I do still like to
see the eventual resolution of events getting closer.
But Estep is by now a rock-solid writer of action, and since the
events here are mostly an extended action sequence, I'm happy to go
along for the ride. Both our protagonists have a Bad Feeling About
This but allow themselves to be persuaded go to in anyway, and things
go quite comprehensively wrong. If a new villain has to be spun up
from no previous mention and then disposed of all within one book,
well, it's challenging but it's done effectively.
Perhaps most importantly, Vesper and Kyrion come over as a plausible
couple, thinking in different ways (the first-person narration
switches from one to the other and I found their voices distinct) but
still in the same overall direction.
My impatience is perhaps my problem rather than the book's. And in any
case I'll be along for the next one.