In this science fiction
novel, Guy Erma yearns to join the planetary protection force known as the Dome
Elite, while the Prince of Freyne, Teodor, finds himself the hostage of
militant borgs, needing to plead his case to a politician if he wants to
survive, the two protagonists’ paths ultimately crossing. The prologue
introduces the thirty-one-year-old albino shapeshifting Zaracan warrior,
Captain Karl Valvanchi, whose vessel, the Mezzatorra, protected by a literal
firewall, faces an attack by the Sas Darona Liberation Army (SDLA), the planet
of Sas Darona being a disputed planet by two entities, the Zaracan Democratic
Union and the Freyne Empire, and which yields a resource known as monazite,
critical in the creation of space magnets. Cyberkinetic insects, or cy-sects,
threaten the native tribes of the planet with a plague that is said to keep
them primitive.
The main story begins
with Prince Teodor “Teo” of Freyne feeling threatened, with is father the King
recently deceased. Teo meets with one of
Captain Valvanchi’s relatives, Princess Simonelle Valvanchi, the
great-granddaughter of a famous intergalactic explorer, proving to be a
prospective mate to the Prince, who is the last living heir to the throne of the
planet Freyne 2 and the Empire of Freyne as a whole, with his uncle being the
current Emperor. An event known as the Magnolia Weekend is forthcoming, with
one of its features being the Magnolia Stakes, a race among the feline
creatures known as gorans, with Teo and his uncle having their own separate
members of the species competing in the race.
Guy Erma receives his
introduction next, seeing good luck in a special medallion, and participates in
a sport known as blades under the tutelage of senior blades instructor and
Commander of the Dome Elite Tilson. Guy has recently applied to become a member
of the Dome Elite, and doesn’t know what became of his parents. Guy is scheduled
to fight Prince Teo, although Teo has an injury supposedly preventing him from
participating. Guy lives on Old Mill Lane in the House Jewel townhouse among
forty-three others he considers siblings, even if they aren’t blood relations,
with these folk primarily participating in the trade of tailoring clothes. Guy is
ultimately offered to a fast track towards in the Dome Elite by a politician, Chart
Segat.
Evidently Teo’s living
mother, the Regent Sayginn cancelled his scheduled blades fight with Guy so
that the Prince could participate in singing in a cathedral choir, with an
attack on the church kidnapping him. The novel has two interludes, one occurring
early and the other occurring towards the book’s end, known as diplomatic
exchanges among, members of the Valvanchi family relating to the plague on Sas
Darona. A Dome Debate, basically an election, is forthcoming, with the Emperor
mulling marriage to Sayginn in hopes of having a son so that his nephew Teodor
doesn’t inherit the throne, the Prince hoping he can escape his captivity.
The events of the novel
take place over the course of three days, with the author doing for the most
part a masterful job with the parallel plots of Guy Erma and Prince Teodor, the
writer further doing an excellent job of world-building, given the many terms native
to the book, which a glossary after the main text clarifies, with this reader
only needing to see a definition of the acronym SDLA, not defined in the main
text. There are some minor areas where the story could have been better, for
instance the title of a royal heir “Son of Empire” would have sounded better as
“Son of the Empire,” but otherwise, this science fiction novel is highly
recommended, with this reader consequentially interested in the author’s other
works and possible sequels.
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