The New World, hundreds of light years away, is under-populated and demilitarized. The competing parties are familiar—a huge corporation, Lynthax and its technocrats and capitalists, the workers who operate these Outer Rim mines, and competing governments with their armies back on Earth.

Sebastian Scatkiewicz, aka Scat, is a Marine killing machine, a veteran of previous Earth conflicts and a man who simply wants to finish his tour, find a home and live peacefully; in short, someone with no political ambitions or preferences. But when the populace at a mining center on the airless planet Prebos starts to grow restless under Lynthax’s rule, Scat gets sucked into the rebellion as leader because his morals force him to act.

A subplot concerns a mysterious alien craft discovered floating in space. No one knows where it came from, but it is central to the last third, when wormholes become a way to travel light years instantaneously, and the book takes on a strange spiritual tone.

Graham bombards the reader with ideas and the Scat’s ambition and scope are a marvel. But for the casual reader, all the plot lines, the detailed descriptions of technology and the swarm of characters might prove to be a bit overwhelming. Graham does set-up the book’s sequel competently, and if one sticks with it, Scat is ultimately an intriguing read.

Reviewed by Joe DelPriore for IndieReader