Teleportation technology has opened the galaxy to human colonization and travel, and Consolidated Shipping Enterprises (ConSEnt), the company founded by the inventor, is now one of the most powerful forces in human economy and government.
Power Sharing by corporations has replaced democracy, with plenty of corruption and cover-ups going on behind the scenes (just as in every other form of human government, one might cynically say). The journal of a deceased high official, revealing scandalous ties and preferential treatment for ConSEnt from the Tower (supposedly an unbiased arbitrator between companies) is mysteriously discovered in the trash by members of a rebel group working against ConSEnt, and the discovery sets off a chain reaction of events that might just bring down the powers that be. Meanwhile, people are dying of unexplained causes on a colony planet – can a group of unlikely refugees find a cure?
The author does a fine job of building a believable world. Characters have well-developed personalities, motivations, and belief systems appropriate to their presumed upbringing and culture, and behave in believable and intelligent ways. They also change and grow with new experiences, and the reader grows to like them and care what happens to them. The plot twists and turns in unpredictable and surprising ways, and a new development appears around every corner. The ending is startling, dramatic and thought-provoking, not at all simple or black-and-white.
The book might be improved, however, by a greater attention to plot coherence. The journal plotline, for example, is rather abruptly dropped in the middle of the book in favor of the plague plotline, and is not taken up again. Characters one grows to like are developed and then abruptly killed for little or no apparent reason (certainly realistic, sadly, but fiction has need of more substance and coherence than reality). Additionally, there are tantalizing hints at backstories (how the Power Sharing arrangement came to be, or even simpler pre-story events like the accident that killed Nero’s family, for example) that are insufficiently explored.
That said, this is an intriguing and thought-provoking book that will engage both science fiction fans and students of politics. It’s well worth a read, and I would be glad to see a sequel exploring future outcomes of the book’s events.
Reviewed by Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader