Book Reviews

Book Blurb

On a summer night like any other, an emergency call sounds in the quarters of Andira Tal, Lancer of Alsea. The news is shocking: not only is there other intelligent life in the universe, but it’s landing on the planet right now.

 

Tal leads the first responding team and ends up rescuing aliens who have a frightening story to tell. They protected Alsea from a terrible fate—but the reprieve is only temporary.

 

Captain Ekatya Serrado of the Fleet ship Caphenon serves the Protectorate, a confederation of worlds with a common political philosophy. She has just sacrificed her ship to save Alsea, yet political maneuvering may mean she did it all for nothing.

 

Alsea is now a prize to be bought and sold by galactic forces far more powerful than a tiny backwater planet. But Lancer Tal is not one to accept a fate imposed by aliens, and she’ll do whatever it takes to save her world.

 

Book Review

Epic is not a word I use often to describe a book, but in my opinion ‘The Caphenon’ deserves nothing less for its world building, characters, imaginative plot twists, and theme of “honor and duty versus morality”. From the very first pages to the very last, I was fascinated, horrified, and utterly spellbound as the events on Alsea unfolded before my eyes. Everything seemed so real that I was frequently surprised when I looked up to find myself in much too normal an environment back here on Earth. Alsea with its secrets and revelations about its past, as well as the capabilities of the Alseans was a rare treat in the world of science fiction.

The fact that most of the story is told from the point of view of the Alseans makes sure all the cultural details and differences between them and the Gaians (humans from Earth and their humanoid allies) come to the fore. While a race of empaths isn’t a new concept, and many of the characteristics of the Gaian Fleet and personnel reminded me of the Star Trek franchise, Voyager in particular, the author has done a good job taking those elements and adding her touch to create something new and different. The focus on Alsean society had me mesmerized, and their interactions with a group of nonempathic aliens led to some interesting learnings on both sides.

Andira Tal, a warrior and the leader of her people, is an amazing character. She is strong, loyal, principled, and honorable. Yet she is also an accomplished diplomat, and able to take the long view when she finds a ship of aliens crashed on her planet. The way she maneuvers around the many pitfalls of first contact is pretty impressive, and the few times she shows emotional vulnerability made those moments even more special. Her ability to unite and mobilize people is just about the only thing that saves Alsea from the Voloth invasion everyone knows is coming. Alsea may have been able to fight them off with the aliens’ help, but left to their own devices when the aliens are ordered off her planet due to power plays, scheming, and sheer betrayal; the picture does not look good.
 
Captain Serrado, captain of the crashed ship, the Caphenon, and her lover Lhyn, who is the lead anthropologist studying the Alseans, are quite the pair. Their liaison is not official, and while there is no issue with a same-sex couple in this version of the future, the potential conflict of interest for Captain Serrado is serious enough for her to think twice before admitting how much Lhyn means to her. Not that they can hide anything from the empathic Alseans, and that takes quite some getting used to. These two women also have very different views about duty and morality, and that ensures a growing conflict between them as the story progresses.
 
There is a whole group of secondary characters as well, both Gaian and Alsean, and the occasional peek into their point of views greatly enriched the story. All the Alsean rituals and the effect of empathy on their development as a civilization are extremely well done. The contradiction between their seemingly agricultural, somewhat “primitive” caste-based society and their actual mental and emotional development throws the Gaians for a loop and results in more than one issue when the negotiations with the Voloth lead to consequences neither Captain Serrado nor Lhyn can live with, not to mention the Alsean people. The final resolution is absolute genius!

If you like science fiction that will make you think, if you enjoy watching tough women question their assumptions about what is right and wrong, and if you’re looking for a read that is as exceptional as it is suspenseful and fascinating, then you will probably like this novel.  

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Ylva Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 398 pages/165000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	10-March-2015
Price	$8.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback
Buy Link	http://ylva-publishing.co.uk/product/the-caphenon-chronicles-of-alsea-book-1-by-fletcher-delancey/