Trade Paperback, 310 pages
English language
Published May 23, 2017 by Talos Press/Skyhorse Publishing.
The galaxy is mired in a cold war between two superpowers, the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth's preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly soldier happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems. Kyle Rankin is a lie. His real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Simon Kovalic knows Caledonia is a lit fuse hurtling towards detonation. The past Brody so desperately tried to abandon can grant him access to people and places that are off limits even to a professional spy like Kovalic. Kovalic needs Eli Brody to come home and face his past. With Brody suddenly cast in a play he never auditioned for, he and Kovalic will quickly realize it's everything they don't know that will tip the scales of galactic peace. …
The galaxy is mired in a cold war between two superpowers, the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth's preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly soldier happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems. Kyle Rankin is a lie. His real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Simon Kovalic knows Caledonia is a lit fuse hurtling towards detonation. The past Brody so desperately tried to abandon can grant him access to people and places that are off limits even to a professional spy like Kovalic. Kovalic needs Eli Brody to come home and face his past. With Brody suddenly cast in a play he never auditioned for, he and Kovalic will quickly realize it's everything they don't know that will tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn't?
For a first book by Dan, I can’t find any faults. Maybe, if anything, some of the conversation and setting descriptions are a bit cheesy but not distractingly so. The characters are literal world building are compelling and I’m diving right into the next one. I’m only giving this one four stars to give me room for five stars for the rest of the series.
Action packed with and full of wonderfully tense moments. I love the concept of a spy novel that bounces between the POV of the grizzled and competent spymaster and the bumbling new guy. Excellent world building fiction with some fun, but sound, science to ground it. I look forward to visiting this world again.
Dan's long-awaited first novel. Congratulations! Interesting mashing up of genres here. Some funny lines, but sometimes he tries too hard to be quippy. I don't know if all the cliched language is supposed to be an homage to old detective novels or what, but I found the language took me out of the book quite a few times. Storywise it is a pretty good romp though, and if you think there should be more Scots-Irish in space, this is your book!
