The Pulse: it was supposed to deliver the galaxy from an endless cycle of war and violence. Instead, it caused chaos. It wiped out technology indiscriminately, leaving millions of worlds vulnerable to those who would use the opportunity to conquer them.
But the Pulse didn’t just wipe out technology, it changed people, giving some of them strange powers. Esa is one of those gifted, and the mercenary Kamali’s latest charge. Kamali is a member of ‘The Justified’, who for the past century have been trying to find a way to reverse the damage. They also believe that Esa and those like her may be the key. But there are others who would seek to use them for less noble aims. Naturally, Kamali’s mission to rescue Esa goes spectacularly wrong. She and a handful of allies find themselves having to navigate their way through an escalating conflict which she helped to start.
The novel has been listed as Tor.com’s ‘Best of 2018’, and praised by authors such as Becky Chambers and Claire North. Drew Williams’s debut is a good old-fashioned epic space opera filled with aliens, sentient starships, dogfights in space and combat on the ground. Alongside this are exotic locales, and a dollop of rumination on the role violence and war have in human nature and the concept of paying for one’s sins.
The novel kicks off when Kamali arrives on Esa’s planet. It’s a beautiful and picturesque place full of waves of pink and lilac wheat that the pulse has reduced, technologically and societally, to a kind of wild-west existence. We are introduced to our narrator, the world, and those who inhabit it—not just humanity, but also other races. The Tyll are reptilian in appearance but genetically closer to fauna, the canine-like Wulf. The Barious are a sentient machine race that are the legacy of a mysterious, long disappeared precursor race.
With the arrival of the Pax—an army of intergalactic conquerors, who were ironically unaffected by the Pulse. Determined to either capture Esa or make sure nobody else can causes the plot to hit the ground running. From then, it never really stops. The story becomes an extended chase culminating in a huge space battle as the ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ inevitably clash.
The novel is, therefore, very action heavy. There are pauses between the action but they can feel more like opportunities to introduce another character or plot development. Perhaps even to impart information to the reader, rather than providing a natural breathing space. Action sequences themselves are written in a way that they flow smoothly and still manage to convey the frenetic nature of combat, that the pages fly by. More importantly, they are always grounded in character—even if Kamali’s is the only viewpoint we see.
This brings us to the characters themselves. They are very well written—our band of main protagonists more so than secondary characters, obviously, but even they are memorable. The banter and growing relationships between them being particular highlights. By comparison our villains, the Pax, can feel flat, but this is somewhat deliberate. They literally see their members—dressing them head to toe in black with anonymising helmets—as a blank canvas to project their fascistic philosophy; a faceless conquering force. But if the black hats, for the moment, remain black hats, there’s some interesting moral flexibility amongst the good guys.
The Justified created the Pulse to end the violence and war throughout the universe, but recognised it as unrealistic. It was then to at least level the playing field by taking out the more apocalyptic technology capable of wiping out whole planets and systems. However, they didn’t fully understand what it was they were creating and so there were unintended ramifications. They recognise what they’ve done and intend to atone for it, either by finding a way to reverse the damage or to stop it from getting worse. However, doing so has caused them to become a little ruthless, a classic case ends justifying the means. This adds a welcome edge of moral complexity to what would otherwise be a standard (albeit very entertaining) story of good vs evil.
All in all, The Stars Now Unclaimed is a brilliant debut and a solid start to a new series. It definitely has the room to build upon and expand! If you like your sci-fi with a heavy dose of action or just love space opera in general, then this is a title definitely worth picking up.
The Stars Now Unclaimed is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read The Stars Now Unclaimed? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Perfect for fans of Firefly and James S. A. Corey’s Expanse series, The Stars Now Unclaimed is a fun, adventure-filled ride around a far-future galaxy.
Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.
Hot on her trail is the Pax–a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.
Now Jane, a handful of comrades from her past, and a telekinetic girl called Esa must fight their way through a galaxy full of dangerous conflicts, remnants of ancient technology, and other hidden dangers.
And that’s just the beginning . . .
