The Fractured Void, A Twilight Imperium Novel, by Tim Pratt (Aconyte)
Imagine my surprise
when I learned the space opera. The
Fractured Void, was based on a strategic board game, Twilight Imperium. Game tie-in novels are common these days, but
not those that are so well crafted as to stand on their own merits. I picked it
up because I loved Tim Pratt’s other science fiction novels (and after reading
it I still have no idea what Twilight
Imperium is, nor do I particularly care as long as Pratt turns out books as
good as this one).
Starship crews as
family are a familiar, eternally attractive trope. Pratt brings his own
slightly offbeat cast to the Temerarious:
a human captain, his best friend, a ninja chameleon toad, and his leonine
security officer. From the universe’s most boring patrol, they’re off to rescue
the universe’s most obnoxious scientist, who just may have discovered a way to
create worm holes and to control them. It turns out that the mysterious race
known as the Ghosts has very strong opinions about why opening new worm holes
is as Extremely Bad Idea, and are prepared to enforce or sabotage or otherwise
nix the project. Throw in a ruthless but very sexy bounty hunter, a sentient
squid who is the universe’s best engineer, a remarkably hidebound rival
culture, and a host of plot twists, double-crosses, and one-step-ahead schemes,
and the resulting adventure is nonstop entertainment.
My introduction to Pratt’s star-spanning bibliography was The Wrong Stars, and The Fractured Void features the same flowing prose, superb control over disparate story elements, wacky characters, plot tension, and supremely resourceful and competent characters. I look forward to gobbling up his next.
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