Where Peace Is Lost, by Valerie Valdes (Harper Voyager)
I am of two minds about this new space fantasy by Valerie
Valdes. On the one hand, I loved her previous novels, delightful,
supersonic-paced space adventures with fascinating
and occasionally romantic relationships between humans and aliens. Smooth prose
and colorful characters teamed up with complex, long-view plots with action
reversals and quieter moments. Where Peace Is Lost is more ambitious,
with higher stakes and deeper interpersonal and inner conflicts. The book opens
with a sympathetic character with a mysterious past, one that is revealed in
tantalizing hints. Kel Garda appears to be just another refugee living on the
edge of an isolated star system. Her secrecy breaks down with the arriveal of a
long-dormant war machine, suddenly reactivated. It is designed to carve a swath
of devastation that will destroy an entire ecology and displace thousands of
people, possibly killing every sentient creature on the planet. Kel and a local
friend team up with a pair of fortune hunters who claim to be able to disable the
machine. Of course, the strangers are not what they seem, either.
As Kel’s past comes to the surface, so does that of one of
the strangers. At this point, the book veers from space adventure featuring a character
with a conflicted past to an “enemies to lovers” romance. The transition is
uneven, approaching and then retreating from the depth of reconciliation required
not only between them but within each. Valdes handled interspecies romance in
her previous novels so well, I found the retreat into formulaic “love conquers
all” jarring.
For all my difficulties with the love story, Where Peace
Is Lost is a grand adventure with a huge canvas, a worthy addition to
Valdes’s bibliography. Perhaps the best part are the poetic lines from Kel’s
past:
Where peace is lost, may we find it.
Where peace is broken, may we mend it.
Where we go, may peace follow.
Where we fall, may peace rise.
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