this was a great start to the Lenticular series, it does a great job in telling a good scifi story. The characters were what I was looking for and it does a great job in continuing the story. It worked overall with the plot going on and I was invested in what was going on. Keith Stevenson has a great writing style and I can't wait to read more in this series.

"I hadn’t thought it possible for Isza to feel more tense. I turned to see a Kresz approaching. Shorter than me, he seemed younger as well from the colour of his shell. He wore a Kergis-green flight harness, all pockets and loops, and looked innocuous, but the feel of him was less than pleasant. I imagined things moving under the Inland Sea, half-glimpsed, sharp-toothed and malevolent."

I love a space opera, and I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this one.

And what a space opera it is. Galaxy and civilisation spanning, with fully fleshed out aliens, not just as "enemies because they are not like us" (one of my least favourite tropes). The civilisations are complex and interesting.

The book is told from two points of view, one in first person and one in third, which is a bit odd. There is also a lot of telling and explaining, although this is somewhat balanced by a plot that moves along at a good pace, and the amount of action packed in there.

I could have done without Rhees constant swearing, even in the third person thoughts part. It was particularly jarring since she apparently only knows I swear word!

Keith Stevenson throws us headfirst into an epic galactic opera in Traitor's Run, kicking off The Lenticular Trilogy. Picture a universe jam-packed with exotic alien cultures, space trips, and a whole lot of political drama. Right at the centre? The Hegemony - humans playing both heroes and baddies. Dive deep, and you've got Rhees Lowrans, a pilot with some heavy baggage, and Udun, this wild empathic lobster-like alien from the Kresz, trying to figure out the massive space politics game.
The beauty of it? It isn’t just about strange planets or flashy space wars. Stevenson gives each alien world its own soul and backstory. We see everything through Rhees and Udun's eyes - the good, the bad, and the cosmic. The plot is huge, but the two main characters keep things grounded. Their stories pack an emotional punch.
So, if you're into epic space tales with a fresh spin, Traitor's Run should be your next binge. It's got drama, heart, and makes you think twice about where humans fit in the universe. And there's more to come in this series! I can't wait!

I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series! It found a balance that I haven't seen in the sci-fi books I've read recently, it focused more on worldbuilding in a xeno/political/biological way and had less of the focus on 'here is a long description of how this technology works'. It was a refreshing change and made for some excellent species that I think will lead to really interesting conflict in the sequel(s).

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Traitor’s Run from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Traitor’s Run is the first instalment in The Lenticular Trilogy by Australian author Keith Stevenson, and it has all the trappings of science fiction that you’d expect; a vast galactic canvas with a myriad of extremely well-drawn alien societies, interstellar travel, and plenty of political machinations. The central administration of humanity’s Hegemony is fixated on controlling all sentient species it encounters, although not without reason, as we learn early on that humanity was almost wiped out in a war with another species at some point in the past.

The story is told from two points of view: Rhees Lowrans is a Fleet pilot whose miscalculation during an exercise costs the life of her lover. Dismissed from Fleet in disgrace, her father’s connections gift her a second chance in the Hegemony Diplomatic Corps (HDC). The HDC is part intelligence agency, part black ops and humanity’s first line of defence against extraterrestrial threats. Rhees soon comes to despise Troels Volmar, the Comptroller of HDC and his ‘ends justifies the means’ approach to diplomacy.

The second viewpoint is from Udun, an alien from the Kresz homeworld. (Picture a lobster in the shape of a very large human with a cobra-like hood that can engorge from the back of its neck and you get the idea.) The Kresz are a highly empathetic species, which means they sense the emotions of other Kresz nearby and participate in a world mind whilst retaining their individuality. The Kresz are an insular species and want nothing to do with the Hegemony, but the HDC has other ideas.

Udun is unlike most Kresz in that he is interested in other species and yearns to spend more time off the Kresz homeworld. And here we encounter one of the key themes in Traitor’s Run; both Rhees and Udun are ostracised for not conforming to the expectations of their societies. While their respective journeys do not intersect – at least not in this instalment – there are obvious parallels including the inevitable collision between independent thinkers and heavy-handed regimes. Thought-provoking material indeed.

I find some science fiction can be difficult to engage with, particularly where high science concepts dominate or the canvas is so vast it inevitably comes at the expense of characterisation. However, I didn’t find that with Traitor’s Run at all. Stevenson’s pacing is brisk and his tendency towards a modest level of description and short paragraphs worked well as I read the novel on my Kindle.

Conclusion:

This is intelligent and accessible SF, with engaging characters and themes that are very relevant to modern day. I can’t wait for the next instalment and would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys stories about humanity finding its place amongst the stars.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: The Hegemony
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Nok
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Delayed
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Novel
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Sci-fi Opera
4/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ I loved the clarifications on the societies at the end
~ The drama/action in the created world was done
~ Solid rationale building on how travel happens, areas of space and how species interact
~ Excellently created species with at least one I haven’t seen before

The Kresz, whose ultimate aim is have a Borg-like communion, are about to have their reclusive ant-scorpion-crab-cockroach society shaken by Hoomans & their Hegemony. The Hegemony, led by cruel hoomans who will stop at nothing to keep their own species safe - even if it means destroying planets with over 13 billion people & mas mutilations… because hoomans will be hoomans & someone has to stop them. Will it be strange Udun of the Kresz or disgraced Rhees of the hoomans?!

The Book essentially tells 2 stories:
~ First, the human Rhees, a disgraced Hegemony pilot who is transferred to a secret service (SS) department after her dad steps in. As she learns about what the Hegemony actually does, she becomes more and more disenfranchised by the government she works for.
~ Secondly, Udun, a crab, ant, scorpion, cockroach, alien, who is considered ‘strange’ by his highly telephatic fellow beings and who seeks to leave the almost hive mind his planet has - until, through a chance encounter he hears of the horrors of the Hegemony but is unable to convince his fellow (we want to be left alone, so we will be left alone) beings that precautions are necessary. When betrayal happens on his planet and the minds of the people begin to crack. Udun needs to find new reasons and ways to stay alive.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ I had several of these, will mention them in my video

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

The Hegemony is an alliance of planets dominated by humanity to the detriment of alien species. Rhees is a human pilot that figures out what humanity is doing and decides to fight against the tyranny. I enjoyed the book and look forward to the next novel by Keith Stevenson.

I recieved an ARC in return for an honest review.

TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK. TEST for GOODREADS LINK.

The Hegemony is a human-led federation of worlds that safeguards its dominance by subjugating potential opponents. When the insular Kresz – a crustacean/insectile humanoid species – refuses to join, the Hegemony treats them as a threat. The subsequent drama unfolds from mostly two points of view: Rhees Lowrans, a talented albeit disgraced human pilot who blames herself for the death of a loved one; and Udun, a Kresz who prefers to live offworld, a rare trait amongst his species. As each is drawn into separate conflicts – ones that threaten their lives and challenge their beliefs – they are forced to make choices that were previously unthinkable.

There is much to like about this novel, including the representations of good and evil in both humans and aliens, and also the strong female characters working in institutions that, thus far, appear to be dominated by males. The novel’s strengths lie with Stevenson’s thoughtful and intelligent depictions of various aliens and their cultures, particularly the worldview, religion and social mores of the empathic Kresz. The narrative voices are successfully character specific, though can be dry at times and often remained so during weapon-to-weapon conflict and scenes of emotional turmoil. Readers looking for classic space opera with a twist will enjoy this novel. I will certainly be looking out for Book 2. Thank you Net Galley and coeur de lion for sending this book for review consideration.

I feel like this book had some interesting ideas, but was hampered by what felt to me like dated prose. With pretty uniformly short sentences and an insistence on explicitly talking through the most basic of thoughts, there wasn't a lot of room for subtlety or emotional nuance, and that made it harder to like the protagonists. I also felt like there was often jargon for jargon's sake; for example, early on a building is described as sitting atop a "column of plasteel" and I felt like being told that the column was made of plasteel was just to make it sound exotic, rather than improve my understanding of the situation or immersion in the world; I certainly didn't think that my immersion was improved by the use of the word "vuscreen" rather than just "screen" or "display."

On the other hand, I thought the depiction of a human hegemony as a galactic antagonist - and the echoes of Earth colonialism that came with it - was interesting, and the book was not wanting for varied settings and species. While the book didn't strike me as perfect, it was certainly still very readable. I can imagine recommending this to someone who is a lover of mid-twentieth-century classic sci-fi and looking for something with the same vibe.