Member Review

Dalton Greaves decides to leave his lonely life on Earth behind and join the Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood, as one of the first human representatives. His job is to go down to potentially viable planets and scout whether or not they'd be a good match for Unity and convince them to join them instead of the competition, the Assembly. The two factions are so against each other that when two ships meet in the space over a non-aligned planet, they end up blowing each other up. Leaving Dalton, his human coworker Neera, and Breaker, the Assembly representative, stranded. The locals somewhat welcome Dalton and Breaker into their society as they await rescue, with Dalton getting the honor of becoming their queen's fourth consort. Now, Dalton will have to figure out a way to survive on a hostile planet while navigating politics and alien honor and morality systems with only his wits and a translator AI with an attitude.

It's a fascinating study of what makes something right when you're out of your element and survival is dubious. Dalton is so far removed from everything he knows that he's having to make things up as he goes, even as everyone around him is pushing him to do what they want. The small glimpses we get of his life on Earth help you see why he ends up making the choices he does and really help build the character. The work Ashton puts into every character to make them familiar yet alien, in more than just the fact that they are alien, is as much a driver of the plot as the events that take place.

I loved that the reader gets to question the morality and correctness of every character right along with Dalton, as his actions are also not always clear-cut. It's the kind of plot that makes you question right along with the main character if their actions are the right ones or if there could have been another option.

An interesting sci-fi read full of alien characters and in an alien world that feels increasingly human as it progresses.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the interesting read!