The Flaw in Logic
by S.Y. Thompson
Pages: 279
Date: August 15 2016
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing
Series:
Review
Rating: 3.5
Read: August 29 2016
*I received this book from NetGalley and Sapphire Books Publishing in return for a fair review.*
I do not exactly understand the cover. Right, sorry, shouldn’t lead off with that.*
Imagine, if you will, a Conan the Barbarian type, but in a science fiction setting. Now make Conan female. That is not exactly accurate, but it is both the vibe of the book and of the book cover. (I would have gone with Xena in space, but it really did have more of a Conan vibe than Xena; maybe because there were more princesses in Conan’s stories – something). Okay, I do not know the Conan story well enough to continue this idea, so let’s move on before I embarrass myself.
There’s a criminal who has fled from the Amalgam space and landed on a ‘primitive’ planet – one where everyone but the rulers are ignorant of both the nature of the universe, and their own origins (as in: 1) there are other planets out there that have life on them, human life; 2) they are not native to the planet (though that one I’m less sure about as it comes up during the book that there are ‘stories’ and ‘legends’ about the ‘bad air’ and how lots died and stuff, so they might actually know they are not natives).
That criminal has landed on that planet with stolen materials from the Amalgam (I’m not actually 100% sure what the ‘Amalgam’ actually is, I think it is the name of the alliance of planets, though I could be wrong, I know it isn’t the name of a planet). A group of bounty hunters are sent out to track down this bad guy and recover him. Two things of note of this specific individual before moving on to the hunters – 1) the guy was a colonel in the military (and therefore, presumably, has some military know-how); 2) is related, brother, to a ‘Senator’).
The bounty hunters are lead by Commander R’cey Hawke (pronounced ‘Hawk’ like the bird; heh, no, I meant pronounced ‘R.C.’ like the cola (the R’cey part), though I kept reading it, for whatever reason, as ‘Racy’). There’s a bunch of young hot, strong, gifted, etc. etc., under Hawke’s command, but none of them matter beyond being people to grieve over – since they all die within moments of being introduced to the story. All but Hawke. So – imagine, if you will, a ship broken into tiny pieces on a ‘primitive’ world with 4 dead bodies, and one severally damaged one reclining near them. We shall leave Hawke here for now.
The other main point of view/impetus to the story is a young woman named Princess Thalia Dumont (I’m reminded of people whose parents name them things like ‘Major’, or ‘Sergeant’, then things get confusing if they actually go into the military, and end up having conversations like ‘Private Major! Clean your shoes!’ – wait, Princess isn’t a name but a title. I’m being vaguely weird in this review. No idea why).
Let’s start that part again.
The other main point of view is a young woman named Thalia Dumont, a princess of a specific kingdom on the planet (there are several, presumably). We first meet Thalia as she sneaks out of her room/castle and visits with an assassin, for she plans to assassinate her father, King Lotar. Great way to meet someone, eh? Heh. Well, apparently Lotar is this super evil guy who is acting like a tyrant, destroying the people under heavy taxes, death and imprisonment.
One thing leads to another and this assassin, instead of killing the king, puts him into a deep deadly coma. Now Princess Thalia must rush out on a quest to find someone to help save the king (who, now it turns out, had actually been operating under the influence of someone else, and hadn’t actually been naturally evil. Just forced evil). I’m being indirect here as I wished to set some things up before I got to the fantasy part of the science fantasy tag. For the ‘evil’ influence is a literal evil spell/curse placed upon the king. And the quest for ‘someone to help’ is for a ‘powerful sorcerer who can try to help lift the curse’. For, you see, the people of this planet can do that. Magic. And stuff.
So, Thalia heads off on her quest with four soldiers and told that if she went a specific direction she might run into someone who could help. In a ‘if you don’t do this and get their help, your task will be a failure’ kind of ‘go that direction’ type of helpful hint.
And so they do – Thalia and her four companions. Head in a specific direction. Where-upon they find . . . demons. Well, recall if you will that most of the people on the planet are unaware of the true nature of the universe and the part wherein there are other humans out there on other planets. Doesn’t help that R’cey is wearing a power suit that morphs and hides her appearance.
One thing leads to another and Thalia’s quest party expands by one, with the addition of R’cey. And then the really long trek continues and unfolds.
The book is only 279 pages but it feels longer. Stuff happens. Then more stuff. Then when I think everything is ready to be wrapped up even more stuff happens. I know why the ending had to be the way it was – because of the nature of the situation the author put everyone into (‘primitive’ planet, only leaders know truth, hard for an off-worlder and a princess to have a relationship under these circumstances; roadblocks to a happy situation put in place; something needed to be done to ‘remove’ these roadblocks without completely undermining the whole point of having this be a ‘primitive’ planet’ with a ‘high-tech bounty hunter’ running around on it; in that sense the ending worked; in another I kind of felt like I was in the ending of fantasy films like Lord of the Rings, which had, like, an hour of extra filming that were just ‘climaxes’ over and over again – but not really).
I feel like making some reference to another book I read this year with ‘magic’ in a science fiction setting that involved lesbians and power suits, and a quest and stuff (well, running around in swampy/jungle-y areas), but can’t think of a way to make that comment. So I won’t.
Right, okay then. Interesting enough book. A little long feeling. A book I’d say would be something around a 3.48 to 3.63 star book. Not sure I’d specifically wish to read another book in this specific story universe, but I’ll definitely read another book by this author. I’m even currently eyeing one.
* - I'm probably just over thinking things and/or not noticing the correct things.
August 30 2016
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