From the publisher: Jun Ironway, hacker, con artist, and only occasional thief, has got her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for life: evidence that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.
Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the three star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly – and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her down: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.
But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all – and that they are heading for a bloody confrontation that no one will survive unscathed.
Here’s one that should work. A great set-up, with a rogue-like heroine and her partner aligned against a seemingly psychotic cleric and her priest-like devotee working for The Kindom, who is determined to find them. There’s a MacGuffin with a memory chip containing information that could bring down one of the Kindom’s major dynastic families, and a Dune-like overdependency upon a vital resource, but the focus of the book is really about revenge and the obsessive relationship these main characters have between them.
There’s a lot of thought gone into this aspect of the book. Reminiscent of the work of Kate Elliott (unsurprisingly quoted on the cover) or perhaps Ann Leckie, These Burning Stars manages to create intrigue and tension, has solid characterisation, epic settings and a brisk pace. There’s a lot of balls being juggled at once, but Jacobs almost manages it. Unfortunately, the book fails in its final stages with an unconvincing use of identity theft as a plot device and an all-too convenient deux ex machina moment before an ending which seems to do little else but set up the plot for the next novel. Up to that point, very good indeed.
THESE BURNING STARS by Bethany Jacobs
Published by Orbit, October 2023
ISBN: 978-035 6520 070
465 pages
Review by Mark Yon
