Started The Deep Man by M Mersault (a debut coming from Baen in Jan 22, got the e-arc they are selling now as I really liked the sample and am in the mood for such); so far a variation on the far future Human imperium with advanced technology and many Houses; here humanity is depending on alien technology that comes in trading waves (with only the Emperor knowing by Quantum Entanglement what the benevolent aliens want to trade for) every seven years or so, hence the Houses depend on the Emperor's goodwill for knowing what goods they need to stock up.
Another quirk of this universe is the separation of the population in Vested citizens who enjoy all the rights, privileges but also responsibilities (including making a living, being ready at any time to duel for their lives if another Vested citizen takes offence at them, being able to ingest mood-altering drugs etc so the higher classes and the gutter of the empire consists of such), and demicit people - the majority - who are housed, fed, given free healthcare and education, as well as money stipends - but whose lives are extremely regulated in many ways - eg they cannot manually fly aircars, serve in the military or on spaceships, take drugs etc; as per reforms some centuries back under the current Yung dynasty, every demicit has one opportunity per lifetime to apply for vested citizenship after taking some (free) classes and passing a citizenship exam; this way they give up their assured but constricted lifestyle for the possibility of advancement, quick death if they unwittingly insult another citizen in the mood for a quick dueling kill, or decay to homelessness and the gutter.
All seemed to hum along nicely until the emperor is assassinated, a cluster is in rebellion with some serious starships at hand and rumors of discontent from the Heavyworlds citizens (making up 2% of the Imperium population but 50% of its Marines and 20% of its warships personnel and who have been looked upon as almost "subhuman" for their appearance and mores for centuries) who are far more dangerous than few planets rebelling.
The main heroes, young (30's - as usual there is rejuv and people can live from 100+ to 400+ depending on their wealth) starship captain, Commander Saef Sinclair-Maru of a house that was crucial in putting the Yung dynasty on the throne but then failed to excel at the politics of centuries of peace, so slowly hemorrhaging assets and lands, and Inga Maru, his cousin from an impoverished family (half) branch who has quite unusual traits have to untangle what happens, discover the conspirators (if there are such), defeat the rebels and restore the House Sinclair-Maru to its due place,
A fanatical follower of the House creeds (including achieving the Deep Man state) and of the Dynasty maxims (one being that dueling to the death is necessary to prune the aristocracy from incompetents and jerks), Raef has already 7 aristocratic dueling kills to his name and is one of a few names explicitly appearing as "not to offend at any cost" in the courses for new citizens, so he is miffed at first that Inga, a collateral of the family knows and follows them too, but of course that starts coming in handy when assassination attempts start piling up and he even didn't yet get to his ship and selected his crew...
Fun and fast so far and if it keeps going I expect to be a top read of 2022 for me and a new author to watch
