First: why you might want to pick up this novel. It’s a good Sci-Fi, “rebels against the empire” tale. It has likeable, believable characters, and the creative dodge is having the rebel leaders mostly women, which brings a refreshing change to the tone of their revolution and the story. The Sci-Fi and historical background is imaginative and functions well. This makes it a good read.

But I must explain why I gave the book only three stars; it is full of small writing errors. They are easily fixable, but every one of them disturbs the reader’s involvement with the story and characters, reducing the emotional impact of the tale.

A common error is  the old “show don’t tell” device, telling us all about something that would be better shown  by action and dialogue.

“Tell me more about life in the mountains,” she asked gently, encouraging Ester to talk,

“Encouraging Ester to talk” is superfluous; we already saw it happen.

And here is an unnecessary explanation combined with a chronological order slip:

 “Once on the plate she would be lowered to the ground, and could wheel herself into the house. Ester helped her out of the pod and into the wheelchair, and then they rolled her onto the lift plate.”

First, we get “told” the operating lesson. Then we jump back in time and are “shown” it actually happening. Minor but confusing. Anything that forces readers to stop, say “Huh?” and go back to check on a detail throws them out of their involvement with the story.

The result is too much author interference between the readers and the action. Most readers don’t recognize this; they just get the feeling that the story is going on and on and there’s not much happening.

An example of a Sci-Fi dip into esoterica that works is the detailed description of the care and tactical uses of the alien’s war steeds. This sidebar occurs a fair way into the story, when we have already seen them in battle, and when the hero’s personal mount has been injured. We have reason to care about these animals, and we enjoy the extra time we get with them.

The ending gives us a satisfying wrap up to the short term conflicts. In the long term, the epilogue sets us up for the next book in the trilogy.

Three stars