Full tilt science fiction thriller that executes genre staples with enormous energy. Syd Kiowa is an ex-police officer in Black Star City receives a request for hep from a off-worlder fleeing those who have kidnapped them. Syd finds herself involved in a significant conspiracy to harvest off-worlders in Back Star City. The story unfolds at a punishing pace, the details of the conspiracy are well set up, Syd is a superb action hero. The conclusion is everything it should be.
There are no surprises in the story or the cast, any fan of action films and science fiction will have a good idea of what to expect. What matters is the execution and Jim Ousley and Ben Sawyer shine, they completely take over the ideas and make them shine brightly.
Black Star City as a location has the shadow of the Blade Runner film fall on it, the details that Ben Sawyer brings to the location and cast make it individual and memorable in its own right. An uneasy mix of natives and alien immigrants it is full of tension and those looking to exploit the tensions. The plot mechanics are well done, slavery is a source of enormous profit and gratification, it provides ample motive for appalling actions.
Syd Kiowa is the heart of the story, a damaged individual who has crossed a line that she is not letting define her. The line that was crossed is brilliantly set up, the reveal is forceful and leave no room for going back. Damaged, not ruined, Syd is a forlorn hope for the desperate, exactly the sort of person not to back down from a fight with slavers.
Ben Sawyer delivers action with force and detail, as well as giving the cast room to be expressive and engaging. The colours are full on science fiction, nothing is bright and shiny, it is not a glorious future, it is not a pit of despair either.
Getting the mix correct in a story like this is astonishingly hard, the possibility of failure has to be felt to make snatching success feel vindicated. Jim Ousley and Ben Sawyer have done this with careful detail and tremendous respect for why the story conventions have become conventions. A huge pleasure to read.
