The Price of the Stars

The Price of the Stars
Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, 1992

Premise: Beka Rosselin-Metadi has no interest in being part of her famous family. She’s a brilliant spaceship pilot, and she’s happy working the trading lanes. But when her politician mother is assassinated, she’ll have to get interested in the politics of the galaxy. It’s the only way to stay alive, and bring her mother’s killers to justice.

I wanted some solid space action, and I got it! This book started a little slow for me, but it picked up. For one thing, apparently I didn’t read the back closely enough and it threw me that it’s sci-fi with magic. Once it gets going, though, the authors handle both the spaceships and the magic well, ending up with something akin to a more hard-edged Star Wars-type world.

I picked up this book for the cover. Look at the cover! Isn’t it awesome? Beka is great fun. Tough and prickly with only occasional sentimentality, she’s interested in getting the job done. She spends a good deal of time in male disguise, and occasionally it seems to be a safety valve for her. ‘Beka’ can’t shoot people in cold blood and fly uncaring into danger, but her alter ego can.

The story is also carried by a slew of other characters: Beka’s brothers, a mysterious helper called The Professor, a young mage, a medic, her father the general’s assistant who is investigating her ‘apparent death’, the multitude of people out to help or hinder them all…

It’s not super-brilliant writing: few of the characters are fully fleshed out and a lot of the world building seems to come out of nowhere suddenly whenever it becomes necessary, but the adventure is enjoyable, and I enjoyed it more and more as the book went on.

3 Stars - A Good Book