Far in the future, in a galaxy not so far away…
Starquest was sold to me as a loving homage to Star Wars, but a fresh and renewed approach to the theme; as a fan of both Star Wars and the author, I had to try it.
I had high expectations, but was still blown away. The prologue alone got me hooked on the first book; Book 1 got me hooked on the series.
The theme is Space Opera more than it is Science Fiction. Theoretically, the spaceships and supertechnology have a hand-wavey physical explanation. But the author does not waste your time explaining them, as the priority is the finer things in stories: Adventure, Romance, Revenge, Pirates, Space Princesses, and the Annihilation of Entire Planets.
The setting is clearly inspired by Star Wars, and when the narrative describes Recent Historical Events you will hear some familiar story beats. Fortunately, the author has a creative imagination and made the setting his own. There is much that has no parallel in Star Wars; the robots, for example, are much like the robots from Isaac Asimov, but inventors have managed to jailbreak them to circumvent or add their own programming. This lets the author put in backstory plots and setting details - the Rebels had developed a Liberty Code to give robots the free will to disobey orders, the Empire had retaliated by purging their navigator-bots - which would have been impossible if the author merely reskinned the setting by renaming everything.
Instead, the author gave himself the freedom to recreate the theme of Space Opera, but in his own way. Even those things that are similar to Star Wars get a fresh and unique feel, so it never felt like I was re-reading something I’ve already heard before. Since he is a master of the craft, the result is a gripping adventure.
The heroes are really heroic, and also Way Cool. Chapter 1 opens with Athos Lone of Star Patrol infiltrating a pirate ship alone by crawling inside a rocket engine and cutting a hole in the side. Then, he must sneak through the ship undetected, climbing on the ceilings with use of an ancient Mask of a long-dead mariner, whose death-mask gives the wearer his strength and stamina. And, because he was a lion-man, it also gives the wearer lightsaber claws.
The Evil Empire is really evil, and also Way Cool. Chapter 5 begins with the Empire accepting a planet’s surrender by landing a dreadnought on top of the capital city, crushing the former government buildings and anybody who didn’t manage to evacuate. Then the ship lifts off and blasts the rubble to slag… which forms a nice, flat parade ground, and the legions march out for the military demonstration.
You will not find hamfisted lectures about contemporary political topics. What political narratives there are, are fit into the setting proper, and are never overbearing. “Evil Empires are Bad, Liberty is Good, but the newly formed Commonwealth must prove it can keep the peace, let’s go on an adventure.”
“Space Pirates of Andromeda” was the most fun I’ve had reading in years. I eagerly look forward to the sequels.
