Reclamation was one of a group of books I got in a Storybundle. If you haven’t discovered that yet, it’s a great way of discovering new writers. Check it out!

I’m seriously behind with my reading at the moment, and I don’t know why. Reclamation does not seem as long as the kindle-predicted 10 hours plus reading time, but it seems I’m taking longer over them at present. This one is definitely worth it. Trouble is, if I put it in my SpaceTime Reading Challenge, I can’t use the Z for my Alphabet Soup Challenge (unless I cheat my own rule).

Reclamation

reclamation coverby Sarah Zettel

“Reclamation” Heretic priest turned data pirate, Eric Born has run from his past for years. Then his steady clients – a self-proclaimed master race called the Vitae – kidnap a mysterious pariah named Arla Stone from the Realm of the Nameless, the shattered, pre-technological planet Eric fled long ago. Priest and peasant plunge into a mystery mixing myth, genetics, artifacts, aliens, AIs, slavery, and Reclamation. Now Eric is on the run from his own masters, and even his telekinetic abilities and Arla’s wits may not be enough to save them… [goodreads]

My Review

This is a great piece of space opera. We move from scene to scene, switching across from one character’s story to another, with them all melding together into a complex plot… So what’s different? Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever switched to liking an antagonist quite as much as I did with this one!

The genius of Sarah Zettel’s work is that each character is supremely well-rounded in his, her or its own cultural context. As someone said in giving tips to authors: villains are just people with a different mindset and values from your heroes. As a result this book has a question for everyone. What are the rights of colonisation, or of those who desire to set things back to how they used to be? When would that be? Before a war? Before a country’s borders were redrawn? How far back in history do you want to go?

In this case, the space-faring races are interested in reclaiming their originating planet. It’s their heritage, after all.

Naturally, the incumbents, descended from those who didn’t go space-faring, don’t like it.

And there are plenty of other races who have a say in the matter, too.

add to goodreads buttonIt’s a brilliant set-up, superbly executed, and I loved it. More, please, Ms Zettel.

RECLAMATION ‘a great piece of space opera ... a brilliant set-up, superbly executed, and I loved it’ #scifi #spaceopera #ebook Share on X

Book Review | Reclamation by Sarah Zettel
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