I loved this book. The story, the characters, and, mostly, the world building.

I highly recommend it. Even to non-scifi fans. ( )

Epic is not a word I use often to describe a book, but in my opinion ‘The Caphenon’ deserves nothing less for its world building, characters, imaginative plot twists, and theme of “honor and duty versus morality”. From the very first pages to the very last, I was fascinated, horrified, and utterly spellbound as the events on Alsea unfolded before my eyes. Everything seemed so real that I was frequently surprised when I looked up to find myself in much too normal an environment back here on Earth. Alsea with its secrets and revelations about its past, as well as the capabilities of the Alseans was a rare treat in the world of science fiction.

The fact that most of the story is told from the point of view of the Alseans makes sure all the cultural details and differences between them and the Gaians (humans from Earth and their humanoid allies) come to the fore. While a race of empaths isn’t a new concept, and many of the characteristics of the Gaian Fleet and personnel reminded me of the Star Trek franchise, Voyager in particular, the author has done a good job taking those elements and adding her touch to create something new and different. The focus on Alsean society had me mesmerized, and their interactions with a group of nonempathic aliens led to some interesting learnings on both sides.

Andira Tal, a warrior and the leader of her people, is an amazing character. She is strong, loyal, principled, and honorable. Yet she is also an accomplished diplomat, and able to take the long view when she finds a ship of aliens crashed on her planet. The way she maneuvers around the many pitfalls of first contact is pretty impressive, and the few times she shows emotional vulnerability made those moments even more special. Her ability to unite and mobilize people is just about the only thing that saves Alsea from the Voloth invasion everyone knows is coming. Alsea may have been able to fight them off with the aliens’ help, but left to their own devices when the aliens are ordered off her planet due to power plays, scheming, and sheer betrayal; the picture does not look good.

Captain Serrado, captain of the crashed ship, the Caphenon, and her lover Lhyn, who is the lead anthropologist studying the Alseans, are quite the pair. Their liaison is not official, and while there is no issue with a same-sex couple in this version of the future, the potential conflict of interest for Captain Serrado is serious enough for her to think twice before admitting how much Lhyn means to her. Not that they can hide anything from the empathic Alseans, and that takes quite some getting used to. These two women also have very different views about duty and morality, and that ensures a growing conflict between them as the story progresses.

There is a whole group of secondary characters as well, both Gaian and Alsean, and the occasional peek into their point of views greatly enriched the story. All the Alsean rituals and the effect of empathy on their development as a civilization are extremely well done. The contradiction between their seemingly agricultural, somewhat “primitive” caste-based society and their actual mental and emotional development throws the Gaians for a loop and results in more than one issue when the negotiations with the Voloth lead to consequences neither Captain Serrado nor Lhyn can live with, not to mention the Alsean people. The final resolution is absolute genius!

If you like science fiction that will make you think, if you enjoy watching tough women question their assumptions about what is right and wrong, and if you’re looking for a read that is as exceptional as it is suspenseful and fascinating, then you will probably like this novel.


NOTE: This book was provided by Ylva Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

My first book by this author.

I went into this both interested and somewhat concerned. Interested because the story itself sounded interesting. Concerned because everyone seems to love the book (with around 9 exceptions, or in other words, 70% of the people who rated the book, rated it 5 stars).

The book kept my interest from beginning to end. And the interesting little description, turned into an interesting read. If I keep using the word interesting, it will begin to lose its meaning.

If I recall correctly, this is the first science fiction book I’ve been able to get myself to dive into and complete, that involved lesbians (at least one that wasn't based on earth). That lesbian part is/was both important and not important. Though the more important part was the relationship itself, regardless of the person, or genders involved. As in, the issues and conflicts (like, say, conflict of interest), would have been the same regardless of the genders involved, same sex or otherwise. In other words, the nature of the relationship was an important plot point in the story, but the book itself is more of a science fiction book that happens to have a couple making up two of the prominent characters, as opposed to a romance that happens to have a science fiction backdrop. Hopefully I’ve worded this coherently enough.

I went into this book with some vague idea that this was a reformatted, reworded/worked Star Trek Voyager fan fiction novel. I know this author has written those, but I’m not actually sure if this is one or not. My point in bringing this up is that I went into the book with this idea, so that kept popping up in my mind as I was reading. It was more something that would pop up as a remembrance, rather than a ‘ha-ha *points* that’s Voyager like!’ I’ve read 15 Voyager books, and seen, I believe, all episodes of the television series. Though I’ve a vague recollection that somewhere along the way I might have skipped an episode here or there. I write all this to note that I wish I hadn’t had this vague idea before I went into the book. Because it served as an unneeded distraction. This specific book here works quite well on its own merits. And the book was, obviously enough not a Star Trek book (obvious as in it uses different words for things, like Protectorate instead of Federation; and while it had something of that ‘seeding alien race’ thing that popped up on Star Trek the Next Generation, that isn’t a theme that only appears in Star Trek, it’s also in other science fiction universes (there’s a whole series of Larry Niven books that involve both a seeder race, and seeded races)). There were similarities but this had its own little self-contained universe to play in.

Well, the book itself, or, I mean, the story – the book opens as a watcher type watches a screen, watching stuff fall onto a planet. His planet. He is all excited because He’ll be able to direct various scientists to great finds. Then more falling objects appear. Then one breaks apart into tiny bits, while the other continues to fall. And is really really huge. And is headed directly towards a city. People are warned, specifically one Lancer Tal, evacuation orders are begun to be ordered. Then something strange occurs – the object looks as if it is starting to glide away from the city. Though it will still land nearby.

Lancer Tal and a group of guards head out to the crash site. And stare at what appears to be an alien ship. One long running question has been answered. Aliens do in fact exist. Tal watches as three figures stumble out of a hatch onto the ship and begin the slow process of walking across the ship down a ladder.

Lancer Tal comes face to face with Captain Serrado. It’s a relatively slow process but eventually the nature of who and what these ‘aliens’ are discussed and revealed. They are Gaians. And they accidentally ended up on their planet because their fusion core was about to explode. Damaged, as it was, during a battle against a third group of aliens, the Voloth (sp?). The Voloth were there to invade and conquer. The Gaians had been there to observe the Alseans (that being the name of the planet), and intervened when Voloth forces attacked.

First contact occurs among these ‘primitive’ Alseans and these Gaians (I don’t actually recall Alsean actually being used in the book, though it might have been). The primitives turn out to be a lot less primitive than expected.

This is a book that feels longer than it actually is, at least I felt that way when I was at the 40% mark. I don’t mean that in a bad way. More in that a lot of stuff, interesting stuff, was happening.

Hmms. I should probably scrap this write up and start over. I’m not really doing a great job conveying what I want to convey. I say this knowing I’ll probably just leave it as is. But hey, I might come back and ‘fix this’ later.

I liked this book. I might read the next book in this series immediately. Haven’t determined that yet.

January 7 2016
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This book kicked my butt. Not because it was long, although it isn't a short tome by any means, but I think because I hadn't read anything else, ever, by Fletcher DeLancey (online or off).

There was a lot of world building in this book since it seems like its going to be the first book in a series, and that did make the book drag in some places. It was interesting world building for sure, but at times the long windedness of it made me put down the book for awhile.

It's the story of three women, Lancer Tal, Captain Serrado, and an anthropologist with a very close connection to the Captain, Lhyn, and what they all go through when Captain Serrado's ship crashes on Alsea (where Tal is the Lancer, a leader, on the planet) creating a first contact situation. Not to mention then having to prepare themselves to defend the entire planet from an invading force.

I liked the characters for the most part, especially the secondary ones like Lancer Tal's second in command, and Captain Serrado's pilot. And, by the end of the book I also started liking the main characters as well, they just took me a little longer to warm up to.

It was a good book, a very very well written book as well, I just found that I could never really get into it.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Ylva Publishing. ( )