Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: How do you take the remnants of a generation ship and keep humanity alive on a frozen, inhospitable planet? It turns out to involve not just a fair amount of technological ingenuity, but also a healthy dose of myth-making and autocratic government (think, iron fist in velvet glove). And then, how do you hold the society you've made together 200 years later, when your far-distant cousins from Earth show up and basically say "hey, we didn't actually destroy ourselves like you thought!"? For the governor of Novayarkha, it turns out the answer is, not very well.
Which is all all well and good for plot purposes. Every book has to have dramatic conflict and all that. However, every good book also needs well-rounded characters who have realistic reactions to the conflict. Both of those were lacking here. Across the board, characters behaved in ways that weren't understandable based on the information given to the reader. It's hard to relate to characters when you don't understand why they're acting the way they are. It's a shame that this book was sunk by poor character development, because the premise was quite interesting.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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