As a first novel, this one from Drew Williams has some limitations but has to count as a success. The Stars Now Unclaimed, published in 2018, is a science fiction adventure story that would fit right in with the last decade of superhero movies: long on the action, don’t worry about the plausibility.
I found influences among my own favorites from – or at least similarities to – Star Wars, Jim Butcher, and Timothy Zahn. The backstory suggests Iain Banks’ Culture novels, although the “pulse” event/condition omnipresent through the story is – while unbelieveable – a clever way to keep the action (which is to say, the possibility of destruction) on a more manageable scale. For the most part Williams’ first person narration carries the story well, although the femininity of his protagonist is not really believeable. In fact most of his characters are simplistic, with variety of sex and species being mostly cosmetic. The one teenager is sometimes believeable, sometimes a caricature, sometimes indistinguishable from the adults – which actually doesn’t not work, exactly, since that sums up most teenagers pretty well. (Most people at any stage of life, really.)
I thought Williams did good work in maintaining a relatively optimistic, even idealistic tone given the setting. I find that there are now sequels, the next being A Chain Across the Dawn, although given the list of books I already want to read it will be a while if ever till I get around to that one. Stars hangs together well enough as a single story, and while I would love to see whether he delves into the ethical problems in more detail and if so how, I’m not quite sure whether the big-picture resolution would be satisfying.
Overall I thought Williams’ writing improved over the course of the book, his art not quite being up to selling the low-context “Lone Ranger” introductory chapters. Conversation throughout is limited – again, think action movie – mostly to exposition or repartee, but is done well enough. The most surprising success, for a first-time author, I thought was the pacing, which at all times suits the action depicted without dragging at all and only once or twice becoming unsuitably rushed.
So, to sum up: well-drawn setting, good action scenes, decent plot, satisfying resolution. While not a perfect book, one I can recommend if you’re looking for some light reading with a bit of crunch.
Romance of Victory 