This is a story set in a post-apocalyptic future about 400 years after “the collapse,” which is never described in detail, though from context it seems to be a global warming and other human caused extinction events. Humanity has barely made it to the stars in time to get off the dying Earth, and now with the benefit of time, Earth has begun to heal. This is not the point of the book, but it sets up the main premise, that there is “LifeEx” a life extending shot that you can take that also protects you out in the stars.
The story centers on Lieutenant Max, a new officer in the NEO-G, the Near Earth Orbital Guard, a logical extension of the Coast Guard. Max is also a member of the Carmichael family, who developed LifeEx. They join a crew that has just lost a member (Nika) to a promotion to the Trappist-1 colony. They join just after the close second place in the Boarding Games, an annual competition between the multiple branches of the military. The other obvious lead character is Jenks, who was taken in as a child by Nika’s family; he is the brother she never had. Jenks is a strong fighter, and both starts and finishes them.
Wagers does an excellent job portraying the rivalry and mutual respect between the different branches of the military. There is also a close look at power dynamics of and within the wealthy Carmichael family. I like how they handled religion. One of the main characters (Rosa, the commander) is religious, a member of the Earth-bound church, which doesn’t allow her to leave to a colony world and prevents her from being promoted. But her views on religion are not oppressive, and doesn’t even force her own child to her beliefs. I enjoyed the world they created, with gender fluidity, sexual openness, different ways of expressing love and sex. It is not a utopian society, but the relaxation of oppressive sexual/identity mores felt good to read. Characters of all genders are on equal footing in the command structure, and in the fighting cages.
The story opens with the NeoG’s finding a “lost” ship that had been sent out before wormhole technology was invented. The ship was commandeered by pirates of some sort. After the successful rescue of the ship, the pirates all die mysterious deaths on the way back to Earth. Thus begins the big mystery of the book, what is going on with these ships? There isn’t enough to open a case, but Rosa encourages Max and Jenks to keep working it, and they do.
Much of the book centers on the training and competition of the 101st boarding games but clues are left from time to time and the team occasionally goes on missions to try to figure out the main mystery. Multiple characters have arcs, the relationship between Max and Jenks is central and it is really wonderful to watch it grow.
I enjoyed this book and I know there is more to the story with the release of the sequel imminent. I am now going to go back and read the first 6 books Wagers wrote (the Indranan war trilogy and the Farian war trilogy). I don’t know whether to classify this as space opera or military fiction so I suppose I’ll include both tags. Looking forward to reading more from this author!