Set in a galaxy with thousands of worlds colonized by the 17 sentient species, this sci-fi adventure novel has one heck of a tale to tell. Told from the first person point of view, the narrator is looking for a girl with a very special gift. She finds on one of the worlds heavily affected by the Pulse, a mysterious weapon that destroyed technology to varying degrees on every world it touched. And the residual radiation lasts there, locking each world into a certain level of technological advancement.
This world has guns, but no electricity or combustion engines. Stuck in an agrarian 18th century level of technology, it's tricky to land there, find the girl, and get her off planet. But that is what the narrator does. She's been doing it for most of 100 years. It's not an easy job, but it is one she is very good at.
The adventure is complicated by the Pax, an interstellar empire lightly affected by the Pulse. A fascist police state they are intent on finding the girl for their own nefarious purposes. Attacking her world with advanced technology (that quickly gets burned out by the rads in the atmosphere) scarfing untold numbers to capture her and to take over that world. The Pax believe in peace through conquest. When the strong rule over the weak galaxy-wide, there will be peace.
The story is told with a certain amount of sardonic humor that lightens the tone and kept me reading. I found the beginning of the book to be a little slow, but Williams picks up the pace and continues to accelerate all the way to the end. The characters are fun, mostly likable, and their interactions are believable. As the plot picks up, the narrator brings in more people from her past to help her, finding more than a little trouble on the way. Epic battles are fought. There was some profanity in the book, so take care if that offends. A last stand is made. It was, overall, a good read for me.
I received a free electronic ARC of this book through Netgalley.com in return for an honest review.
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