The blighted stars

The author of the Protectorate and Scorched Continent trilogies launches a new series with this exciting and thought-provoking sf novel. In the distant future, humanity is becoming increasingly desperate to find new worlds to settle. Unfortunately, worlds that would be ideal for human settlement are being systematically rendered uninhabitable. Naira, a woman who has devoted her life to the preservation of humanity, thinks she knows why this is happening: the powerful Mercator family, under the guise of space exploration, is using the natural resources on other worlds for its own purposes, destroying those worlds in the process. When Naira finds herself stranded on one of these dead worlds, along with a scion of the Mercator clan, she is forced to forge an uneasy peace. But she does not expect to discover a secret so monstrous that it threatens to unbalance the universe itself. The story's environmental themes are handled very well (O'Keefe gives the reader much to think about without sounding didactic); the characters are lively; and the writing is full of energy. A very promising series launch.

The Mercator family is a universal business empire, not only controlling much of humanity's exploration and settling, but collecting vital resources for their own enrichment. Heir apparent Tarquin Mercator is not a businessman: he would rather focus on books and geology than financial domination. However, the habitable planets are collapsing, and Tarquin is tasked with overseeing the settlement of the next cradle world. Many feel that the Mercators and other powerful corporate families are at fault, and revolution is simmering below the surface. Naira Sharp has intimate knowledge of the Mercators, and she plans to take out the settlement ship before it destroys humanity's next hope. But a series of events leads to the ship survivors being stranded on the planet's surface, and what Tarquin and Naira discover will not only shake their own understandings of the truth but lead them to a plot that is devastating. Emotional arcs and action sequences, vivid worldbuilding, and interesting explorations of body printing and corporate servitude provide an immersive story. VERDICT O'Keefe's (Catalyst Gate) latest has the intrigue, surprises, and high stakes of her previous novels.--Kristi Chadwick