These Burning Stars, by Bethany Jacobs, is a revenge-driven, bloody, action-heavy space opera. It’s full of political intrigue, social commentary, and gun fights. And I thought it was excellent.
It was, however, slow to start for me. In fact, I originally started it several months ago and got a little stuck in the first chapter due to all the unfamiliar terminology. The author doesn’t include a glossary, so it was a bit hard for me to keep track at first. That feeling went away after the first couple of chapters though, and I thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of the book.
I can’t say that I enjoyed all of the characters though. The story follows three main characters: Esek Nightfoot, a cleric, Chono, a cleric, and our revenge-seeker, known only as Six. And let me tell you, Esek Nightfoot is a fully horrible person. She is beautiful, strong, and intelligent, and an absolute jerk. Cleric Chono, on the other hand, is also strong and intelligent, but also kind and beloved by the people she serves. As for Six, no one knows who, what or where they are, in spite of Esek’s best efforts.
Esek and Chono are tasked by the Head Cleric to hunt down an artifact that could be detrimental to the government, the Kindom. As well as detrimental to the first families of the Kindom and cause further unrest at an already volatile time. In addition to this sanctioned mission, Esek and Chono are engaged in another, private mission to find and eradicate Six. And while they are hunting for Six, Six is hunting their revenge.
What follows is a clever, action-packed, cat-and-mouse game of a story set against a background of social unrest and political machinations. I give it 4.5 stars, rounded up to five, and will definitely be reading the remaining books of the trilogy.
