The Lost Stars

For reasons he can’t fathom, Captain Admiral Zander Graydon almost got killed three times in one day. The latest assault was in the bathroom just before boarding his shuttle at the Toccara spaceport. Zander is with IPC – the Inter-Planetary Coalition – and since there’s no war at the moment, he mainly hunts down illegal traders and space pirates. The shuttle is set to bring him on board his ship, the Swift Brion, where he meets his new admiral’s assistant, the beguiling Lieutenant Marshal Mae Petros. What Zander doesn’t know is that Mae is on assignment for the UAFA – the Universal Armed Forces Agency, and her mission is to bring Zander back to ascertain that he is human and not an alien, not Reidar. The Reidar are shape-shifting aliens whose goal is to replace humans in higher up positions at government and military levels. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, at last, until Zander’s shuttle’s systems fail: crash imminent! And this, dear readers, is merely the beginning of QUANTUM! I read very little scifi, but this series is excellent! Ms. Anastasi’s descriptions and notions are clear and concise, and she doesn’t bog down the narrative with superfluous details while getting her meaning across, and her prose is simply spectacular! QUANTUM is fast-paced, with plenty of action, and it always felt real. The worldbuiliding is intricate, entirely believable, and while I often feel with scifi that it’s over my head, it’s definitely not the case here, and not because it’s simplistic, but because it’s well plotted. I loved the relationship between Zander and Mae; in spite of their mistrust, they’re professional and level-headed, but Mae is more ingenious and doesn’t hesitate to think outside the box while Zander is very by-the-book, which is sometimes cause for entertaining disagreements. Zander wonders at the coincidence of having a new assistant and his ship crashing. In spite of not entirely trusting each other, Mae and Zander are attracted to each other, and when they finally succumb to their lust, it happens exactly as it should. Mae was sent to investigate Zander on Rian Sherron’s orders, and Rian is also a friend of Zander’s. I didn’t quite get Rian at first, he’s puzzling; his story intersects with Zander’s, and it turns out to be quite riveting, especially his relationship with the priestess Ella. There is also a most dashing space pirate – Qaelen Forster – who has been on Zander’s radar for a long time, and that is another fabulous story; I hope we get to see more of Qaelen in the future, because he is a terrific character. QUANTUM is a terrific action-packed book, even for those who think they won’t like a science fiction story, and that’s the mark of a great author! I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.