Eya believes that her mother is alive and a prisoner of Rondo, the leader of the Earthquake organization. Unfortunately, most everyone else believes that Olo is dead. Eya has taken over her mother’s cybersecurity job as it needed to be filled and she was the most qualified. And Although her true desire is to become the drummer for a band and pursue her passion for music, when an opportunity arises to not only prove that her mother still lives, and to hopefully to find a way to rescue her, Eya jumps at the chance, despite all the danger involved in the mission.
This is the first book in a new series, though it takes place after a previous series that I have not had the opportunity to read as of yet. But even without the knowledge of what happened in that series, it was not difficult to fill in the blanks as I read this book. Like other series from this author that I have read, I enjoyed this one as well. I could feel for Eya, working a job she hated but longing to be free to pursue her passion: a career as a professional drummer for a band.
I also appreciated the themes within this book dealing with racial intolerance and persecution. In this science fiction novel, it is the humans who have been somewhat discriminated against, though that has been improving, However a group known as Earthquake seeks to place humans as the dominant species in the galaxy, above all others, And while they had been thought wiped out after the death of their leader, an illegal AI facsimile seeks to change that belief. I do need to offer a trigger warning for readers that this book does contain descriptions of torture and physical abuse.
I found this to be a very interesting read. Not only because of the various perceptions of the different alien races and the way each was treated by the others, but in the view that all should be equal, even if they are not treated as such at the current time. Unfortunately, as usually happens in reality, the actions of a few drag down the impressions made by those who seek to lift others up. And dislike and fear of those who are different from each other always causes many more problems for everyone. For me, the message of this book seems to be that we are all equal, no matter where we came from or what we look like. Or at least we should be.
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