Roboteer

Lamb makes a high-powered debut with this space thriller, which is jam-packed with mysterious and manipulative aliens, starship battles, and humans on both sides of an ideological war who are thirsty for knowledge and a better world. Will Konu-Monet is a roboteer—modified at birth to interface with the machines used to assist and maintain the infrastructure of his home world—with dreams of becoming a starship captain. He fills a critical role in the fleet defending against the Earthers’ holy crusade. But the Earthers have a secret weapon, devastating technology given to them by an alien relic. When Will gets his ship, he must prove his value to his crew as they go on a critical espionage mission, looking for a way to defend against the new weapon. What they find instead could change the fate of his entire species. The tale is quick-paced and excitingly twisty; readers will likely forgive some weak prose and over-reliance on summary. Lamb sets high expectations for the rest of the trilogy. (Jan.)