cover image The Empress Game

The Empress Game

Rhonda Mason. Titan, $14.95 trade paper (364p) ISBN 978-1-78329-524-1

Debut author Mason opens a space opera series with this fascinating merger of galactic exploration and deadly competition. Kayla Reinumon was once a princess of Ordoch, a “Wyrd World” whose inhabitants possess incredible psionic powers, but she fled with her brother during a coup that killed their entire family. Now a refugee fighting in nightly blood matches on a distant planet under an assumed name, Kayla is approached by the very same people who killed her kin, inviting her to compete in the Empress Game—a grand tournament by which the Sakien Empire will find its new queen. For the chance to return home and regain what’s left of her old life, Kayla must enter a world of political intrigue, betrayal, and conspiracies within conspiracies that threaten the fates of entire planets. Mason takes every opportunity to raise the stakes for her characters, and the result is an immersive and intriguing thriller. Tonally, however, her prose is more than slightly uneven; the frequent use of current colloquialisms alongside alien terminology is distracting at best. But Mason’s deft plotting packs an emotional punch and leads to a solid cliffhanger that could spark a fascinating new series. (July)