The Widening Gyre

In this flawed but promising debut, goodhearted empathy and solid escapist space-fighting that emphasizes the power of teamwork break through a heavy-handed anticolonialist plot, stereotyped aliens, and unsubtle human psychology. It’s been 800 years since the lizardlike Zhen found the last human survivors of a colony ship and forced them into servitude in the intergalactic Zhen Empire. Loner pilot Tajen Hunt is the only human who’s ever been a war hero in the Zhen military; he also presided over a disastrous battle that ended in the deaths of millions of humans and Zhen, including his brother’s wife. Just after saving a human ship’s crew from marauders, he learns that his brother has been killed by Empire agents for discovering pointers that reveal the location of Earth. Determined to complete his brother’s search for the human homeworld, Tajen brings his new friends and teenage niece on his quest. Themes of belonging come though sweetly as Earth nostalgia sits alongside Tajen’s process of self-forgiveness and building connections, but a spiritless side romance plot seems placed only to establish Tajen as gay in a story that otherwise does not engage LGBTQ themes. Readers will feel invested in Tajen’s team of affable human rebels and their futures, but Johnston will have to develop the Zhen into a more nuanced enemy to sustain interest in additional adventures. (Mar.)