Reliance

In the overwrought, talky first volume of a planned space opera trilogy, Andersen teases several intriguing concepts, but still essentially relies on the overworn trope of a ship full of quirky, competent rogues with tragic backstories taking on an oppressive, highly structured, vaguely defined colonizing evil empire. Rough-edged Finn No Last Name has become one of the best thieves in the lawless Mud Pit of the Farthers, where the Reliance throws its criminals, since she arrived as a runaway child years earlier. When she boards the courtesan Iliana’s cargo ship in order to steal a valuable necklace, the crew of mostly alien-human “half-breeds,” who are typically killed by the Reliance, detains her because Iliana claims Finn is her lost sister, Kyra. Finn slowly warms to her captors and becomes a useful member of the team; her photographic memory helps them in a heist during a Reliance ball, and she begins acknowledging her own history and psychic powers. Andersen has set herself up well to potentially tell a more original story in the second volume, but taken on its own, this novel is heavy on exposition and light on satisfaction. (Oct.)