I've had the Song of Scarabaeus by Australian author Sara Creasy on my to read list for a long time. Long enough for her to have written the sequel which is now also on my to read list. It's billed as a science fiction romance novel, but I'm not sure I'd categorize it as such. More science fiction adventure with romantic elements.
Edie Sha'nim is a cypherteck, a programmer of advanced biotechnology and the most accomplished expert in a particular type of biotech used for terraforming planets. She works for the Crib, a corpocratic organization which ruthlessly represses colonies on terraformed worlds by charging exorbitant license fees for the terraforming technology. If the colonies stop paying the fees, the terraforming stops and the local ecology crashes.
The book starts with Edie being kidnapped from Crib control by a group of rovers, essentially space pirates, who have supposed high ideals around supplying terraforming technology to the colonies without the Crib being involved. They're a grubby lot though, and there is a lot of interesting story around the balance between getting Edie's co-operation and keeping her under control. There's also a major theme of control of people with the presence of Serfs, indentured prisoners kept under control by the use of implanted punishment devices and drugs. One of these Serfs, Finn, an ex-special forces type and the other main character, gets "tethered" to Edie early on. The tether takes the form of an explosive in Finn's head that goes off if Edie dies or gets separated by too far from Finn.
There's plenty of action with the various groups trying to get control over Edie and her abilities, as well as eco-radicals who attempt to kill cyphertecks on sight and the fascinating setting of Scarabaeus with which Edie has strong ties. I felt it lost its way a little about two thirds in, particularly the plot points around the rovers after they visit Scarabaeus.
There's not a lot of romance in this one (as it should be - the characters are usually either fighting for their lives and freedom or half-dead; romance would be shoe-horned in at best), but you can see the framework being setup for the next novel. It also goes in strong with hard science fictions concepts and jargon very early on. Concepts like biotechnology, terraforming, cypherteck, whole-ecology engineering via programmable viruses. I was strongly reminded of Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax books, but in my opinion Sara does a better job. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Currently Reading: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
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