Richard Baker (1) (1966–)

A new star on the space opera map.

An interesting reworking of space opera themes. Recontact by more developed interstellar powers with isolated frontier worlds from Terra and how that plays out. In this case the two major powers are the Aquilan Commonwealth and the Dremark Empire.
The world that is in question, Gadira II, is populated by those of Islamic leanings, adhering to moderate Quranist understandings of that faith.
It seems an agent of the Dremark Empire is setting up Gadira, for show more planetary unrest and thereby being able to install a puppet government aligned with Dremark's self interest. (Is it all sounding familiar?)
The main character, Lieutenant Sikander Singh North, a gunner officer, is from a similar frontier world, Kashmir. This system has been able to escalate its development under the more moderate Aquilan Commonwealth.
He's not only a member of the star fleet forces but akin to a prince in his own nation, hence his valet, Darvesh Reza who 'functions as Sikander's security detail, secretary, and general minder as well as his body servant.' I am sure Darvesh is going to join the renowned list of select sidekicks so enjoyed in other space operas.
For some reason Sikander's character is reminding me of Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock from David Weber and John Ringo's series, Empire of Man. I know completely different characters and situations, still ... I'm intuiting some similarities.
There is a slight romantic interest for Sikander's with the intelligent, astute niece of the Sultan, Amira Ranya Meriem el-Nasir, Crown Princess of Gadir. A romance destined not to be.
Captain Markham, captain of the CSS Hector reminds me of some of the stalwart and fearless female captains from the Honor Harrington series.
The battles are all well orchestrated and described by Baker. It's in these situations of course we see further development of major and secondary characters, as they react under fire.
I look forward to the next in this series.

A NetGalley ARC show less

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Title: The City of Ravens
Series: The Cities
Author: Richard Baker
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 324
Format: Kindle



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Synopsis:
Jack Ravenwild is a dandy, a thief, a magician and an utterly pompous kind of guy. So it isn't a surprise when he gets 3 different commissions from 3 different beautiful women. But since they all tie together in the end, it makes for a very light and fun adventure.

My Thoughts:
This was so deliberately over the top that I was rolling my eyes the entire time. Thankfully, Baker had enough skill and deftness of touch that I was also laughing while rolling my eyes.

Jack was an irrepressible character and had a flair for the fanciful. While most Forgotten Realms' books go for the faux-epic feel, or the dark and gritty, this was unabashed mockery of that. Either that or Baker is such a bad writer that he's a genius.
I wouldn't be able to take a steady diet of this, but every once in a while something silly is needed to counteract all the ridiculous authors who are miserable and take it out on us the readers.

After the bad experience I had with The Citadels series, I am encouraged that this started out so lightly. " show less

Pros: interesting characters, high attention to detail, diverse cast, nuanced politics

Cons: more military minutiae than I personally like though less space battle action than military SF fans may be looking for

His Highness Lieutenant Sikander Singh North, Nawabzada of Ishar, is assigned to the Aquilan Commonwealth starship Hector as its new gunnery officer. Well aware that few Kashmiris serve in the Commonwealth officer corps, he must prove himself to his new crew members who look down on show more the colonial system of his birth.

Amira Ranya Meriem el-Nasir, niece to Sultan Rashid and Crown Princess of Gadira is concerned by the politics of her home world. As a colony of the Republic of Montreal, Gadira has made great strides in modernizing. This has increased the power of the Beys, but many of her people have lost jobs, and religious insurgents fearing for the traditions of their people are becoming more powerful.

With tensions mounting, the Hector is sent to Gadira to protect the commonwealth’s consulate and commercial interests even as another major power works to destabilize the planet’s government.

There’s a lot going on in this book, predominantly the examination of pre-WWI style colonization. We see this from Sikander’s view, as someone whose country is modernizing but still has economic and political issues, as well as with Ranya, whose country is caught in a clash of colonial interests. Aside from insurgents, we’re not shown much of how big events impact ‘little’ people, but it’s quite interesting seeing the various power plays at higher levels. It’s easy to see who the players are with regards to their historic influences, though I’m not sure to what extent the details of the book are influenced by real history.

There’s a lot of nuance with regards to how Sikander is treated and how he reacts to those around him. He’s constantly aware of who he is and what that means in the larger picture of his service, his home world, and himself. But the book doesn’t harp on issues, it examines them and shows the reality of the different situations, then moves on as time passes and conditions change.

There are three point of view characters, and I really enjoyed seeing the two mentioned above (the third isn’t a character we’re meant to like). The characters must deal with a variety of issues, which keeps them feeling fresh and fully realized.

There’s a high attention to detail - much of it military in nature. Personally I found it a bit much though I suspect military history buffs will enjoy learning more about the ships, armaments, tanks, etc. being mentioned. Fans of military SF may find that there’s less military minutiae and action than they’d like, as the main focus of the book is on the politics and character based drama rather than military strategizing. The book uses generally realistic physics for its one space battle, which was fun to read.

While they were sometimes hard to follow I enjoyed the variety of titles used (I found it fascinating that titles often changed depending on the speaker as well as the location).

This book has a high amount of world-building and politicking and minimal military action, and I enjoyed it a lot. show less

Valiant Dust by Richard Baker is a promising start to a new Military Sci-Fi series with intriguing characters and a fascinating universe. The series (Breaker of Empires) is based on the colonization of Africa as European powers fought for dominance. Here, Earth long ago colonized the stars but some planetary systems became isolated, leaving them relatively primitive compared to some of the more technologically advanced star-faring empires.

The story is told through the eyes of Sikander North, show more royalty in his own system of Kashmiri but sent into military service in the Aquilan Commonwealth. On a new assignment as gunnery officer on the CSS Hector, Sikander faces adversity ranging from skepticism of his qualifications to outright hostility.

A sudden change in orders sends the Hector to the planet Gadira. Gadira is led by a Sultan. The Sultanate is under pressure within from rebels who desire a stricter adherence to religious dictates and from without by colonial powers looking to extend their influence in the system as well as provoke the other colonial powers. Sikander must navigate his duty to his ship with the desire to keep peace on Gadira, a culture he strongly identifies with. Tensions between the natives on the planet and between the competing interplanetary powers above it make for an exciting story.

Baker excels at creating political intrigue and simmering tensions. The action builds steadily until exploding into crisply and entertainingly drawn battles both on the planet and in orbit around it. Characterization isn’t especially deep in this first novel in the series, but the religious tensions and the uneasy alliances between and among interstellar empires are well detailed. The decision to tell the story through the eyes of a gunnery officer rather than a ship’s captain leads to an interesting perspective on the events. Particular one of Sikander North’s background. Valiant Dust is chock full of action and political intrigue. It is an exciting story and a great introduction to a new series. One in which I look forward to reading many more adventures.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher. show less