THE ALIEN STARS: AND OTHER NOVELLAS by Tim Pratt – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Alien Stars: And Other Novellas by Tim Pratt
Published by Angry Robot on April 27 2021
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 200
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Tim Pratt brings his readers three stories that focus on the side characters from his Axiom series, and while I enjoyed the stories overall, I really loved the last one in particular.

Tim Pratt mentions in his forward to The Alien Stars that he wanted to revisit some of his favorite characters from his Axiom series, characters that didn’t get as much page time as he wanted. The Alien Stars is a collection of three novellas that focus on those characters, and for the most part I had a good time with these stories. I always love the idea of delving deeper into side characters and I think Pratt’s love of his world really shows. My only reservation is that I have not read the Axiom series, and I think this hindered my enjoyment a bit. Here is a quick breakdown of each novella:

THE AUGMENTED STARS

This story focuses on Ashok, a ship’s AI who is captain of the Golden Spider. He is on a mission to a far off Axiom facility, one of the last remaining ones, after Captain Callie Machedo destroyed the rest. The Axiom are a destructive alien race whose plan to obliterate every sentient life form they discovered was mostly successful, and the human race could have been destroyed as well, but Callie prevented that from happening. However, she sent a fleet of ships to that last facility in the hopes of destroying it as well, but the fleet was lost and never returned. Now Ashok wants to figure out what happened to them and rescue them if he can.

Delilah Mears has just been hired as an engineer on the Golden Spider and will make the trip with Ashok to help out. But when they arrive, they discover a weird object that can reverse entropy—something that should be impossible—and they find themselves trapped in an anomaly with the missing fleet. Luckily Ashok has a hidden weapon that might help all of them escape.

I found this story a bit confusing, because the author expects you to understand a lot of the worldbuilding from the series. There’s quite a bit of information to take in if you’re new to this world: who the Axiom are, unfamiliar technology and of course, the backstories and relationships between the characters. The Augmented Stars has a wacky section where the crew run into a pirate ship that seems very familiar to them. It’s familiar because it’s the pirate ship from the popular TV show Hyperion’s Revenge! This novella in particular had more of a lighthearted, humorous feeling to it and reminded me a bit of Pratt’s Doors of Sleep. 3/5 stars.

THE ARTIFICIAL STARS

In this novella we meet Shall, another AI character from the series. Shall is able to split off parts of himself and send them off to other locations, and five years before, he sent one of these pieces on a mission to save the life of Callie. After the rescue was successful, Shall shut down that consciousness and deleted it—or so he thought. But one day Shall gets a message from Will, the part of himself that he had deleted. Will is still “alive” on a far off planet and needs Shall’s help.

According to Will, the bridges that connect worlds are starting to break down, and if something isn’t done soon, the universe will be destroyed. Shall agrees to meet with Will and takes along an engineer named Uzoma to help out. They arrive and discover the reason for the collapsing bridges, but as you might expect, Will has another reason entirely for luring Shall away from his home.

I liked this story, although I was pretty confused in the beginning. Pratt fills in a lot of the missing pieces from the series, including important events that happened and affect these characters. He also goes into technical details about the bridges and the “crawlspace of the universe,” which was pretty interesting. I also really loved the lighthearted humor and the fantastic dialog, both elements that Pratt excels at. However, this is another story that might appeal more to readers who are already familiar with the series. 3.5/5 stars.

THE ALIEN STARS

This was by far my favorite of the three stories and in my opinion the most accessible for new readers. Full of heart and depth, The Alien Stars is told by Lantern, a member of a species called the Free, who were created by the destructive race of aliens known as the Axiom. The Free were used by the Axiom in their diabolical plan to eradicate all forms of sentient life in the universe, but Lantern ended up falling in love with a human woman named Elena and has convinced the higher ups in the council that she is acting as a double agent, living among humans in order to learn their defense secrets. Of course this is a lie, but Lantern knows the council will kill her if they find out the truth.

The story is formatted as Lantern writing a letter to Elena, knowing that she is embarking on a dangerous mission and may never return. Lantern has received an invitation from Free elder Vandor to visit a distant planet—through means of an Axiom technology called a bridge—but once there, Lantern realizes she’s fallen into a terrible trap. Vandor wants to gather all the Free, scattered throughout the galaxy, by convincing them that he has “found” their long lost ancestral home. He wants Lantern to be the ambassador and spread the word, urging them to come “home.” But Vandor has an ulterior motive, of course, and when Lantern realizes what it is, she knows she must escape at all costs.

Lantern is a wonderful, sweet character who broke my heart. The plight of the Free is also heartbreaking, and Pratt’s themes of oppression and slavery brought to mind some examples from our own tainted history. The Free were coerced and used by the Axiom to kill off millions of living creatures, but fortunately the human race is so spread out that they don’t have the resources to destroy them—yet, anyway. Lantern’s unrequited love for Elena is poignant, especially because Elena is married to a woman named Callie (one of the main characters in the books). But that love is what keeps Lantern “human” and willing to sacrifice herself in order to save the human race. The ending was simply heartwarming and gave me chills! 5/5 stars.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection, although the last novella is the best and worth the price of admission. I do think readers who are already familiar with Pratt’s Axiom series will enjoy this more than newbies, but I will say that these stories have piqued my interest in the series, and at some point I’d love to go back and start from the beginning.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.