5 Stars for Sword and Star (Root Code #3) by Sunny Moraine @DynamicSymmetry #MM #SciFi @RiptidePublishing

Title: Sword and Star (Root Code#3)
Author Name & Publisher: Sunny Moraine / Riptide Publishing
Publication Date & Length: May 23, 2016 / eBook 415 pages

Three months after a brutal battle at Peris, Adam Yuga, Lochlan D’Bideshi, and their rebel fleet are embroiled in a new conflict. But things aren’t going well. Even with Lock’s homeship, Ashwina, at the head of the fleet, the Protectorate forces are adapting to their tactics. Before long, two devastating blows send the ragtag rebels on the run. But the greatest threat may come from within.

Since the battle at Peris, Protectorate loyalist Isaac Sinder’s determination to eliminate the rebel fleet has only intensified—along with his ambition. The Protectorate is decaying, and it’s clear to Isaac that only he can save it, by any means necessary.

As the situation worsens for the rebels, the strain begins to tell on everyone. But more than exhaustion grows within Adam. Something alien has started to change him. Lochlan fights to hold on, but even he may not be able to follow Adam down the dark road ahead.

As Isaac’s obsession turns to insanity, it becomes evident that more sinister plans than his are at work. Bound together by threads of fate and chance, Adam and Lochlan turn their eyes toward a future that may tear them apart—if they’re lucky enough to survive it at all.

Sword and Star is book three of the Root Code series and I would recommend reading Line and Orbit (#1) and Fall and Rising (#2) because I assume they are as awesomely good as this one. I have not read any of Sunny Moraine’s work before. That seems like a massive oversight.

Sword and Star is a deep and rich space opera. Adam Yuga and his husband Lochlan are at the center of a great saga. Developed and fascinating characters like telepaths and mind-melders and space soldiers swirl around them. Including an amazing, interesting antagonist I kind of rooted for. The universe is drenched in politics. Aliens abound.

These are tales of intense, abiding love, but sex is scant. Instead there’s soap opera turmoil (in a good way) and quite a bit of existential brooding. There are mysterious, suspenseful elements I find myself thinking about when I’m apart from the book.

If you’re fans of Adam and Lochlan already, this is not some cash-grab sequel, this is a masterpiece that stands on its own. If you’re not yet, wonder awaits you.

 C. E. Case

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Sunny Moraine is a humanoid creature of average height, luminosity and inertial mass. They’re also a doctoral student in sociology and a writer-like object who focuses primarily on various flavors of speculative fiction, usually with a decidedly queer bent. They spend most of their days using writing to distract from academics, except for the occasions when the two collide. They live just outside Washington DC with a husband and two cats, which is a poor replacement for their home dimension, which is positively full of cats and also chocolate and very bad TV.

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