Review: Cloak and dagger in high gravity
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2013
In "The Rim Rebels," author William Zellman takes perhaps the most crotchety space ship captain to ever command a DIN-class space cruiser and plops him into the middle of intrigue, corruption and intergalactic political scandal. The crew of four just want to make a little dough and take on a cargo that takes them to the edge of known space. Unfortunately, their ship is damaged and repairing it sucks up their profits. While undergoing repairs at a thoroughly unattractive planet with super-high gravity, they stumble across a plot that could take down the crumbling empire and threaten the shaky Alliance planets. Captain Jirik then finds himself in cahoots with a Class I Alliance spy who ropes him into the center of the controversy. Zellman tells the story through the eyes of the captain, who would rather drink himself into a stupor and fight than deal with anything political. Yet, he goes along with the scheming spy. Not that he has a choice. The drama unfolds quickly, and the geo/spacial political angle is thought-provoking. Fast read for me. I also recommend his "The Privateer."