Brightwork

by S.A. Tholin

Strange currents run deep.

In the aftermath of SUMMER EMPRESS, the battle for Hereward rages on.
Flora Lark, captain of the Questing Beast, a cutting edge search & rescue submarine, patrols the planet's oceans seeking military personnel in need of aid.

To save a missing cataphract, Lark and her crew must face the uncharted depths of the abyss. In hostile alien waters they uncover a mystery that could upset the balance of power in the galaxy.
What secrets are hidden so deep, what terrifying beasts guard them, and will Brightwork be the solution?

brightwork, brIEt-wUHRk
(noun)
1: polished chrome and metal on a ship or automobile.
2: Nautical. all woodwork on a vessel that is kept scoured.
(verb)
3: manual maintenance & cleaning of woodwork or metalwork
4: of MOAT; [CLASSIFIED]

BRIGHTWORK is the third volume of Primaterre Tales; stand-alone stories set in the Primaterre universe.

427 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2024

Reviews

[Raile Bay · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was such a fun undersea romp! it was great to get a deeper look at what moat does, and yeah, they're definitely the underrated MVP of the primaterre military. however, flora herself blooms in this book and makes another great addition to the primaterre's cast of characters - i love how her backstory impacted her, giving her a certain understanding of non-primaterre and the primaterre's potential capacity for evil that plenty of characters from the primaterre lack. and i was so happy to see the roommate that rhys mentions in the main series become a part of this book; westphalia was SUCH an interesting character and i really hope this isn't the last we see of him. the flashbacks we got to brightwork were sooo intriguing, i could really do with a whole collection of their adventures. the lesbian romance in this book was also so cute; the series didn't really have any lgbtq+ rep in the first few books, and it's been nice to see that change with the more recent additions to the universe.

more so into spoiler territory now... the 10k theory is SO fascinating, and i'm so excited to see where this overaching plot thread in the series leads to. what happened to the weavers in messing too far with nature to benefit themselves is a classic cautionary tale, but something that's fascinated me is that while there are still differences in how extraterrestial beings think and work compared to humans, they still possess plenty of flaws that speak so deeply to human nature.

which makes it all the more ironic that the primaterre labels them as demonic and a corruption, when they're really no worse than humans... though i guess that line of thinking really isn't so surprising given that other non-primaterre humans are fundamentally viewed as impure. but i found one character's hypocrisy of viewing the weavers as invaders who got what was coming to them when juxtaposed with the primaterre's tendency of invading, 'purging' and terraforming worlds - which has garnered them the hate and resentment of plenty of people in the galactic community - so fascinating. as much as it seems that primers have given the primaterre a leg up over the rest of humanity in many respects, they still have a long way to go, and flora was bang-on in realizing that giving the black song technology to the primaterre would lead to nothing good.

in any case, i guess while there were clear benefits to creating the doctrine of purity and the myth of the demons, at the same time it feels like the harsh dichotomies that kind of thinking creates may end up doing more harm to the primaterre than good in the long-run, but i suppose we'll see where that goes. especially since you can *see* characters becoming more open-minded ever since the prime mover's influence ended.

the reveals in this book have granted the series another layer of mystery, and i'm SO excited to see where these plot threads lead to. i can't stress it enough, i really think these books deserve more popularity in the sci-fi community - they're absolutely wonderful. queen of the corpsepickers was my favourite of the standalones so far (getting a non-primaterre perspective did wonders in understanding more of the universe, plus mist just has such a different worldview from primaterre characters that makes following her deeply engrossing) but all of the books have been very rewarding. i'm sad that i've caught up with the primaterre books, but i'm so ready to see what else tholin has in store.