Quantum Light

Space Colony Journals #7

by Gail Daley

A family of innocent botanists finds themselves thrust into the middle of a drug war on an alien planet.   Rupert and Aire have come to Trellya to negotiate the purchase of plants Rupert uses in the medicines and cosmetics his company makes. The dactyl Pelcon is with them because he goes everywhere Rupert goes. Sesuna came with them to find out what is happening on her family's estates. Teenage Selick came to see Trellya and meet the birth mother who sold her to the Thieves Guild as an infant. Will she love her or hate her? Either way, Selick has a lot of growing up to do.   To her horror Sesuna discovers her family's property has been over-run by rebels who plan to finance their revolution with the sale of Submit, a banned, highly addictive drug employed to make users compliant. They have already planted some fields on her property with plants used to create it. If she can't prove her innocence the Magistra will use this as an excuse to seize the estate. But Before Sesuna can destroy the fields she and Selick are kidnapped by the rebels, whose leader intends to force Sesuna into marriage to gain control of the estate. Can Rupert and Sesuna defeat him and save her family's lands?

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2024

About the author

Gail Daley is a self-taught writer and artist with a background in business. An omnivorous reader, she was inspired by her son, also a writer, to finish some of the incomplete novels she had begun over the years. She is heavily involved in local art groups and fills her time reading, writing, painting in acrylics, and spending time with her husband of 40 plus years.
A recent bout with breast cancer and major stomach surgery has slowed her down a little, but she continues to write and paint.
Currently her family is owned by two cats, a mischievous young cat called Mab (after the fairy queen of air and darkness) and a Gray Princess named Moonstone. In the past, the family shared their home with many dogs, cats and a Guinea Pig, all of whom have passed over the rainbow bridge.

Reviews

[MGB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely an enjoyable read. The author has woven a tale which weaves its way through the universe and the settlers of that universe. In spite of agreeing on how to setup the new worlds, evil comes along for the ride when people push for themselves instead of their new civilization.

A pretty ordinary trading mission gets turned sideways when evil comes after those who are trying to better their world. There is action and adventure in this story. Combine that with totally likeable protagonists and you have a very good read.

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great continuation of the Teague Clan children. The names can get confusing as there are 14 new ones in addition to the original 5 adopted, but it just seems to work. Deanna and Robert's story has some intrigue as well as foreshadowing of Selick's future in Patrol. Looking forward to the next chapter of the Space Colony Journals

[Norma Dangla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now finished the complete 7 books series, and I loved it! I like reading SF which depicts a complete world, with flora, fauna, and culture, and Gail delivers a wonderful setting with charismatic characters, plenty of action, family made and found, believable reasons for arranged marriages, pets that really are small people, political shenaningans that are truly plausible within the culture of the world, credible villains, a smidge of psychic powers, Free Traders plowing the star trails... and I have not finished it all! I read Options of Survival, the first book in this series, and simply had to read all the rest. I am now beginning another of Gail¨s series, The Outlaw Colonies, which I expect will be as exciting as this one, The Space Colony Journals. I heartily recommend these books and this writer for all who enjoy good SF with adventure and a little romance!

[Myra McCulloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read in the Space Colony Series.

[Gail Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 7 in a series, for the first few pages are spent catching up with what happened to the characters in book 6, but it's interesting. The two female MCs are an adopted teenage girl, and a woman in her early twenties. What the two have in common is a shared alien heritage: both have Trellyan blood (an allied race in the Confederated Union of Planets). Sesuna became a member of the O'Teague clan when her mother, a former Fire Priestess on Trellya, joined. Sesuna travels to Trellya to check on her family's property there. The younger girl, Selick is only half Trellyan. Her mother was attacked by human Free Traders and when her family found she was going to bear a half-blood child, they sold the child to Thieves Guild Lieutenant Hans Groter who was a kind of Fagen (he trained children to steal and kill). Selick was rescued by the Clans when they discovered what was going forth and adopted by Lady Katherine and Lord Zack, but she has always wanted to meet the biological family who 'threw away a child'.
This is a kind of coming of age story for both the women; Selick grows up a lot when she finally meets her mother. The low-key romance between Sesuna and Rupert falls into the "sweet" scale on the RomCom heat register. The other two main characters (Aire--Selick's adopted brother who is also a halfling--Elvin in his case, and Pelcon, Rupert's Dactyl companion) are both well developed.
The world building is very well done. And serious subjects (bigotry and drug abuse) are both dealt with in a sensitive, thoughtful manner. It's an entertaining book with plenty of action.