Set in distant future, Dellani Oakes’ Lone Wolf combines space flight, mining guilds, treachery and romance into an exciting action adventure with sensual and mystical overtones. Backstories are woven very naturally into the tale, with motivations and identities slowly clarified. The aliens are pleasingly exotic, genuine characters rather than just strange-shaped caricatures. And the mysteriously powerful Lone Wolf is a pleasingly flawed hero, trying to do his best while the past catches up with him and the present world tries to outwit him.
The story’s told with nicely personable humor, clever dialog, enjoyable descriptions that fit well into the characters’ points of view, and a certain characteristic pre-occupation with sexuality . High-octane danger, science that’s sketchily clever enough to be convincing, and a plot that lets the reader guess solutions almost in time and in tune with the protagonists, all combine to make this a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi romance, with just enough of both to keep fans of both genres happy.
I kind of wished the story had ended a page or two before it did. There’s a natural conclusion, but a final few scenes promise a truly intriguing sequel which I will definitely have to read.
Disclosure: I was lucky enough to get a free ecopy of this novel through a book club.