Pawn

The Sibyl's War #1

by Timothy Zahn

Nicole 19 drinks and takes drugs to suppress voices whispering in her head. Bleeding out from a knife wound, thug Bungie waves a gun at her and ER doc Sam. Winged aliens speak to her, and kidnap all three. Content, she is still a pawn aboard Fyrantha, hearing directions from the live spaceship to Sibyls for human repair crews. Human leader Plato warns her explorations endanger Earth. Defiantly, she continues, exposing worlds to the ship's warring factions.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Aliens, Fantasy, Adventure

347 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2017

About the author

Timothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pawn is the story of Nicole, a teenage alcoholic and sometime criminal who is whisked away by aliens from her dead-end life on Earth to a living spaceship called the Fyrantha, where she discovers she is a Sybil – a rare human with the ability to communicate with the ship. Working on the ship gives her a new purpose in life, but she soon discovers that secrets are being kept from her, and she is drawn into a deadly conflict between two different alien species on the ship; a conflict orchestrated by the ship’s masters.
This is the sort of story that appeals to SFF fans, from Star Wars to Harry Potter – an ordinary person who escapes their depressingly humdrum existence to a world of “magic” and discovers they have a special place in the order of things. Zahn is an old pro at the sci-fi game, and he knows how to pace and plot a story and deal with the hard science angles, but the results are mediocre everywhere else. The world of the Fyrantha was an interesting one at first, but the more he opened things up the less interesting it became. None of the characters, including protagonist Nicole, ever developed into anyone I could get invested in, and the YA-ish premise failed to live up to its promise. The shrug-worthy conclusion, in which all the “big secrets” are revealed, is just a cookie cutter set-up for a sequel that I’m not terribly interested in reading.
A real disappointment.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantasy Review Barn

Three people are abducted by moth like aliens and drafted into a work crew on a mysterious alien space ship. One, a doctor, is recognized as a talent and moved to medical. Another is a small time thug who immediately starts looking for a way out. And the third is Nicole who learns she is something special, a ‘Sibyl’ who can talk to the ship. After settling in to their new scripted and completely mundane life the trio start breaking the rules a bit and exploring their new surroundings. What they find could put *movie preview voice* ‘all of humanity in danger.’

I have enjoyed a lot of Zahn’s books in the past. He may have been my favorite author in high school; starting with his Star Wars books and then on to most of his back catalog. He is at his best when writing characters who act as chess masters, plotting circles around everyone else in the books. It can get a bit trite and requires giving the characters a bit of plot armor (usually in the form of knowledge hidden from the reader) but I always found it to be entertaining as hell. This is not what we get in Pawn.

In Pawn we get a protagonist who stumbles along while others push her from place to place through three quarters of the book. She isn’t particularly intelligent, makes some mistakes that could prove costly and rather than fixing them is bailed out. Along the way she discovers one of the most ridiculous dystopian conspiracies around; one in which absolutely nothing holds up to the eye test. Then at the end of the book she learns her destiny as they relate to her still unexplained special mind powers.

This book really is a complete mess.

To point. There is no explanation for what makes ‘Sibyls’ special. The ships big secret is found by the newest abductees using the tools given to them but had been kept secret from all that came before. Humanities safety is founded on a big lie that could be cross checked any number of ways (but isn’t). The conflict hinted at within the book’s blurb is one for control of the ship itself and it defies belief; who really has control of the ship seems to be completely dependent on what the plot needs at any given time.

If you are desperate to read a watered down hunger games on a spaceship, as seen from someone who not only isn’t involved but also is fairly uninterested then by all means pick up Pawn. It is a fast enough read chances are you won’t catch some of the plot holes until the end. But sadly this is not a book I can recommend with any higher praise than that.

2 Stars

[Tad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timothy Zahn kicks off a great new space opera trilogy with Pawn: A Chronicle of the Sibyl’s War. Zahn is no stranger to space adventure and Pawn shows he is still hitting on all cylinders.

19-year-old Nicole and frenemy/street thug Bungie along with the ER doctor they’ve kidnapped to treat Bungie’s wounds are in turn abducted and find themselves on the spaceship Fyrantha where they have been recruited as part of a maintenance crew.

Nicole finds that she is a Sibyl, which means with some pharmaceutical help, she can understand the living ship’s instructions and relay them to others. Nicole discovers she has it better on Fyrantha than she ever did on the streets of Philadelphia. Bungie, however, is desperate to escape and Nicole’s fear of his wrath leads her to explore areas of the ship which should be off limits. She discovers that there are several alien races on board beyond the ones who abducted her and that the ship holds a lot of mystery. How big is it? What is its purpose? And who is really in control?

Zahn does a great job of letting you see the ship through Nicole’s eyes, with new discoveries and new mysteries around every corner. Her actions have consequences both intended and unintended. Nicole’s life has been spent keeping her head down and trying to survive. But she is skilled at reading people, and her newfound and growing confidence on board Fyrantha sees her start to come out of her shell and steer her destiny rather than be swept away by it.

Pawn is a great story of discovery and adventure. Zahn captures the wonder of space and starships and aliens. The characters are solid and interesting, the action is exciting and the mystery will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next. Pawn kicks off a space opera adventure trilogy that will keep you up until you finish it and then have you eagerly awaiting the next installment. Fans of his previous work will love it and it’s a great place for new fans to jump in. Highly recommended!

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

“We’re currently a thousand light-years from Earth. Everything you’ve ever known is far, far behind us. And you’ll never see any of it again.”

Zahn tells his story well and creatively. A bunch of self-centered loners, not to mention a deeply flawed protagonist, must cooperate to stay alive; much less get home. Unfortunately, Pawn introduces the series characters, setting, and plot but not much else. Good enough to try the next installation: Knight: A Chronicle of the Sibyl's War. Maybe.

“Fighting is the natural state of everything. People, nature—everything.” “It’s not exactly fighting when it’s in nature.” “It’s stuff killing other stuff. Call it whatever you want. It’s still fighting.”

Quibbles: How could any body-snatching spacefarer who repeatedly returns to Earth miss the fact that humans are warlike? Published in 2017 but the technology on this alien spaceship is late twentieth century.

The damage had already been done. It was up to Nicole to fix it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zahn dusts off the ancient plot of the giant, uncontrolled spaceship wandering around and adds some fun twists. It's the start of a new series, while it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, the sequel potential is blatant. Looking forward to more.

[Christaaay]

I don't rate books I don't finish, but this one fell to around 2 stars and never climbed back up. I kept skimming the meaningless tensions, hoping to find some meaningful progress, but it never manifest. The problem is the single point of view character: 19 yr old Nicole is kidnapped by aliens because she can speak with their ship and relay mechanical problems to the crew. Cool, right? This opens up all kinds of mysteries and worldbuilding questions. But instead of exploring that, we are stuck in Nicole head 24/7. She diagnoses problems, but has no understanding or ability to fix things. Worse, she insists on hanging out with an abusive criminal who gets her into trouble constantly! Why would either of these things interest readers? And Nicole doesn't know who her friends are, among the other kidnapped aliens and humans. She's immature.

Overall, this story needed another narrator to bring out whatever mystery and conflict the author was hoping to entice readers along with.

My thanks to Timothy Zahn, MacMillan Tor/Forge and Netgalley for this free egalley! The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors. If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicole Lee does not have much of a life until she ends up on a alien star ship. Seems she is a Sibyl and can hear what repairs the ship needs. Then she becomes involved in a war between two other species and her life changes again. Nicole is a great character who changes as events come into her life. While she starts out as a street child she ends up with a job that can change the lives of all around her. This has interesting world building and character development. The backstory is woven into the book without changing the flow. This is book one in Sibyl's War and it sets the stage for the next two books. I could be a little slow at time and it kept me guessing on what was really happening and where the story was going. Joel Richards did a really ourstanding job on the various characters and keeping the pace of the story moving.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pawn is the first book in the Sibyl's War series. This should not be read as a standalone as it is clear that there is more to the story than just this book. There is violence. While I usually really enjoy Timothy Zahn's book, I am having some trouble with this one. I guess it is hard to relate to the main character and her being the chosen Protector/Caretaker. I will read the next book though to see what happens next.

[Judy Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two people are in the act of committing a crime in a hospital parking lot in Philadelphia when the two criminals and their victim are abducted by aliens. Next occupation - part of a work crew making repairs to an alien spaceship. Wow, the potential for this book was seemingly huge. Unfortunately the story just meanders along until about the last several pages where the reader and the abducted find out what the big bad space plot is all about.

I was surprised by this book because all the other Timothy Zahn books I've read were so much better than this one. The main character is a 19 year old criminal who just happens to also be an alcoholic. Zahn glosses over the times and trials of Nichole fighting her alcohol addiction while being held on a spaceship by turning her into Saint Nichole. That character development happened so quickly you blink and you've missed when it happened. Something is going on behind the scenes on this spaceship and I found it to be mildly interesting to speculate about what it might be as I read the book. There is a second book in this Sibyl's War series due to be released in 2019 and I can only hope there is more action in that one.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. I've enjoyed every other one of Timothy Zahn's books that I've read, but "Pawn" was annoying. For one thing, I never saw a book talk about people grimacing so many times. Sometimes Nicole, the main character, just thinks about grimacing without actually doing it. Then there is the continuous insistence that Nicole's hometown of Philadelphia is unbearable. Yes, there are dangerous parts of the city, but this goes so far overboard for no reason.
I finished the book, but don't plan to read any more of the trilogy.

[Economondos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zahn comes up with another universe with interesting characters, an understandable mystery, and tense confrontations. Even though the main character is not someone I thought enjoyable as a protagonist, was drawn in despite my bias against criminals. His good writing overcomes my hesitation.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stayed invested in the characters, but I kind of tuned out the arena stuff.

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alien abductions are explained—interesting main character.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick thoughts: 3.5 rounded up. Not without its imperfections, but I still really liked it.

Review: https://derailmentsofthought.com/2019...

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know about this book, even though Timothy Zahn is one of my favorite authors. Saw it at the library while looking for Judgment at Proteus.

I'm surprised to rate this only 3 stars, the first such rating I've given Timothy Zahn. I didn't like it as much as I usually like his books, and I'm not entirely sure why. Part of it may be how it is only somewhat science fiction. Yes, they're on a spaceship, but this affects their day-to-day life so little that it hardly matters; in fact, some characters speculate that they are NOT on a spaceship, and until the end of the book that could have been true. The rest of the situation is fairly generic, and we have so little details that there's not much to be interesting.

So the generic backdrop is meant to make interesting characters and conversations stand out more, right? Well there aren't any. I usually love his aliens and cultures (and the humans thrust in the middle), but here it's just ...former gangers and basically construction workers, with only the occasional fleeting glimpse of something cool. Instead of liking the main character, I feel sorry for her, but also a little annoyed. She has clearly been gaslighted and belittled all her life, and she's come to accept it, so now she sees everyone as either a threat or a mark. As a result she's antisocial and avoids conversation, and so we don't find out much about anyone else or the background. It's nice to see her eventually begin to thrive in new circumstances, and finally meet and talk to other aliens, but it takes quite a while for this to develop, and then when she finally starts making big decisions it seems a little sudden.

Of course, just when I'm finally getting to like the main character and be invested in what happens next after an interesting reveal, the book ends. The subtitle -- The Chronicles of the Sybil's War -- makes it looks like there will be sequels. Looks like I wasn't the only one who didn't like this one as much, but I'll give the sequel a chance. Still, I'd gladly trade three of these for one more Quadrail-quality book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in a new series by Timothy Zahn. I am a big fan of Timothy Zahn but I was somewhat disappointed in this book. It wasn't a bad book but I have come to expect more from Mr. Zahn. This one dragged a bit in spots and the storyline has been used repeatedly by many authors over the years. Zahn dusts off the ancient plot of the giant, uncontrolled spaceship wandering around and people from Earth are abducted to be virtual slave labor once aboard. Nicole and street thug Bungie along with a doctor they'd kidnapped to treat Bungie’s wounds are abducted by aliens and find themselves on the spaceship Fyrantha where they have are forced to be part of a maintenance crew. Nicole it the main target of the abduction because she is a "Sibyl". This means she is one of a few who can hear the sentient ship's instruction on where and how to make repairs. Nicole soon learns there are several factions of aliens trying to control the ship and that they are forcing different groups of more primitive aliens to fight one another for unknown reasons. The more she learns the more determined Nicole becomes to stop the killing and find a way to hopefully return her and her friends to Earth. As I said this isn't a bad read but don't expect it to compare to most of Mr. Zahn's previous books.

[Carolyn Comings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance ebook copy of this book from Netgalley.

I have read and enjoyed many of Timothy Zahn's previous books, going back many years, so when this one became available, I snapped it up. And I was not disappointed, other than in myself for not being able to put the book down and get some sleep. I read the entire book in one sitting, and will definitely read any and all further books in this series. (And anything else Mr. Zahn cares to write.)

Nicole hears voices in her head, which she cannot quite understand, and which no amount of self-medicating can silence. She is leading a fairly desperate day-to-day existence when one day she and two companions (a thug and a doctor) are transported to an enormous spaceship. Nicole soon learns that those voices are real and she learns to understand them. She is assigned to a maintenance crew, but she and her companions are given very little information about the ship's mission and their part in it. It is not until Nicole starts exploring on her own that she begins to find out what's really going on, and that she and her group of human companions comprise only a very, very small piece of the puzzle.

I look forward to future books in this series so I can find out what happens next.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a page-turner! Could barely put this book down!

Also, an angry cunning gangster is a fairly good tool to move the action along! Three people get abducted by aliens at the beginning of this book. They find themselves on an alien ship and are told that they will never see Earth again so they might as well just accept their new lives and get to work repairing the starship.

The angry man wants no part of this new life. He refuses to work preferring to explore the ship on his own, convinced that there is a way home in spite of what he's been told.

The three were taken because our protagonist Nicole hears voices in her head. Turns out she's a Sibyl and, with the right drug, can hear the starship. Each morning, the starship tells Nicole the repair jobs her crew is to do that day.

Since angry Bungie is exploring the ship, Nicole explores to find him and bring him back to the crew. She's not a repair tech, only the conduit for instructions, so she can be gone for hours without slowing down the repairs. Much of the tale, then, is discovering the ship.

Even more important, the ship has been abducting other species besides the humans!

Highly recommended for a solid space opera adventure! Can't wait to read book two Knight next month!

[astaliegurec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timothy Zahn's "Pawn: A Chronicle of the Sibyl's War" is the first book in his "Sibyl's War" series. It had some potential, but suffers from two major flaws. First, for the first third of the book, our protagonist is a loser and perpetual victim. Suddenly (and literally between one page and another), she turns into a strong, decisive, warrior leader. There's no growth into that role. She just magically transforms. The second big issue is that the book is all about mushroom management. Not only do the characters not know what's going on, WE don't. At the very end, we're given an explanation. But, that holds as much water as screen doors on a submarine. There are still enormous plot holes. Overall, even with those problems, the book is almost acceptable and I'd like to rate it at 2-1/2 stars. But, since I'm limited to integer ratings, I'll be generous and rate it at 3 stars out of 5.

[Crim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea was interesting, but there were several leaps and stretches. "A wizard did it!"(TM) is employed in key points to explain the settings. Why is it that in the known universe only humans can repair this alien ship? "That is how it is made!", of course. The surveillance capabilities of the Shipmasters are dubious at best, and seem enslaved to the plot at the worst. And the rest falls into place because Plato sits on the information against all odds - though he does explain it to the equally recent arrival Sam because of reasons. It's not just that he doesn't explain things to Nicole, even as her actions escalate, it also never makes much sense that Bungie isn't dealt with sooner or assigned to a more supervised role. Meanwhile, Nicole herself doesn't put the hints together, even in a partially accurate picture based on explicit information.

That being said, the book was a lot of fun (read it in one sitting) and I'm interested in the sequel.

[William Bentrim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pawn by Timothy Zahn
I’ve always enjoyed Zahn’s work. He writes a good story and his characters show moral strength. This book deals with a street smart girl who finds herself on a space ship.
Nicole is a street waif from Philadelphia. Her character is browbeaten and physically beaten by the gang she is associated with. The story allows her to develop some self esteem and begin to be the person she has hidden inside.
Zahn creates a great mini world within the Fyrantha, an alien warship/AI struggling to stay alive.
I enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel.
A few of the Zahn’s I have read:
Pawn's Gambit by Timothy Zahn
Judgement at Proteus by Timothy Zahn
The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn
Enjoyed
Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn
The Third Lynx by Timothy Zahn
Night Train to Rigel by Timothy Zahn
Cobra Alliance by Timothy Zahn; Book 3 of the Cobra War
Dragonback Bargain by Timothy Zahn

[Mrklingon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zahn does more than Star Wars!

Nobody (!) does Star Wars like Zahn, but that's not all he can do! This is a very good start to a new series. Start with some small time criminals, then add an alien abduction. Find a crew of humans tasked with maintenance on a huge(!) spaceship... and that's just the start. There's mystery, interesting aliens and ... well we'll see when the next book arrives!

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

ReRd. Thrilling fights increase. Protagonist Nicole 19 matures, invents attack and defence strategies, instead of awaiting plans from vicious Bungie and snob Sam. Yet she childishly ignores warnings about danger to self and Earth, lets murderer go and kills savior. Bungie, Plato. Different species complicate conflicts.

[Tremont G · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this garbage! First, I couldn't stand wimpy Nicole, what a spineless looser! Second, why would the ship keep the thug around? There is absolutely no reason! He is obviously dead weight, is a saboteur, and causes strife. The only reason for him being there is a LAME illogical way for the author to have conflict on the ship. I just couldn't take the two IDIOTS.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Timothy Zahn, need I say more? Kidnapped by aliens, because of the voices in her head. Forced to talk to the ship, but not all is what it seems.....

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Didn’t like the characters or the story.

[Sean Mobley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels so weird to rate a Timothy Zahn book three stars. This was my first foray into his non-Star Wars work (which I've enjoyed for about 15 years now) and I was, if not disappointed at least underwhelmed. Zahn's skill at crafting a chapter and a story that's well-paced makes up for the frustrating characters and irritating logic leaps, but only enough to bring it into three-star territory.

The book is strange in so many ways. For one thing, the cover is not what you're going to get inside the book. The art suggests a dramatic, sweeping science fiction epic, while the story itself is very self-contained (you spend much of the book in the same general area on what the characters are told is a spaceship, however they don't necessarily believe this claim) and the setting honestly feels closer to the fantasy realm than science fiction, though to be fair what is sci-fi besides specialized fantasy? Fortunately the setting is interesting and the premise, a sort of five-characters-in-search-of-an-exit-while-a-few-other-characters-try-to-stop-them in this mysterious vessel, piqued my interest.

My main stumbling blocks were the characters. The first three characters we meet, Philadelphia residents who get snatched from a parking lot and whisked away by mysterious aliens, include an abuse victim struggling to find self-worth, a doctor who apparently hates saving people, and a homicidal maniac who clearly wants to kill anyone on the ship at the drop of a hat yet no one seems to want to do anything about it until it is predictably too late. Nicole, the abuse victim, is empowered by the kidnapping and finds herself growing as a person, but also remains bizarrely naive for a person apparently street smart. Sam, the doctor, leaves the reader wondering if he ever swore the Hippocratic oath. And Bungie, the homicidal maniac, makes every scene he's in worse just by his presence. Truly, the sections of the book where Bungie was absent were the ones I relished, because his presence itself was frustrating and his obviously deranged and dangerous behavior being allowed to continue unchecked infuriating. I didn't dislike Bungie in a "he's a devilishly good villain" way, I disliked him in a "why haven't they vented this guy already? They owe him no loyalty" way.

On the ship, we meet the foreman of the 'work crew' the three main characters are assigned to, a man who clearly has a key secret (a secret which the reader will probably figure out halfway through the book) which he inexplicably doesn't share, and once the plot officially reveals the secret you're left wondering why he didn't prevent literally everything by saying a sentence or two back in chapter 3. For real, I cannot for the life of me understand why Plato wouldn't just say during his orientation "Hey, by the way, don't fight or anything because we're being held captive by slavers looking for cannon fodder and if we do fight the whole human race is screwed." The narrative presents zero reason why he couldn't have just said it.

However, those coming to this story from Zahn's Star Wars work will appreciate that despite these bonkers character choices, his skill as an author in terms of the craft of writing a page turner are on full display. Despite my ambivalence toward just about anyone in the story, the story itself and the promise of the world of the book, coupled with well-times scenes and tantalizing cliffhangers kept me moving through the book pretty quickly, and at the end of the book I felt I'd enjoyed it enough to try the next in the series. That said, I stop short of really recommending this book. It was a true three-star for me, a full meh. If the next book is also meh I wonder if any of this trilogy are worth reading in any serious way. It feels like a vacation read or a beach read more than a before-bed read. Empty calories cooked up by a nonetheless masterful chef so even though you're hungry an hour later, you do still what you ate.

[Mandi Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are three things that make for a great book: premise, plot, and character. Pawn shines on the premise, sort of delivers on the plot, and falls on its nondescript face with the characters. If you can choke your way through the first half of the book, the plot picks the characters up and carries them to the finish line in a half-way satisfying manner, but you really do have to swallow over 50% of the book like a bitter, bitter pill before you get there.

Premise: A sentient space ship has fractured AI, creating an internal battle over how it will be rebuilt. 5-star idea and sounds like the sort of book I'd be interested in reading.

Plot: 3 stars. Mostly okay. There are some obvious plot devices used - such as the ship-to-Sibyl communication inhaler that acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card anytime Nicole gets into any sort of pinch or her Philidelphia backstory that allows her to know everything there is to know about street gangs.

Characters: Absolute horror show that brings this whole review from about 3-4 stars, all the way down to 2 stars. The worst part about the characters isn't necessarily the details in the paragraphs below, but that the plot happens *to* them, rather than them dictating how the plot flows. One phrase that is repeated over and over again is "there was nothing she could do," typically before Nicole just flops over and goes with whatever the plot has thrown at her.

The characters chronically change their core personality traits to suit whatever plot device is in action. One moment Nicole is thinking about how she easily looked children from her Philly neighborhood in the eye and refused to help them, and the next she's risking her life for an alien species because one of the children said "please." Bungie has a record of holding a grudge but pulls Nicole out of the way of his halberd attack after she threw a lunch tray at his head. Sam is a doctor who presumably took the Hippocratic Oath but encourages Nicole to let all of the aliens in the arenas die without intervention.

Nicole, specifically, is painfully naive and stupid, even saying at one point that she didn't believe her grandmother or her school *science book* that there were more than a handful of stars in the sky until she saw it for herself. That's one of the basic flaws of her character; she refuses to listen to anything or anyone until it slaps her in the face to see with her own eyes. Then, of course, these revelations are written in a way that treats the reader as if you're just as stupid as Nicole, with page after page of her stream-of-consciousness debating any particular topic ad nauseam. She's spineless, wishy-washy, and has a fierce loyalty for Bungie for... well, no discernable reason, really, considering he's threatened her life on multiple occasions, including the very first page of the book.

Honestly, the overall concept would have been infinitely more satisfying had the author made any attempt at fleshing out relatable characters that made decisions based off of their moral codes and personalities, rather than whatever suited any particular scene.

[Joe Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low-level gang member Nicole Hammond spends her nights getting blackout drunk. It’s worth the constant hangovers to quiet the voices in her head. Then, one morning, she’s forced awake by her maybe-ex-boyfriend, Bungie. He’s bleeding from a bullet wound to the abdomen and wants her to drive him to the hospital. His plan is to kidnap a doctor at gunpoint for a private outpatient procedure.

Then comes the twist: Aliens swoop in and abduct Nicole, Bungie, and the hapless doctor (don’t feel bad for him, he’s an asshole). It turns out that Nicole hears voices because she is a Sibyl, a special human who can commune with the aliens’ ship, the Fyrantha. She is put in charge of a work crew of fellow-abductees. Her new job is to listen to the ship and tell the crew what needs fixing.

Nicole settles into this new living situation. Bungie, however, wants out. He’s looking for an angle and rebels against the status quo. His violent impulses raise some eyebrows. Plato, the leader of the human workforce, warns them that the aliens must never see humans fighting. Pure logic would suggest that he explain why. But, no, that’s being saved for the big reveal.

In the early stages, I was excited about the prospect of a space opera starring a gang banger from Philly. This seemed like a great genre mashup. Unfortunately, Nicole’s background is little more than window dressing. We never get a real sense of what she is capable of or what she’s done. It’s so glossed over that I began to wonder if I was reading a young adult novel. Maybe the author just doesn’t know the thug life.

But never mind. There are bigger problems that left me scratching my head.

First, Nicole spends half the book passively reacting to everything that happens around her. Given her circumstances, she asks shockingly few questions. She simply has no agency, which makes her a frustrating viewpoint into this world. She is finally pressed into action when she stumbles upon a huge, forested arena. The ship’s overlords have set two alien species to fight to the death over limited rations. The faces of two starving alien creature children weigh heavily on Nicole’s mind. She decides to do something about it.

I won’t reveal what happens next, except to say the mysteries of the Fyrantha take a backseat to this new conflict. All of the characters and worldbuilding we’ve established up to this point vanish. It almost feels as though the author, Timothy Zahn, cobbled this together from two short stories. I kept wondering if Nicole would round a corner and stumble into her work crew. “Where have you been?” they’d yell. This does happen eventually, but by then, everyone is afflicted with Nicole’s initial apathy. Oh well.

The novel ends with very little resolved except to set up the next book. If this sounds lackluster, that’s because it is. Pawn is a 350-page preamble. It’s like a table-setting episode of prestige television. Not much happens until the final pages. Even then, it is only to establish what will follow. Naysayers will argue that this is the start of a trilogy, but it feels more like the first two episodes of a season-long arc.

Look, this isn’t great fiction, but it’s a fairly brisk read. I’m curious enough about where it is going to check out the sequel. You could charitably say it left me wanting more.

Also posted on my blog thing.

[C.D. King · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big Star Wars fan. When I was a teenager, during the lull in Star Wars films between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, I devoured all the tie-in novels, games and comics that kept the spirit alive. By far, the best books in those early series was the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn. I've heard some say that Zahn's books were even better than the original Star Wars trilogy of movies, and I'd be willing to consider that claim. He has an accessible, well-paced style that works beautifully for genre fiction, and he has a knack for military sci-fi that is unparalleled. He comes up with these tactics and plans that are simply brilliant. Despite how much I loved his Star Wars books though, for some reason I had never read any of Zahn's other works. So when I saw this new book, the start of a new series, pop up in my audiobook feed, I thought I would finally give it a shot.

This is not Star Wars. It has none of the sweeping, epic mythology of Star Wars, nor any of the military or espionage that Zahn is famous far. It's a story about a small group of humans from our modern day Earth, abducted by mysterious aliens and put to work on a massive, equally mysterious spaceship in the middle of nowhere. Though they do encounter an odd alien here and there, the main thrust of this story is about the protagonist interacting with the other displaced humans as they go about their daily routines. It's an odd sort of setup for what is ostensibly supposed to be a sci-fi adventure, but a setup it is, as the truth of the ship and the aliens and the hero's purpose are all revealed in the last chapter or so. This is very obviously the beginning of a much longer series - it could have equally have been the first half (or even third) of one of those big doorstopper books that fantasy and sci-fi tend to favour.

That said, the story is well told, and the main character, though frustrating at times, is one I can root for. I've heard complaints that she's passive and weak, especially at the beginning, but that's rather the point. She's a young woman and an addict who grew up surrounded by abusive relationships and was a lackey for a street gang - it takes her awhile to overcome this background and grow into a more confident, assertive person - and even a leader - by the story's end.