To The Last Page

After the thrilling adventure of Morhelion, the second book in Dominic Dulley’s SF adventure series The Long Game extended the range of the universe and the larger game being played out, Residuum seems to return to the formula of the first book Shattermoon , more or less consolidating ground without developing any new ideas. That doesn’t mean that it’s at all disappointing however, as there is still plenty of adventure to be found in the world of the Ascendancy for Orry Kent and the crew of the Dainty Jane. In Shattermoon , we were introduced to Aurelia Kent, ‘Orry’ and her colleagues, a team of irreverent n’er-do-well space grifters operating outside the normal rules of the Ascendancy, making enemies with the rich and influential, being chased by their enemies and the authorities, having to make rapid escapes off-planet, or break out of captive situations. Whereas that formula was repeated throughout Shattermoon – chase, capture, escape – the uneasy peace holding out between the Asc...

I had some reservations when I read Shattermoon , the first part of Dominic Dulley’s SF adventure series The Long Game. The first book was by no means lacking action and incident, but it became a little repetitive in its chase sequences, racing from one battle, trap and escape to the next one. Despite its off-world setting, it was more like a Bond espionage thriller and rather short on science-fiction background detail. There were however indications that the relatively small-scale personal adventure of Aurelia ‘Orry’ Kent and her colleagues might open up as the prelude to a huge interplanetary war. We perhaps aren’t quite at that stage yet, but Dominic Dully has fleshed out the series considerably with Morhelion , and the future looks even more promising. I still had some reservations going into Morhelion however and the opening wasn’t particularly promising, seeming to open with nothing more than a reprise of the first book. Having narrowly averted a major war, Orry and the small cr...

There are promising aspects to Shattermoon , the first book in a SF series by new writer Dominic Dulley, but originality is not one of them. That’s perhaps not as important in an opening book as establishing a strong team of characters and providing a thrilling adventure that brings them together, reveals aspects of their backgrounds and personalities and places them into a dangerous situation that gives some insight into the universe they are operating in and highlights potential for future conflicts. On those points Shattermoon certainly delivers. Orry and her family of grifters have managed to pull an elaborate scam on the Count of Delf, an important family at the heart of the Ascendancy. In addition to her fee for some antique collector’s books, Orry has managed to trick the count’s grandson into giving her a green pendant, an ancient heirloom that has been in the Delf family for a long time. Orry is unaware of the value or the nature of the pendant, taking it on a w...