Scornful Stars by Richard Baker

Published by Tor Books on December 3, 2019

Richard Baker’s Breaker of Empires series is written in a style that reminds me of Jeffrey Archer. The protagonist behaves in a way that is consciously proper, as if he wishes to be an exemplar to others, while the writing style is formal, graceful without being stilted. You won’t find slang or foul language passing the lips of the series’ hero.

The hero of the series is Sikander North, a member of an aristocratic family on his homeworld. He begins the series as a lieutenant in the Aquilan Navy, although he is a Kashmiri, not an Acquilan. By the second novel, he is assigned to naval intelligence but posted to a remote world as a result of his actions in the first novel. He does rather well in that assignment and, by the time Scornful Stars begins, he has been made the captain of his own ship.

His patrol beat includes the Zerzura Sector, which is part of the Terran Caliphate, “one of the largest powers in the Coalition of Humanity” that includes worlds colonized by humans during the First Expansion. Its power declined after the Second Expansion, as the Aquilan Commonwealth, the Republic of Montréal, and the Empire of Dremark ascended. Fans of the series will be familiar with the political and military rivalries among those powers.

The other powers would like to gain influence in the Zerzura Sector. To that end, Dremark offers to sell some not-quite-mothballed military vessels (retrofitted to remove any classified technology) to Zerzura. Joining the Dremark delegation is a spy named Bleindal, with whom North has battled in the past.

North’s ship is patrolling four systems in the Zerzura Sector. Piracy has been a problem that North hopes to do something about. He is, in fact, entreated to do so by a lovely woman whose shipping company is plagued by pirates. Of course, North takes an interest in the woman and, all very properly, pursues a relationship with her. Alas, his duties interfere, as duties tend to do.

The pirates seem to know when the military will arrive. North develops a theory as to why that might be, putting him in a position to shoot it out with pirate ships. Later, he seizes an opportunity to thwart Bleindal’s nefarious plans, which leads to more shootouts, both between vessels and between North’s boarding parties and provocateurs.

The emphasis in the second novel was on diplomacy, while this one explores how corruption results in a breakdown of diplomacy. All three novels feature strong action scenes and interesting discussions about military strategy in the context of space, where warships are separated by thousands of kilometers.

A fair amount of military science fiction is ghastly, but the Breaker of Empires series combines a thoughtful balance of diplomacy and politics with military action. Baker’s attention to the forces that drive military engagements gives the series greater depth than most military sf can muster.

Scornful Stars continues Baker’s strong characterization and carefully conceived universe building. The story balances moments of excitement with convincing descriptions of what it might be like to serve in a space-based military organization. Baker’s attention to detail adds credibility to the story, while his focus on the impact of war on his characters adds an important dimension that most military action novels address only in generic terms.

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