This isn’t the best writing that John Walker has done. I hate to say that because I’ve read so many of his books and they are usually very well written. Yet, the dialogue between the main characters, Sorsha Ritaktha and Raymond “Flip” Kinnely, seems very stilted or not natural. These two get along Ok, but they just don’t seem to communicate with flowing dialogue that you’d expect from a seasoned writer. It doesn’t necessarily hinder the story, it’s just kind of an annoyance in my humble opinion.
While Sorsha and Flip really haven’t had any kind of a “breather” on their search for lost Kultarin tech., they have found an ally of sorts in Kesta Orat, a.k.a., the Concierge of the Hostel. He has agreed to allow them to stay at his, well, hotel, and provide them with support in their search. He knows about the *Collector* or *Collectors* and has been in communications with one for some time. Neither he nor Sorsha or Flip know exactly who these *Collectors* are. They are mysterious voices heard on the radios telling them where to go to collect certain Kultarin technology.
Sorsha has relied on her *Collector* contact to send her to places she probably would never have gone. Once such place was Earth where she eventually met Flip and saved his life. But, she has increasingly become suspect of the *Collectors* since the last time they sent her some where, she almost got killed. So now she believes it’s time to go find these *Collectors* and clear the air as to why they seemed to set her up for danger in their last mission.
Still, in that last mission, Sorsha and Flip managed to acquire a Kultarin AI named Gia. This AI had been stuck on a planet for centuries. So long that the population of that planet had gone feral and almost managed to kill both Sorsha and Flip before they could escape. They did tear down the building that housed Gia, but Sorsha and Flip managed to get back to their starship, install Gia and then flee with their lives. The fact that a bunch of Mahshi came to the same planet and tried to capture or kill the two was something Sorsha wanted to know why. The Mahshi were nothing but cut-throat pirates that stole everything they could get their hands on and they desperately wanted any Kultarin technology. If they had gotten their hands on Gia, there would have been no stopping their raids on other potential Kultarin tech hiding places.
But, the Mahshi had been dealt with on the planet so Sorsha felt now was the time to go find out who or what were the Collectors. They set up a plan where Kesta would contact his Collector telling him something that got him to stay on the frequency they were using long enough for Gia in Sorsha’s starship to trace the transmission. They successfully got that done.
The only problem was the signal kind of terminated near three different star systems and Gia couldn’t pin down the location of the transmitting device from this far away. So, Sorsha and Flip took off once again into deep space to find out what they could. Flip has begun to wonder what he’s doing out there in deep space with no real means of ever getting back to Earth. If their ship suddenly had trouble or they were attacked, then they would be forever lost in deep space. There was no one they could actually count on to come rescue them since no one really knew what they were up to.
Sorsha, on the other hand, couldn’t believe she was doing what she had been or was doing. She had been a librarian back on her home planet. Only because she knew the history of her people and that they were dying, got her to leave her comfort zone and attempt to find some kind of Kultarin lost technology that could restore their civilization. She didn’t eve know if what she was doing was possible, yet she was driven to do it. It just so happened that Flip, an Earth human, had decided to come along and help out.
What they are going to confront during this book is very, very much unexpected. I’m also not sure this mission will accomplish much, but it might. They won’t be just going to one place, but to an even stranger place that gives them some hope of finding more Kultarins alive and thriving. Well, maybe not alive!
I’m going to continue reading this series although as I said, the dialogue isn’t the best. It’s gets the job done, but I know John Walker has written smoother books than this one. Next up is book 4, “The Last Element”, now available on Amazon.
==[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]==
==[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]==