Full disclosure: I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in return for an honest review.
The setting of Soothsayer is a western that happensFull disclosure: I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in return for an honest review.
The setting of Soothsayer is a western that happens to occur in space, much like the TV show Firefly (although Soothsayer predates Firefly by a decade, as do many other books and stories by Resnick which occur in the same universe). The galaxy is filled with small frontier worlds, often with a single town of note, each with a saloon or two, a general store, and multiple brothels. There is pretty much nothing in the way of formal law; the local robber baron does what they will and/or bounty hunters kill their way to their target without any fear or retribution. The galaxy is filled with characters (many appearing in the story, others just background color) with western-style names: instead of Billy the Kid, Doc Holiday, and the Sundance Kid, we get the Forever Kid, the Yankee Clipper, and Three-fisted Ollie (to name just a few).
Into this setting we are introduced to the focal character Mouse: an accomplished female thief who, while in the middle of a minor job, stumbles across and rescues Penelope, a small, child being held prisoner by an alien. Before they can get their bearings they find themselves on the run from every bounty hunter in the region, each determined to get hold of Penelope to sell her to the highest bidder. It turns out Penelope is a precog--she has the unique ability to see possible paths through the future and is learning how to choose among them: a power which makes her greatly desired by governments and power brokers across the galaxy.
Soothsayer is a fast-paced book that lacks much in the way of character development (in fact, most of the characters are remarkably flat and one-dimensional, in a stereotypical western/cowboy sort of way). I feel like the story was supposed to be mildly humorous in some nebulous way I could never pin down. It has two primary foci: the larger plot is predominantly an on-the-run adventure as the protagonists constantly find themselves falling into more dangerous situations and enemies. The deeper story is about Penelope’s power and the consequences of a person with such a power to both those closer to her as well as the galaxy at large. This second story isn’t explored in the depth I would have preferred, and leads to a rather abrupt ending. Not a cliff-hanger, but a very sudden shift (although a shift which does logically follow from the rest of the story). Of course, Soothsayer is the first book of a trilogy: while it stands alone fairly well, I expect that some of these deeper questions are explored throughout the other two books. ...more
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