Ten thousand years in the future, the galaxy is ruled in peace and prosperity by the Galactic Concordant and protected by the Starship Corps - humanoid robots with superhuman abilities, housing digitized consciousnesses as their crews. Hornet Abernathy, a shy Terran, dreams of nothing but becoming one of these beings...and she's about to get her wish! As she begins her training, the galaxy comes under threat from an ancient and implacable foe...
Size: 561 KB (101,223 words)
Genre: Science Fiction
Sex Contents: Much Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Mult, Lesbian, BiSexual, Fiction, Military, Mystery, Superhero, War, Science Fiction, Aliens, Robot, Space, Body Swap, Furry, Gang Bang, Group Sex, Transformation
Review by Quasirandom [other reviews by Quasirandom]
Reviewed:
Dragon Cobalt applies his trademark gonzo plotting and freewheeling fucking around to the sort of space opera that looks a lot like Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels. The result is a blast.
One of the fun things about Dragon Cobalt is how each of their books messes around with a different genre or setting. (This reminds me of early Walter Jon Williams.) For example, “To Walk the Constellations” messes around with Star Wars, “Unconquered” messes around with epic fantasies with a Chosen One, “All the King’s Horses” messes around with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and so on.
Which is not to say these stories are clones of existing works, or even being derivative — the plots and details and themes are free-wheeling and inventive, creating something original. There’s usually at least one new Big Skiffy Idea stuffed into every chapter. Plus, well, the characters do a lot of fucking around with each other while the author fucks around with the genre.
I deeply admire the Culture books and rarely see other writers work in that vein. Dragon Cobalt messes around with it very well indeed. Among the other details that get blended in are Vinge and Benford, while Clarke, Heinlein, and Niven get name-checked in-universe. Aspects of one of the two main storylines reminds me of Slonczewski, but that could just be genre coincidence.
Plus I love the main character. Wildly entertaining and highly recommended.
