Review: Hyvilma

Hyvilma by Gideon Marcus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed the previous books in this series, so when the author offered me a review copy of the latest one I happily said yes. (I don't usually review by author request, but I make an exception if I've favourably reviewed previous books in a series.)

Inspired by the classic space-opera "juveniles," this has plenty of action, adventure, lucky and unlucky chances creating opportunities for difficult, courageous decisions by the young cast, and (here's the modern bit) a strong sense of found family among a diverse crew. It stretched my suspension of disbelief a few times; Kitra definitely has Big Protagonist Energy, in that events distort around her in her strong narrative field so that the crew end up achieving great deeds that a small, young, rag-tag crew in a tiny vessel shouldn't be capable of. But if you relax and just let it be the over-the-top adventure that it is without thinking too hard about the credibility, it's fun and exciting.

It touches briefly on a political dimension (not obviously linked to current politics, don't worry), in that the crew encounter what seems to be a rebellion against the Empire, which some of them are not fans of, and have to pick a side; they do so, not based on any deep political analysis, but based on threats to people they care about, which... maybe deserved some more examination as a basis for decision-making, though it makes all kinds of emotional sense and so works well from a narrative viewpoint. It's a bit of a missed opportunity for extra depth, though, which keeps it out of the Gold tier of my Best of the Year list. This one hits firmly at Silver tier, meaning that it's a sound, solid piece of work that I enjoyed and doesn't have significant flaws.

Some excellent ink illustrations by the author's daughter complement the text.

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