I read the book ---- but not sure if I will read it again ---- Just not my type of book but a good book ( )

I have tried to read this book numerous times but I just cannot seem to get into it. I will keep trying. ( )

Zeresthina Dasmuller changed her name to Dace trying to leave behind the horrors of Tivor behind her. Commander Grant Lowell wants Dace for one mission to Tivor no matter the cost to her physically and emotionally. It's up to Marshall Tayvis to recruit her for Commander Lowell. Dace wants to be free to have her own ship and little peace of mind is that too much to ask for. Jerimon Pai, a pilot, searching for a crew that won't ask too many questions about his past. When both Dace's and Jerimon's past both bite them in the butt truth is needed more than lies. Jerimon admits stealing fist size black shiny rock for his own gain. An alien race searches for The Eggstone pursuing Jerimon and Dace wherever they go. Will Tayvis find Dace? Will Dace work for Lowell? Why is The Eggstone important? Your answers await you in Priestess of the Eggstone. ( )

ER review.
Light space opera romance. Unfortunately a sort of love triangle runs through this for a long time. The Firefly-esque fun (losing ships/ being chased by aliens) is good clean running around dodging the aliens fun. The female lead, as far as her skills/ strengths go is well described, has bad luck but isn't incompetent to be in charge of her ship. Amusing things happen although it isn't a straight-out comedy. The straight guy/ bad guy love interests were slightly weak but not poor. From scanning the other reviews this is almost certainly because it's a second book in a series - I gave this another star as I expect that fills out the romance side- for this as a stand-alone book I would give it 3 stars. ( )

I was a little worried when I first picked up PRIESTESS OF THE EGGSTONE because it is technically the second book in the “Fall of the Altairan Empire” series (the first is titled NEXUS POINT). This was an unfounded fear, as PRIESTESS OF THE EGGSTONE functions just fine as a stand-alone science fiction novel.

Mild plot spoilers follow.

PRIESTESS OF THE EGGSTONE begins as a classic example of the science fiction sub-genre I might term “commerce SF,” mostly about protagonists in space opera settings who work as, or want to be, freelance merchants and traders in the space lanes. Examples include many of C. J. Cherryh’s novels (the Merchanter and Chanur series in particular); Andre Norton’s Solar Queen series; and Poul Anderson's Van Rijn series (there are many more I could mention, but those are some of the better known examples of this sub-genre). I hasten to add that – despite the emphasis on commerce rather than exploration or combat – these aren’t “mundane SF” novels. They aren’t about accounting in space, or paying all the required landing fees and dutifully obeying space regulations. They often involve encounters with pirates; misadventures in ports with thieves, customs officials, and thieving customs officers; and narrow escapes from a variety of dangers. In short, I have found that these kinds of novels typically involve exciting conflict without emphasizing the military derring-do that is all too typical of science fiction.

PRIESTESS OF THE EGGSTONE is in good company. Here, a young female pilot with a troubled past, Dace, wants nothing more than to own her own trading vessel and become an independent merchant. The universe conspires against Dace’s attempts to achieve that dream. She’s a pilot not a navigator (dammit, Jim!) and so she hires a navigator who soon gets her into a world of trouble. He has stolen the eponymous Eggstone, an object of unknown but great significance to an alien race that is willing to do whatever it takes to get the Eggstone back. They can’t simply return the Eggstone because it was already sold, so now the pair and their comrades have to locate it while dodging inimical aliens. Oh and the company that Dace works for is actually a front for a smuggling operation, so that causes further problems, plus the Star Patrol is still trying to pressure Dace to join them as an undercover agent (this was apparently the major plot of the first novel).

The tone of the novel wavers a bit; at times, it seems fairly light-hearted, yet it never fully becomes a comedy. The stakes are real (and occasionally deadly). It’s a mix of commerce SF, first contact, and space opera-ish schemes and adventures. While having read the first novel was certainly not necessary, it would have provided some additional insights about Dace’s past. Her troubled origins are occasionally referenced, but the details are not entirely clear to me. I should also make clear that the protagonist is a young, emotionally immature woman, and one of her two love interests is an equally immature young man. This naturally leads to some frustrating behavior on both parts. The both behave childishly at times, so for a grumpy middle-aged reader like myself, this characterization occasionally annoyed me, but it never became intolerable.

This wasn’t the greatest science fiction novel I’ve ever read, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either (by far). It was perfectly enjoyable. Recommended for readers interested in science fiction that’s a bit out of the mainstream, and not oriented toward military actions – I might even term PRIESTESS OF THE EGGSTONE as “space opera lite.”

Review copyright © 2013 J. Andrew Byers ( )