This is the kind of Science Fiction I crave.
A straight-ahead mystery in a far off world. Jupiter's moon Europa, in this case.
Something is lurking in the depths, under the ice, and it's not nice.
But then there are people and corporations who are also not nice, that want to exploit the discovery.
Enter Inspector Nathan Kane of the United Nations who is sent to investigate and prevent any profiteering of the discovery.
Things get dangerous and deadly very fast but then the story settles into a threat of violence rather than an all out gunplay. It's teamwork and intelligence that drives the adventure to its wild end. The majority of characters that moved the plot forward were women, which I found very refreshing. Not one damsel in distress among them, these gals were in charge of their roles.
I liked the story very much, which was enhanced by the rich, clean art. Chris Sprouse gave the story the immense scale the setting needed. The spotless order of the interiors gave it that old-style, shiny Science Fiction feel that has been gone since
Star Wars came along and made things gritty. It was a nice change.
It is rare to find science fiction that does not rely on some kind of techno-magic or alien monster to drive a story. The trick is to make the setting interesting and fill it with people we recognize. Technology should be advanced but it doesn't need to bee too far out. Guns shooting bullets on a space station is a recipe for disaster, but if you change the slugs to acid capsules that only burn organic matter, that's an advancement we can relate to.
If you can get your hands on a copy of this, you will be happy with the work.
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| Art by Chris Sprouse |
