Title: Planet of the Magi
Publisher: Spero Publishing
Author: by Erin Lale

Okay, brothers, sisters, androgynes and anything-elses. Here is a fast-moving yet introspective space-mystical espionage coming-of-age story. You got a whole new universe to invest in here, under the care of a major world-builder.

The action runs the gamut from the interior worlds of anger-fuelled Magi-powers, to the drug-enhanced fantasies of pleasure seekers and slackers everywhere. High-end Imperial politics, blockaded planets, mystic-powered sword-duels, the dance of intricate politics, many and multiple motives.

The story takes place on a wide canvas, with broad brushstrokes that fill in the galactic background — but there are nicely detailed vignettes, picked out in graphic-like pencil work. The universe feels as busy, distracting, and subversive as our own everyday late-night news reality.

The heroine and her bestie are the heart and soul of the multi-viewpoint narrative. They are complete small-fry in a galactic pond, but somehow — well, you will have to read right to end to learn how much success is alloyed with accomplishment, pain, sorrow, and loss.

There are touches of the great epics here: Star Wars, for the intergalactic rush. Lord of the Rings, for the growing and deepening relationship between the two main characters. The Doors of Perception, for the mind-jazz of mysticism-cum-alienation and gnostic nihilism.

Get in on the ground floor for what looks to be a long-running series.

[T.J. O’Hare is the author of Amnesiak: Blood Divinity (Spero Publishing).]