Matt McAvoy Book Review

This interesting and exciting thriller is pure sci-fi, and certainly seems to be Phipps’s forte.  It is gripping, has a good storyline, infused with just the right amount of darkness and a large stroke of light-hearted character interaction.  A simple tale, about a noble-blood galactic pilot turned freedom fighter when his world surrenders to the galaxy’s ultimate power, who finds himself fighting alongside his enemies years later.  Whilst not an unfamiliar story, of course, this book is underpinned by poignant and serious points about war, the motivations of it, and more importantly the ambiguity of good and bad in its context.  Its lead character finds himself increasingly questioning the “right” side, before generally concluding, not unexpectedly, that there isn’t one, there is just allegiance and loyalty.  I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi, but this is a credible piece of space opera, and not your conventional space wars action – with its themes of the brutality of feudal nobility and the sake of inherent power, it is more Game of Thrones in space.

Lucifer’s Star is a fine book, which is well written and perhaps (very borderline) takes itself seriously enough to achieve the quality it deserves.  I won’t lie, I was very much torn between the 3 and 4 star review, ultimately deciding that Phipps’s story, character development, narrative and development of the social commentary message was too good not to acknowledge.  But it was undermined, to tell the truth, by some dodgy editing and – and this is a trademark of Phipps – too much silly dialogue.  I also wasn’t keen on the crass references to sex and characters’ sexuality, which I felt to be a little gratuitous and woke for no other real sake.  But, this author is a tremendous writer of broad-stroke sci-fi, vivid and creative, with a good, detailed knowledge  and application of the genre, with an intelligent, rather than gung-ho approach.  There is action in this book, and some of it is epic in scale, but it is well choreographed, with just the right amount of each element.  Some rousing battle scenes, brutal “heroes”, as well as a genuinely surprising level of violence on occasion.  With its socio-political and dark family history additions, Phipps has combined all the best dark sci-fi ingredients (don’t think Lucas; think Herbert). 

I definitely preferred this to Phipps’s other more fantasy-based work, and would love to see him hone his talent as a serious sci-fi author.  This series, in particular, looks like a promising one.