Harmony
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Harmony, a new utopia for space-faring humans. Or is it a thinly disguised tyranny locked into a rigid caste system, slavery by another name?
Either way, xenophobic Harmony holds the secret to Badger Metal, a unique ceramic-metal alloy that protects people from the radiation and hard vacuum of space.
Sissy grew up Worker Caste on the planet Harmony, her only hope for survival is to remain unnoticed, hiding her full array of seven caste marks. A devastating quake appears to be a major temper tantrum by the goddess Harmony. Sissy sings the planet, and her goddess back to benign quiet—matching the vibrations of her voice to the vibrations of the planet. This one act throws her into the role of High Priestess. Then she discovers she is the only one who can prevent her world from falling out of harmony into chaos.
Jake has reinvented himself from wild pilot, to spy, to Sissy’s bodyguard while he hunts for the precious formula for Badger Metal. Can he find it and protect Sissy from outraged priests who fear change more than death, before civil war, and invasion, bury them all?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cultures clash and romance blooms in this tepid series opener set on Harmony, a cult-governed planet. The highest ranks of the Harmonic Empire have rewritten history to hide its origins and maintain the harsh caste-based social order that supports the rich and powerful while keeping the underclasses trapped in slavery. Harmony is also the only source of "Badger Metal," used to shield spaceships from the vagaries of radiation and hyperspace. The Confederated Star Systems desperately need the material for warships, and they send CSS Maj. Jake Hannigan undercover to Harmony to obtain the secret of making Badger Metal. His task is complicated by the social and political shakeup when Sissy, a pious young Worker caste woman, reveals a gift for prophecy and an amazing ability to quell earthquakes and storms by emotionally bonding with the planet itself. Historian Bentley's blend of mysticism, space opera and social commentary is too scattered and self-conscious to rise above its familiar themes.
