Juno Rising by Patty Jansen – A book review

Juno Rising is one of a series of books written by Patty Jansen set in the geopolitical world of the ISF and Allion. The setting is the not too far future and mankind has colonised the solar system but there have been clashes between corporate interests and the world military.

This particular book is the first of the sequence I have read and so for the early parts I was struggling to understand the universe Jansen had created. All the ideas in the book are solid staples of Sci-fi, who should control space? and what does it mean to be human?

Jansen lines up some interesting characters but they are given very little development, in fact most of their development has occured prior to the novel so it was hard to overly care for them. Having said that, the lead, Fabio was interesting as the man who had had his mind erased. He knew he had a role to play just not what that role was.

The plot whilst not fast paced doesn’t drag and the action scenes are well handled although some of the motivations of individual characters seemed to shift for the sake of plot rather than be anchored in their characterisations.

I would not say that this is the finest Space Opera but there are interesting ideas and as a part of a greater whole I think the book would make more sense and be more rewarding.