Review for Hetiria by Shawn Ganther

The first few pages of Hetiria comes at you thick and fast, throwing you into the last gasp of a rebellion that happens 20 years before the main book itself. Though the pace fluctuates after, it’s still mostly high throughout. Both in action and in the sheer amount of information pushed toward the reader. Don’t expect an easy read, but do expect a good one. Dense and detailed to a point I rarely see anymore in contemporary science fiction.

Hetiria falls into the subsection of novels I wish I could give separate ratings for. The world, or better yet, universe, that author Shawn Gunther has created here deserves more than what I’ve given the work as a whole. The central conflict, politically and otherwise, captured much of the same essence as The Expanse novels for me. Planet Jaber, where the vast majority of the story takes place, reminded me of the planet Arrakis from Dune as well, and not just for the similar physical characteristics.

To populate such a large ecosystem, one multiple planets wide, Gunther had to flesh out an equally large cast of characters. The vast majority were unique, well-voiced, and I would very much like to read more of them if there is every another novel added to this universe. Unfortunately, the main character was not included in that majority for me.

My friends used to argue that a protagonist needs at least one of the three c’s to be effective: competent, charismatic, or in control. Though Ade is meant to be a prodigy of sorts in terms of intelligence, the plot is driven by multiple lapses in what seems like should be common sense. I wanted to like him, but it was an uphill battle personally (though that in part could be having to share space with characters who were incredibly likable). The lack of agency Ade has doesn’t help, with much more happening to him than him acting outward of his own volition.

While the novel is still very readable, a final round of editing would make it even more so. There are quite a few missing words or misspellings. More troubling though is how consistently punctuation or formatting was dropped around dialogue. This made it harder to understand where talking starts or begins, or when the speaker changed from one character to another.

Even with those few rough edges, I thought Hetiria a strong debut novel, and one I recommend to fans of science fiction dense enough to sink your teeth into.

Hetiria: Shadow of Cranis is available to buy on Amazon.