Today, I am reviewing the Science-Fiction novel The 5 Moons of Tiiana by PT Harry. Our protagonist, Rez Cantor, is a military captain whose people have been conquered by an alien force. He is charged with getting the royal princess off-planet and somewhere safe, but, of course, things don't go according to plan. He ends up stranded and alone, searching for his charge. By the time he finds her, not only is she different than when they separated, but so is he.
I give this book a 3/5. Here is my breakdown.
Characters: 3.5/5. PT has created a set of interesting characters from a diverse group of cultures and species. Rez and Leanna, the princess, make sense in their actions and motivations, and most of the smaller side-characters contribute to the narrative in interesting ways. Unfortunately, there are developments in the book that change the characters against their will, and these make it harder for me to identify with them. When established characters' capabilities suddenly change, it's hard to keep up; when that change happens very quickly without giving me enough time to accept it, it leaves me in the dust.
Plot/Storyline: 2.5/5. I feel like this is a weak point for this book, but not because the story is bad. Far from it; it reminds me a lot of C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet, a book which I enjoyed. The problem with Tiiana's plot is that it goes too far and does too much in too little time, I think. We end up on several different planets; we deal with enslavement that lasts years and journeys which take months, yet I get very little sense of how much time is actually passing in context. It makes the whole thing seem disjointed and strange.
Flow: 3.5/5. The book moves along, but there are times when it slogs. I definitely felt the story could have ended two or three times before I ended up putting it down--and that was halfway through. I skated through parts of the story that were very enjoyable, and others I had to push and push to make sense of what was going on.
Spelling/Grammar: 4.5/5. I didn't notice any significant spelling problems and very few grammatical ones. There are a few places where the closing quotations are missing. Overall, high quality work.
Overall: 3/5. Please understand that I don't think this book is bad. Far from it; it has a lot of interesting lore, well-thought-out cultures and characters, and it's obvious the author has a passion for this kind of writing. It just doesn't check my boxes. There is a mismatch of how fast certain things happen and how slow other ones do, and the reinvention of the characters strains my verisimilitude. I highly recommend that you give it a try if you like Lewis's Space Trilogy and similar work.
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Thanks as always, and keep reading!
