In what could ostensibly be called a “space opera,” Van Shamrai’s novel gets off to a rip-roaring start as a shuttle carrying astrophysicist Gaag Zorb and cryobiologist Zara Espen suddenly crashes over Arabia. The two protagonists emerge from the wreckage to discover a putrid world of sand and fog inhabited by strange humanoid creatures whom the warring elites of this future Earth couldn’t care less about. Naturally, the tribal peoples who inhabit the place aren’t too keen on outsiders, either. Van Shamrai imagines a society whose members have mastered a method of successfully striding atop the shifting sands using specially designed stilts. As far out as that might initially seem, Van Shamrai’s worldbuilding is actually grounded in the here and now; the exploits of the League of Corporations, the government of the Four Continents, and the Kowloon Empire don’t seem that farfetched. In fact, Van Shamrai’s characters are a lot more grounded than the menagerie of spacefaring malcontents George Lucas populated the Mos Eisley cantina with. The novel does, however, share some of the same DNA with Star Wars, in that both harken back to vintage serial adventures. This aspect is where Van Shamrai shines the brightest, with exciting action and adventure, replete with flaming spears and lasers. It’s all good, giddy fun. Sadly, the author downshifts the narrative to a more deliberate pace, densely packed with lots of palace intrigue involving stolen DNA, who gets to go to Glezar, and what it might be like when they get there. Some of the dialogue also gets a little goofy along the way (“Buzz off, Gaag! You’re as useful as a mosquito screen on a space-craft!”). Sound too silly? Well, this post-apocalyptic yarn also contemplates aspects of Plato’s perfect society, too. And it’s also somehow reassuring to discover that in this strange future Earth, the Rubik’s Cube has survived and evolved into something futuristic but equally puzzling.