Wistful Ascending (Hybrid Helix, #1)
J.C.M. Berne
A superhero space opera for grownups. For fans of Guardians of the Galaxy or Invincible. Like Dragonball Z but wish it had a little more hard science fiction in it? The il’Drach Empire spans half a galaxy, built on the feet and fists of their Powered hybrid children. At eight Rohan of Earth learned that he was only half human. By sixteen he was an active superhero, using his inherited powers to fight crime, in mask and spandex. At twenty-two he left his home to fight for the his father's people, expanding the il’Drach Empire and protecting it from local and interdimensional threats. At thirty-two, exhausted by ten years of ruthless warfare, he retired to Wistful, a vast sentient independent space station, to try to live a normal life. With a steady job, someone far out of his league to date, and the most cosmopolitan selection of fine dining in the sector, things are looking up. Then a long dormant wormhole in Wistful's system is opened by a ship full of refugees, drawing unwanted attention from the Empire. The appearance of the refugees sets off a chain of events that will force Rohan to confront his checkered past and cast doubt on whether he can ever leave behind his violent warrior heritage. To keep his friends safe, and himself in one piece, Rohan has to face giant insects, body-skipping assassins, vengeful armored aliens, an inquisition of intelligent bears, and a team of his fellow hybrids. The open question is whether tapping into his savage alien powers will end up destroying the peaceful life he has been trying to build.
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A great match for readers who enjoy witty SF, with a little romance, good guy with a not-so-pretty-past trope, lots of action, some found-family vibes, and not emotionally heavy SF. There are great little references to other fantasy/SF in media that readers should enjoy as well.
Our protagonist is a super-human with Superman-esque powers, a Hybrid, born of a human and non-human parent who was born on Earth and has an ugly former life as a soldier. He's now living in the outer rings of the solar system, and the novel takes the reader through the exchanges with and arrival of a number of different actors and new species on the station where our protagonist now works towing spacecraft to/away from the sentient AI station.
This story moves right along, but includes a number of quotidian details, so I wouldn't quite call it fast paced. Given the story doesn't feel overly emotionally heavy, this was a nice break from some other SF I read that can tend to have heavier themes that require deeper emotional investment on the part of the reader. I'm hoping many readers find themselves enjoying the witty retorts, action-packed scenes, and balance of different themes and tropes in Wistful Ascending - can't wait to see what Ronan, Tamaralinth, the kaiju of the nearby planet who don't like anger, our sentient AI, and others get up to as the series progresses.
I will say that a couple of scenes/transitions between them felt a bit disjointed for me as well, but I think that was the author's style/the way Berne chose to move the story along. Just a bit different, and not my personal preference.
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