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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In Andrew C Merrick’s Between Fleets, Luke MacLaughlin is a young Casarian naval officer serving aboard the destroyer HMS Snug Varanid of Endicott when he is asked to help locate Raekhuna, the lost homeworld of the Kherrian Peregrine Fleet. Shaera is a Kherrian engineer beginning her peregrination, a rite of passage that requires her to leave her home ship permanently and bring something valuable back to her people. Their paths cross on the planet Irillia after Shaera’s unfamiliarity with Casarian laws puts her in danger, and Luke intervenes. As a political standoff grows between the powerful Casarian Star Kingdom and fifty thousand Kherrian ships, Luke helps Shaera understand his society while she gives him new clues about Raekhuna. Their growing bond could change far more than either of their lives.
Andrew C. Merrick’s Between Fleets is a brilliant space-opera romance, and the author makes both civilizations feel fully thought through. The romance builds organically because Luke and Shaera spend real time together, so their affection has room to become believable. I love this about the writing; it is the type of restraint that can only come from a seasoned author. The technology is excellent, especially the Kherrian khersuits, where self-sealing biofoam makes engineering part of everyday survival. I found the wider cast worked particularly well too. Tamara Basińska, Luke’s irreverent Kirovian adviser, gives shipboard life tremendous personality, while Doctor Vasić makes medicine another form of contact between species. Merrick also handles the enormous galactic scale beautifully and never loses sight of the people living within it. Well written and full of heart, readers who enjoy space opera where the romance matters as much as the stars will adore this book.
