The domination of galaxies - that was the prize. And Earthmen and Uelsons contended for it. Bloodily. Across light-years. Arana was a small, insignificant planet, its only claim to fame its desirable position as a refueling point. But on Arana, a new race of humankind was developing. And of that kind, one Family, and above all, one individual, held out a promise for a very different future. Teal Ray Stewart, a Bay Royalist, and a very special one, might prove to be a key figure, not only to the future of his planet, but to the future of mankind.
This was the very first book I have ever read with positive depictions of open homosexuality. As a closeted gay teen, it was like unexpectedly finding a tall glass of water in the middle of the desert. For that, I am forever in her debt.
Sovereign is an interesting and complex book. The societies presented are not that different from our own, and show humanity through different lens.
The main character, Teal Ray Stewart, is bisexual, so if you can't handle that in a character don't read this book. It isn't graphic, and there was nothing that scared me off. I'm straight and it didn't bother me.
The cultures are well developed. The technology interesting. There are some really good battles and a lot of personal development.
The Bay Royalist (of which Teal Ray is a part) are descendants of "First Star Age Man" whatever that means. They are more or less human, having altered themselves with selective breeding to attempt to create a superhuman race. They have been at it for hundreds of generations.
"Normal" humans have not been off the earth for very long, so the first star age was in our past. Interesting.
If you like intriguing sci-fi stories, and don't mind a character who loves unconditionally, regardless of gender, then this book is for you.
There's lots of interesting stuff here, but it doesn't quite all hang together. Our hero is the product of an absurdly long-term genetic experiment (his race is long-lived as well, so 33 generations add up to a very long time indeed); he falls out dramatically with his home people and heads off to join the Earth space navy, where he rapidly rises to become a supremely gifted commander. He narrowly escapes certain death several times, has deep relationships with people who don't really seem to matter all that much, and suffers horrible losses of comrades and family which seem to leave him rather cold. A slightly odd book, but I believe the author went on to better things.
According to the back cover this is the first novel by R.M. Meluch. I had already read her "Tour of the Merrimack" series of books and enjoyed them greatly. I saw Sovereign in a used book store and decided to read it also. I enjoyed reading this book even though it was a bit strange. Even so she wrote a great story. It has an unusual hero, unusual circumstances, and great storytelling. The wild ride goes through many changes you don't expect. Highly recommended, along with her other books.
Read this in 93?94? when trying to understand how DNA works so the 'science' was interesting to me. The father complex in this book was quite interesting, thought the politics driving the book was strange. I did like the way it explored some concepts in scifi such as how 'humanity' would evolve, though in a completely made up way.
This was the first book by R.M. Meluch. She is one of my favorite authors. That being said this was a very disappointing read and I can't recommend it even to fans of R.M. Meluch.