I so enjoy these space romances of Fay’s. This is the third one. The characters are quirky and well-rounded. Caro Ogunyemi from the spaceship Calamity has a lot of computer/AI talent and she and her shipmates have been sent off to the prison planet Myrrhdn with its exotic penitentiary called Shikgami, run by the ruthless Pierce Family…who have no love for Caro. She and her companions sneak on to the planet and get into what appears to be almost like a high class resort, fountains and pools and a plethora of exotic plant life…save for the guards and restrictions.

Here Caro come across a top secret experiment where the Pierces are trying to turn people in super fighting machines…and Caro watches one man named Leviathan being manipulated into a killing machine as he takes on an opponent in a set-up fight.

Caro is appalled: not so much for the experimenting (which she is, of course) but for the fact she realizes she is responsible for the programming that is controlling Leviathan. The training and scenarios are vicious. But for Caro, there is something about Leviathan that is so appealing. As Caro and her companions work their way into Shikgami to destroy this nefarious scheme, they meet a sentient robot and a nasty member of the Nakatomi family working with the Pierces.

Lots of sneaking around and efforts to get into the lab where the test subjects are forced, their psyches twisted into monsters of violence. Fay takes her characters through the labyrinth of offices, chambers and labs to avoid being seen. But when they finally weasel their way out of the prison, the chase continues And Caro finds out if Leviathan has more to him than the twisted brutish fate of super-soldiers.

Really if you liked the first two Fay novels, Calamity and Fiasco, you’re going to love this. ~~ Sue Martin

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