Abendau’s Heir by Jo Zebedee

I enjoyed Abendau’s Heir overall, even though sci-fi is a tougher sell with me than fantasy.

I wish we could give fractions of stars—most of the book was three stars for me (using the goodreads scale, which means I liked it). But the ending transcended that and deserves four.

I have reservations. The story starts in the POV of the father, and his character is so vivid that his son (the main POV character) never quite came into focus the same way. On the other hand, the son spent most of the story trying to live up to his father. And in that case, it could very well have been intentional on the part of the author. If so, it was brilliantly done.

I skimmed over the darker parts because they did not hold back, and that’s more than I want from entertainment. But I’m well aware that others disagree.

I wish the story could have been told with fewer time jumps because they were off-putting to me. But the characters were well-drawn and three-dimensional, and I found myself caring about them.

The writing itself was clean and elegant; I never got thrown out of the story due to the manner in which it was told.

For those who like stories with very dark passages and who are serious science fiction fans, they would probably consider this a solid four star read.

About cathleentownsend

Avid writer and reader of Faerie tales and noblebright fantasy.