What Distant Deeps by David Drake

Science Fiction

I just read a blog entry that said if an author put in a male and female lead character in a science fiction novel there had to be a romantic element between the two characters. (I was going to write down the blog and the entry but forgot and now cannot find it.) That person never read any of David Drakes' Lt Leary Series. In the series Adele Mundy was off planet when Speaker Leary put down a conspiracy against the government of Cinnabar and beheaded Adele’s mother, father and her 10-year-old sister. Daniel Leary is the son of Speaker Leary and an officer in the Republic of Cinnabar’s Navy. When the two meet on Kostroma they should be mortal enemies. However Daniel and his father do not get along. In fact they do not even speak. Daniel is about all action and Adele is all about information. When the two run into danger they form a perfect partnership without any hint of romance.

I just read What Distant Deeps, the latest book in the series. Daniel and Adele go on a milk run mission to deliver a new Commissioner to a distant and relatively unimportant planet. There is peace between Cinnabar and the Alliance but not everyone wants the fighting to be over. Once again they walk into a situation that needs Adele’s skill in getting information and Daniel’s love a action. Someone is trying to start the war again and Daniel, Adele and a former enemy must work together to keep the peace agreement from falling apart. The Lt Leary Series is a fun space opera where action is the king and there is no hint of romance between the two main characters.

I purchased What Distant Deeps from Baen as an eBook and side loaded it on my Nook. I was very disappointed in how the book loaded. Unlike most books I have loaded before the book did not fit the screen. Many times words were cut in half. The copy was not clean and the book did not read easily. What Distant Deeps was offered as an ARC earlier. I purchased the book after it was released but wondered if the ARC was what I got. This is the first time I have had trouble with a Baen eBook but it is also the first time I have loaded one on the Nook instead of my eBookwise reader. I don’t know if the problem was with Baen or with the Nook.

Baen published What Distant Deeps by David Drake in 2010.