Cower not, fierce reader! This fine day we have a tale that is BOUND to trigger any elements of SocJus that encounter it. There's plenty here to like, and they have possibly more to shriek about. Let's get to the charges!
Firstly, this book is most definitely Christian. Catholic, even. This is the first revisitation of the idea of Crusades in SPAAACE(Poul Anderson's The High Crusade being the first I know of) in recent years, with most of the intervening ones taking a low view of Christianity and its defensive wars.
With this expansion, we have the Faith expanded to aliens of every sort imaginable, from insect like, to blobs, to, hive-minds, to robots. Mr. Mollison even comments on the documents that would exist regarding artificial life and their souls(given the premise of his setting).
Second, this book focuses very heavily on family. And not a broken or "blended" family, but a very much proper traditional family. Mild spoiler(it happens so early, I don't mind): the father, our narrator, finds three children in need of help. And takes them home.
Now, there's also a presentation of an older view of marriage, that is, one that is less focused on partnership. But, the discussion is rather brief, and little in the way of contrast is mentioned, though some is shown.
Third, there is what some might consider an analog to the jihadi nations. Now, as to their faith, I can say there is no presentation of that, though they do come from desert planets. They also are making war against Christian worlds, and some believe they can be reasoned with.
Ah, nuts. Look, this book is a lot of fun, and if you've read his past work, you won't be disappointed, though your expectations might be slightly off. Yes, there's action aplentty. But there's also a good number of tender family moments, and chunks of political intrigue in the mix.
Let me tell you about this cover: EVERYTHING there? It's in the book. Robot bishop, family, space battles. Another quick note: I mentioned a large number of typos in Adventure Constant(when I read it), but there were very few I spotted here. 9 of 10 fell deeds.
When you play Social Justice, the world loses.
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