Futuristic Space Fantasy Novel: Chronicles of Soone: Heir to the King

The Chronicles of Soone: Heir to the King is the first in a series of futuristic space fantasy novels that takes place in a distant galaxy caught up in a devastating war. Heir to the King is the debut novel of James Somers, a surgical technologist and part-time, assistant pastor. The story follows a warrior-prince named Tiet Soone who must come to grips with the genocide of his clan (an act that left him the sole heir to the throne - albeit a throne of an all but extinct race) and forge some kind of peace and stability in a war-ravaged system. Yet, even this barely scratches the surface of what you will find in its pages. There's so much story jammed into 265 pages that it's difficult to know where to begin with a review. It

The best place to start perhaps is George Lucas. Fans of Star Wars will no doubt pick up on some interesting parallels between Somers' galaxy and Lucas' universe. Somers' book showcases an all-but-destroyed clan of warriors, known as Barudii, who are renowned for their deadly fighting abilities and kinetic powers. Jedi, anyone? No lightsabers, but Barudii swords do light up.

There are mentors and pupils, just like the Jedi, and allusions to the dark side. Only, unlike Lucas' New Age echoes, Somers' book hews to a Judeo-Christian framework. The ultimate villain (**spoiler alert**) in Heir to the King is a fallen angel named Lucin. Sound familiar? But the Judeo-Christian tone of the novel is not preachy. It is simply a framework.

The story has exciting space battles as well as enthralling land confrontations in which the author's description of the action is riveting. Somers is clearly in his element when writing about Horva warriors charging into the ranks of Vorn defenses, leaving debris and dead bodies in their wake. He is equally effective in showing the legendary abilities of the Barudii warriors, making you think that the Jedi wouldn't stand a chance against them.

Some of the dialogue is a little choppy, but is far superior to what Lucas gave us in the recent Star Wars trilogy. Somers' greatest fault with the dialogue is that he races through it sometimes, unlike Lucas whose scripted dialogue with Anakin and Padme in Star Wars: Episode II was akin to nails on a chalkboard. With Lucas, you wished he raced through the dialogue.

The biggest problem with Heir to the King is that it hit the press without a decent edit job. There are numerous spelling, grammatical (especially with apostrophes and proper word endings), and typographical errors. These should have been caught before the books went to print and got shipped out. Alas, they were not. This distracts somewhat from the reading, and gives the book a little bit of an unprofessional feel.

However, this criticism is not enough to alter the fact that Chronicles of Soone: Heir to the King is an excellent science fiction novel. It is well worth your time and money. The book ends on a cliffhanger, so we can expect more to follow. I'm looking forward to reading the sequels.