#BookReview: Star Bounty: Absolution, by Rick Partlow
I have your space western right here
I have tripped over Rick Partlow for the past few years. Unfortunately, I always confused him with Richard Fox, and I could never remember which one I was going to review next.
Due to a series of bizarre events, I found myself on a plane four times in the space of four days. I finally had time to read. Conveniently, Rick had just put out a set of his Star Bounty series.
So I started with Star Bounty: Absolution.
This was quite a ride.
The Story
Grant Masterson is a bounty hunter doing what he knows best: bringing in criminals. He used to be a Marshal, but he crossed one line to many, and lost everything. Now, he’s off bouncing around the star system, bringing them back alive, and usually to his old colleagues on the force.
Grant has finally taken a job that should keep him out of the way for a while. He can finally stop stepping on toes. He’s looking into a treason case that strangely, no one has followed up on. But when he finally gets his target, it’s like everyone in the universe is coming down on him and his prisoner. He will need everything in his arsenal and then some in order to get out of this alive.
Star Bounty: Absolution moves along at a good pace. The pace is more on par with the old serials, later mimicked by George Lucas.
By the end of the book, we have a solid resolution to Absolution while very efficiently setting up the next novel.
The Characters
While I know I referenced Dirty Harry Callahan above, Grant Masterson is closer to Timothy Olyphant on Justified; he even wears a Stetson. He’s relatively calm and easygoing, down to giving advice to prisoners about how to get through prison. He’s a nice enough guy, just don’t trigger his mean streak. The entire narration is carried through his first person POV, so we know him pretty well by the time the first chapter is over. He’s likeable, smart and tough. Like a Timothy Zahn protagonist, he’s just as likely to think his way out as shoot it out, but he’s no slouch in either department. Even his fighting requires thought. Also, he named his ship after the first bounty hunter, back in antiquity, so Grant has an interesting education that we don’t get into.
Grant is an interesting, complex character, and he makes the story work, even in the slower moments—not that there are many.
There is also Grant’s sidekick, Dog. He is an utterly adorable robot with a sarcastic AI. He thinks growling is undignified, but has no problem restraining a perp by his crotch, teeth dug in.
Our third character is … a major plot point who I can’t really get into without spoiling.
The World
Rick Partlow handles world building deftly. He only fills in the gaps when you need them filled in, but there are a lot of gaps that need filling. Guns are common and spread out on sidewalks like knockoff paperbacks on a New York street in the 90s, while blasters are harder to get. Sexbots have been perfected… or at least, perfected enough to do the job (prostitution is legal, pimping is not.).
Welcome to the libertarian space cowboy revolution, as written in the prophecies of Tom Stranger.
It was enough of a western that my final note on the book was simply “Hi Ho Silver, away!”
Politics
None.
Content Warning
While there are mentions of prostitution and sexbots, there isn’t really anything else that’d particularly lurid. Strangely enough, they even become a plot element.
Who is it for?
Absolution has all of the smart writing and intrigue of Timothy Zahn (okay, with fewer corkscrew twists in the plot). It has the western vibe of Justified or even Larry McMurtray.
If you want scifi Lonesome Dove as written by Timothy Zahn, I’d recommend this wholeheartedly.
Sure, you could compare this to Firefly with a cast of three, or The Mandalorian, if that’s your preference of SF western.
Why buy it
It’s one hell of an adventure that’s got something sure to please sci-fi fans of many stripes. If you’re looking for a great can’t-put-down action read, look no further.