Review: Galen’s Way by Richard Paolinelli

Something is up, and there is only one way to deal with it: Galen’s Way.

Rescuing a kidnapped princess is new even for mercenary Galen Dwyn. It’s not as though royalty regularly goes missing, after all. Yet he is still hired to rescue a princess somehow swept out from under her protectors’ noses. To avoid political entanglements, her parents contact Galen on the sly to keep the matter quiet.

Galen has no real issue entering the fortress where the woman is being held. However, there is a slight snag in his information: there are four princesses being held hostage. Changing his plans, Galen keeps the princess he was hired to rescue aboard his ship rather than return her to her kingdom. Something is up, and there is only one way to deal with it: Galen’s Way.

The Story

The story unrolls like a great adventure should. Initially hired to rescue one princess, when Galen finds no less than four royal heirs being held captive in stasis and subjected to an illegal device that allows their captor to enter their minds as he wishes, he saves them all. But he only returns three to their homes. Princess Rhiannon, whom he was originally hired to rescue, he decides to keep close. His ship’s snarky AI, Cassandra, is quick to note the woman’s good looks and suggest her human captain take up with her. Galen is nonplussed by the suggestion – or at least, he makes an effort to appear so as he decides on his next course of action.

From here the threats grow to a gigantic scale, putting the entirety of the Andromeda Galaxy in the crosshairs of a much, much bigger menace. Four kidnapped princesses are the hinges on which hangs a plot to start an oppressive regime – one which the conspirators do not want Galen, a mere mercenary, to upset. Unless he, Rhiannon, and Cassandra stop them in time, the last refuge of mankind may be extinguished forever.

New villains arise and those once thought friends or the ultimate confidants become deadly foes as the three engage in a race against time. In the process they will learn more about themselves – and one another – than they could possibly have anticipated.

The Characters

Galen Dwyn is not your average mercenary. He is not a rogue with a heart of gold; rather, he is a paladin who has been forced to go rogue. Following a nasty experience during his training with the Bata’van, a renowned group of warriors and bodyguards, he decided he couldn’t trust the institutions of the galaxy and so set out to walk his own path. Despite his violent profession and the requirement that he shoot, slice, or stab first, this knight walks in the dark and wears no armor. The light of his spirit, however, is blinding.

Princess Rhiannon has some characteristics in common with Star Wars’ Princess Leia. On reflection, though, she hews more closely to the archetype embodied and developed in Deja Thoris. A decisive woman who knows her station, she stands on her breeding even when it puts her at a disadvantage with Galen in their verbal sparring matches. Her regal bearing is most apparent at the end, but she never forgets it during the narrative. When she has the chance to use it, watch out. She does not pull her punches.

Cassandra is hilarious, providing half the jokes, humor, and witty repartee throughout the entire story. Acting as Galen’s Id in some ways, his mother hen in others, and his ship in all else, she has nothing against Rhiannon. Though she is not above telling the princess off if she believes the woman has mistreated her captain, the two become friends rather quickly, making them something of a team in how they protect and watch out for the hero.

The World

The world is less Star Wars-lite than a number of space operas released following Disney and Lucas’ destruction of that franchise. It has a great many parallels to Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and the Halo series without devolving into a thinly reimagined version of any of them. The world is at once lived in and new, with various aspects of the galaxy being revealed the longer one travels through it. By the end, a reader will wish he could spend more time within the universe just to see what else may be hiding in the far corners of the Milky Way’s sister galaxy.

The Politics

No politics besides those inherent to the story are present.

Content Warning

There is a romantic interlude that is hinted at but never shown, and the captor of the princesses used the psychic device to take some liberties with them without touching their persons. Something similar happened to Galen in the Bata’van as well. All these things are mentioned or hinted at but never described in any detail and are easily passed over. The PG-13 rating is most apt in this case.

Who is it for?

Fans of Star Wars, of course, but anyone who loves good space opera will enjoy this book. Those who wished for more consistency in Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda will also love this story for playing similar themes straight, and anyone disappointed with the lackluster Halo TV series will find the novel hits the spot. Firefly fans will also find this novel fun, as will Lord of the Rings readers. The scope of the story goes beyond the average for space opera by hinting at deeper themes and larger worlds beyond what we see on the page here.

Why read it?

When was the last time you read something fun that made you feel like you had been to the movies and wanted to go again? Galen’s Way will give you all the hope of a summer blockbuster in the palm of your hand. Why not buy it?