Phoenix Dawn

Debut author Letchworth chooses a much more ambitious plot than he is able to handle gracefully, unveiling the personal stories of members of several humanoid species while placing them in a space war that’s driven by clunky pseudoscience. His story gains a naive warmth from the themes of coming together despite profound differences and embracing hope and change. The species he populates his worlds with are wildly creative: deaf phoenixes who travel the air in glass boats they construct from the debris of sandstorms; knuckle-walking rural Leians fleeing a dying traditional culture to fit into cities that do not accommodate them well; upright Orish, proud of their flying ships and terrified by a disease that drives people mad with thirst; and militaristic reptilians who live on light and whose leader believes he has a divine mandate to take over other planets. Cartoonish color illustrations by the author intend to show broad spacescapes, but their poor quality detracts from his verbal descriptions rather than enhancing them. (BookLife)