Book Review: Command Performance

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Command Performance     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Linnea Sinclair
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Romance
Novel Books, May 2002, 300 pp.

The coalition-Triad war is over and now the former enemies are allies against the Illithians who want to rule the universe. Former coalition captain Tasha "Sass" Sebastian commands the spaceship Vaxxar, second in power to Triad Admiral Kel-Paten, who is part human and part cyborg. Sass doesn’t know it but Kel-Paten, who isn’t supposed to have any feelings, is in love with her.

Pirate Jace Serafino, a renegade telepath, is beamed aboard the Vaxxar when his ship is destroyed in a space war. He is a wanted man in the alliance because he was coerced into working as an undercover agent for them in their war against the Illithians but disappeared before he could deliver anything really useful to them. Jace has let himself become caught by his enemies because he has knowledge of a plot by the Illithians to conquer by stealth what they could not take by force. Now he has to convince his most deadly enemy the Admiral that he is telling the truth and he needs Sass’s help to do it. Then they must try to stop the intrigue before they are killed because both Sass and her admiral are marked for assassination.

COMMAND PERFORMANCE is a space opera in the tradition of Star Trek and Star Wars, complete with romantic heroes, dashing rogues, evil aliens and adorable space pets called furzels. The protagonists of this novel are well drawn and easily engage reader interest and empathy even as the plot races at hyperspeed. Linnea Sinclair raises the bar of excellence in science fiction romance several notches.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner