A space adventure with unexpected heart, this romp through the stars focuses on a shapeshifter whose first moment of consciousness is as a blob of goo. When they escape capture from StarLeague soldiers seeking a prison escapee, they stow away on the battered cargo ship Hindsight, where they change into the form of a White human boy and are dubbed “Trouble” by the crew.
The crew, as is the way with these things, are a motley bunch, human and alien, led by the capable Captain Astra. Trouble gradually starts to feel at home among this found family, and is learning how to be a human. Yet Trouble still doesn’t know who they really are, and is scared of what they know they can turn into. When a StarLeague cadet shows up thinking they are a dangerous criminal, this sets off a race across the stars for answers and safety.
While gender is an iffy concept when talking about a sentient, shapeshifting, blob of goo, Trouble does inform us, “My dog self was female, but my human self is male. My blob of goo self is neuter, and I’ve had other shades of gender before.” Another character comes from a species with five genders, “and they say that they like to change sometimes.”
Fans of Star Trek and Star Wars will love this story, but what makes it really shine (as with some of the best Star Trek episodes) is not the interstellar action or the aliens (though they are both creatively done), but the reflections on what it means to be human. Pick this one up. You won’t be disappointed.
