The Blighted Stars  is the first book in a science fiction series that has a strong romantic subplot. There is a creepiness factor that might be unsettling for some readers, and while it didn’t bother me, I would caution anyone with an aversion to zombie movies to stay away.

In this sci-fi world, humans have achieved a longer lifespan by “printing” their neural map into a new body when the old one dies. Think of it like a 3-D biological printer (Westworld anyone?). This process doesn’t work indefinitely though, as neural maps degrade slightly with each printing (like making a copy of a copy) and eventually they crack. A particularly traumatic or violent death can also result in a neural map cracking.

Five large families or more less run the show here as they control the means necessary for printing; the Mercators mine a mineral necessary for the process. Some of the planets they’ve mined have experienced an ecological collapse due to an invasive blight called the shroud.

When the book opens Tarquin Mercator, a scion of the Mercator family, is determined to prove the mining process and the shroud are unrelated. He’s on a ship above a world called The Sixth Cradle when all hell breaks loose. Their sister ship goes rogue and attacks them, and Tarquin and a handful of survivors crash on the Sixth Cradle. Nothing on that planet is what Tarquin expected–it appears mining has already begun and the shroud is well on its way to devouring the planet.

The Mercators use elite bodyguards called Exemplars, and Tarquin’s father’s Exemplar escapes with him to the plant. What Tarquin doesn’t know is that the neural map printed into this woman’s body really belongs to Naira Sharp. Sharp used to be Tarquin’s father’s Exemplar before she began to suspect that the Mercators were causing the shroud and planets to collapse. Sharp’s own mother died when the Second Cradle did. Sharp tried to prove this, but was charged with terrorism and her map was put on ice. Now she’s in another body, she’s not sure why, but she plans to use this to her advantage to prove that the Mercators are destroying entire worlds in order to remain rich and powerful.

There are a couple of themes in The Blighted Stars that are relevant today. The first is turning a blind eye to the ecological impacts of advancing technology. The other is the danger of allowing a handful of individuals or families to control most wealth. In this book, people who want to live longer than a normal human lifespan either have to have the wealth needed to reprint or to essentially become a vassal to one of the five families who then cover their printing fees. 

I really enjoyed the detailed world-building and imaginative universe in this book, but what really sold it for me was the strong romance subplot. As they try to get off the Sixth Cradle, Naira and Tarquin begin to develop feelings for each other. This is a problem because 1. She’s lying about who she is and 2. His dad got her neural map put on ice for trying to prove the defects in his mining process. 

Naira starts off believing that all of the Mercators are evil trash, only to find that Tarquin is not like his family at all. He’s a geologist with no interest in galactic politics or expanding the empire. Tarquin is, quite honestly, kind of a nerd. He’s also kind-hearted and views the people around him as actual human beings not pawns to be used like his father. Also she likes his butt.

Also, like a true geologist, Tarquin at one point identifies a mineral by licking it, much to Naira’s horror. I loved that scene.

While Tarquin is a loveable nerd, Naira is a full-on badass. Exemplars are trained as elite bodyguards and have physical advancements to speed and strength. Of the two, Naira is the physically capable, dangerous one who saves Tarquin from danger. Tarquin isn’t quite sure why his father’s Exemplar is different (irreverent and less deferential), but he finds he really likes her. As they both struggle to survive, the sexual and romantic tension between them ramp up.

While there’s a lot of external conflict (how we will get off this planet, WTF is really going on here, etc) there’s also a lot of internal conflict for Naira and Tarquin to solve. Tarquin has to come to terms with the fact that his family is not great and that he’s been complicit in the spreading of the shroud. Naira has to come to terms with the fact that the Mercators, maybe the five families in general, aren’t universally evil and she might need Tarquin’s help to stop the spreading of the shroud.

Oh, remember when I said this book might be a little scary? Well the malfunctioning ship is “mis-printing” people. They are zombie-like monsters who are malformed in the printing process and who are shells of themselves. They also want to kill everyone, which gives Naira, Tarquin and the other survivors another challenge to face.

The Blighted Stars is the first book in a series, so we don’t get a ton of resolution in this novel, romantic or otherwise. If you’re looking for a complete romantic arc, don’t start this book. While I usually stay away from series like that until they’re complete, I found the world building and main characters here so compelling that I’m willing to read as books are published. I highly recommend this for fans of innovative, character driven sci-fi or sci-fi romance.