Review by Ian Keogh
Linguist Danko Orton freelances with the CIA, but considering nothing he’s previously undertaken has prepared him for a trip to space station he’s remarkably calm about the assignment. He’s one of numerous specialists shipped into orbit, and eventually discovers it’s because the Voyager probe, now deep in uncharted space, has been intercepted by aliens who’ve made contact. Their species is known as the Eo’tarx, and they’ve evolved to occupy multiple solar systems, but as of Orton’s employment no human knows what they look like.
Jerry Frissen sets up anticipation and mystery well, and has a conceptual mind able to generate what might to others be beyond creation. It’s essential in evolving a mystique about the Eo’tarx, their capabilities and their intentions as a first contact situation plays out. As Danko is one of a wide range of specialists, Frissen is able to supply a selection of informed opinions. The military presence remains suspicious in the face of manifest generosity while other specialists are keen to learn.
Artist Roberto Zaghi’s style is primarily a realistic form of the European ligne claire school, keeping the shadows to a minimum, although the darkness outside the space station ensures some areas of black. The people are defined well, and there’s detail to the machinery. However, the Eo’tarx technology needs to be unfamiliar, and for that Zaghi designs geometric shapes and lights, and when late in the book a completely different environment is needed, Zaghi’s designs are of unknowable objects. His art adapts to the needs, and is great throughout.
With Danko as the viewpoint, we share his discomfort at the frankness of the aliens, as per his definitely female Eo’tarx counterpart No’mi. That they have humanoid forms is mentioned as remarkable parallel evolution, and Danko soon begins overstepping boundaries. In association with this, secrets are shared, and Frissen uses that to underscore how primitive some attitudes are in the highest echelons of human power and society. The reader is prompted to speculate whether the cautious military viewpoint is correct or if the Eo’tarx should be taken at face value. Either way, the inclusion of a foreboding prologue reveals not all remains ideal.
Halfway through, a threat manifests. Frissen is dealing with Earth in the not too distant future, and while everyone aboard the space station is American, other nations are also powerful. At the same time Danko makes a resonant decision, leaving Frissen and Zaghi to increase the wonder.
Will the wonder win out against military suspicions? Well, the answers to what’s been going on tumble out in a rush, leaving the feeling the set-up carried on too long when there’s more that could have been explored. However, Star-Crossed pays off in the end, partially for Danko and more completely for the reader, navigating complex realities on a mind-expanding journey.
