Cover image from Goodreads.com

Dalton Greaves is a human representative of Unity, a panspecies federation determined to bring every sentient species into its fold. He’s joined by Neera (also human) on a diplomatic mission to curry favour with a new species, minarchs, before yet a third species (stickmen of the Assembly) can do so. While on the planet with a representative of the Assembly, both the stickman’s ship and Dalton’s ship explode in a conflict.

Left to carry out the mission while waiting for help to arrive, Dalton inadvertently becomes the Fourth Consort to a powerful minarch: First-Among-Equals. While this position should give Dalton plenty of time to bring the minarchs around to accepting Unity, instead, Dalton befriends the stickman and learns that Unity is more about plundering than acceptance.

I liked the concept of this novel; the idea that there are many sentient species out there and there’s federations like Unity and Assembly, but ultimately the book left me frustrated.

Dalton is a passive character. Everything happens to him, including infodumps about the different species, rather than him making choices that land him in situations. By the midpoint I was having difficulty believing Dalton was a diplomat. He’s woefully unprepared for the role and seems to be blundering his way along. Every time he meets with First-Among-Equals, he does nothing to further the cause he’s been given. Instead, he essentially defends himself against what First-Among-Equals says about humans and hides in his quarters.

Along the same lines, so much time in the novel seems to be spent asking why his translator couldn’t pick up a phrase or word. This could be solved by Dalton simply asking for clarification. Why not? Why doesn’t he just ask for a definition of a word or phrase? These questions plagued me as I read on.

I finished the novel because I did want to see how it would end, whether Dalton would get the minarchs on his side or not, but it was a bit of a slog.