Assassin's Orbit by John Appel

Title: Assassin's Orbit

Author: John Appel

Published: July 20, 2021 by Rebellion Publishing

Genre: Science Fiction Thriller

What's It About: On the eve of the planet Ileri's historic vote to join the Commonwealth, the assassination of a government minister threatens to shatter everything. Private investigator Noo Okereke and spy Meiko Ogawa join forces with police chief Toiwa to investigate - and discover clues that point disturbingly toward a threat humanity thought they had escaped.

A threat that could destroy Ileri and spark an interplanetary war... unless the disparate team can work together to solve the mystery. Goodreads

My Thoughts: There is a lot to love in this debut science fiction thriller novel. The pacing is fast, and the mystery thriller aspects of the story are written with a satisfying amount of suspense and intrigue. There is also a whole lot of diverse characters in this novel. All the characters are people of color, and there is even a characters with ze/zer pronouns. The three main characters are all older women as well. I think it was great to see older women in the roles of action-based protagonists.There were a lot of interesting science fiction ideas explored.

There are a couple of elements that could have used more time and explanation. There were too many important characters to follow without enough time differentiating their personality from the others. It was difficult to tell the characters apart beyond the main three that stand out. The setting could have been described in more detail to get a sense of place. I knew that the story was taking place on Ileri and it had rings, but I didn't quite know where or what it was until toward the end of the book. There were unfamiliar science fiction ideas and names given without enough explanation to perfectly follow what was happening. However, things begin to clear up by the end of the novel.

Overall, Assassin's Orbit is a good debut novel with a wonderful mystery thriller story line and a very diverse cast of characters. With more descriptions, information, and explanations this could have been a perfect book.

My Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

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