The First Sister by Linden Lewis
Reviewed By: Jeremy Zentner, Reference Assistant
Genre: Science Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About? The Solar System is at war. The human settlements of Mercury and Venus (the Icarii) defend their right to exist against the arcane worlds of Earth and Mars (the Gean alliance). Aboard the Gean spacecraft Juno, the First Sister serves her goddess and sisterhood by servicing the Captain in every way imaginable. As a “First Sister,” she can never speak, never have a name, her only task is to be a loyal mistress. It’s demeaning work, but there are certainly worse jobs in the lower ranks of the sisterhood.
However, when her Captain retires, and the Juno receives a new commander, the First Sister must start all over, subject to attacks and abuse from soldiers and sisters alike. She becomes desperate enough to spy on the new captain for the governing ranks within the sisterhood to regain her status as First Sister. The question is, why does the sisterhood want to spy on this new captain?
Lito val Lucious is on the other side of the war. A cunning assassin for the Icarii, he was present at the battle of Ceres where the Icarii lost their planetoid and some of their precious technology to the Gean alliance. Lito, however, not only lost the battle, but lost his non-binary partner to defection. He will be tasked in seeking revenge against the Geans by assassinating their religious head, the Mother of the Sisterhood, and his old partner for treason. Can Lito accomplish his new mission against the Geans and his old partner? And more importantly, why the defection?
Both characters will converge in this tale of espionage and war as the First Sister and Lito make their way to Ceres where a massive victory celebration is planned. As well as a new course for the war.
My Review: As far as general science fiction goes, The First Sister is loads of originality and creative world building. It starts out with heavy influences from the Handmaid’s Tale, as the reader journeys alongside both protagonists through their tumultuous lives. Eventually, the story merges into a cat and mouse game of political intrigue and fancy covert space action as the First Sister and Lito val Lucious intersect their paths in an effort to end the war once and for all. I enjoyed the First Sister’s character a lot; the development of this young woman in an ultra-doctrinal society was very thought-provoking as you witness her gain favor with her new captain while fighting off sister-rivals and dodging battles in space.
Lito’s own journey to Ceres (as well his backstory) is also a fascinating tale of espionage, war, love, and more. There’s a lot of topics to be had and LGBTQ representation, but it does this in a very cohesive manner. To top everything off, there are some pretty amazing sci-fi tech and unconventional warfare that resembles something in between the Expanse, Iron Man and Star Wars. Imagine a pirate battle where the raiding crew is swinging aboard the enemy ship to fight sword-to-sword; now, imagine this with armored suits and light-saber-inspired weaponry. First Sister is one heck of a page-turner!
Three Words that Describe this Book: espionage, thriller, political intrigue
Give This A Try if You Like… Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, 1984, The Expanse Series, Dune
Rating: 4/5
